Week 24: February 13-17

Reminders and Upcoming dates to put on your calendar:

Valentine's Day Parties will be held on Tuesday, February 14th from 2:25-2:55 in your child's homeroom. Please send cards/treats with your child to pass out during the party. Please remember: NO TREATS WITH NUT PRODUCTS! Thank you for keeping our students safe. 

WITS Field Trip to The Menil Collection: Thursday, February 16th from 8:45am-12:00pm. Permission slips were sent home on Tuesday, February 7th. Please fill out and return as soon as possible. 

February

14- Valentine's Day Parties- 2:25-2:55 in homeroom class

16- WITS Field Trip to The Menil Collection 8:45am-12:00pm

17- Noon Dismissal

20- Presidents' Day (No School)

23- 3rd Grade Practice Reading STAAR

24- Go Texans Day

27- 3rd Grade Practice Math STAAR

This week in third grade...

Reading: Readers will read articles that lend themselves to identifying cause and effect relationships within the text. We will use graphic organizers to represent our thinking and support our ideas. We will also begin looking at STAAR-like nonfiction selections to become more familiar with their length and structure. 

Writing: Writers will continue our persuasive/argumentation essays unit. This week, we will choose our own topic (from a class list we brainstorm together) and will set up the structure of our essay. We will be focusing on creating a strong claim (thesis) to be supported by reasons (support points). Ask your writer what they are choosing to write about first! 

Examples of Persuasive Essay Structure:

Spelling: Students will receive new words on Thursday, February 16th and their test will be on Thursday, February 23rd. 

White group: Students will receive new words on Wednesday, February 15th and their test will be on Thursday, February 22nd. 

Social Studies: We will continue our economics unit, but this week, we start our Econ and Me videos!  ECON AND ME revolves around four children and their invisible friend, Econ, who apply economic principles to individuals, families, and communities. This week, we will study opportunity cost and how the kids learn to be resourceful with money while building their clubhouse.

Math: More fun with fractions this week. Comparing fractions can be a little difficult. The easiest ones are those with the same denominator. Just look at the numerator and see which one is larger. 

It is a little more tricky when the denominators are different and the numerators are the same. Students must think about the denominators and determine how many pieces the whole has been divided into. The larger the denominator, the more parts and the parts are smaller. Just the opposite of what most children think. A whole divided into 4 equal parts has larger pieces than a whole divided into 8 equal parts. Three of those big parts (3/4) is greater than three of the little parts (3/8). Students will be expected to be able to reason these two kinds of comparisons.

When the numerator and denominators are all different, students will h to use a model to visualize the fractions. We use sets, shapes, bars and number lines to show fractions that we are comparing. Here the number line shows that 2/3 is greater than 3/8.

This week we will also learn how to spot and create equivalent fractions. Equivalent fractions show the same amount but use different numerators and denominators. Models help students visualize fractions that are the same.

Eventually students will learn how to create equivalent fractions by multiplying or dividing the numerator and denominator by the same number. 

Everyone will have written math homework Monday through Wednesday nights. There will also be the usual Fast Fact Friday (FFF) quiz on Friday. Please help your child work toward mastering all multiplication facts. It is a third grade expectation.

We are excited to begin using a new online adaptive learning system, Dreambox. Students will have access to it both at school and at home. They will receive their login information in the next few days. We hope you will encourage your child to take advantage of this great resource. Use this link to access the program: Dreambox. It can also be accessed on the blog page entitled Math Websites.  Thank you PTA!

Science: This week we begin a unit on natural resources. Students will learn that all things are made from the gifts that nature shares with us. We will categorize resources as renewable, non-renewable and synthetic. The following vocabulary will be a focus for our learning.

natural resource - materials in nature that living things use

renewable resources - resources that can be replaced or will never be used up; these are found above ground

non-renewable resources - resources that cannot be replaced; once used, they are gone; these are found underground

synthetic resources - resources that are man-made

Week 23: February 6-10

Reminders and Upcoming dates to put on your calendar:

Book Fair This Week: HCE will celebrate reading with our annual Book Fair. Students may shop during our class times listed below. Feel free to send any money that your child can spend on books. Parents are also welcome to join us during our class visit. 

