Week 11: October 30 - November 3

Reminders:
Third Grade Awards Ceremony will be held on Tuesday, October 31 at 9:05 in the cafeteria.

Lights, Camera, Auction! Come party like a celebrity Saturday, November 4th, at the Weston Houston Memorial City. The fun begins at 7pm. Auction Tickets

Early Voting for SBISD Bond is all this week. Please vote in the school bond election. No tax increase is needed. Bond Information

We have students with allergies so please pack nut-free snacks. Snacks should be dry and healthy to promote student learning and not create a mess. 
Examples:     

• Saltines, graham crackers, pretzels
• Fresh or dried fruit/vegetable sticks or slices
• Cheese cubed or sliced·        
• Applesauce (in the squeezable containers)
• Goldfish/Cheeze-its or Cheese Nips

Reading: As we continue to study story elements, including plot, we are going to begin investigating how to determine the theme(s) of text, including in works of art, and in visual media. We will be discussing the differences between plot and theme, as well as what a theme is and what it is not. (This is a difficult concept for third graders, and is on-going. This understanding is fine-tuned with consistent examples and exposure to a variety of themes with familiar text.) A theme is defined as an observation about life that is inspired by an author's text. It does not, however, consist of a single word or a command. Some examples of themes from well-known text: 
Little Red Riding Hood- Do not trust everyone you meet.
The Three Little Pigs-Hard work and patience pay off in the end.

The Third Grade Language Arts teachers were given the distinct privilege of attending a national conference called Literacy for All, thanks to our amazing PTA, and we had the opportunity to learn from some of the most distinguished educators throughout the world. A message that resonated throughout was the importance of giving our children numerous opportunities to read and write based on their interests throughout the day. Continuing these opportunities at home is crucial to growing lifelong readers and writers. Please make time to enjoy reading and writing together whenever possible! 

Writing: We will begin the week and the diminishing October days completing a piece of fictional writing that focuses on the craft of personification. Personification is the skill of giving human or "person-like" qualities to something that is not human. Third graders will be drafting, revising, and editing a persuasive piece from the point of view of a pumpkin who simply wishes not to be picked. Small guided writing groups will provide opportunities to model effective revising and editing skills.
As the week progresses, we will be working on stories from our lives and how to incorporate a variety of "craft" strategies to enhance the effectiveness. Each strategy will be introduced in the context of effective third grade writing. 

Sample of Craft Strategies

Handwriting: Third graders are developing their cursive skills by practicing daily for 5 to 10 minutes. It is a goal that our students will leave third grade writing and reading cursive fluently.

Spelling: We strongly believe that spelling skills develop by allowing our children to independently attempt words that challenge them. We are continuing to explore the six main syllable types and using syllabication to break apart more complex words using commonly used spelling rules. For example, every syllable contains a vowel. When your child writes at home, avoid spelling words for him/her; instead, allow him/her to attempt the word and look at it. Ask, "Does this word look correct? If not, try again." Praise attempts to spell independently and reread written work to notice spelling inaccuracies.

Social Studies: Third graders will use Social Studies Weekly as a reference to identify the main reasons that citizens join/thrive in communities. They will complete a visual organizer that requires supporting ideas from the text. It is an effective set of lessons that require students to justify responses with textual evidence. 

Math: This week we continue to reinforce the concepts and strategies related to subtraction. We have concentrated on "take away" and "comparing" subtractions and the difference between the two as far as wording and bar models. Take away subtraction happens when something is removed from the story in some way.  Comparing subtraction involves finding out how much larger one number is from another. Vocabulary associated with comparing subtraction includes "how many more/less", "how much less/more", and numerous comparative adjectives ending in "er" such as longer, higher, shorter, farther, heavier.  At the same time, students have practiced subtracting with multiple regroupings, including over zeros. This is difficult for some, so we will continue to reinforce this skill. This week we will introduce the third kind of subtraction known as "missing part". Given a total and a known part, students are asked to find the missing part. Often times, the word NOT is used or implied. For example...The car lot had 1,428 cars and 854 of them were clean. How many cars were NOT clean? Friday will be our usual FFF or Fast Fact Friday quiz. Please be studying every night so your child will master addition facts and then subtraction.

