Week 5: September 18-22

September 18th - 22nd

Reminders: 
September 18-22- MAP TESTING (Please reference the blog post for more information.)

Columbus Day - October 9th - Student Holiday (No School)

Open House - October 10th from 6:00-6:45p.m.

Reading: We will focus our attention on Metacognition this week. We will think about what we

think while we read.  Good readers are able to monitor their thinking while read.  Making connections and predictions while reading improves reading comprehension and enjoyment!  Please share with your child what you are thinking while reading a book together this week.

Writing: Thank you for equipping your students to share and create with Writer's Notebooks last week.  We have created personal treasure chests that we will now begin to fill full of personal and creative stories.  This week, we will begin by trying on a variety of writing techniques that get writer's thinking and ideas flowing!

Spelling: Teachers have given the developmental Words Their Way Spelling Inventory and will work together during extended planning this week to make a plan for how to reach a variety of needs and challenges.  Look for more to come home in spelling in a few weeks!

Social Studies: Third graders have the opportunity to be part of the HCE leadership council.  In classes this week students will learn about how we elect representatives.  We will make connections back to our local and state governments.  We look for students who demonstrate good conduct, have all passing grades, show leadership characteristics, are well respected by his or her peers and are motivated to help our school think of new and fun ways to serve the community.  Election results from 3rd, 4th and 5th grades will be shared on the morning announcements on Friday, September 29.

Math: Due to the MAP testing this week, your the day to day schedule may look different in each class. This week, our objective is to learn how to compose and decompose numbers. This helps your child understand the many ways that numbers can be built and created. We will practice decomposing on Monday, composing on Tuesday and then we will combine the two on Wednesday. On Thursday, we will work to understand the relationships between numbers in each place that they hold. 

We will have paper homework come home on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Please return the homework the next day as we check it together in class. We hope you will make time and encourage your child to do their homework, it is great practice. 

Science: During our science block this week, we will be reminded how to make observations. When we make observations, we use our five senses - touch, taste, smell, see, and hear. We will practice making observations in class with items. Your child will come up with examples of objects or items in which they use their five senses. 

Week of 9/28-10/2

NEWS: Check out the new page on the side of the BLOG called COUGAR PAW PRIDE. We will use this space to keep you updated on the AMAZING ways the students in our classes are making a difference in our classrooms and around campus!

Open House will be on Tuesday, September 29.  Classrooms are open for visiting from 5:30-6:30p.m.  At 6:40 the first PTA meeting for the school year will be held in the cafeteria.  Coach Thompson and Teaching Aides will be available in the gym to watch children as parents attend the meeting.  

Thank you to our HCE PTA for funding WITS for third grade for the second year. (Now grades 3-5 will have the opportunity to participate in this program.)  Writers In the Schools is a program that sends professional writer's to schools to work with both teachers and students in creative writing.  Our writer this school year is Carolyn Bolton.  I am very excited, as she was teamed with third grade last school year and not only did the kids learn much from her writing experience, but I did as well.  She will be with us most weeks on Wednesdays. For this week, Mrs. Bolton will join us on Tuesday.

Please be on the look out for more information about WITS and Mrs. Bolton in the TUESDAY NEWSDAY folders. There will be a permission slip in the folder that we will need you to sign and return so that we may share your children's writing and images with the world around us!

READING & WRITING: We will combine our work in Reading and Writing Workshop this week.  First students will reflect and review expectations for BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER reading.  These will help students direct their focus as we move out of reading assessments and move into small group work.  While students read independently this week, I will pull small groups of students to work on a variety of reading strategies and skills in small group.

GENRE STUDY:  Last week, we started digging into our work on genre studies.  We started by talking about and reading examples from the genre of fantasy.  This week, we will hone in on what makes a story a folktale.  Folk tales are a traditional form of literature that feature ordinary people (folk).These stories are narrative in structure and are often passed down over many years in both an oral and written tradition.  Folktales often have a more obvious theme (lesson or message) for readers.  We will discuss what it is that we believe the author is trying to teach or tell us with this story.  While this is an easy thing for most experienced readers to do, most third graders are just becoming fluent enough readers to think about the BIG picture (theme) while reading.

