Weeks of 9/23/13 and 9/30/13

*Remember: No school on Friday, September 27th.

Week of September 23:

This week we are finishing up the first units in English and Math.  Students will test over the four types of sentences, subjects and predicates, and fixing run-ons in English.  In Math, students will test over place value up to the hundred thousands, rounding numbers to the nearest ten and hundred, ordinal numbers, expanded form, word form, and counting money. Both tests will take place on Wednesday, September 25th.  It is important to be sure your child is studying for these tests.

In Reading, we will begin reading Charlotte's Web.  Students will be given a copy of the book.  The book will travel back and forth between home and school.  We will read all of the book together in class, but it can be used as a reference for homework assignments at home.  Students will keep a journal for the book.  After almost every chapter, students will need to summarize the important events of the story.  Students are required to write at least 4 complete sentences for each entry.  They are not to copy sentences from the book.  This does not show that they have learned anything from the story.  They must describe in their own words what happened in each chapter.  They are required to use correct capitalization and punctuation for each chapter.  The journals will not be collected and graded until the end of the book, so it is the students' responsibility to stay on top of their work.

In Writer's Workshop, students will continue to work on their fairy tales.

In Science, students have begun learning about living things and their needs.  We will study plants, their structures, and the importance of each. 

In Social Studies, students will learn how to use a map scale.  They will also learn about the natural resources found around us and the importance of them.  

 Week of September 30:

In Science students will learn about animals, their parts, and what they need to survive.  Students will learn how scientists classify animals according to their similarities. 

In Social Studies this week, students will begin their research for our class Hispanic Heritage project.  Our class is studying Mexico.  Students will be placed in to groups to study different aspects of the Mexican culture such as food, music, famous people, sports, etc.  More information to come.

Students will begin the unit in Math on addition.  This unit will start out as review.

In English, students will begin learning about different kinds of nouns: singular/plural, common/proper, etc.

In Reading, students will continue to read Charlotte's Web. We will focus on character development, setting description, and comparing and contrasting.

Weeks of 9/9/13 and 9/16/3

Dear Parents and Guardians:

Welcome to the third grade!  I apologize for the delay in my post.  I will try to write one every two weeks to keep you updated as to what's happening in our classroom. 

For the week of September 9th:
In math, we will be focusing on place value to the thousands, comparing and ordering numbers, using different problem solving strategies such as drawing pictures or logical thinking, and extending place value to the hundred thousands.  These concepts are mostly review from second grade.

In language arts, students are learning about fixing run-on sentences in English, writing fairy tales in writer's workshop, and learning about author's purpose and cause and effect in reading.

In science, students will be participating in centers this week to practice different skills that scientists use.  These skills include observing, communicating, measuring, classifying, using numbers, making models, predicting, analyzing data, and inferring. 

In social studies, students will be learning about different types of communities; rural, urban, and suburban.  They will learn what these communities consist of and what makes them different from each other.  Students will also be studying our country's geography and the different landmarks that are found throughout.

For the week of September 16th:

In Social Studies, students will be learning about how to use a map scale.  They will also learn about the natural resources available in our country, why they are important, and how to conserve them.

In Math, students will be counting money values and solving story problems that involve money.  These are the last two lessons from chapter 1.  On Wednesday students will complete the review from the chapter.  We will go over the review on Thursday and play a review game.  Students will have a math test on Friday, September 20th.

In Science, students will finish the centers on the different skills they will use this year.  Students will also begin chapter 1.  They will learn about living things and what they need to survive.

In language arts, students will learn how to combine sentences to make their writing smoother in English.  Students will begin to review for the chapter 1 test this week.  Their test will be next week. In reading, students will be learning about main idea and supporting details.  In writer's workshop, students will continue to work on their fairy tales.

*Progress reports will be sent home Friday, September 20th.