3rd Grade News
Mrs. Fritz's Newsletter
Month Of April
CLASS NEWS
I can't believe that we are into the fourth card marking for the school year. Time does fly. This week third graders will begin the M-STEP test. Testing will take place in the afternoons. The third grade window is open for three weeks. However, we do not test every day. The third grade classrooms will test on the afternoons of April 26 and 27, and then again the afternoons of May 2, 3, and 4. Please stress the importance to your child of doing his/her personal best on the test. Also, make sure your child gets plenty of rest the night before the test dates and comes to school after eating a healthy breakfast with a nutritional lunch if he/she does not buy a hot lunch at school.
Our science classes have been working hard finishing up a unit on Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and our Human Footprint. As a culminating activity, we will be taking a field trip to SOCRRA on Wednesday, May 11th from 1:00-3:00. Students are bringing permission slips and drivers information sheets home today. All permission slips and driver forms are due back by Friday, May 6th.
Our final field trip of the year is scheduled for Monday, June 20 to Greenfield Village. Permission slips will be sent home with students on Friday, April 29. Permission slips and check made out to Northwood Elementary, Volunteer Driver Information Sheets and a copy of current driver's license and proof of insurance are due by May 20. This will allow third grade teachers ample opportunity to advance order tickets and plan for this event.
READER'S WORKSHOP
We have come to the end of another reading unit: "Mixed Genre Series Clubs". This unit focused on strengthening comprehension strategies to become stronger readers and honing communication skills in the classroom through reading material discussion. The remainder of the year will be spent on working with and reviewing comprehension strategies while sharing read alouds, working in book clubs and partnerships, and of course, independent reading.
WRITER'S WORKSHOP
We have completed our unit: "The Persuasive Essay". Students chose a topic by thinking about an issue in their life which is important to them. They then wrote a four paragraph essay by making a claim and writing a lead, supporting the claim with two pieces of evidence which had to be supported by a mini-story from their life, and a survey or interview. In the final paragraph writers had to urge their reader to action. Final drafts turned out wonderful. The remainder of the year will focus on grammar and sentence structure during the writing process.
MATH
We just completed unit 6 on "Polygons, Perimeter, and Area". This week we will begin work in Unit 7 "Explore Fractions". In this unit, your child will be introduced to fractions. Students will build fractions from unit fractions and explore fractions as parts of a whole. Students will find equivalent fractions, and compare fractions with either the same denominator or the same numerator. In this unit, your child will solve real world problems using his or her understanding of fraction concepts.
SCIENCE
Next week we will begin our final science unit on Force and Motion.