Third Grade News
January Curriculum Update
I hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday and a Happy New Year!
Reading Workshop
We are going to be exploring mystery books all this month! The students will be choosing a book to read and be placed in a book club with at least 3 other students in the class. We are going to be dissecting different elements of the book as well as talking about them as a group. The students will determine how much to read each night amongst themselves and be prepared to discuss their reading the following day. They are also going to be working out of a "Mystery Book Club" packet that will guide them through this process. We will use some of the skills we have learned earlier in the year, identify common themes in mystery novels, and read different kinds of mysteries.
I just want to give a special "thank you" to parents who have been ordering online from scholastic. With every order you purchase through our book club I earn points and I was able to get some new titles for our mystery book clubs this month- for FREE!
Writing Workshop
We are starting our third unit, Essay and Opinion Writing. The goal is for the students to be more observant and craft an opinion about a topic that is meaningful to them. They are going to practice writing persuasive speeches about a small topic and present them in front of the class. We will then take another topic (or the same one chosen for the speech) and craft a persuasive essay.
Math
We are going to learn the multiplication and division facts for 6, 7, 8, and 9. We are also going to be multiplying and dividing numbers up to 1,000 for 6, 7, 8, and 9. We are going to be doing daily practice of our multiplication facts to become more comfortable and increase our speed with the equations. We are also going to introduce ourselves to money. We are going to be able to identify, read, and count money. We are also going to be adding and subtracting money within $100.
Social Studies
The students are headed to Europe! We had a great time at the Art Museum last month learning about Medieval Art and taking a stroll through the German-style Christmas Village downtown. They are going to receive their passports next week, reflect about their upcoming trip, and then we're off! They are going to be doing a poster or glogster report on a European country and present this work to the class. We'll be in the computer lab for every class researching, recording, and preparing for their presentation. The students will be doing all of the work at school and project presentations will take place in early February.
Word Study
We are going to be covering the "ch" and "tch" digraph, the meaning and use of suffixes (including -er, -ed, -ing suffixes), double letters, compound words and the \ou\ and \ow\ spelling patterns.
The students are practicing their lowercase cursive letters and will start capitals by the end of the month!