January/ February Newsletter
November/December Newsletter
Literacy:
Reading- Determining Importance
We will start this month out focusing on a new thinking strategy: DETERMINING IMPORTANCE.
We will continue to make meaning strategically by learning how to find the main idea of the texts we read and the events or ideas that are truly significant to what we are reading. The students will learn what it means to summarize and how determining importance is key to writing a summary about something we have read or watched. We will discuss the difference between events that are significant and events that are just something we happened to enjoy most in the story.
Writing- Informational Writing
We are wrapping up our unit on Informative Writing. Students have done an amazing job with their final drafts and it is clear that students are experts at many things! They have done a good job implementing structures of a non-fiction, organizing, and elaborating on their written pieces.
Opinion Writing
In the next couple of weeks, students will be starting Opinion writing. To start the unit, third graders will gather and support bold and brave opinions as they write. Students will learn that persuasive writers look at their world and imagine how it could be better to grow ideas for possible writing projects. They’ll see problems that need to be addressed and imagine solutions. In the final bend of this unit, students will work in collaborative groups to support their causes. These groups will decide on various projects they need to create to get others to act for their cause. To finish off the unit, students will write a final piece and consider where in the world the text should go for it to reach the particular audience. This entire unit will allow our third graders to put their civic responsibility into action through writing!
Math:
Perimeter, Angles and Area: 2-D Geometry and Measurement
This unit develops ideas about the attributes of 2-D objects and how they are classified (the definition of a triangle, rectangle, and square), linear measurement (which includes perimeter), area, and the measurement of angles. Using the context of perimeter, students are continuing to develop their ability to use measurement tools as they work on accurate linear measurement techniques. Students learn to identify angles by their relationship to a right angle. (Is the angle greater than, less than, or equal to a 90-degree angle?) They are also developing an understanding of area as the amount of flat space an object covers and determine the area of 2-D shapes in square units.
Number Sense: Multiplication and Division
Students will be working with multiplication and division. They will be able to use more than one way to find the product of two factors and explore the meaning behind these concepts. Students will develop their mathematical tool belt with strategies when attacking multiplication and division problems through skip counting, creating equal groups, learning math facts and creating arrays to solve problems.
Social Studies:
Geography
Our geography unit will include learning activities that help students use various types of geographic tools to develop spatial thinking. This month we will focus on us being able to read and interpret information from geographic tools as well as practice finding oceans and continents, major countries, bodies of water, mountains, urban areas, the state of Colorado and neighboring states on a map. Through PeaceJam, we'll be looking at the communities around the world where the laureates grew up and describing the natural and human features of each area. We'll also be comparing and contrasting different areas to deepen our understanding of how the geography of where we live influences how we live.
November/December Newsletter
Literacy
Reading: Questioning
and Inferring
We have been focusing on the
strategy of questioning. Your reader
will understand that good readers ask questions before, during, and after they
are reading and that some questions will not have answers provided within the
text. We will also work on the
structure of writing a paragraph and what the main components of a paragraph
are.
We will then
be transferring into the strategy of Inferring. Inferring is a strategy
that involves reading between the lines. Students will know that a good
inference comes when you use your background knowledge and text clues to make
an educated inference. (BK + TC= I) When students infer, you might hear
language like, “I think that…because…” “My clues from the text are…”
or “Maybe it means…because…” Third graders will practice creating, confirming
and revising reasonable predictions when reading. Students will also have to
think about why authors write different texts, for example, to
inform or persuade. Additionally, they will begin to communicate inferences
about plot, setting, character and problem/solution before, during and after
reading. Finally, students will attempt to determine the meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from figurative
language.
Writing:
Informational Writing
Informational writing has been a fun way for
students to express what they are interested in, and how they are experts at
many different topics. Students should include:
·
An interesting beginning that sets the context for a
topic.
·
Have organizational structure that has a clear focus
throughout the piece of writing.
·
Students will include details and explanations that
will help the reader understand their ideas clearly.
·
Communicate big ideas, insights, possibly statistics
and teach the reader new information by using multiple non-fiction elements.
·
Use diagrams, charts or illustrations which are
appropriate and that support the text.
·
Have a conclusion or ending section that is logical
·
Include a glossary of related terms if needed to
explain expert words used.
Math:
Visual Displays are
used to Describe Data
What can data tell you about your class or school? How does
data displays help us understand information? These are a few guiding questions
that are helping our student think about why data collection and data
representation are important mathematical strategies. In our current unit,
students have started to collect, represent, describe, categorize, and
interpret both categorical and numerical data. They are using the 21st
century skill of Problem Solving by reasoning abstractly and quantitatively to
analyze data and generate solutions. They have already begun the important work
of seeing a data set as a whole as they design and carry out their own data
investigations, create representations of the data collected, and compare and
discuss these representations. By the end of this unit, students will be able
to draw scaled picture graphs and scaled bar graphs to represent a data set
with several categories. Additionally, students will solve one- and two-step
“how many more” and “how many less” problems using information presented in
scaled bar graphs.
Number Sense and Measurement
Later in this unit students will work
on students’ collections of numerical data that includes measuring length in
inches and feet. Students will review the basic units of inches, feet, and
yards and their relationships by
measuring lengths longer than one foot. Students practice and refine their
strategies for solving addition problems with three-digit numbers and
subtraction problems with two- and three-digit numbers. In addition to solving
removal problems, they expand their understanding of subtraction as they solve
comparison problems and problems in which they find the missing part of a
whole. They will increase their understanding of place-value as they extend
their work into three-digit numbers up to 1,000 and study the structure of 1,000.
