Third Grade October Newsletter
Frederick Douglass Elementary
What are we learning?
October Curriculum
Here’s what we’ll be studying this month:
· Reading: finishing up the Building a Reading Life unit, beginning the next unit called "Reading to Learn" which focuses on non-fiction comprehension.
· Writing: narrative writing focusing on small moments; basic editing skills, including using complete sentences
· Math: addition, subtraction and fact families.
· Social Studies: Citizenship, government, mapping and geography
Reading Tip of the Month
When your child comes to a word he or she doesn’t know, you can try “chunking”. Cover part of the word (for example, the first syllable) and have your child try to read part of the word; usually there is a chunk he or she can use to solve the word. This works especially well with compound words!
Important Dates for October
Wednesday, October 2 - Interims released
Thursday, October 3 - House Color Day
October 3 and 4 - Vision and Hearing Screenings for third graders
Friday, October 4 - Talent Show Assembly, 8:30am and 6:30pm
Monday, October 14 - No school, Columbus Day
PTA Atomic Trampoline Spirit Day, 12 - 2pm
PTA Board Meeting - 5-6pm
Wednesday, October 16 - Moveable Monday schedule
Friday, October 18 - Fall picture retakes
Wednesday, October 23 - Unity Day (Wear orange)
Friday, October 25 - Spooky Bingo, 6-8pm
Monday, November 4th and Tuesday, November 5th are student holidays!
November 4th and 5th are student holidays! Your child's teacher will be scheduling conferences later in the month and on these days.. Please look for information about scheduling or confirming a conference to come home over the next few weeks.
Second Step
As you may already know the whole school has begun our new social-emotional program called Second Step. For the past week we have been learning to be listeners by practicing focusing and paying attention. Right now students are learning how to use self-talk to help them ignore distractions.
Here is a description about the program from the Second Step website:
"Second Step is a program rooted in social-emotional learning (SEL) that helps transform schools into supportive, successful learning environments uniquely equipped to encourage children to thrive. More than just a classroom curriculum, Second Step’s holistic approach helps create a more empathetic society by providing education professionals, families, and the larger community with tools to enable them to take an active role in the social-emotional growth and safety of today’s children." From time to time your child's teacher may send home "Homelinks" about the skills we are working on. While there are optional, we encourage you to try these activities with your child. All of the skills taught can be applied to any setting your child is in, from school to home to sports to clubs.