Week 16: December 5-9

Upcoming dates to put on your calendars:

12/7 - Toys for Tots- Please send a new and unwrapped gift to donate.  Children will get a chance to drop their toy with local firefighters and Santa Claus.  

12/9 - Fun Run at Woodview.  Permissions slips are required for students to ride the bus for this event.  All donations will help support the SPARK PARK at our sister school, Woodview Elementary.

12/16 - Noon Dismissal- Please make arrangements for this different dismissal time.  Teachers will need hand written notes if you are making  a change in your child's transportation schedule.

1/6 - Third Grade Recognition Ceremony for the Second Nine Weeks, 9:00-9:30a.m. in the HCE Cafe

1/10 - STAARY STAARY NIGHT - Informational Parent Meeting covering information on the STAAR test. We will meet in the library from 6:00 - 7:00p.m.

Reading: Readers will continue to read poetry this week.  We will focus our attention on what information in the poem pulls at the reader's sense of hearing, smelling, seeing, feeling, and tasting.  Descriptive details that pull at our senses help the reader visualize while reading.  Later in the week, we will use these sensory details to also help us infer more about the character and situations we read about in poems.

Writing: This is PUBLICATION WEEK.  Writer's will focus on fine tuning their stories to help the reader.  Developmentally, this is a hard skill for third graders.  It's hard to admit that our first attempts are perfect.  Encourage your child at home, by sharing times that you changed your thinking after your first impression or effort.

Spelling: Spelling tests are this Wednesday, December 7.  An application grade of words in daily work will take place between 12/8-12/14.  We will also give the spelling inventory again between 12/8-12/16.  The information gathered will help us readjust spelling groups based on learner's needs.  

Social Studies: Jane Addams will be added to our bank of Good Citizens.  Her work in Chicago made a difference for so many men, women and children as she founded and worked at the Hull House.  We will discuss the many reasons she was a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.  Students will also learn about various ways that people are honored and remembered.  Pointing our monuments, plaques, road markers, and awards that are created in memory and honor of those who make a difference will help our students understand ways we remember and recognize good citizens.

Math:In math this week, we will continue practicing our strategies for multiplication. We will decode word problems to pick out the important parts. We will identify what number in a multiplication sentence tells us the groups and which number shows how many in each group. We will use word problems to reiterate these skills.

For example: There are 4 groups with 3 strawberries in each group

 On Thursday, we will practice creating our own multiplication word problems to help us understand multiplication even more. On Friday, we will get to solve the multiplication word problems we created the day before. We will have our normal math homework on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Our fast facts quiz will be on Friday. We will not have a problem of the week this week. 

Science: On Monday and Tuesday during science time, we will participate in an energy lab. We will apply the information we know about mechanical, thermal, light, and sound energy. On Wednesday, the third graders will take the Science PSA (Priority Standard Assessment). This assessment is created by the district and gives us information on how your child is progressing through the concepts that we have taught so far in science. On Thursday, we will take the Energy Test. We will review in class before the test is given. 

Elements of Fiction, Community and Journal Writing

We had a GREAT first week together getting to know one another and learning new routines and schedules.  This week, we will dive into more third grade content.  This blog is to be used as a conversation starter for you and your child.  Check out what's going on in class this week, and then throw out a informational tidbit or ask questions at home to keep the learning going!  Your help and participation is appreciated.

Reading- We will review elements of fiction texts this week.  Students will be reminded of the importance of characters, setting, and plot in fiction texts.  We will begin the week by identifying elements in the stories we read last week.  Then, we will read some new stories together and identify fictional elements.  As the week finishes, students will use a book they have read on their own to identify and explain the importance of fictional elements.

Writing- We brainstormed an expert list last week.  Students will have an opportunity to expand on those topics this week in their writing journals.  This week our goal is to get back into the habit of writing.  Students will be encouraged to write, read, revise, write again and read again.  Students will learn a new way of sharing writing called POINT. It's an exercise that helps writers notice their strengths and builds classroom community.

Word Work- We will use Words Their Way this year in third grade.  This week, students will complete the Elementary Spelling Inventory.  This assessment will be give three times throughout the school year to track students progress and developmental understanding of how words and spelling patterns work.  This assessment is not graded.  It will be used for my information to help develop lessons and small groups that will target your child's learning needs.

Social Studies- We spent last week creating classroom community. This week we will focus on our greater communities and citizens who have served as great role models.  Students will be introduced to Ruby Bridges, Helen Keller and Jane Addams this week.  We will look at what they did to help their community in the past and how that impacts our communities today.  Students will also be encouraged to start thinking about character traits that a "good citizen" would display.  

Homework-Third graders will have 20 minutes of reading homework each night.  We checked out library books last Thursday, and will return to the library each week on Thursdays.  Students should record the book title in their planner each night to show that the required 20minutes was completed.