St. Andrew's Third Grade
2014-2015
Welcome, families of Third Graders
An Overview of the Year
Social and Emotional Learning
Reading Workshop
Our goal in third grade is to develop active readers who. . .
- find joy, meaning and fulfillment in reading
- choose appropriate texts that match their interest, purpose and reading ability
- engage in conversations around text
- are to strategic in their approach to word solving and meaning making in texts
- react and respond to text, orally and in writing
- make connections across texts that inform their reading of new texts
- stretch themselves as readers through exposure to new genres and increasingly challenging texts.
Writing Workshop
Our goal in third grade is to develop writers who. . .
- see themselves as authors with stories to tell
- understand their audience and craft writing pieces to match their audience and their purpose
- write for their audience being mindful of grammar, vocabulary and writing mechanics and conventions
- understand the connection between reading and writing and use this understanding to help them craft their writing pieces
- use mentor texts, studying what published authors do and figuring out how to emulate that author’s craft
- understand and use the Writing Process (plan, draft, revise, edit, publish)
- use writing as a tool for thinking and learning.
Spelling
Our goal in third grader is to develop spellers who:
- are increasingly independent, using strategies to spell new words
- understand increasingly more spelling patterns and rules, as well some of the exceptions to these rules
- understand more about the structure of words and how this knowledge can be used to help them spell new words
- take risks in their spelling, stretching themselves to take a stab at spelling increasingly complex words.
Vocabulary and Grammar
Vocabulary:
- First year with Vocabulary Workshop
- Direct instruction, focusing on context clues
- Strategies to study
- Website
- Recognizing vocabulary words in their personal reading
Grammar:
- Builds on the instruction in Second Grade
- Based on a workbook, but looking for authentic uses of grammar too
- Strategies to identify Grammar concepts
- Website
- Units include:
· Nouns
· Verbs
· Adjectives and Adverbs
· Pronouns
· Capitalization, Punctuation, and Spelling
Mathematics
Social Studies and Science
In Third Grade, we alternate our Science and Social Studies units of study every six weeks.
Science units of study focus on content and learning how to use non-fiction texts. Measurement, observation, and making/testing hypotheses are skills that the students will learn as they go through their studies this year.
Science Unit of Study:
- Dinosaurs and Fossils
- Tropical Rainforests and Ecosystems
- Climate Change
Social Studies provides more opportunity to focus on the strategies of using non-fiction texts. Students develop skills of empathy, historical sequencing, cause and effect, and seeing how our surroundings affect the lives of both humans and plant (and vice versa). Through the context of their studies, students develop a respect for all people.
Social Studies Units of Study:
- Native Americans of the Great Plains (focus on Sioux)
- American Government
- Rivers Around the World