3rd Grade Weekly Newsletter
Each newsletter describes what your child has been learning in school, what they will be learning the following week, and homework assignments your child will be receiving.
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Each newsletter describes what your child has been learning in school, what they will be learning the following week, and homework assignments your child will be receiving.
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Z to A Countdown Next Week
Next Week
Looking Ahead
April 23-27 Reading –This week students finished our unit on expository nonfiction. We learned about Sonia Sotomayor and her contributions to the United States. Students discussed what they learned from the text and what they wondered. After finishing the story, we looked up some of our unanswered wonderings using other sources. Vocabulary – Students learned these three new vocabulary words: intense, exhilarated, and astounding Writing – Partners worked hard to wrap-up our animal research projects. They added text features to their books, published them, and shared them in the author’s chair. Math – In math, we classified the strategies we use for addition problems into two main categories: adding in parts and changing the numbers. Students have practiced using these strategies to strengthen their number sense. Next week –April 30-May 4 Reading – Students will start our new unit, Determining Important Ideas. This unit will look at main ideas, themes and morals. Writing – We will begin our poetry writing unit. Students will first discuss elements of poetry, then they will practice using these elements in their own poems. Math – We will dig deeper into subtraction problems. Students will investigate strategies that work as we find the difference between two numbers.
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April 16-20
Reading –This week students took the SAT10, so students did not have any reading lessons. Thank you, again, to the families that have contributed food and snacks for testing days. Vocabulary – Since we had testing this week, students reviewed past vocabulary words. Writing – Students spent the week drafting their writing pieces with their partners. They worked hard to create an interesting opening that grabbed the attention of their audience. Students also wrote an ending that wrapped up their report. Math – We learned a new game this week: Capture on the 300-600 chart. This game involved students adding and subtracting numbers up to 600. Students also completed problems that involved multiple groups of 100. Next week –April 23-27 Reading – Students will start a new biography about Sonia Sotomayer, a woman who was appointed to be a supreme court justice. Writing – Partners will wrap up our unit on expository nonfiction by typing and publishing their animal piece. Math – We will further investigate addition and subtraction strategies as students identify which ones work for them. April 9-13
Reading –This week students took the FSA ELA. Thank you to all families that donated and sent in food so students had a snack on testing days. We also wrapped up our study of Wilma Rudolph, the first America woman to receive three gold medals in a single Olympic game. Students continued to create double-entry journals detailing what they learned and what they wondered from the text. Vocabulary – We learned the words persist, strain, and adjust from our reading of Wilma Unlimited by Kathleen Krull. Writing – Writing partners finished taking notes on their animals. Students worked together to organize their notecards into categories. They ended the week by drafting an introduction to their expository nonfiction piece. Math – Students started Unit 7 this week. This unit focuses on addition and subtraction of 2- and 3-digit numbers. We started the unit with a discussion and workshop on liquid volume and mass. Students solved problems involving these forms of measurement. Next week –April 16-20 Reading – Students will take the SAT-10 Monday-Thursday. Writing – Partners will continue to draft their expository nonfiction piece on their animal. Math – Students will complete several workshops where they have a choice of what activities to complete. All choices will include problems dealing with addition and subtraction of larger numbers. This week
April 3-6 Reading –This week students continued preparing for the FSA. We held our "Spring Training" day where students participated in activities similar to FSA tasks. They rotated through three sessions: reading, math, and writing. At the end of the day, students were rewarded for their hard work as they enjoyed a popsicle and decorated their own medal. In our curriculum we started reading a new biography Wilma Unlimited, by Kathleen Krull. Vocabulary – We learned the words flimsy, long, and gruff from our reading of Brave Harriett by Mark Newman. Writing – Writing partners continued to read about the animal they are researching. Students wrote wonderings about their animal and then used index cards to start taking notes. Partners worked hard to make sure they cited their sources. We also discussed online search queries and the importance of using credible sources. Math – This week in math students continued to work through activities that strengthen their understanding of fractions. They played the Fraction Cookie game and created "Half-Yellow" designs using pattern blocks. In addition, students wrapped up our study of fractions with our End-of-Unit Assessment. Next week –April 9-13 Reading – Students will take the ELA (English Language Arts) portion of the FSA on April 10th and 12th. Writing – With partners, students will organize their research notes and begin drafting information for their animal report. Math – Students will access the FSA online portal and work through practice math problems. They will also start our new math unit, "How Many More Miles?" A few dates to remember as we look forward to next week.
