LA and SS March 23-27

READING
This week we will review main idea.  Students will read from nonfiction texts and determine the main idea of sections of text.  We will work to have fun while reviewing using this rap to keep us on track!  

Mrs. Henley has worked with us the last two weeks to help us see how our reading strategies apply to the genre of standardized tests.  She will be with us for a final lesson this Friday.

A reading passage will come home on Monday.  Please encourage your child to practice the suggested reading strategies as he or she works through that reading.  The passage is due on Friday.  Children have 20 minutes of nightly reading everyday this week.


WRITING
This week we will begin a new genre of writing.  We will work to consume examples of fun and practical procedural texts.  After spending an hour and a half over spring break helping Isabella put together Leo Friends, there's a new reality for me on the importance of well written and illustrated procedural texts!
Mrs. Bolton, our WITS instructor, will be with us on Tuesday as we continue to add to our writer's tool box.  We all love the energy and new ideas she brings to our instruction and learning.  

SPELLING
New spelling words will go home on Wednesday.  The spelling homework menu is due on the following Tuesday (3/31) and the test will be on that Wednesday (4/1).  If you need support with spelling, please email me.  If you child looses his or her spelling words, please look at the spelling spiral as we write them down as part of our lesson on Wednesdays.

SOCIAL STUDIES
We will move into a new unit of study for the 4th 9 weeks.  We will focus on Economics.  Yes, you read it correctly.  This week we will focus on some big ideas in economics: needs, wants, spending and saving.  This time of year it always becomes very clear which families discuss money with their children.  Please use the next few weeks to talk to your children about how you decide when to spend and when to save your money.  Discuss with them reasons you have a savings account.  Help reshape their cries for what they "need" and discuss what are our REAL needs and wants.

HOMEWORK
Thank you for supporting good study and reading habits at home. 

States Road trip, Synthesizing to Summarizing and Procedural Text

Spelling
We WILL NOT have spelling this week.

Reading
Synthesizing and Summarizing are still on our list of things to do well in Reading over the next few weeks.  

This week we will work with NON-FICTIONAL texts.  We will use a few different graphic organizers to help us notice text elements and record our thinking as we read. Their notes will cover the sequence of events that happen in the story.  Their thinking may also include connections, predictions, questions and inferences.

Writing
Mrs. Jenny Holter will help us finalize our work with procedural texts.  She will visit all classes again this week and help us create some shared writing!

SOCIAL STUDIES
STORY OF AMERICA

Our states QUIZ is this week.  Please make sure that your child has been studying the name and location of the 30 states sent home in the review 2 weeks ago.  This week students will participate in a grade level road trip.
Students will travel to other third grade teacher's classrooms and visit a few well known states.  While there they will virtually visit popular tourist destinations in these states.  To record the journey, they will create scrapbooks with photographs and journal entries.  Everyone will also collect souvenirs from each state trip.  

Mrs. Ford's LA and SS Class 2/24-2/28

LANGUAGE ARTS
Spelling
We WILL have spelling this week.  Please make sure to help your child learn his or her spelling words and their sort.  Homework is due Thursday.  Test day is Friday.  

Reading
Synthesizing and Summarizing are still on our list of things to do well in Reading over the next few weeks.  

This week we will work with FICTIONAL texts.  We will use a few different graphic organizers to help us notice text elements and record our thinking as we read. Their notes will cover the sequence of events that happen in the story.  Their thinking may include connections, predictions, questions and inferences.

We will also begin to notice how thinking may change as you read a text.  We will use a graphic organizer called I'm thinking...now I'm thinking... and now. We will read picture books together that do a great job of demonstrating how our thoughts about the plot or characters may change as we read a text, therefore, requiring us to synthesize all the information to make new meaning.

Writing
Mrs. Jenny Holter is now helping us work with procedural texts.  A few weeks ago she shared a great book, How to Babysit a Grandpa.  The kids were able to see how procedural texts can hit lots of different topics, not just food assembly!  She will visit all classes again this week to help us notice and name important parts of a procedural text.

SOCIAL STUDIES
STORY OF AMERICA

We will be learning about America's Artists this week: Bill Martin Jr., Laura Ingalls Wilder, Phillis Wheatley and Carmen Lomas Garza.
A review for our second assessment will come home this week. Students at HCE learn 10 states every year so that they will know the location of each state by the time they leave HCE. We will send home the 30 states your child is responsible for knowing/learning this year. You will get a blank map and a completed map to help with test preparation.