Week 20: January 17-20

Upcoming dates to put on your calendar:

1/16 - School Holiday for Students and Staff 

1/17 - School Store Open 7:30am - 7:50am for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, near the library

1/19 - 9:30am PTA General Meeting

This week in third grade...

Reading: Readers will consume and analyze a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts in order to notice and name differences between the genres.  We will look specifically at narrative non-fiction texts and focus on why authors choose to write about topics in this manner. 

Narrative non-fiction: a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. (This will be a genre presented on the STAAR test in May.) 

Essential questions we will consider: 

• Instead of writing biographies, why would an author choose to write about a person or event in a narrative format? 
• What is the purpose of this genre? And how can we identify it? 

Writing: Writers will wrap up our poetry unit this week. We will choose our favorite poems, revise them, edit them, and publish our best work. On Friday, we will have our end-of-unit writer's celebration and share our pieces within our community of writers. We have loved watching our writers experiment with different types and styles of poetry the past few weeks! 

Spelling: Due to our WITS schedules and differentiated grouping across ELA teachers/classrooms, we will be moving our spelling day to Thursday this semester (with the exception of the white group that will stay on Wednesday). New spelling groups started Thursday, January 12, and the test will be Thursday, January 19th. 

Social Studies: We will continue our economics unit and will be focusing on goods and services this week. We will be able to differentiate between the goods and services we use as consumers in our own lives. 

Math: This week is dedicated to a review of multiplication and division. Students will practice recognizing when to use each operation and how to use the many strategies we have learned in the past few weeks. Multiplication problems give you two numbers (factors), the number of groups and the number in each group. The question asks for a total number (product). Strategies explained in earlier blog posts include equal groups, number lines, arrays, skip counting, and repeated addition. Division problems give you the total and how many groups you will make with that large number. The question asks for how many are in each group.(quotient) The octopus strategy is best for this. It could also give you the total and the number in each group and ask for the number of groups you can make.(quotient) The cookie strategy works best for this. Other division strategies include skip counting, repeated subtraction and knowing the related multiplication fact that will give you an immediate answer. These strategies are also explained in previous blog posts. After several days of practice, students will be tested on their multiplication and division skills this Friday.
FFF (Fast Fact Friday) quiz will still be on Friday this week. If your child is not well into knowing their multiplication facts, at least on sixes or sevens, it is time to step up the effort. Please help your child practice flash cards, previous quizzes, and apps to solidify their knowledge of basic facts. Multiplication is a priority, but don't forget to review addition and subtraction every once in a while. There is no POW (Problem of the Week) this short week. This Thursday, we will give the next PSA to see how our students have grasped concepts taught the first half of the year. 

Science: Having just finished a unit on Force and Motion, we move on to Natural Resources. One of Earth's greatest resources is soil. Beginning with the processes of weathering and erosion, soil is a combination of pieces of weathered rock, air, water, and decomposed plants and animals called humus. Worms and insects allow air and water to enter soil and help make it great for growing plants. Decomposition of all living materials is part of the life cycle and food chain. Knowing what will and will not decay will help students understand the importance of recycling and not littering. 

natural resource - anything made by nature and used by man
weathering - the process the breaks down rocks into tiny pieces over time
erosion - the carrying away of weathered rock
agents - causes
decompose - rot, decay
organic - living or once alive
humus - decomposed organic material (plants and animals)