The Ritenour Review
2015 - 2016 Third Grade Weekly News
Jog-A-Thon
Thank you for all that volunteers and helped make our Jog-a-thon event run smoothly! It is a beautiful way to enjoy the day and raise money for our wonderful school. Thank you to everyone helping making a difference!
Student-led Conferences
If you have not selected a conference time yet, please click on the blue box above. Reach out if you have any questions.
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.
**We will add to this list in the coming weeks.
This Past Week
In reading, we finished up our understanding of retells and character wants/needs. We finished our class read aloud, Stone Fox. Unfortunately, the story did not end the way the kids wanted, but we did make some wonderful connections, as all great readers do! On Friday, we read a new short story and they took their end of the unit reading assessment. At a glance, I was quite pleased at their growth and their responses. This week, we will reflect on those responses. In this process, the kids will look at their pre-assessment responses and see just how much they've grown! At the same time, we will make growth goals to push our thinking even more! We started our newest read aloud, too. The class voted on The Wild Robot. I cannot wait to see their reaction to the silly robot that wanders around a remote island.
In math, we kicked off our newest math unit and are learning the best strategies for tackling word problems. As with any unit, we will start off with easier concepts and build, and this can lead to students cutting corners due to the ability to their mental math strengths. We are putting a lot of emphasis on fully understanding the problem and visualizing the meaning. At this point, all students are expected to sketch a visual of the problem and find a strategy that works best for his or her thinking.
In writing, we have learned the keys skills to narrative writing as a third grader. At this point, we are taking our small moments, typing them onto Word and revising and editing to make them even stronger! Hopefully your child will be finished by conferences and will be able to share their final narrative.
In science, we did not get a lot of time to spend with our crustaceans due to our wonky schedule several days this week. We finished off the week talking about adaptations. Each science group is researching a different question for adaptations and will be presenting their research next week.
Next Week's Mentor Sentence
"I don't know, but it's hanging by its feet," chirped Flitter.
~Stellaluna
*We will work apostrophes, quotation marks/dialogue. We will also continue to review subjects and predicates. This is a TOUGH concept for third graders and will take a while for it to fully make sense. We see a lot of run-on sentences, and it is hard to fully correct until they understand the main components of a simple or complex sentence.
Coming Up Next Week:
A normal week? No. As many twists and turns we had last week, we will have as many unique opportunities this week that will throw our schedule off a bit.
Specifically in each subject we will be getting into the following:
- Goal Setting: We will prepare for our student-led conferences. Encouraging the kids to step into the driver's seat and create those goals will empower them to put their success into their own hands.
- Math: We will work with visualizing our word problems and add multiple steps within our problems. Visualizing will be the key to carry us through our next step.
- Reading: We will take our crazy, busy week and enjoy the skills we have learned over the last few weeks. We have a few small class projects to put together to culminate our first fiction unit. We will move into non-fiction after our culminating activities.
- Science: We will continue to watch and observe our crayfish. We will add an understanding of biomes and different environments, and the adaptations living organisms need to survive in each.
Word Study
Upcoming Dates
October 3rd (afternoon) & 4th (afternoon/evening) - Student Conferences/E-Day
October 8 - October 11 - Book Fair
October 9th - Picture Re-Take Day
October 10th - PTO Meeting 6:00pm w/ Dedication of Shade Structure
October 12th - Fall Party **More information coming soon!
October 15th-19th - Fall Break
October 24th - Blood Drive 3:00-7:00pm Cafe
November 10th - BME Talent Show Rehearsal 2:00pm
November 12th - Veterans Day Program 9:30am
November 17th - BME Talent Show 2:00pm