Third Grade Weekly News
Week of December 3rd
Dates to Remember
- Monday, December 3rd:
- Tuesday, December 4th: Murphy Book Exchange; Field Trip Permission Slips Due
- Wednesday, December 5th: Chevalier Book Exchange
- Thursday, December 6th: Broomall Book Exchange
- Friday, December 7th: Pritts Book Exchange; Reading and Math Homework Due; STEM Applications Due
Field Trip Permission Slips
All field trip permission slips and money are due Tuesday, December 4th. The trip costs $12 and parents must arrange for their child to be picked up at 4:30.
Chaperones will be chosen and notified by this Friday, December 7th.
If you have any questions, please contact your child's teacher.
Homework
Reading Homework: Independent reading of non-fiction text is equally as important as reading fiction text. Please encourage your child to read non-fiction text too.
Language Arts
Reading:
Identifying the main idea of text is critical to students successfully understanding what they read. The main idea is often stated in a sentence in the passage, and other sentences comprise pieces of information that tell more about the most important idea. Identifying and understanding main ideas along with determining importance are prerequisite skills to summarizing text. Readers summarize the most important aspects of the text by determining the details that are significant and discard those that are not while stating the main idea in their own words, thus improving comprehension and understanding what is read. When constructing the main idea of a piece of text, the reader may start with a topic they think the text is about, what the author is saying about the topic, and details that support the main idea. This week the students will identify the topic, main idea, and details as they read non-fiction texts. The following organizer will be used as the students begin this process.
Writing:
Students are working towards planning and writing informative essays. The quarterly expectations in writing are that the essay contains:
-Introduces topic
-supplies facts, details, definitions to develop the topic
-uses linking words
-supportive text features
-concluding statement
As students continue to write informational essays, they will elaborate on the topic by explaining facts with examples, definitions, and analogies.
Math
This week, we will finish Unit 5 in math (we will come back to Unit 4 after completing Unit 5). Students will continue their exploration of the concept of division. They will begin to relate division to a missing factor problem of multiplication (i.e. 12 ➗4 = n is the same as 4 x n = 12). This will create the understanding that division undoes multiplication and multiplication undoes division.
Later in the week, students will use the three step problem solving model to solve two step word problems. These word problems may use addition, subtraction or multiplication. Please see picture below for more information about the three step problem solving model.
Click here for an overview of the unit and ideas to try at home!
Social Studies/Science
This week, students will continue a new Social Studies unit on economics called The Game of Life. This unit is modeled after the board game Life. Throughout the unit, students will be exploring the compelling question: How does economics affect our everyday lives?
This week, students will describe how countries around the world trade in the global market. They will explore the different items that America trades with other countries and learn why it is important to trade goods with other states and countries.
Later the in week, students will describe different goods and services provided by the government and those provided by businesses. They will discover that the goods and services provided by the government are paid for using taxes.
Quarterly Expectations
Important News
STEM CLUB APPLICATIONS
Any 3rd, 4th, or 5th grader interested in applying for this year’s before-school STEM Club may pick up an application from Ms. Dattoli in the library. Parents may also print a copy of the application using the link below.
Applications must be completed and returned to Ms. Dattoli by Friday, Dec. 7th. STEM teachers will select 30 students for this year’s STEM Club based upon their application and other factors and will notify selected students and their families the week of Dec. 17th. For more information about STEM Club such as dates, deadlines, etc., please view the link below.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fCg_Ifn-I0Lv2C4plNxYxYLO71Bk_rNfaCX_saHhcXs/edit?usp=sharing
WE ARE MONSTERS- PTA PLAY
“We Are Monsters is a hilarious musical that follows human kids into a monster cabinet filled with quirky monster characters. The monsters and kids discover the importance of friendship and celebrating in the attributes that make each of us different and unique.”
Winner of the 2013 Children’s Musical Theatre Festival, NYC
Auditions: Tuesday December 11, 2018 4:00-5:30pm Grades 1- 3
Thursday December 13, 2018 4:00-5:30pm Grades 4 -5
*Students should be prepared to sing a 30 second song, for example, Happy Birthday or A,B,C’s. All who audition will get a role in the play.
Rehearsals: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:45-5:00pm
(A rehearsal schedule will be given out at the parent meeting.)
Performance Nights: April 5 & 6, 2019 at Frederick High School
Mandatory Parent Meeting: January 8, 2019 @ 5:00pm (WHES media center)
to discuss parent volunteer commitment, rehearsals, and performances
all fees are due at this time
find out your child’s part in the play
bring your calendar to sign up to volunteer
Fee: $75 per student (This cost covers student participation in a professional play organized by the MET, t-shirt, dvd, and flowers.)
If you are experiencing a financial hardship, please contact Mrs. Miller or Mrs. Reese.
Phone: 240-236-3140 or 240-236-3170 or Email: barbara.miller@fcps.org or lisa.reese@fcps.org
All parents must volunteer in some capacity for the play, and all parents need to be volunteered trained. For your convenience, we will have a training session directly after the mandatory parent meeting for those parents who have not yet received it.
Register for the play using this link: https://goo.gl/forms/iYFmQZKRAlhPKvto1
Students must be registered by: December 7, 2018.
You may submit payment online:http://whittierelementarypta.com/Home (click JOIN NOW button, click on play.)
Please submit payment online or make checks payable to: Whittier PTA
Any questions/ concerns, please contact:
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Amy Broomall
240-236-3160
Jaime Chevalier
240-236-3158
Robin Murphy
240-236-3156
Megan Pritts
240-236-3154