The Ritenour Review
2015 - 2016 Third Grade Weekly News
Websites to Use at Home
Math Sites:
- khanacademy.org
- xtramath.org
- Scootpad: go to zcs.k12.in.us -> login using username: first-last and password is lunch code -> click on scootpad icon
- office.com: We have used Word so far.
- Newela: Current Event Reading
**We will add to this list in the coming weeks.
Brr, It's Getting Cold
Old Man Winter is around the corner. We are feeling it during recess. Please, encourage your child to bring warmer clothes for the recess block. Brrr!
Field Trip
Our field trip to the Southside Landfill and Indiana State Museum will be on Tuesday, November 13.
Due to being able to only take one bus for two classes, we needed to limit our chaperone numbers. We have reached our max limit for chaperones this field trip and those fabulous volunteers are the following: Mrs. Ozuyener, Mrs. Johnston, Mrs. Pfeffer, Mrs. Singleton and Mrs. King.
There will be a charge for chaperones to the Indiana State Museum, but that fee will be determined later, closer to the date. As for any field trip, you must ride the bus to and from, and you must have your full background check completed and filed with our front office. (All five third grade classrooms are experiencing this field trip on different days, so don't get confused. Our trip will be on combined with Mr. Burch's class on Tuesday, November 13.)
Rock Lady
Just as we expected, the Rock Lady was a big hit! Our kids learned a bit about rocks and minerals and how our state utilizes our natural resources. Each child was able to make their own concrete sample and received a rock box! We are always blown away by the thoughtfulness and generosity displayed by Holly Ward and her company imi. Your child's rock box will remain at school until the end of the school year. We will use them for a few experiments and lessons throughout their third grade journey. I am passionate about rocks, so it was a joy to see their eyes light up and their hearts open up to a new concepts in our crazy world of third grade. We are ROCKIN' in third grade! (Okay, I'll limit the rock puns for the remainder of this blog.
Genius Hour
Genius Hour! We are taking a bit longer with our non-fiction unit, so we are going to hold off on moving into our Genius Hour conversation. Although we are moving slower through this current reading unit, I am thrilled with the progress we are making. Main ideas and supporting details are TOUGH. We are working on being mindful to support the main idea and not get tricked by those fun, side facts. We are learning and growing - my expectations are high on this unit though. Non-fiction is a key genre, so we are giving it a lot of respect.
Math:
As planned, we worked hard with the concept of area this week. We used a lot of manipulative to build a concrete understanding of this math skill. Area will present itself in many ways this year. It will help us with our geometry skills, build our addition skills and make our lives in multiplying larger numbers MUCH easier. As with anything in math, we need to visualize first. Solving for the area on a 2-D worksheet can be overwhelming; however, hopefully, we have built a solid foundation to grow our thinking throughout this year.
Geography:
We kicked off our first social studies unit of the year: Geography! In third grade, we are expected to understand the region(s) and main geographical concepts connected to Indiana. To make the work lighter and more personal, we took the entire Midwest Region and broke it into the individual states - there are twelve. Partnerships(or individuals) had the opportunity to pick a state and teach their classmates about their unique state's geography. We are using Indiana as our classroom research project. After each lesson, the partnerships break off and work on using those geographical skills within their state. This week, we learned about hemispheres, latitude/longitude, compass rose, the two regions we are near: the Midwest Region and the Great Lakes Region.
Next Week's Mentor Sentence
It is roughly textured, grey in color, but a portion of it is flat and smooth as glass.
~The Wretched Stone
*We will focus on conjunctions and compound sentences. This will encourage us to look for TWO subjects and TWO Predicates.
Coming Up Next Week:
Specifically in each subject we will be getting into the following:
- Math: We will kick off our third unit. This unit will have a heavy focus on adding and subtracting larger numbers. We will touch multiplication this unit to keep those concepts fresh, too.
- Reading: We are continuing to build our skills as non-fiction readers. We are working on being mindful to support main ideas with key supporting details - not just any sentence from the reading. We have looked a lot of current events to support our thinking. At home, your child can access their Newsela account. This is a wonderful site to access appropriate current events at your child's reading level. Win-win!
- Geography: We will work with our individual states and learn about environmental and human impacts. We will culminate our studies this week and each partnership will share their research with their classmates.
Word Study
Upcoming Dates
- November 10th - BME Talent Show Rehearsal 2:00pm
- November 12th - Veterans Day Program 9:30am
- November 13th - Landfill and State Museum Field Trip
- November 17th - BME Talent Show 2:00pm