As students work with folktales this week, they will continue to track their thinking using symbols and sticky notes. These tracks in our text allow us to notice how an author is engaging his or her audience.  We will eventually apply these findings to our own craft of writing.

WORD WORK: Students will continue to learn a variety of word work strategies, practices and games with our practice words as we get ready to LAUNCH our word work.  Wednesday, October 7 will be the first time your student is pulled in his or her differentiated spelling group.  Please let me know if you would like me to send home a word study menu and an extra copy of words for you to practice with your child at home.  Remember, spelling homework is not a requirement this year, as we will incorporate 15-20 minutes of word work into our language arts block each day this year.

SOCIAL STUDIES: We are continuing our 9 weeks focus on Communities, Citizenship and Government.  Last week, we went through the voting process and now we have elected 2 Leadership Council Representatives!  Congratulations to Ben in Mrs. Duncan’s class and Michael in Mrs. Ford's class!  This week, we will focus on government leaders.  Students need to understand who the leaders are at each level of government: local/mayor, state/governor and nation or federal/president.

Week of September 21

LAST WEEK- We had a guest reader from the Houston Bar Association to help us celebrate Constitution Day.  She read So, You Want to Be President to our third grade classes.  They were engaged and asked many questions about how she uses laws to do her job every day.

READING

We will finish up our work on connections early this week.  Last week, we reviewed and practiced making text to self and text to text connections.  This week we will finish by discussing text to world connections.  This type of reading connection can be the most challenging for 3rd graders since it requires an extensive background knowledge of world events and history.  I will scaffold our learning by connecting our text to Ruby Bridges, a story we learned about a few weeks ago in Social Studies.

We will then switch our reading focus to learn more about the genre of fantasy. Reviewing characteristics of a fantasy and sharing aloud a few quality examples will help us understand how this genre is different from the realistic fiction and historical fiction we have been reading.

Students need to continue to read for 20 minutes each night and record the title in their planner.  This is part of their study habits and daily routine which are assessed and reported on the progress report each grading cycle.

WRITING

We are learning how to have an academic discussion in writing.  Last week we talked about ways to get a conversation going, inviting others to the discussion and how to ask others for clarification.  This week we will focus on bringing our background knowledge to the discussion, how to mark of piggy-back on someone's comment, and expand someones thought or contribution.  As we work in reading this week, we will consume great examples of fiction stories so that your child will be ready next week to try writing his or her own imaginative stories.

Word Work- We will use Words Their Way this year in third grade.  This week, students will learn a variety of word work activities that they will eventually complete on their own in during our daily work work class time.  For now, students are using a generic list of words to practice.  After two week of practicing routines, your child will be groups according to their Elementary Spelling Inventory results and will receive words that should match their developmental understanding of how words and spelling patterns work.

SOCIAL STUDIES

This week we will learn about HCE's Leadership Council.  Students will have a chance to notice and nominate classmates whom demonstrate the COUGAR CODE.  We will total those nominations and then elect a representative for our homeroom class.  We will use this real world example to guide our study and learning about voting.  This week we will also explore the online portion of our new Social Studies Materials.  Students will learn in class how they can access it online and learn more to earn points with Revere the rat.  They can cash in their points to decorate Revere's habitat!  This is a great resource for extended learning and previewing upcoming at home.

MATH
This week in math, we will continue working with addition. Last week, we finished our unit with place value and started our addition unit. We spent last week practicing our addition without regrouping. This week, we will spend Monday and Tuesday regrouping in the hundreds place. On Wednesday and Thursday, we will move into regrouping in the ones, tens, and hundreds. On Friday, we will have a problem solving day where we are working on word problems. Your child will  learn to decode word problem and pull out key words that help them know what operation (addition or subtraction) that they will use to solve it. For homework this week, your child will come home with an addition worksheet on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. On Monday, the third grade teachers will be introducing the Problem of the Week. This is a higher level thinking word problem that is sent home every Monday and will be due on Friday. We ask that parents and students team up on this question and spend time solving it together. This is not a grade. For Fast Facts this week, we will be moving into subtraction. I have been very impressed by the addition facts and I can tell that the students are spending time every night studying their facts. 

