3rd Grade Newsletter
March 30, 2018
IMPORTANT DATES:
Math:
- Topic 13 Math Test and Homework Due Friday, April 6th
Reading
- Your child should be reading for at 30 minutes daily. Don't forget to update the 40 Book Challenge card as books are completed.
Barksdale Dates:
- March 30th: Holiday - No School
- April 1st: Holiday - No School
- April 9th - 13th - Closed Campus due to STAAR testing in 4th and 5th grades
- April 16th - 20th: Book Fair Week
- April 25th: Bronco Press Books Due!
STAAR Dates:
- Math STAAR - Monday, May 14th
- Reading STAAR - Tuesday, May 15th
- Important: Please make sure that your child/children will be at school on time all day both of the STAAR dates listed above. Please reschedule any appointments that may conflict with the testing dates. Thank you for your support.
How can I help prepare my child for Reading STAAR?
Last week the third graders took a practice reading STAAR test. We will be reviewing the test over the next couple of weeks and then we will send it home for you to review as well.
We would like to reiterate that the STAAR test is not our primary focus, but testing is and will continue to be part of your child's education. Whether your child is preparing to take a unit test or a college entrance exam, you want your child to be prepared.
As we consider how to continue preparing students for tests, we have found the following information to be true:
Children who read at high reading levels with solid reading rates, meaning they read with stamina and fluency, do well.
Children who read below grade level or who read so slowly that they take an unusually long time to finish books and texts perform poorly on state tests.
Thus, the best preparation for state tests is to teach your child to be strong readers, tackling stamina, volume, and comprehension simultaneously.
Additionally, we need to help children to think logically and flexibly while transferring all they know to their test-taking.
We cannot expect students to maintain focus and use a repertoire of strategies across many texts on a long assessment if they have never had the opportunity to do this work.
It is important to continue to support your child in building their reading stamina, both in the amount of time they read and the length of texts they read.
Take a moment to reflect on the following:
- Is your child making time for reading after school and on the weekends?
- Is your child reading books on the appropriate level?
- Has the length and content of the books your child selects to read increased during the school year?
- Does your child have access to books at home or do you visit the public library for additional books?
- Is the time your child reads consistent?
- If not, be sure to help enable your child to keep up with his or her reading.
Financial Literacy Unit
We are about to begin to work on a financial literacy unit in social studies. Any real world connections you can discuss or model with your child during the unit will help your child grasp the concepts.
During the unit we will spend time covering the following:
- Identify ways of earning, spending, saving, and donating money.
- Create a simple budget that allocates money for spending, saving, and donating.
- Define and identify examples of scarcity.
- Explain the impact of scarcity on the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
- Explain the concept of a free market as it relates to the U.S. free enterprise system.
- Identify examples of how a simple business operates.
- Explain how supply and demand affect the price of a good or service.
- Explain how the cost of production and selling price affect profits.
- Explain how government regulations and taxes impact consumer costs.
- Identify individuals, past and present, including Henry Ford and other entrepreneurs in the community such as Mary Kay Ash, Wallace Amos, Milton Hershey, and Sam Walton, who have started new businesses.
Learning how to recognize and treat head lice is your best defense against an outbreak at home/school.
BRONCO PRESS
The final event students must complete to win a Triathlon Trophy is the Barksdale Bronco Press.
All entries are due by 8:00 am on Wednesday, April 25, 2018.
Bronco Press is a wonderful opportunity for students to showcase their writing talents by publishing a book. Bronco Press is open to all students in kindergarten through 5th grade. The Bronco Press template can be found on the PTA website www.barksdalepta.org under the programs tab.
Other Helpful Information:
- Students should turn in their typed and illustrated work to their homeroom classroom teacher.
- PTA will bind the books for the students.
- All student authors will be presented with their bound books at a special author’s reception.
- The Bronco Press is a part of the Principal’s Triathlon recognition program.