Reading Prompts to use at home

3/28 - 4/1

Parent Reminders and Information:  
We encourage parents and families to save the date and join the third grade team from 6-7p.m. on Wednesday, March 30^th for our STAAR Night in the HCE Library.  During this time, we will discuss:

·         The purpose of the test and its results

·         Level of Expectation on each test using sample questions

·         Strategies being taught in the classroom

·         How to support your child at home

·         General Information about the test itself including:

a.    Schedule: Dates/Times

b.    Format of the test

c.    Timeline for results

  

We will close the time together with a Q&A session for parents and families. We appreciate your support at home as, together, we continue to build strong mathematicians and readers.


Math: During our math time this week, we will be wrapping up our unit on fractions. We will spend Monday reviewing equivalent fractions, comparing fractions, and fractions on a number line. On Tuesday, we will be taking a fraction assessment as we finish out our unit. The rest of the week, we will begin our next unit on geometry. We will be working to identify 2D shapes. We will identify sides and vertices on these polygons. This week, we will have our usual homework on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We will continue to practice with money and fractions. Our fast facts quiz will be on Friday and we will have a problem of the week due on Friday. 

Science: In science this week, we will continue working on weather and begin discussing types of clouds. This past week, we discussed the water cycle and reviewed the weather tools that help our meteorologist give us information on the weather. Your child has been tracking the temperature, wind speed, and humidity in various cities. They will continue to track the weather this week. A review and vocabulary cards went home on Thursday for our upcoming weather quiz. We will take our quiz on Friday. 

Reading We transition this week from Informational nonfiction to Narrative nonfiction.  These selections are written like a story, but are about a true topic. Please look for homework coming home this week about Jessica The Hippo.  This is an excellent example of narrative nonfiction and a fun story for you to discuss with your child.

Writing- We have worked this year to implement a new framework to our writing curriculum called CCP (Consume, Critique, Produce). This week we will focus on the critiquing part of the writing process.   Students will read good and poor examples of narratives and create their own criteria for what makes a good story from your life.

Spelling Last week we used our spelling time to start work on parts of speech.  We will work the beginning of this week on parts of speech and finish the week with new spelling words.  New words come home 3/30.  Test on 4/6.

Social Studies We've launched our study on economics.  Last week we had some great discussion on needs vs. wants.  We also talked about how important it is to make a plan for how you will spend and save your money using a budget.  This week, we will focus more on how our society is a free enterprise.  Students will discuss good and poor choices they have made as consumers.

March 7-11

Parent Reminders and Information:  
We encourage parents and families to save the date and join the third grade team from 6-7p.m. on Wednesday, March 30^th for our STAAR Night in the HCE Library.  During this time, we will discuss:

·         The purpose of the test and its results

·         Level of Expectation on each test using sample questions

·         Strategies being taught in the classroom

·         How to support your child at home

·         General Information about the test itself including:

a.    Schedule: Dates/Times

b.    Format of the test

c.    Timeline for results

We will close the time together with a Q&A session for parents and families. We appreciate your support at home as, together, we continue to build strong mathematicians and readers.

Language Arts

Reading- This week we will continue our work on writing and revising summaries with non-fiction.  

Writing-  Students will put their narratives on hold as they work to publish pop up books this week on the Scientist and Inventors we have learned about in Social Studies.  I love it when we can combine our reading skills, writing skills and knowledge from Social Studies to create!  We will share our pop-up books at Publisher's Picnic in May.


Spelling/Word Work- We will take spelling application grades March 7-11.  During stations on Fridays, I've taught everyone how to play scrabble.  After a few weeks of practice it has been fabulous to see who can apply their spelling vowel patterns to help them build and create words.  Here's a snapshot of one of our boards and the group of kids who worked hard to create these words.  BIG WORK!

Social Studies-   I can't wait for your to read their work on these people; Jonas Salk, Maria Mitchell, Cyrus McCormick, Bill Gates, and Louis Pasteur.

Math- In math this week, we will continue studying about fractions. On Thursday, we began our units on fractions. We discussed the different parts of a fraction. On Friday, we worked with non-unit fractions. This week, we will continue practicing drawing and writing fractions. 

The homework this week will be a review of addition, subtraction, and fractions. We will NOT have a problem of the week. Please note that the Fast Facts Quiz will be on Thursday.

Science- During our science time this week, we will wrap up our discussion on generating electricity. Last week, we learned the steps that are involved for us to turn on the light. The next unit we will be starting is weather. We will learn about weather tools and your child will be in charge of tracking weather during our unit. They will be assigned a different city around the United States and they will work on noticing the weather patterns.