Science: We conclude our Matter unit this week with an assessment on Tuesday. Vocabulary cards and a unit study sheet went home a week and a half ago so students could begin studying the concepts that will be tested. Vocabulary questions will always have a word bank or will be multiple choice. Next, we will spend a few days learning about mixtures and the tools that can be used to separate their ingredients according to their properties. A mixture is defined as two or more ingredients that keep their own properties and can be separated back to its parts.

Week 8: October 9-13

Reminders: 
Open House is tomorrow evening, Tuesday, October 10. Please join us in your child's classrooms from 6:00 to 6:45 and learn what exciting things have been going on in third grade so far this year.

Individual pictures will be taken this Thursday morning, October 12.

Do not forget to sign up for Parent / Teacher Conferences scheduled for October 18-20. Use the links below to secure your spot. We can't wait to celebrate the successes of your child and discuss their goals moving forward.

• Duncan/Ford Signup
• Rozzell/Morphey Signup
• Badrak/Saint Val Signup 

We have students with allergies so please pack nut-free snacks. Snacks should be dry and healthy to promote student learning and not create a mess. 

Examples: 

• Fresh or dried fruit/vegetable sticks or slices
• Cheese cubed or sliced·        
• Applesauce (in the squeezable containers)
• Goldfish/Cheeze-its or Cheese Nips       
• Saltines/Graham crackers/Pretzels

Reading- This week our third grade readers will be exploring and identifying the elements of  fiction by referring to familiar text, and responding to the question, "What do these pieces of realistic fiction have in common?" The elements of setting, characterization, plot, problem, and solution will be emphasized and mapped. The story arc is an organizer that the students will be using to track the plot line of many realistic fiction texts. It will also be referenced as one strategy during our writing of personal narratives. 

Writing- This week our third grade writers will be spending time collecting ideas for personal narratives. October seems the perfect time to brainstorm lists of scary moments and techniques effective writers use to elicit emotion in their readers. An example of this is to "show not tell"; saying you are afraid is much less interesting to readers than showing you are afraid. I could feel my heartbeat in chest, my fists clenched, and I was unable to speak. Each week the teachers will continue to showcase examples of "magical writing" that will focus on effective techniques from other third grader authors. 

****Also, your child will need to bring in an object or artifact that is meaningful to him/her by Friday of this week. He/she will be sharing why it is special and using it to brainstorm other types of stories from his/her life.

Spelling-Students will continue to work with syllables to spell words. We will be manipulating them by combining some of the six syllable types in different ways. For example, pen-cil, if reversed would be read cil-pen. In doing this, students are better able to practice how to sound out and spell words in meaningful ways. In this example, students put into practice that a syllable, such as pen and cil are closed by a consonant, therefore the vowel will make a short sound in most words we read and write.

Social Studies-We have placed the finishing touches on our letters to our third grade neighbors so significantly affected by Hurricane Harvey at Meadow Wood Elementary. They will be delivered at a school function next week to show our care and concern for members of our Spring Branch community. We are continuing to assess what makes someone a strong member of his/her community by researching historical figures who made a difference.

Math- This week we will wrap up our study of addition and its application to everyday situations. Students will show how they are able to use various strategies to explain how addition is used to combine groups of things. FFF will continue to be addition this week. After scoring 100% on three quizzes, many students will move on to subtraction facts in another week. Please study NIGHTLY with your child. Knowing all facts is very important for every content area of math.

Science-  We will wrap up our exciting Matter Lab early this week and take a closer look at classifying the three most common stated of matter...solids, liquids, and gases.  We will focus on properties of each of the states and understand why its molecular structure is key to why it reacts as it does. Our Matter song will pep up the science class and reinforce our focus this week. On Friday, students will reflect on what we have learned this week.