Hello Families, In the beginning weeks we will work on expectations, procedures, and routines while getting deeper into the curriculum and assessing where your child is with their academic skills and needs. It is a big jump from second to third when it comes to expectations, responsibilities, and work completion. Students will be expected to complete more work independently and be more accountable to themselves. In a way it is guiding them in preparation for upper elementary and middle school.
Reading
In reading we are learning the procedures of the Readers' Workshop and Lucy Calkins Units of Study. This includes: Ways to Choose a Book, What are Fiction and Nonfiction Books,The different genres of books, and how to log in your reading. Students will work on improving their Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding their Vocabulary. They will increase their reading stamina from 20 minutes to 40 minutes when reading independently. They will also respond to their reading by writing Response Letters. Students will be expected to read at home nightly and maintain a Home Reading Log. When it is full, just send to school and I’ll give your child another one. That helps me keep track of the their independent reading throughout the year. We will begin the first few weeks having parent/gaurdian signature of Agenda for reading at home.
Spelling
This is the third year that I'm using a word study program called Words Their Way. Rather than memorize a list of words each week, student will focus on learning to spell words by patterns and using words correctly in their everyday writing. We'll be doing this by weekly tests and word study sorts.
Writer’s Workshop/Language Arts
We will use not only the Writing Process this year, but will also learn more about the Lucy Calkins Units of Study for writing. You will hear your child talk about word choice, sentence fluency, voice, organization, conventions, complete sentences, writing paragraphs, and stories. I work individually with students each week when we conference with each other and look for ways to improve their writing. Your child will also learn how to write Cursive and later in the year will be expected to write assignments in Cursive. We will also learn about nouns, verbs, pronouns, and adjectives this year.
Math
One of the major things we are focusing on this year is mastering math facts. We will continue to implement the Core Standards for Math instruction. The biggest change is that we will be beginning the year mastering multiplication and division facts. Children will also work at trying to master their addition and subtraction facts. We will be using XtraMath at school. This is a great website for your child to master their math facts at home too. This is one of the ways that I’ll be monitoring their progress.
Three times each year, I will be assessing your child's math progress through an online math assessment called STAR Math. This assessment will provide me with information on your child's math progress so I am better able to tailor instruction to their individual student needs and meet school district goals.
Along with this, we will focus on learning to problem solve, count and make change, and answer addition and subtraction facts with and without regrouping.
Science
The topics that we will explore this year are as follows:
*Rocks and Minerals
*Thermal Energy/Energy
*Habitats
*Food Chains/Food Webs
*Planets and Space Objects
*Water and Water Cycle
Social Studies We will explore these topics this year:
*Exploring a Community
*Mapping Skills
*Exploring the United States History/Government
*Exploring the Continents and Oceans
Inventions/Transportation
Methods
Health We will work on these themes this year:
*Healthy Body, Healthy Eating
*Healthy Lifestyles
*Body Systems
*Dental Health
*Germs
*Safety at Home and at School
Field Trips
We are hoping to go on at least three field trips in third grade. Each time we choose a field trip a note will be sent home outlining the times and cost. We appreciate parent chaperones. If you are interested in chaperoning a field trip, generally we will include a spot on the note for parents to volunteer. I will keep you posted on our first field trip.
If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to contact me.