Team Third Grade
Mrs. Behm, Mrs. Komar, Mrs. Frye & Mrs. Marcks
December 11, 2020
Community
Thank you for meeting with us during Virtual Parent Teacher Conferences 2020. Always be mindful that we are here to teach, guide, communicate, and learn together. We care about all of our students and families. Thank you for the continued support you show us in return! We wish you and your families a very Happy Holidays and look forward to the New Year!
Language Experience
In Language Workshop, we have been reading & unpacking biographies of various individuals who impacted others and influenced the lives of many. We have discovered different ways that these individuals responded to a challenge, event, or relationship that caused them to problem solve and persevere. These stories are well received because they bring hope and focus to what’s possible when we keep striving to be creative and passionate about what we love.
Grammar/Patterns of Power
During our language experience, we have continued to focus on using coordinating conjunctions and a comma to produce compound sentences. We studied and applied how compound sentences have a subject and a verb on both the left and right side of the comma and coordinating conjunction. Our readers and writers are becoming precise noticers of how compound sentences are formed.
Reader's Workshop
We have been working diligently on identifying the important events in a biography in chronological order as well as composing summaries for a few biographies. We have also studied the relationships among the series of events, steps in a text and the language that relates to time, sequence and cause and effect. As readers, we have continued to focus on using context clues to figure out the meaning of words. It has been a very productive month in Reading Workshop.
Writing Workshop
Writers have closed out first trimester writing with a personal narrative and biography report. This is exciting! Ask your writer how they feel as a writer! As the new trimester begins, writers are learning about opinion / persuasive writing. Look for some good discussions about what opinions we are talking about in writing.
Word Study & Phonics
In our phonics study this week, we have worked with r-Controlled vowels, er, ir, & ur. These have been tricky! The consonant r changes the sounds of our vowels! Last week 3rd graders worked on the r-Controlled vowels of ar, or, and ore. After 2 weeks of r-Controlled vowels, students have been able to see how difficult the English language is! Next week is equally tricky with closed first syllables and closed second syllables.
Math Workshop
We are almost done with our multiplication unit! Students are eager to try different strategies as they are exploring this new concept. Some strategies include repeated addition, equal groups, and making arrays. Ask your kiddo what their favorite strategy is! There was a study guide sent home today. We have noticed a direct correlation between students who complete the study and the grade on their test. These study guides are used to help our kiddos as well as providing an answer key to help you. After break, we start fractions. Stay tuned for that!
Social Studies
Since our last newsletter we finished two units. In our unit about citizenship and local government, students learned that they are citizens of the city of Waukesha in addition to being part of several other communities (our school, teams, clubs, etc.) They learned the rights and responsibilities of citizens as well as tried to determine the difference between the two. They are working on being responsible citizens by following the rules and laws. We used inquiry to learn who our mayor is and what he does for the city of Waukesha using sources such as https://waukesha-wi.gov/. Feel free to share the ways you participate in our community with your son or daughter, for example: voting, volunteering, etc.
During our virtual learning we studied Waukesha history. The students had a great time learning about the unique history of our city, famous people, and the interesting events that happened so long ago. You should have seen a study guide come home and students completed their assessment this week. Although students saw many old photographs, we encourage you to take the opportunity to visit some of the places that still exist today to make this learning come alive.
Effigy mounds at Cutler Park (outside of the Waukesha public library)
Springs and spring houses (Frame Park, Bethesda Park, behind the YMCA, etc.)
Waukesha history museum https://www.waukeshacountymuseum.org/
Science
Our current unit focuses on magnetic force. Students will have the opportunity to explore with magnets to discover how they attract and repel. They will learn about the north and south poles as well. They need to know that opposite poles attract (pull together/stick) and like poles repel (push away).
Second Step
We are continuing to weave our social emotional learning throughout other content areas so that students can understand how vital this topic is. Our most recent conversations revolved around showing compassion and how to make friends. Using kind words and carrying on a conversation is something that is modeled for our third graders. Students discussed empathy, and that empathy put into action is called compassion.