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.