Third Grade News from Mrs. C
March 30th- April 3rd
Tidbits From the Teacher
Our first week of new homework has been a success! Woo Hoo to everyone for being so responsible and diligent in getting work completed on time.
Remember that school is only Monday - Thursday of this week and the campus will be closed on Monday and Tuesday due to STAAR testing in the upper grades.
We are in serious need of more wipes for cleaning surfaces in the room each day. We also need more AA batteries. If you are out shopping this weekend and think about these things, will you help us out? We love flashlight reading and avoiding sickness around here!!
April Fool's Day was a lot of laughs around here. I gave everyone "special snacks" in the afternoon...
Class Wish List
Lysol wipes
AA batteries- we are completely out and our flashlights are dark...
Dates to Remember
March 30th & 31st: Campus closed due to STAAR tests in upper grades (no visitors)
April 2nd: Autism Awareness Day- everyone wear blue! Cookout forms due. *See April 24th!!
April 3rd: No school!
April 10th: School Carnival 4:30-7:30
April 21st: STAAR math test for 3rd grade (no visitors on campus)
April 22nd: STAAR reading test for 3rd grade (no visitors on campus)
April 24th: Sommer Cookout during lunch (look at E-notes for form- due April 2nd)
April 27th: Mrs. C at a meeting all day- Mrs. Salman is subbing!
What We're Studying and Learning...
Reading: We are going to learn how to be thieves! Yes, you read correctly. Thieves! THIEVES is a reading strategy that helps students focus on expository (non-fiction) text and find/ "steal" the most important pieces of information before they actually read the article or book. They'll learn to look at the Title, Headings, Introduction, Every first sentence in a paragraph, Visuals and vocabulary, End of chapter questions, Summary = THIEVES. I think I'm going to have to dress as a burglar...
Writing: Writing Workshop is going to hold a steady course for a while on the same concepts. We are going to work on fiction stories. We'll make sure to develop a good lead and have a strong ending. We'll begin using a rubric to check for story development and to make sure editing and revisions have been done! A heavy emphasis on conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization) will be happening!
Grammar/Spelling/Handwriting: More and more students are transitioning to cursive handwriting! I encourage everyone to practice at home when you have free time. PARENTS- you should be writing notes in cursive so everyone can practice reading it! Just be sure to use your best third grade handwriting so the kids can understand what your message is!! (THAT'S the hardest part!!!!!!) We'll continue with our Daily Language Reviews in class. We are going to suspend spelling until Book Clubs are well moving. I will work on spelling as we write and read but will not have time set aside for it specifically.
Math: We are going to practice two by one multiplication this week! That means everyone will learn multiple strategies for solving problems such as 32x 4 or 18 x 8. All of the hard work on learning those multiplication facts is about to pay off BIG TIME!! When we are working math, many problems are involving multiplication. Make sure your child really knows those facts because they make errors and have trouble finishing assignments when they don't automatically know those facts!
Social Studies/Science: We will finish up our study of food chains and food webs. Everyone has enjoyed learning new vocabulary such as omnivore, carnivore, herbivore, producers, consumers, and energy.