Badrak/Jackson  Tuesday 9:15 to 9:45

Rozzell/Scott  Tuesday 2:30 to 2:55

Ford/Duncan  Wednesday 9:15 to 9:45

Behavior Chart Change: In order to save paper and make communication between home and school more simple, we will not be using the printed behavior charts anymore. Instead, teachers will jot down any behavior comments in your child's planner (near the bottom of the day). Please initial the comment so that we know you received our note. Thank you for supporting and reinforcing the work we do at school!

WITS Field Trip to The Menil Museum: Thursday, February 16th from 8:45am-12:00pm. Permission slips will be coming home in Tuesday Newsday Folders this week. Please fill out and return as soon as possible. 

February

9 - Donuts with Dads 

14- Valentine's Day Parties- 2:25-2:55 in homeroom class

16- WITS Field Trip to The Menil Museum 

17 - Noon Dismissal

20- President's Day (No School)

24- Go Texans Day

This week in third grade...

Reading: Readers will dive deeper into nonfiction text features. We will learn how to navigate detailed maps, diagrams, tables, and photographs and discuss how the feature supports our learning. Instead of modeling in nonfiction books, we will be focusing on articles this week. 

Essential Question: How does this feature help me (the reader) access information? 

Example of an article with detailed text features:

Writing: Writers will continue our persuasive/argumentation essays unit. We will focus heavily on identifying claims and supporting points in essays we consume, but we will also begin working on our own claims! We know that authors of persuasive essays need support points to "hold up" their claim, so we will find points that strongly support our point of view. 

Author's argument =claim + support

Key Terms:
Argue
Make a Case
Point of View
Claim
Support Points
Fact
Opinion

Spelling: Students received new words on Thursday, February 2nd and will take their test on Thursday, February 9th. 

White group: Students received new words on Wednesday, February 1st and will take their test on Wednesday, February 8th. 

Social Studies: We will continue our economics unit, but this week, we start our Econ and Me videos!  ECON AND ME revolves around four children and their invisible friend, Econ, who apply economic principles to individuals, families, and communities. This week, we will study scarcity. When the children decide they want to build a clubhouse, they discover there is a scarcity of wood. 

Math: In Math this week students will experience fractions on a number line. We will learn how to represent fractions on a number line with a whole located from 0 to 1. The whole can be divided into 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 equal parts. 

Students will learn how to draw and identify fractions by "swishing" the numerator and denominator of a fraction. To represent 2/3, the number line must be divided into 3 equal parts. Starting at 0, swish under the line to confirm that the denominator is 3. Then swish on the top of the line the numerator 2 to locate the 2/3 point. Two-thirds is the piece from 0 to the 2/3 mark.

We will use this "swish" method to compare two fractions that have different denominators but are part of the same size whole.

Everyone will have written math homework Monday through Wednesday nights. Students will receive a Problem of the Week (POW) on Monday. It is due on Friday. Please work with your child to complete this. Your math conversation can be very helpful. There will also be the usual Fast Fact Friday (FFF) quiz on Friday. Please help your child work toward mastering all multiplication facts. It is a third grade expectation.

Science: We wrap up our unit on Rapid Changes to Earth's Surface this week. Early in the week we will explore the constructive and destructive forces of tsunamis, hurricanes and tornadoes. Midweek we will review for our final quiz on Thursday, February 9. This is a date change from last week. Students should be studying the vocabulary cards and review sheet that went home last week. On Friday, we hope to begin a new unit on Earth's Natural Resources.

Week 22: January 30-February 3

Reminders and Upcoming dates to put on your calendar:

Souper Bowl of Caring at HCE! 
Using the energy of the Super Bowl to mobilize youth in a united national effort to care for people in their local communities who are hungry and those in need.
When: January 23-February 3
How can we help: donate canned goods and nonperishable foods to HCE by Feb. 3rd. 
Where: Drop off items on the cafeteria stage. 