SCIENCE
During our science time this week we will spend time discussing density and move into matter. In our study of density, we will be experimenting with objects and deciding how density affects whether an object will sink or float. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday we will complete a lab on matter. We will have six stations that help us explore the properties of matter including mass, texture, temperature, magnetism, and buoyancy. 

During our science time over the last three weeks, we have been learning about ways to be a good Digital Citizen. We will complete our last digital citizenship lesson on Thursday. As our final lesson, we will make a pledge to always be responsible while using computers and mobile devices. 

As a reminder, the third graders will have their first field trip on Friday, September 25th. Please have your child wear a GREEN shirt on Friday. We will be back for lunch so your child does NOT need a sack lunch to take with them. 

Have a great week!

Love, 

     Mrs. Duncan and Mrs. Ford

Connections, Character Traits, Narratives and Elections

We've had a great first month of school.  Your children are thinking while they are reading and sharing their thoughts with others!

READING

We will finish up our work on connections early this week.  Last week, we reviewed and practiced making text to self and text to text connections.  This week we will finish by discussing text to world connections.  This type of reading connection can be the most challenging for 3rd graders since it requires background knowledge in world events and history.  I will scaffold our learning by connecting our text to Ruby Bridges story we learned about a few weeks ago in Social Studies.

Students need to continue to read for 20 minutes each night and record the title in their planner.  This is part of their study habits and daily routine which are assessed and reported on the progress report each grading cycle.

WRITING

This week we will introduce our first writing genre study, personal narrative. We will spend the next few weeks sharing examples of personal narratives and noticing and naming the parts of a narrative.  This week we will focus on learning the vocabulary for those parts of a narrative (setting the stage, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution).

WORD WORK

Spelling words came home last Wednesday.  This Tuesday, 9/23, spelling spirals are due.  They should hold your child's spelling homework.  They have had a week to complete 8pts of spelling assignment choices on the spelling menu. On Wednesday, 9/24 students will have their first spelling test.  Since this is our first week to test, there will not be a spelling grade on the progress report.  New spelling words will be introduced and go home on Wednesday, October 1.

SOCIAL STUDIES

This week we will learn about HCE's Leadership Council.  Students will have a chance to notice and nominate classmates whom demonstrate the COUGAR CODE.  We will combine those nominations and then elect a representative for our homeroom class.  We will use this real world example to guide our study and learning about voting.  We will close up the week by learning about our local government and comparing our mayor and city council to the roles of our school principal and leadership council!

Update from Mrs. Ford

Language Arts
Reading
In Reading this week we will be diving into the word of character traits and character development.  Good readers notice how a character may change throughout a story.  We will begin the week by brainstorming a list of character traits.  What words can we use to describe how the character is acting and feeling?  Then, we will review some books we have read to see if we can find text evidence to support a character's personality trait.  As the week progresses, students will look for this text support in their DEAR time (independent reading) book. 

Writing
 This week we will introduce our first writing genre study, personal narrative.  We will spend the next few weeks sharing examples of personal narratives and noticing and naming the parts of a narrative.  This week we will focus on learning the vocabulary for those parts (setting the stage, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution).
Spelling
Please remember that your child is responsible for completing 8 points and turning in  his or her homework on Thursday mornings.  Students may complete any assignment on the menu they wish.  If they choose to write their words 3 times this week, they may only use that assignments once this week to get 2 of the 8 points.  

