The Monthly Mustang
The Official Newsletter for Wedgwood School Families
December 2016 - Third Grade Update
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The third graders are off to a wonderful start! We are so proud of how easily the students have adapted to third grade! There are so many exciting and interesting activities planned for them this school year!
Third graders love our writing program! In Being a Writer, the students are exposed to different genres of literature. This year we will read and write personal narratives, persuasive essays, fiction stories, expository nonfiction, descriptive paragraphs, and functional essays. The children can improve their writing skills by keeping journals/response logs at home. You and your child can write to each other daily. This is a great form of communication!
Third grade has been busy exploring math in an exciting way through the Everyday Math program. This program uses various strategies to develop critical thinking. It provides the students with practice of basic skills through games and routines. In Unit 1, the class established routines, reviewed time, number patterns, and subtraction. We even practiced multiplication and division facts! In Unit 2, the class added and subtracted whole numbers, with special emphasis placed on basic facts and their extensions. We also solved multiplication and division word problems. The students used place value to practice strategies for addition and subtraction of two and three digit numbers and continued solving multiplication facts in Unit 3. Please feel free to assist your child in studying their fact triangles every night. Your child can also benefit from playing Everyday Math games online using Connect Ed. and Xtramath! This will make learning math concepts much easier, and not to mention a whole lot of fun!
We read many types of fiction books during our fiction and traditional literature genre units. The students learned the different elements of both fiction and traditional literature. We also learned how to summarize, determine character traits, identify point of view, and much more! The nonfiction genre will be explored in the second marking period. We encourage your child to read chapter books and nonfiction books at home and in school. Children should also be reading for longer durations of time in third grade.
In Fundations, we enjoy the various activities which help us learn our new words and spelling concepts. Thanks to our second grade teachers, we know how to write our letters in cursive. We continue to practice our cursive writing in class. Extra practice at home always helps.
Social Studies is so much fun! We reviewed the continents and oceans, and we explored our great state of New Jersey! We traveled through the United States and learned about our country’s regions. Third graders created travel brochures on their favorite U.S. region. They focused on the states, landmarks, and other fun facts pertaining to their region. Both the students and teachers enjoyed this unit!
Third grade would like to graciously thank the parents and P.T.O. for all the things they do. Thank you for your involvement and generosity!
We look forward to working with you this year and hope you enjoy third grade as much as we enjoy teaching it!
Wedgwood Elementary School
Email: czimmerman@wtps.org
Website: wtps.org/wedgwood
Location: 236 Hurffville Road, Sewell, NJ 08080
Phone: (856) 227-8110
Twitter: @wedgwoodwtps