Third Grade Weekly News
Week of April 29th
Dates to Remember
- Monday, April 29th:
- Tuesday, April 30th: Murphy Book Exchange; PARCC Testing; Pizza Blitz Fundraiser
- Wednesday, May 1st: Chevalier Book Exchange; PARCC Testing
- Thursday, May 2nd: Broomall Book Exchange
- Friday, May 3rd: Pritts Book Exchange
Homework
Please see files below for information about reading and math homework.
PARCC Testing
This year your child will be participating in the PARCC assessment. PARCC is a test which will assess your child’s acquisition of math, writing, and reading, and will be used as a tool to enhance teaching and learning. The following information will help you and your child prepare for the testing days. It is important that your child attend school and be on time.
If your child comes late to school on a testing day, they will not be allowed into the classroom until the test is completed. They will complete the test that they missed on another day. Likewise, if students are absent they will complete the test on another day.
The students have completed practice tasks to familiarize themselves with the format and tools. The students have worked very hard this year and we are confident that they will be able to show all that they know on this test with success.
If you would like to practice using PARCC tasks at home with your child, please visit the following website: https://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/
Schedule
PARCC starts on April 24th and runs through May 17th. There are 4 days of math and 4 days of reading testing.
Tips for success
• Assure your child that they have worked hard all year and are prepared. There will be challenges but they know how to persevere and do their best.
• Go to bed at a good time.
• Eat a healthy breakfast.
• Wear comfortable clothing.
Language Arts
Reading:
Authors use sensory words and phrases to help the reader create a picture in their mind. This brings the story or poem to life. We see this in poetry and many other literary genres. We closely read and annotate to see the specific words the author used to create this imagery. Readers will explore the figurative language used in poetry. Using figurative language helps to create imagery.
Readers will use poetry to explore the mood (feeling the reader gets) and tone the writer uses to convey the author’s attitude.
Writing:
Students will explore that elements of fairy tales. We will read a variety of traditional and fractured (adapted) fairy tales. We will explore ways to adapt traditional fairy tales to create an original story.
Math
This week, we will finish Unit 9, Measurment and Geometry. This unit includes classifying shapes, solving problems with time, creating and solving problems involving bar and picture graphs, and area and perimeter.
This week students will create picture and bar graphs using a scale. The difference between this skill in second grade and third grade is that students are using a scale greater than 1 (for example, in a picture graph, each symbol may stand for 2 people or 5 votes). Students will also have the opportunity to analyze these graphs by answering one and two step questions about them.
Click here for an overview of the unit and ideas to try at home!
Social Studies/Science
This week, students will begin our last science unit called Life Cycles, Traits, and Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems. The driving question for this unit is: How does the environment affect the survival (life cycle and traits) of organisms within an interdependent ecosystem?.
This week, students will continue to compare and contrast the life cycles of flowering and nonflowering plants. Later in the week, students will learn about the two different types of animal life cycles. One is similar to the life cycle of a human (baby, child, adult, death), while the other follows the life cycle of a butterfly (egg, larvae, pupae, adult). In order to observe this life cycle, we have ladybug and butterfly larvae in our classrooms.
Quarterly Expectations
Important News
PTA
Reminders:
PTA Discount Cards
We are still selling the PTA Discount Cards! Each card is $15 and can be used over and over again! This is a huge fundraiser for the year so please consider purchasing one if you'd like to. You can now purchase these right from the Whittier PTA Website! Click here: http://whittierelementarypta.com/Article/View/Discount-Cards-Available
Upcoming PTA Meetings:
Follow us on Facebook! We post all our events here!
https://www.facebook.com/WhittierPTAFrederick/
SAVE THE DATE! CAMP INVENTION IS COMING TO WHITTIER! JULY 8-12 FROM 9:00-3:30!
SAVE THE DATE! Camp Invention is coming to Whittier! July 8-12 from 9:00-3:30! We will be the first hybrid camp in our area and have 60 spots for paid campers. To sign up, go to: https://www.invent.org/programs/camp-invention and register for our Whittier camp. Questions? Email Tina Dattoli at tina.dattoli@fcps.org.
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