The Ritenour Review
2016 - 2017 Third Grade Weekly News
Planetarium in STEM Class
Last Week
- Reading: We talked briefly about our new reading topic - informational texts. The majority of our week spent writing goals, catching up on previous book club reading goals and reading independently.
- Math: We worked with writing rules for comparing fractions. In third grade, it is key for the students to remember to use the tools provided. Often, they think they can always compare fractions in their heads and they make errors. In third grade, comparing fractions still is meant to be a visual skills. In the following years, they will learn the skills to compute the difference and they will have a better recollection to recall those comparisons.
- Social Studies: The students are finishing up the economics unit by creating advertisement posters. They came up with a goods or service to sell and they are trying to convince the class to buy their product!
Next Week
Language Arts: We are moving in our fourth unit: Research Clubs! I will be using animal non-fiction texts to model for the class. The students will be working in Book Clubs and will be researching a type of plant. After spring break, each club will find another type/classification of plants and compare the two topics.
Math: Fractions and Volume
Word Study: Our multiple groups are up and running. Your child should be bringing home a written sort completed in class. This is expected to be their study material for home.
Science: We will kick off our Plants Unit for science!
Student Led Conferences
Thank you, all, for supporting our first attempt at Student Led Conferences. On Friday, six families joined the classroom and experienced a fun morning watching the third grader lead the show. All six students did an amazing job! I was beyond impressed with their ability to lead their parents through their personal goals and their classroom. Thank you for the constant feedback! This is my first attempt at this type of conference, so I cannot detail my expectations exactly. I want the students to take ownership for their learning experience, I want parents to feel welcome into the classroom, and I want an informal check-in for families. Beyond these goals, I know many more positives will come from this experience and many things that can be tweaked.
This week, the rest of the class will join our classroom for their chance!
Special's Schedule
- Monday: Art
- Tuesday: Wellness **bring/wear tennis shoes
- Wednesday: STEM
- Thursday: Music
- Friday: Library
Upcoming Dates!
March 28th - Kindergarten Round Up (click here for more info)
March 31th - April 9th - Spring Break!