Third Grade News
Mrs. Behm, Mrs. Komar, and Mrs. Pilo
January 11, 2018
Community:
We are thrilled to have our 3rd graders back in our classrooms! In the new year, we are already seeing that the students are growing.
Language Workshop:
We are coming to the end of our inquiry unit in Language Workshop. We have read, unpacked and reflected upon the various text structures utilized in these books that have helped us grow a deeper understanding of the characters and the struggles they’ve faced through adversity.
Essential Questions: How can inquiry solve problems? How do writers teach others effectively?
Reading Workshop:
In Reader’s Workshop, we have studied and noticed the different text features that writers used in nonfiction text. We have also studied,unpacked and named these texts’ structures which support their understanding. They are as follows: main idea and key details, sequence, time order, problem & solution and compare and contrast.
Writing Workshop:
The beautiful part about reading and writing is that they are recursive. Thus, the work that our readers are doing in reading workshop, blends well with the work that we are doing in Writer’s Workshop. In Writer’s Workshop, we have composed our writing goal which will help us focus on the purpose of our informational book that we will be working diligently on for the next couple of weeks. We invite you to ask your child what topic he/she has chosen to research and write about.
Math:
This week we finished our multiplication and division unit and took our assessment on Tuesday. To kick off our geometry and fraction unit I sent home the parent letter in home folders. Please note that many of the ideas and suggestions will be most helpful during the second half of our unit on fractions so try to keep it in a safe spot and/or refer to it here. Grade 3 Unit 4 Parent Letter
Now students are learning about the attributes of polygons and quadrilaterals. Check it out on the following websites: http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/polygons.html and http://www.mathsisfun.com/quadrilaterals.html. They should be able to identify, sort, and draw shapes by their attributes. There’s even a quadrilateral song that can help them remember. As we move further into the unit they will also be learning how to partition shapes into equal sized pieces (like you would if you were cutting up a birthday cake).
Social Studies:
In Social Studies, we have been working on a Book Creator book about landforms. The students are learning about landforms and how these landforms are important to our Earth.
Global Studies:
Before going on our holiday break, students had the chance to discover more about the holiday traditions from various countries in Europe. Using a resource called CultureGrams on their ipads, they asked and answered questions like:
What holidays do they celebrate?
When is the holiday celebrated?
Why is the holiday celebrated?
How is the holiday celebrated? What activity, decorations, food/drink, music, clothing, or traditions are part of the celebration?
Ask your son/daughter to tell you about what they learned and how that is similar or different from your holiday traditions.
Second Step:
The area that we worked on this week in Second Step was about test anxiety and how you can use different strategies to calm your mind and body as you take the MAP reading and math tests. We continually focus on the areas of respect, responsibility, kindness and safety. We also have been digging deeper into the area of empathy and how important it is to use it with our peers, family members, etc.
MAP Testing:
Remember that the 3rd graders will be taking their math MAP tests on the following dates:
Tuesday, January 15th - AM - Math
Wednesday, January 16th - AM - Math
Your child will need to make sure that they have their iPads charged to 100% each day. Please make sure they get a good night’s rest, eat a healthy breakfast, and try their best.