Week 12: November 6th - 10th

Reminders:
11/10 - Veteran's Day Program in the Cafeteria at 9:00am.  Doors open to get a good seat at 8:50a.m.

11/20 -11/24 - Thanksgiving Break (No School)

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.  

12/15 - Noon Dismissal for Winter Break

Homework:  Remember that we ask that your child read for at least 20 minutes each day (outside of regular school hours).  You can also always check out our grade level weekly planner using the link on the right hand side of the blog.

Reading: Monday students will work to show what they know about inferring theme in fiction texts.  We have had some great conversations about what lessons or messages an author might be trying to share with an audience.  Your children are critical thinkers with big hearts.  Please continue to talk to them at home about what lessons we can learn from the stories we read.

Tuesday through Friday, we will introduce the idea of character traits and character feelings and model how readers use text evidence to infer what a character is feeling.  We will also infer character traits using text evidence.  While this is something that adults have internalized, this is something that third graders need to think through and talk through each time they meet a new character.  Please continue our discussions at home by talking about characters in books you are reading, movies you are watching or television shows you see. Here are some question prompts:
What word would you use to describe the character?
Why is that a word that comes to mind?
What did the character say, do or think that helped you?



Writing: We have started our study on authors as mentors.  Over the next two weeks we will focus on craft elements that effective writers use to help readers understand and experience their story. We will create a class anchor chart to record our learning and serve as a reminder of strategies we can now try out as we write about stories from our lives.
This week we will look at how dialogue moves a story and helps the reader know more about the characters.  We will also learn about ellipse and how they help slow down parts of a story to either build tension or transition from one event to another.  Finally, we will conclude the week learning about how onomatopoeia can be used to add sensory details that help the reader feel like they are in the story. 

Social Studies: This week students will read about resources a community uses to help keep its citizens safe.  Specifically, they will learn about  police departments (and K-9 cops), fire fighters, and paramedics. They will then reflect on ways that these people help in our local community.

Math: On Monday and Tuesday, we will walk through the steps for a two-step problems. Here is an example of a two-step problem that you can expect your child to see: There were a total of 689 fans who came to the first three basketball games. One hundred forty-two came to the first game and 136 came to the second game. How many fans came to the third game?

On Wednesday, we will work to create two step problems to understand the importance of the two parts found in the word problem. On Thursday, we will solve the word problems that we created on Wednesday. On Friday, we will continue working to create word problems when given a number sentence. Reference the video below for more information on how we will teach this in class:

Two-Step Word Problem Video

We will have worksheets come home on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night. We will also have a fast facts quiz on Friday. Thank you for continuing to support your child at home with fast facts and the worksheet. 

Science: In our science time this week, we will begin our study on energy. This week, we are discussing mechanical energy, we will learn about kinetic and potential energy. Below are the terms we will study during this unit:

*energy- what is needed to do work or cause change

*work - when a force moves an object

*force- a push or pull

*mechanical energy- the energy of moving objects

*kinetic energy- the energy of motion

*potential energy- the stored energy or possible energy depending on its position

Week 15: November 28 - December 2

Our GALVESTON FIELD TRIP is Friday, December 2. 

Reading: It's time to immerse ourselves in a new genre.  For the rest of November and most of December, we will be reading poetry.  We hope your child has come home excited about some of the poems we have shared together during our daily dose of Focus Poetry.  Our study during the reading workshop over the next few weeks will have us reading more closely and analyzing various aspects of poetry.  Students will learn and apply the poetry vocabulary of stanzas, lines, repetition, rhyme, speaker.

Writing: We will continue to consume author's craft through various mentor texts.  We will look closely at how authors use dialogue, repetition, and descriptive detail to help readers understand and enjoy the story.  At home, you can be sure to notice and share out with your child about dialogue that you read in stories together that helps either move the story along or tell you more about the characters.  Point out details that help you visualize what the characters are seeing and experiencing in the story.

Spelling:  New words will come home on 11/30.  A test will be give 12/7.  An application grade of those words in the context of reading and writing will be given 12/8-12/14.

Social Studies:  As we continue to learn about citizens who played an important role in our communities, we will learn about Jonas Salk.  Salk's research and work with vaccines has made a huge impact on the health of our community.  

Math: Each day in math this week, we will use our multiplication strategies to learn about multiplying by 6's, 7's, 8's, and 9's. Each day, we will listen to a song that helps skip counting by each of the multiples. We will not have a problem of the week this week. We will have a worksheet on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Please note that the Fast Facts Quiz will be taken on Thursday due to our Field Trip on Friday. 

Science: In science this week, we will wrap up our unit on energy. On Monday, we will create energy vocabulary cards for the energy test. The energy test is scheduled for Thursday, December 8th. On Tuesday,Wednesday, and Thursday, we will learn about sound energy. Sound energy is the energy of matter vibrating. A few of the important terms we will learn about are pitch and volume. Pitch is how high or low the sound is and volume is how loud or soft.