Third Grade Weekly News
Week of February 4th
Dates to Remember
- Monday, February 4th:
- Tuesday, February 5th: Murphy Book Exchange
- Wednesday, February 6th: Chevalier Book Exchange
- Thursday, February 7th: Broomall Book Exchange
- Friday, February 8th: Pritts Book Exchange; Reading and Math Homework Due
Donations Needed
Valentine's Day Parties
Broomall: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508044ea5ad2da4ff2-valentines1
Chevalier: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D4CAFAD2DA5F94-valentines3
Murphy: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C044EACAF2EA7F94-valentines3.
Pritts: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0D4CAFAD2DA0FD0-valentines4
Homework
Please see files below for information about reading and math homework.
Ms. Pritts's homeroom class has a different reading assignment. Please email Mrs. Chevalier with any questions.
Language Arts
Reading:
Students will recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures. We will determine the central message, lesson or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. Students will respond to questions related to theme through oral discussion and written response. While examining the theme, students will closely evaluate and describe the characters in a story( e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
Looking ahead in reading: Students will ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. Students will practice using information from the illustrations and context clues from the text vocabulary to answer questions.
Students will use the FAB 4 reading strategies to question, clarify and summarize a folktale or fable.
Looking ahead in reading: Students will read a variety of folktales and fables to compare characters and theme through moral/life message. When we read multiple texts, we need to track our thinking in a way that works for us. We have learned a lot of strategies to do this (Stop and Jot, text chunking, note taking, charting, highlighting etc). When students read they will think about the strategies that will be most helpful to track their thinking about theme.
Writing:
The purpose of our writing unit during Quarter 3 is to Write to Persuade. During this unit, the students will develop opinions about topics, brainstorm support for their opinions, and organize their ideas into an essay. Persuasive writing pieces can be in the form of an essay, letter or petition. This is always a fun unit!
This week, students will generate writing topics and learn about the purpose and format of persuasive writing. Students will examine the quarter 3 writing rubric. We will talk about points in the rubric that must be included in their writing, in order to score a 3 or 4 in craft and mechanics. Students will read, annotate and evaluate opinion writing pieces from 3rd grade students in previous years. These essays will be used as anchor papers and will help students set goals in the area of craft and mechanics.
Math
This week, we will continue Unit 7 in math. This unit focuses on fractions and includes fractions on a number line, fractions beyond 1, equivalent fractions, whole numbers as fractions, and comparing fractions with the same numerator or same denominator.
We will continue focusing on plotting fractions on a number line this week. This includes fractions beyond 1 whole. Students will discover what unit fraction the number line is counting by and use that information to plot fractions on a number line. Later in the week, we will also explore renaming whole numbers as fractions (ex. 2 wholes = 2/1 or 4/2, etc.).
In addition to plotting the fractions, students will also defend their answers using mathematical vocabulary. They could do this using words, numbers, or symbols. For example, they could say that a point is plotted at 5/4. The denominator is 4 because the whole is broken into 4 parts and the numerator is 5 because you jumped 5 parts on the numberline. In other words 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 = 5/4. Also, the point goes past 1 whole because 4/4 is equivalent to 1 whole.
Click here for an overview of the unit and ideas to try at home!
Social Studies/Science
This week, students will continue our new science unit called Forces and Interactions. The driving question for this unit is: How do forces, motion, and magnetism help us perform real life tasks?.
This week, students will discover how a pendulum works and test how the length of the string or weight of the object impacts the motion of a pendulum. Later in the week, students will explore how force affects motion and if you can use patterns to predict motion by creating cotton ball shooters.
Students will also explore the concept of gravity and conduct an experiment to determine if heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects.
Quarterly Expectations
Important News
PTA
Upcoming events:
Box Tops- The PTA is collecting Box Tops starting this Thursday. The class with the highest amount of Box Tops will receive extra recess and the coveted Box Top trophy! Box Tops are due February 22nd!
Silent Auction Items- The PTA is collecting items for silent auction baskets. These items will be raffled off at Movie Night. Please send in your donations by February 15th.
Pre-K: We Love Frederick/Ice Cream Sundae
Kindergarten: Reading/Disney
1st: Family Game Night/Let's Bake
2nd: Outdoor Sports/Lego Theme
3rd: Arts and Crafts/Spa Day at Home
4th: Family Movie Night/Life's A Beach
5th: Camping/Gardening
Upcoming PTA Meetings:
Monday, February 25th
6:30pm-7:30pm: Media Center
*Feel free to stay after and help count box tops if you are able!
BOX TOPS WILL BE DUE FEBRUARY 22ND!
Follow us on Facebook! We post all our events here!
https://www.facebook.com/WhittierPTAFrederick/
PTA membership is always appreciated in order to support your children and the PTA’s mission. Volunteering is not required! Sign up at WhittierElementaryPTA.com and follow us on Facebook to keep up to date on all events!
Check out the PTA website! http://whittierelementarypta.com
Follow the PTA on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/WhittierPTAFrederick/
Email them! WhittierPTAFrederick@gmail.com
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