Third Grade News
February 2017
Conferences
Mark Your Calendars
Friday February 3-Conference Sign Ups begin today
Friday February 3-Bingo Night
Thursday February 9-Six Flags Read to Succeed Reading Log Due
Thursday February 9-Little Caesar's Spirit Night
Friday February 10- NO SCHOOL Student/Teacher Holiday
Tuesday February 14-Valentine's Day Cards Due Today
Friday February 17-Stamp Project Due
Monday February 20- NO SCHOOL - Student Holiday
Monday-Friday February 20-24 Conference Week & Book Fair
Wednesday and Thursday February 22,23 Early Release Days 12:15 dismissal
Thursday February 23-Sky Zone Spirit Night
Valentine's Day
Reading Rocks
Writing for Success
Grammar Fun
Our next unit in grammar will be focused on understanding coordinating and subordinating conjunctions and the difference between the two. Understanding the difference between the two types of conjunctions as well as grasping when to use one versus the other will really help develop our 3rd graders writing skills.
Coordinating conjunctions are words that can join words, phrases or sentences. We use the acronym FANBOYS to help us remember the coordinating conjunctions.
For And Nor But Or Yet So
Subordinating conjunctions are words that join a dependent and an independent clause and establishes a relationship between the two. Some of the more common subordinating conjunctions are: since, because, although, though, and until.
Another skill that we will tackle this nine weeks will be to review possessive nouns. As students understand the importance of punctuation they tend to get a little bit “apostrophe happy”. Our goal is have students practice using apostrophe’s correctly and understand that it shows possession and not plurality.
Have your child practice writing words that end in the letter s. Throw in some possessives as well as plural nouns and make sure they are not putting in apostrophes incorrectly. Hopefully you’ll be pleasantly surprised by your child’s grammar knowledge!
Your child will get a lot of practice with all of these skills at school. However, if you feel like they need a bit more try this link for subordinating and coordinating conjunctions:
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/conjunctions/conjunction-exercises.html
**Expect a summative assessment the first week of March.
Math Corner
Students will learn to partition shapes into equal parts and label them with a unit fraction. Students will also learn to locate fractions on a number line and compare fractions using models. They will find equivalent fractions and learn about mixed fractions.
**The fractions unit test is scheduled for the week of Feb. 27th.
Investigating Science
Our next unit in Science will focus on Heat! The students will explain how heat is produced and the effects of heating and cooling. They will be able to understand that a change in temperature indicates a change in heat. Students will categorize ways to produce heat such as burning, rubbing, and mixing one thing with another. They will investigate how insulation affects heating and cooling and investigate the transfer of heat energy from the sun to various materials. Students will use thermometers to measure the changes in temperature (hot, warm, cold) of water samples over time.
The vocabulary words will be introduced and completed in class as well as the lab book pages.
The vocabulary words for this unit are: friction, heat, insulator, solar energy, temperature, and thermometer.
Throughout the unit there will be various classwork grades, quizzes and a final test.
The Heat Vocabulary quiz is coming up.
**The Heat Test is tentatively scheduled for the Week of March 6th.
Social Studies Update
Stamp Project -
Students will bring materials home regarding a stamp project to honor an influential African American. This assignment allows students to research an African American person of their interest, explain social barriers, restrictions, and obstacles that the African American had to overcome and how he/she was able to succeed. Lastly, they will describe how they showed positive character traits. So have fun with it!
**This project is due on February 17th.
Historical Figures-
Students will learn the following Historical Figures for the third quarter in this order:
Eleanor Roosevelt-She always worked to help others.
Thurgood Marshall- He was instrumental in ending legal segregation and became the first African-American Justice of the Supreme Court.
Lyndon B. Johnson- Lyndon Baines Johnson, often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969, assuming the office after serving as the 37th Vice President of the United States from 1961 to 1963.
Tentative Social Studies Test for Historical Figures is the first week of March.
Word Study
port = to carry
fin/finit = end, limit, term
mov/mot, mobil = to move
graph/gram = write or draw
Each week, students should have new words listed in their agenda book for studying and reviewing.
Unit four will begin with the following suffixes:
-less meaning without
-ful meaning full of
-er meaning more
Email Address
Lory Beeney can be reached through Mrs. Thomason's email address: Emma_Thomason@gwinnett.k12.ga.us
Tyese_Lee@gwinnett.k12.ga.us