Scholastic Book orders due Wednesday, February 1st. 

February

3- Progress Reports Go Home

3- Class and Individual Picture Day

9 - Donuts with Dads 

14- Valentine's Day

17 - Noon Dismissal

20- President's Day (No School)

24- Go Texans Day

This week in third grade...

Reading: Readers will focus on finding the main idea within nonfiction texts this week. 

What features within the text can help me determine main idea?

-headings/subheadings

- title (main idea for whole book/selection)

- repeated words/phrases

- recurring ideas

Good readers use text evidence (supporting details or text features) to infer the main idea of a text. We will use familiar nonfiction books this week to find the main idea using text evidence.

Writing: Writers will continue our persuasive/argumentation essays unit. We reviewed fact vs. opinion statements, what it means to have a point of view, and how to make a case. We will extend that work this week and focus on the big question: what is the author's argument? 

Author's argument =claim + support

We will spend time reading other essays looking for the claim and support points that help make the author's argument. 

Spelling: Students will get new words on Thursday, February 2nd and will take their test on Thursday, February 9th. 

White group: Students will get new words on Wednesday, February 1st and will take their test on Wednesday, February 8th. 

Social Studies: We will continue our economics unit and will be focusing on budgets and how we can earn, save, and spend money. We will look at mock budgets and decide how a person or a family decides when to save and when to spend money. 

Key vocabulary words:
earn
income
budgets
savings
expenses
wants vs. needs


Math: In math this week, we are moving into our next unit on fractions. We will be discovering what a fraction is. We will review previously learned vocabulary for fractions included numerator and denominator. We will work to understand the unit fractions - 1/2, 1/3, 1/8, but we will also discuss non-unit fractions where the numerator is not one. 

 

Everyone will have written math homework Monday through Wednesday nights. Students will receive a Problem of the Week (POW) on Monday. It is due on Friday. Please work with your child to complete this. Your math conversation can be very helpful. There will also be the usual Fact Fast Friday (FFF) quiz on Friday. Please help your child work toward mastering all multiplication facts. It is a third grade expectation.

Science: In science this week, we are moving forward with our discussion of rapid changes to the Earth's surface. On Monday, your child will come home with vocabulary cards and a review sheet for rapid changes. We will have a quiz over this material on Wednesday, February 8th. The rapid changes that we will discuss in class are volcanoes, landslides, tsunamis, hurricanes, and tornadoes. We will examine each of these changes and discuss how they are constructive and destructive to Earth's surface. 

Week 21: January 23-27

Upcoming dates to put on your calendar:

January 
25 and 26- Reading PSA2

February

3- Progress Reports Go Home

3- Class and Individual Picture Day

9 - Donuts with Dads 

14- Valentine's Day

17 - Noon Dismissal

20- President's Day (No School)

24- Go Texans Day

This week in third grade...

Reading: Readers will continue to consume and analyze non-fiction texts. This week, we will consume biographies and compare them to narrative non-fiction texts. We will analyze the presentation and text features the author uses in biographies compared to those used in literary non-ficton. We will be reading biographies on important Americans we have studied in social studies!

Writing: Writers will begin a new unit on writing persuasive/argumentation essays. We will explore issues, discuss what it means to take a side, and look at how to support our claims with valid support points. We will read many examples and analyze essays for several days, as this genre is new to our third graders. We can't wait to see the topics they choose as the unit unfolds! 

Spelling: Due to the district Reading PSA2 we will be administering on Thursday (1/26), third grade will not be giving new spelling words this week. In lieu of spelling for the week, we will begin our cursive unit. Students will get new words on Thursday, February 2nd. 

White group will take their first test on Wednesday, January 25th. 

Spelling change reminder: Due to our WITS schedules and differentiated grouping across ELA teachers/classrooms, we will be moving our spelling day to Thursday this semester (with the exception of the white group that will stay on Wednesday).  