Social Studies
In class, we will learn and discuss the words rights and responsibilities.  Students will also participate in a debate to determine if he or she thinks it would be best to live in FREEDOM TOWN (where anything goes) or LEADER TOWN (where one leader tells everyone how they can live.  It's always a great time to hear kids thoughts and watch them come around to understanding how our country decided on its form of government.  

This week we will discuss LEADERSHIP COUNCIL.  We will discuss qualities needed in a leadership council representative and the duties and responsibilities that go along with this leadership position.  Students will be allowed to nominate candidates.  A rubric will then be filled out and accompanied by the nominations to determine who will represent our classes this year.


 

LA and SS update for the week of October 1-5

Reading
In Reading this week we will be look at genre and theme.  We will review some of the books we have shared aloud to determine what text evidence can help us determine a book's theme.  Students will then read fables in partners and independently to find evidence and determine theme.  We will use this same text evidence strategy to determine the genre of a book.  Students should be able to notice and name features of various genres (Mystery, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, Autobiography, Biography, Informational, Traditional and Poetry).  Students will go on a genre hunt with a partner to search out books of various types. 

WRITING
As we continue to work in the genre of personal narrative, we will continue to consume examples (text and student work).  We will also look this week at critiquing personal narratives.  What things make a personal narrative EXCELLENT or not so great.  We will work as a class to create a criteria chart of the things we think EXCELLENT narratives need.

SPELLING

Please remember that they are responsible for completing 8 points and turning in their homework on Thursday mornings.  

SOCIAL STUDIES

Each class has three leadership council candidates that were nominated/chosen by classmates.  These candidates will work over the weekend to complete an application form and write a speech.  We will listen to their speeches and vote using a secret ballot!  We have talked at length about how we will only have ONE representative this school year.  This is a hard but real life lesson for many third graders to learn.  In our class discussions, we have talked about other ways third graders can serve as leaders even if he or she isn't the leadership council representative this school year.  Please continue this discussion at home.  If your child is looking for ways to volunteer or lead our community I don't want to squash anyone's drive and excitement!  We've even talked about what great leaders we can be for our reading buddies each Friday, and even for the bigger kids at our school as we conduct ourselves in the hallway and in the cafeteria.

In class, we will begin talking about how the United States government is set up.  Be ready... this week we will talk about how we have a local, state and federal government.  In the weeks to come you can look forward to talking with your kids about the three branches of government, elections, and leaders at each level of our government.

LA and SS 9/24-9/28

Reading
In Reading this week we will be diving into the word of character traits and character development.  Good readers notice how a character may change throughout a story.  We will begin the week by brainstorming a list of character traits.  What words can we use to describe how the character is acting and feeling?  Then, we will review some books we have read to see if we can find text evidence to support a character's personality trait.  As the week progresses, students will look for this text support in their DEAR time (independent reading) book. 

Writing

Nouns ate our lunch last week!  We spent some time backtracking and thinking about what makes a noun a common or proper noun.  Therefore, this week we will introduce our first writing genre study, personal narrative.  We will spend the next few weeks sharing examples of personal narratives and noticing and naming the parts of a narrative.  This week we will focus on learning the vocabulary for those parts (setting the stage, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution).

Spelling

Please remember that they are responsible for completing 8 points and turning in their homework on Thursday mornings.  Students may complete any assignment on the menu they wish.  If they choose to write their words 3 times this week, they may only use that assignments once this week to get 2 of the 8 points.  

Social Studies

We will focus this week on identifying specific people who have demonstrated qualities of a good citizen.  We will focus on the lives and work of Helen Keller, Ruby Bridges, Jane Addams, and Clara Barton.  After we learn about the lives and work of these four women, students will create a billboard to display their understanding of how these women have changed our society.  

This week we will also work on electing our LEADERSHIP COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE.  We will discuss qualities needed in a leadership council representative and the duties and responsibilities that go along with this leadership position.  Students will create a jot down list and nominate classmates.  By the end of the week, we will narrow our list down to three candidates   Those candidates will have the weekend to complete an application form and write a speech.  We will listen to their speeches next week and vote using a secret ballot!