Social Studies: Civics
Third
grade students have learned that in our civics unit, citizens
respect
the views and rights of others as components of a democratic
society.
They studied the origin, structure, and basic function of
governments.
We will continue to build off of this throughout the year
when
we hit other social studies units.
|
Science: Matter
Throughout every science unit, all third graders are using
critical thinking to demonstrate the process of inquiry. By experimenting,
reading articles, discussing and reflecting.. Students will learn the
scientific process and how that is essential with their new learning with
identifying the states of different types of matter. Through Foss
Investigations, videos, literature and class activities, students will discuss
different attributes of solids, liquids, gases and plasma while using evidence
to develop a scientific explanation around how heating and cooling affects
states of matter. Our grade-level science day later in the year will allow
students to practice analyze, interpret and write observations about matter as
it freezes and melts, and boils and condenses.
October Newsletter
Math
In this unit, students
collect, represent, describe, categorize, and interpret both categorical and
numerical data. They begin the important work of seeing a data set as a whole
as they design and carry out their own data investigations, create representations
of the data collected, and compare and discuss these representations. Students
draw conclusions about the data by identifying characteristics in their
representations. (Where is most of the data clumped? Where is the mode?)
Students’ collection of numerical data includes measuring length in inches and
feet. Students review the basic units of inches, feet, and yards and their
relationships (e.g., one foot is equivalent to 12 inches, one yard is
equivalent to 3 feet or 36 inches) by measuring lengths longer than one foot.
Student Handbook: Page 88-109
Literacy
In reading we have focused on building on our schema and applying our
background knowledge to new learning through activating, and building on our
connections. We have modeled these strategies and students have independently
applied this skill through text to various content areas.
We will be working
on finding evidence from our reading to support written responses. Then we will
focus on asking questions when we read. Your reading will understand that good
readers ask questions before, during, and after they are reading and that some
questions will not have answers provided within the text. Asking questions
about our reading helps us find new information, solve problems, extend our
understanding, and clear up our confusion.
Writer’s Workshop
we will work on finishing up our personal narratives. We will also work on starting
our information writing. This will focus on using nonfiction text as models,
using expert works, and including nonfiction text features. We will also work
on the structure of writing a paragraph and what the main components of a
paragraph are.
Social Studies
We have
compared and contrasted Parker and how it has changed overtime. We will finish
up working on our reflections from our interviews so that we can get a deeper
understanding of how the past has influences our lives in the present.
Students will learn that citizens join a community to live, work and play. Being a
responsible citizen, students will add to their background knowledge, to analyze
and take action on how to become a positive influence within our community
through making a difference projects. For a better understanding, after fall break
we will implement "Peace Fridays". On Fridays we will be exploring the
lives of Nobel Laureates through literacy, geography, history & civics. In
addition to using our thinking strategies while reading about the laureate's
childhood stories, we will also be analyzing the characteristics of effective
citizenship, learning about locations around the globe where the laureates
live, as well as comparing and contrasting those communities to our own
community here in Parker. It's truly amazing how "Peace" can weave
itself into every part of our 3rd grade year.
Dates to
Remember:
October 7th: Now and Then Project Due
October 8th: Now and Then Gallery 3rd grade rooms, from 9:40-10:20
October 9-18th: Fall Break
October 30th: Halloween Breakfast (9:00), Halloween Parties
(9:15-10:15) and Parade (10:15-10:30)
September Newsletter
MATH
In math students are solving addition and subtraction problems with two and three-digit numbers. Students are finding combinations of numbers that add to 100, and working with coins and coin values. Their understanding of place value is developing as they add and subtract 10s to form three-digit numbers. In this unit students have learned to break three-digit numbers into hundreds, tens, and ones in different ways, and solve story problems involving missing addends.
LITERACY
Reading comprehension refers to the ability to acquire meaning from written text. When students enter third grade, they are no longer learning to read; they are now reading to learn. In order to allow for the utmost growth as "comprehenders" in third grade, our reading curriculum relies heavily on comprehension strategies instruction. That is, students are taught a variety of strategies to apply before reading, during reading, and after reading in order to make the most meaning from a text. (Block, Gambrell, & Pressley, 2002; Robinson, McKenna, & Wedman, 2004) In reading our first strategy has been activating our schema with building our knowledge through different types of connections and making sure that we are choosing books that are at their level.
For Writer’s Workshop we have been focusing on Personal Narratives. Students are learning to take everyday events of their lives and stretch them out into a well-structured story. Students are learning that in order to do their very best to communicate these stories they need to create a plan, then apply that to their writing.
SOCIAL STUDIES
For our social studies unit we started our learning with comparing communities from the past to the present. Students now have an understanding of what makes a community. We will be exploring local history that will allow students to grasp how communities change overtime. Later in the month we will be going to the Plains Conservation Center and we will also be listening to a historian tell us about the “good old days”.
DATES TO REMEMBER
September 7th: Labor Day-No School
September 14-16: CogAT Testing
September 21st: Castro, Schwartz and Russell’s Field Trip to the Plains Conservation Center
September 23rd: Shepperd and Merideth’s Field Trip to the Plains Conservation Center
September 29th: Parent Teacher Conferences
October 1st: Parent Teacher Conferences
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