Social Studies: We will continue our economics unit and will be focusing on businesses in America. How can one idea spark an idea for a business? Why are some businesses successful and some are not? We will read about Ray Kroc and how he transformed McDonald's. 

Math: We will spend this week learning different strategies for 2 digit times 1 digit multiplication. We will begin with a picture model where students use a place value chart to build a picture of a product. 42 X 3 looks like this.

PICTURE MODEL

Students will learn how to multiply numbers with trailing zeros. Examples of these are 30, 200, 7000.  They are a digit followed by only zeros. When multiplying these, we multiply the non-zero number first and then add on the appropriate number of zeros. For example,   60x3=___. Multiply 6x3, which equals 18. Then add on the one zero to make 180.

Our next strategy is the expanded method. The two digit number is expanded to form an addition problem showing the value of tens and ones. That is then multiplied by the 1 digit to get an addition problem of the products. The final step is to add the two numbers to get a final product. The expanded method looks like this.

EXPANDED METHOD

The same idea behind the expanded method is put into a box for the box method. The process is the same, just a little cleaner and organized. The box method looks like this.

BOX METHOD

The last strategy, and the one most parents recognize, is the algorithm or mechanical process for finding the product. Starting in the ones place, you multiply and write the ones and carry over or regroup into the tens. Then multiply the tens place and add in what you regrouped from the ones. The algorithm looks like this.

ALGORITHM

Towards the end of the week, we will have a quick introduction to our next unit, fractions. Students will learn that a fraction is part of a whole and that each number in a fraction has a special name and definition. The top number, or numerator, tells you the number of equal parts you are focusing on. The bottom number, or denominator, is the total number of parts the whole is divided into. Students will learn that a unit fraction is one with a numerator of 1. For example, 1/2 and 1/3 and 1/8 are all unit fractions.

Everyone will have written math homework Monday through Wednesday nights. Students will receive a Problem of the Week (POW) on Monday. It is due on Friday. Please work with your child to complete this. Your math conversation can be very helpful. There will also be the usual Fact Fast Friday (FFF) quiz on Friday. Please help your child work toward mastering all multiplication facts. It is a third grade expectation.

Science: This week we finish our study of weathering, erosion, soil, and decomposition. Students will understand that soil in different places is different because of the unique rocks, plants and animals that are naturally there. We will begin a study of forces that result in rapid changes to Earth's surface. These include earthquakes, volcanoes, and landslides. We will discuss the layers of our planet, especially the crust made up of many tectonic plates that float on the liquid mantle. Students will learn how to categorize these forces as constructive (build up Earth) or destructive (tears down Earth), or both and why. 

Week 20: January 17-20

Upcoming dates to put on your calendar:

1/16 - School Holiday for Students and Staff 

1/17 - School Store Open 7:30am - 7:50am for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, near the library

1/19 - 9:30am PTA General Meeting

This week in third grade...

Reading: Readers will consume and analyze a variety of fiction and non-fiction texts in order to notice and name differences between the genres.  We will look specifically at narrative non-fiction texts and focus on why authors choose to write about topics in this manner. 

Narrative non-fiction: a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. (This will be a genre presented on the STAAR test in May.) 

Essential questions we will consider: 

• Instead of writing biographies, why would an author choose to write about a person or event in a narrative format? 
• What is the purpose of this genre? And how can we identify it? 

Writing: Writers will wrap up our poetry unit this week. We will choose our favorite poems, revise them, edit them, and publish our best work. On Friday, we will have our end-of-unit writer's celebration and share our pieces within our community of writers. We have loved watching our writers experiment with different types and styles of poetry the past few weeks! 

Spelling: Due to our WITS schedules and differentiated grouping across ELA teachers/classrooms, we will be moving our spelling day to Thursday this semester (with the exception of the white group that will stay on Wednesday). New spelling groups started Thursday, January 12, and the test will be Thursday, January 19th. 

Social Studies: We will continue our economics unit and will be focusing on goods and services this week. We will be able to differentiate between the goods and services we use as consumers in our own lives. 

