Third Grade News
November 2015
Mark Your Calendars
Thursday, November 12- STEM Night 6:00-7:30pm
Friday, November 20 - Midterms (A printed midterm will come home for struggling students. Otherwise, just check the portal for up to date grades.)
November 23-29 - No School!
Reading Rocks
Reading makes us think and laugh! Students will be engaged in laughter and think about word meaning as we continue to learn how to understand figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings. We will also distinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context (e.g., take steps).
Students are learning how to use the R.A.C.E. strategy to help them answer questions to provide meaningful answers as well as cite and provide evidence for their answers. Please ask your child the meaning of the acronym R.A.C.E.
As students are reading, we would like them to use reference materials. We will begin to focus on the use of glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases. Please see the link for additional resources of reference tools.
http://www.refdesk.com/essentl.html
Reminders: 25 Books Campaign- Students should have 16 books read and documented in their log. Please encourage your child to follow the reading schedule.
Monday- Thursday Reading Homework: Read for 20-30 minutes and fill out the Reading homework Log. A reading log was sent home with the dates written. Please initial the log.
Friday- Sunday- Students should work on the 25 Books Campaign Log
Pizza Coupons will be awarded randomly. Please help your child remember Tuesdays are library day and Friday I will check the Reading Log/Homework.
"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader." — Margaret Fuller
Writing for Success
In writing we’ve moved from organizing our ideas in paragraphs to understanding how to turn those ideas into quality opinion pieces. Students have grown as writers in learning how to create powerful paragraphs that allow them to share their thoughts and feelings on a specific topic. They’ve created paragraphs on topics of their choosing and they’ve written paragraphs on specifically assigned topics. Ask your child about our Hershey kiss taste test writing!
We will temporarily leave this genre of writing and then revisit it in the fourth quarter.
From opinion writing we will move on to Informational writing. We will begin by focusing on topics in which we have a lot of knowledge. From there we will decide on which topic to focus on for our writing samples. Once again we’ll start small and then build to a much longer piece. Students will use graphic organizers, informational writing maps, to help organize their thinking as we move from writing short paragraphs to writing longer essays.
You can help your child by giving them opportunities to write about topics they know. If your child is in Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts, have them write a short letter to their grandparents (or other family members) that includes everything they know about this activity. Encourage them to include information about the history of the organization as well as the activities that they participate in throughout the year. This could be the beginning of a wonderful pen pal relationship!
Grammar Fun
We are currently working on regular and irregular plural nouns. As a basic rule, you simply add ‘s’ to the end of a noun to make it plural. Of course there are many other rules that must also be followed and students are working on learning and using those rules to form plural nouns. You should see a chart in their binder that lists this information:
If the noun ends in_______Make these changes
Example
*S, x, ch, or es add es box=boxes
*consonant and y change y to I and add es baby=babies
*vowel and y add s monkey=monkeys
*f or fe change the f or fe to ves knife=knives
Students will also focus on irregular plurals that change (or do not change) completely. For example: foot=feet, goose=geese, mouse=mice, deer=deer, sheep=sheep
Once we’ve completed work on this we will move onto using resource tools: dictionary, thesaurus, glossary. We will also focus on alphabetical order to improve those skills and to help them understand how those resources are organized. Our test on all of these second quarter skills will be (subject/verb agreement, pronoun/antecedent agreement, regular and irregular plural nouns, using dictionary, thesaurus, glossary, and alphabetical order) Wednesday, November 11.
Math Corner
During this time, we will also be practicing how to solve two step word problems. Students will learn to follow three steps to solve word problems.
Step 1 - Read the problem and create a picture in your mind of what is happening in the problem.
Step 2 - Reread the problem and record or underline the important information needed in order to solve the problem.
Step 3 - Reread the problem and make a plan then SOLVE!
Students are encouraged to draw a picture of what is happening in the problem before attaching a math sentence to it. This helps students to identify what operation in necessary to solve the problem. Try practicing these steps on any word problems found on student homework.
Investigating Science
Throughout the Rocks, Minerals unit, students will compare and contrast rocks and minerals. They will determine the physical attributes of rocks and minerals using observations (shape, color, and texture), measurements, and the properties of minerals (hardness, streak, luster, color, cleavage). They will classify rocks according to the manner in which they formed (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic). They will also use the rock cycle to determine the different types of rocks.
Throughout the Soil unit, students will compare and contrast the texture, particle size and color in top soils (clay, loam, potting soil, sand). Using observational skills and research students will determine how wind can change rocks and soil over time.
Several links have been loaded on eclass under Rocks and Minerals to help review rocks, minerals, and soil. Have your kids talk to you about the rocks they have studied. Go on a rock hunt and find rocks for your child to identify based on the properties of the rocks. A letter came home that explaining each unit and how the students can work through their lab books at home for further practice and review.
Word Study
in- not
im- and il- (ir-) which also mean not
ex- -out
sub- under/below
co- and con- together/with
Students may bring home their word study books any night they would like in order to study, but the books need to be back at school each day for classwork.
Please see the letter included in the email for further information about the differences in spelling and word study.
Social Studies Update
Don't forget all of the books related to these historical figures can be found on the eclass page. They even have a read aloud feature that is a great way for students to review!