Whiton Winner Gazette
Keeping You in the Loop!
Curriculum
Reading:
In the past few weeks, we have been laying the foundation for third graders to grow as readers. The children learned the expectations for developing their independent reading habits at school and at home. We read our poem of the week, The Reader's Oath, reviewed the "Rules for Reading Right", and learned how to record our reading each night in their homework records.
We also learned all about “real reading” and how to actively think about what we read. The children were introduced to powerful reading vocabulary such as, metacognition (thinking about our reading) and schema (using background knowledge to connect to reading). We then used thinking stems to write about what we read. The children have listened to many powerful picture books including The Junkyard Wonders, Thank You, Mr. Falker, and Don’t Laugh at Me to spark their creative and deep reading thinking. All of these activities are creating the start of deep, insightful third grade readers!
Writing:
The children have been introduced to good writing habits as we build our classroom writing community. We reviewed our radical writing packet and the different resources we can use to make our reading more detailed. These resources include strong verbs, juicy color words, and onomatopoeia. We also talked about MINTS, which is an acronym to help writers remember what needs to be capitalized during the editing process. Make sure to quiz your child on its meaning!
We will next begin writing sophisticated sentences, using details to s-t-r-e-t-c-h our thinking. Also remembering to use capitals and periods! We also introduced our first spelling list, short vowel sounds. Tests will be given biweekly and one activity from the spelling packet will be due on Friday morning.
Math:
We are already in the middle of Unit 1, which is a review of previously learned concepts. Unit 1 concentrates on number sequences, number grids, finding differences, and introducing the children to third grade math tools. We will also focus a bit on money and time, both of which will be explored in greater depth later in the year. It is very important for your child to know his/her addition and subtraction facts, so please practice at home!
Social Studies:
We just launched out first social studies unit, Geography. We will be learning the 7 continents, 4 oceans, how to read a map, and also geography vocabulary. At home, please have your child practice writing their address!
Quiz Me Questions!
· What does MINTS stand for?
· What does metacognition mean?
· Try to name the 7 continents!
· Practice writing your address on a piece of paper.
Building A Community
We are building a strong and caring classroom community through morning meeting, bucket fillers, and other activities. We enjoyed sharing powerful pictures books about learning, listening, respect, and friendship as a class. Each story teaches an important lesson and connects our class as a community of readers. We read and celebrated Enemy Pie, Recess Queen, Officer Buckle and Gloria, and How To Fill A Bucket.