Third Grade News
Mrs. Behm, Mrs. Hempel, & Mrs. Pilo
Date: January 12, 2018
Learner Profile:
January’s learner profile trait is balanced. We will continue to watch for students who understand the importance of intellectual, physical, and emotional balance to achieve personal well-being for themselves and others.
Community:
As a community the students are working on how to deal with big and small emotions. They have been taught some coping skills that they can use when they feel these various emotions. Always remembering to breathe deeply is a good example of a coping skill all of us can use in many situations.
Language Workshop:
In Language Workshop, the students have just finished a unit on Discovery. We are now working on a unit called Identities. In this unit, we will be reading some very interesting biographies. This week we focused on a book written by Michael Jordan’s mother. The name of the book was Dream Big. The story was about Michael Jordan’s dream to get to be an Olympic athlete in the area of basketball. The students truly enjoyed the book. In Language Workshop, the students continue to work on writing to the prompts that they are given. We are seeing some nice progress in their answers to the prompts.
Reader’s Workshop:
In Reader’s Workshop, the students are now working on some high level reading skills. For example, the students are working as reader’s that notice structures (i.e. comparison, sequence, cause/effect) in a text and use them to help determine the information that is most important. Our readers are also working on consistently using prior knowledge and a variety of sources to gain information and learn about the world.
Writing Workshop:
Our 3rd graders have started another informational writing unit. They will be reading about and doing research on a famous person of their choice. Students will be taking notes and eventually writing a biography which they will share with their classmates.
Math:
In our new unit, we are learning about the relationship between multiplication and division. Students are also learning about fact families and several strategies to solve solve division problems including what they know about multiplication, arrays, equal groups, and repeated subtraction.
There will be a multiplication and division assessment coming up on Wednesday, January 24th. Students will need to be able to do basic division, multiplication and division word problems, fact families, and find the missing factor/dividend/divisor.
Science/Social Studies:
After winter break, we started a unit on Force and Motion. Students created pendulums to test the number of swings that would occur in 15 seconds. They tested different variables such as starting position, mass, and the length of string. Next week our 3rd graders will be doing another investigation on springs and energy.
Second Step:
This week our lesson focused on compassion. We learned that using previously taught skills such as listening and focusing attention can help us to feel empathy and compassion for another person.
Other Information:
Just a reminder that next week we will be starting our mid-year MAP testing. We will be testing 8:50-9:30 each day. Please make sure your child’s iPad is fully charged for testing. Thank you!
Have a great weekend!