Math: This week is dedicated to a review of multiplication and division. Students will practice recognizing when to use each operation and how to use the many strategies we have learned in the past few weeks. Multiplication problems give you two numbers (factors), the number of groups and the number in each group. The question asks for a total number (product). Strategies explained in earlier blog posts include equal groups, number lines, arrays, skip counting, and repeated addition. Division problems give you the total and how many groups you will make with that large number. The question asks for how many are in each group.(quotient) The octopus strategy is best for this. It could also give you the total and the number in each group and ask for the number of groups you can make.(quotient) The cookie strategy works best for this. Other division strategies include skip counting, repeated subtraction and knowing the related multiplication fact that will give you an immediate answer. These strategies are also explained in previous blog posts. After several days of practice, students will be tested on their multiplication and division skills this Friday.
FFF (Fast Fact Friday) quiz will still be on Friday this week. If your child is not well into knowing their multiplication facts, at least on sixes or sevens, it is time to step up the effort. Please help your child practice flash cards, previous quizzes, and apps to solidify their knowledge of basic facts. Multiplication is a priority, but don't forget to review addition and subtraction every once in a while. There is no POW (Problem of the Week) this short week. This Thursday, we will give the next PSA to see how our students have grasped concepts taught the first half of the year. 

Science: Having just finished a unit on Force and Motion, we move on to Natural Resources. One of Earth's greatest resources is soil. Beginning with the processes of weathering and erosion, soil is a combination of pieces of weathered rock, air, water, and decomposed plants and animals called humus. Worms and insects allow air and water to enter soil and help make it great for growing plants. Decomposition of all living materials is part of the life cycle and food chain. Knowing what will and will not decay will help students understand the importance of recycling and not littering. 

natural resource - anything made by nature and used by man
weathering - the process the breaks down rocks into tiny pieces over time
erosion - the carrying away of weathered rock
agents - causes
decompose - rot, decay
organic - living or once alive
humus - decomposed organic material (plants and animals)

Week 19: January 9-13

Upcoming dates to put on your calendar:

1/9 - Parent Education Meeting  9:30am - 10:15am       Math Facts With Your Child: Learn how to help your child master the basic facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) with some easy games you can play at home.

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

1/16 - School Holiday for Students and Staff 

1/17 - School Store Open 7:30am - 7:50am for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, near the library

1/19 - 9:30am PTA General Meeting

This week in third grade....

Reading: Readers will wrap up our unit in poetry on Monday and Tuesday. We will look at a familiar poem, answer questions about the piece, and discuss how the text evidence helped us draw conclusions. 

Next, we will start thinking deeply about summarizing texts. We will read familiar passages and decide how to best summarize the events in the story. We will use a fun method called CPR, which stands for Characters, Problem, and Solution, to find the best answer choice. The best summaries include all three components. 

Writing: Writers will begin writing poetry this week! After spending time consuming poetry in reading, our learners are anxious to start looking at poetry through the eyes of a writer. We will write about ordinary things and ideas that create extraordinary feelings within us. We'll be looking at 4 elements to help guide our poetry writing: central ideas (theme), purpose (who is your audience and why are you writing this piece?), mood, and form (which poetic form best conveys your theme and purpose?). 

Spelling: Mid-year spelling inventories are complete. We have formed spelling groups based on the most current spelling data from our learners. New spelling groups will start this Wednesday, January 11th, and the test will be the following Wednesday, January 18th. 

Social Studies: We will begin our unit on markets, business, and budgets. This week, we will discuss in detail what a free market is and why it’s important to the US economy.

Math: This week we continue the study of division, striving for students to develop an "ear" for how a division situation sounds and then choosing an appropriate strategy. As explained in last week's blog post, our two main strategies are the "octopus" and "cookie" methods. We are also viewing division as "repeated subtraction", just the opposite of multiplication. Similar to the "cookie" method, this subtraction tells us how many groups you will end up with in the end. For example... If Chef Jones bakes 12 cookies and packages them into bags of 3, how many bags will he be able to fill? The equation is 12÷3=___. How many threes are in 12?

