News from Mrs. Drudy's Class
"We exist so children can excel."
September 15, 2017
Next Week's Reading Focus
Big Idea: Landmarks
Essential Question: How do landmarks help us to understand our country's story?
Next week our class will continue our focus on how landmarks help tell the story of our nation’s history. This concludes our unit 1 course of study, and, as a result, this upcoming week will be a bit of review. You will notice that there are only 15 phonics words (instead of the typical 20), 5 challenge words, and 5 review core words.
Spelling List
Next week's spelling words have a focus on diphthongs spelled oi, oy, ou, and ow.
Phonics Words
proud
shower
hour
amount
voyage
choice
avoid
thousand
prowl
employ
bounce
poison
annoy
appoint
broil
Core Words
because
could
would
another
different
Challenge Words
however
mountain
coward
turmoil
chowder
Next Week's Share Topic:
My Favorite Movie: What is your favorite movie? Is it one that you saw in a theater or one that you watched at home? Briefly tell us what it was about. Who were the main characters? Was there a problem in the movie? If so, how was it solved?
Students are doing a fantastic job with their oral share topics. You should see the ease by which they present to their fellow classmates!
Social Studies: Just Map It!
Sadly, our study of rocks has come to a close. Over the next few weeks, we'll be delving into map skills. Students will explain that simple grid systems (latitude and longitude) are used to locate places on maps and globes, begin to understand the Earth/sun relationship, identify the distinctive physical and cultural features of their community, explain the geographic relationships between their own community and the state and other states within the region, and compare the geographic characteristics of their own community with communities in other parts of the world. Whew! We're going to be busy, busy, busy!!!!
Speaking of social studies...Did you know that Sunday, September 17 is Constitution Day? We will carve time out of our busy Monday schedule to discuss this significant historical document and how it affects our lives.
Service Learning: Hurricane Harvey
The third graders have been hard at work practicing the LifeSkill of caring and honing their friendly letter writing skills. You see, they have reached out to folks in the state of Texas who've been adversely affected by Hurricane Harvey. After watching news clips about students who might not be able to return to their neighborhood schools for six months to a year, the writing came easy for them. Your heart would be filled with pride by reading their words of compassion.
Math Groups: Wrapping It Up
All math groups have wrapped up the number sense unit of instruction. Don't be mistaken, though. We will be constantly revisiting these concepts throughout the year through what we call "spiraled" instruction. As we all know, concepts stored in our brains tend to slide off the brain mountain when they're not being used...and we don't want that to happen with critical mathematical skills.
We will now be moving on to adding and subtracting larger numbers with and without regrouping. For those of us who are "old school," regrouping is simply good old-fashioned borrowing and carrying. In order to assist students with understanding, we will be employing a variety of strategies which include the break apart strategy, the open number line strategy, number bonds, and the standard algorithm (the process that is normally used to solve multi-digit addition problems). According to the Indiana Academic Standards, students must be able to:
- Add and subtract whole numbers fluently within 1000.
Remember, your child should be practicing his or her math facts at home. Third graders are expected to pass the 2 1/2 minute timing in addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Ideally, all students will have moved on to (at least) subtraction by this point in the school year. Keep practicing those math facts at home!!!!!!
Coming Up
School Picture Day Sept. 21
Our Weekly Related Arts Schedule
Monday Art
Tuesday P.E.
Wednesday P.E.
Thursday Computer
Friday Music and Library
**Remember...your child must wear gym shoes on the days we have P.E.