Third Grade News
November Curriculum Update
Reading Workshop
We are currently in our second unit of study, "Following Characters into Meaning." We are going to be in this unit for the month of November. We are going to discuss and practice envisioning, predicting, and discussing different elements of our books with our Reading Buddies. We are going to work on a "Character Project" where we focus on a character in the book we are reading and analyze different aspects of their life to see what that can tell us about the book. Also, I am going to introduce using a "Reader's Response Journals" in the coming weeks. The journal is an exciting way for them to interact and reflect on their reading.
Writing Workshop
The students are published authors! We celebrated our first unit of work around "True Stories" by doing a "gallery walk through" of our stories and leaving comments for our friends. We are starting our second unit "The Art of Information Writing" and will be in this unit for the month of November. The students are going to be creating a chapter book on a topic that they consider themselves to be an "expert." We are going to make a cover, table of contents, and the students will craft each chapter based on the information they want to tell the reader. We will once again begin our work in our Writer's Notebooks and draft our way to a published piece.
Math
We are currently in our third unit, Multiplication and Division. We are going to be reviewing our multiplication facts for 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 and begin to challenge ourselves with 6, 7 , 8, and 9 by the end of the month. We are going to create flash cards for ourselves and be practicing them on a daily basis to increase our fluency with our math facts. We are going to be working with one step and two step word problems and learn strategies for multiplying and dividing by 2, 3, and 4 digit numbers.
Event Information
Math Centers
Parents! We had our first Math Centers last month and it was a huge success and so much fun! We would love to have you come in and play math games with us! We need 4 parents each Math Center and I based my volunteers for the first one off of the responses from the volunteer sheet I handed out in the beginning of the year (at Back to School Night). Instead of going off that paper, I'll ask for volunteers at the start of each month on this update. I will accept volunteers on a "first come-first serve" basis but will try to give everyone a chance to participate and join in the fun!
Parents, email me by November 13th if you are interested in coming in for Math Centers this month. I will notify those parents who were picked to participate through email. Thank you!
When?
Wednesday, Nov 20, 2013, 12:30 PM
Where?
3MM Newtown Friends School, Middletown, PA
Social Studies
The students are working on their Continent Projects. They are researching different aspects of the continent and what life may be like for someone living there. We are going to be in the computer lab for every Social Studies class this month. They are exploring different websites for their information and are learning to work with a partner for the different tasks they need to accomplish. They are going to present their findings to the class at the end of the month.
Word Study
In November we will be studying irregular verbs, contractions, letters that spell the "k" , "s" and "j" sounds, prefixes, silent letters, and the "ee" spelling pattern. We enjoy the Sparkle game every Thursday to review spelling words of the week, and it is already proving to be a spectacular month for Word Study!