Yet another strategy is to "skip count" to find the answer. For 12÷3=___, skip count by 3 up to 12 and see how many numbers that is. 3,6,9,12 will give you 4. The final strategy, and the one we hope all third graders will eventually be able to use, is to know their multiplication facts well enough to come up with the "related multiplication" in that same fact family that will give them an immediate answer. Again, for 12÷3=___, if the student knows that 3x4=12 or 4x3=12, they will know that 12÷3=4. As the week progresses, our students will try their hand at writing division word problems that reflect real life situations. They will have an opportunity to solve each others' problems posted around the room. By Friday, we will revisit multiplication along with division and give students practice knowing when to use which operation. A new Problem of the Week goes home on Monday. Please work with your child to discuss and solve it. It is due on Friday. We will also have our regular Fast Fact Friday quiz on whichever facts your child has reached. As usual, there is written math homework Monday through Wednesday nights.

Science: In Science, we wrap up gravity then spend a few days playing with magnets and feeling how they repel and attract. Then we'll explore the benefits of using a pulley to lift heavy loads. On Friday, we will review force and motion and take a quick 15 question quiz.
Enjoy this quick video on pulleys.

Week 18: January 4-6, 2017

Happy New Year and welcome back! We hope you had a wonderful holiday break. We are looking forward to another incredible semester in third grade! 

Upcoming dates to put on your calendar:

1/3- Student holiday

1/4-Students return to school

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 about the third grade STAAR test. We will meet in the library from 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.

1/16- School Holiday for Students and Staff 

Reading: Readers will continue to read poetry! Before the break, we focused on information in the poem that  pulls at the reader's sense of hearing, smelling, seeing, feeling, and tasting. This week, we will spend more time studying how these sensory details also help us infer more about the character (feelings and emotions), situations, and moods we read about in poems. For example, what words in a poem suggest that a speaker is happy? or frustrated? We will use text evidence to support our thinking. 

Writing: Writers will review what good writers do to help them plan and organize a small moment to share in writing or in conversation. 

Spelling: New spelling groups will start Wednesday, January 11th, and the test will be the following Wednesday, January 18th. 

Social Studies: Our focus on good citizens turns to Dr. Hector P. Garcia this week. We will learn about how he worked to make life better for Latino and Hispanic Americans. 

Math: We continue our study of division this week. As an operation, division begins with a total (whole) and divides it into equal groups (parts). The octopus strategy is used when we know the total and the number of groups it is divided into. We are solving for the number in each group. This is how a problem like this sounds. A one pound bag of Snickers contains 24 candy bars. If 4 children share them equally, how many Snickers will each child get? 
The octopus strategy looks like this:

Wednesday we will review what we have already learned about octopus division and practice the strategy in class. On Thursday and Friday, students will be introduced to the other division strategy, the cookie method. This one is used when we know the total (whole) and how many will be in each group. We are solving for the number of groups that will be formed. A problem like this is: A one pound bag of Snickers contains 24 candy bars. If each child gets 4 Snickers, how many children will get candy bars? Using dots, the 24 candy bars are circled in groups of 4. We end up with 6 groups representing the 6 children who will get Snickers. The cookie method looks like this:

Math homework for Wednesday and Thursday will be to study for our weekly Fast Fact Friday quiz. There is no written homework.

Science:  On Wednesday we will be reviewing friction as the force between an object and the surface it moves over. Surfaces with much friction will slow an object quickly, whereas surfaces with little friction will not. Students will participate in a "Toy Car Race" to explore surfaces and friction in our room. On Thursday and Friday we will explore gravity and its effect on Earth and falling objects. Gravity is the force that pulls objects toward each other. Larger objects have stronger gravity than smaller objects. The Sun's gravity holds the planets in their orbits and the moon's gravity causes Earth's tides to rise and fall. The rate an object falls here on Earth is controlled by its shape and the amount of air resistance it experiences, not its weight or mass. Astronauts on the Moon performed an experiment that helps to show us that.