This week – Feb. 26-March 2 Reading – We also had our first two FSA simulations on Monday and Wednesday. Students worked for 45 minutes on two passages each day. After the 45 test simulation we worked to go over all of the answers with the students right then so they could reflect on their success and difficulties. Students will graph their progress for all six simulations. In addition, we continued reading and learning from expository non-ficiton texts like Deserts and Polar Bears. We are working on the strategy of wondering and new learnings. Ask your student what wonderings and new learnings they’ve had this week from our class read alouds. Vocabulary – This week we learned the words avoid, deadly, and threatened from Flashy Fantastic Rainforest Frogs. Talk with your student about how these words were used in our story. Writing – This week we did our second performance task which focused on writing an opinion essay. Students were asked to write an opinion on who they would rather meet if they could go back in time- George Washington or Benjamin Franklin. Chat with your student about which one they chose, and what reasons they used to support their thinking. Math – This week in math students are finishing up Unit 5 on multiplication. They are working on their larger facts in the 10’s and 12s. Next week - Reading – Next week in reading we will continue learning about Polar Bears and keeping track of what we wonder and new learnings. Writing – Next week in writing we will begin our unit on expository non-fiction writing, during which students will complete a research writing project. Math – Next week in math we will begin Unit 6 on Fractions. A few dates to remember as we look forward to next week.
This Week: Feb. 19-23 Reading – This week in reading we practiced finished reading about Flashy, Fantastic Rainforest Frogs, and started a new expository non-ficition book about Deserts. We’re revisiting the strategy of wondering and asking questions as we learn more facts. Chat with your student about what they’ve learned about frogs, rainforests, deserts and the animals that live there. Vocabulary – We learned three new words from Flashy, Fantastic Rainforest Frogs. They were flashy, fantastic, and diverse. We learned that fantastic has two meanings. It can mean great or wonderful, and it can also mean unusual, strange, or unbelievable. We’re focusing on the second definition of fantastic this week. Chat with your student about what words are most interesting to them from this week. Writing – We finished our Author’s Chair on the opinion essays each student published. They enjoyed hearing each other’s writing! We began our second writing performance task on opinion writing. These are designed to help students read texts, comprehend them, analyze them, and then write to a prompt during which they must refer to the information learned in the texts. This helps prepare them for state writing assessments in fourth grade. This performance task will be in the genre of opinion writing, which we just finished studying. Students were asked to read 2 articles about George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. We took notes as a class and thought about what each person did and how to describe each person. Eventually, students will do these performance tasks independently, but we are doing this one together. Math – Continued exploring mulitiplication word problems and how they can be related. For instance, if a word problem askes about 4x4, the second word problem might ask about 4x8. Students should see that these problems are doubles of one another. We’ve also been playing games like Missing Factor and visiting the Reflex Math website to help students gain more fluency with their facts. Practice is highly recommended at home, as we’re coming to the end of this unit very soon. Next week: Reading – Next week students will take their first simulated reading FSA test. After all students have completed this we will go over the answers thoroughly. We will also continue to look at expository texts and what we wonder from them. Writing – Students will continue to do their persuasive writing task, and write an essay about who they would rather meet if they had the chance to go back in time. Math –Next week students will continue to talk about multiples of 10 and higher, and how they relate to the basic facts. For example, 2x8 and 20x8. A few dates to remember as we look forward to next week.
This week – Feb. 12-16 Reading- This week in reading we read the book Flashy, Fantastic Rainforest Frogs to practice asking questions and seeking answers to help us learn from reading a non-fiction text. Students have learned that when they learn more from non-fiction, they often have more wonderings. Students were asked to share wonderings by using the words, “I wonder” before sharing or writing. Encourage students to wonder about their topic or characters this week when reading at home. Vocabulary – This week we learned the require, serve, and prefer from our reading of Morning Meals Around the World, and a lunch menu, which we learned was a type of functional text. Check in with your students about these words and how they were used in our texts Writing – This week in writing students started to publish their final persuasive essay. They first met with a peer to go over any tips for revision, then they had a conference with their teacher to help them proofread for any mistakes. Students are also typing their final essay. Math – This week in math we continued our study of multiplication and division. We continued to work on learning multiplication facts. Students have been playing a game called Cover Up with Arrays to help learn factors and facts. We also talked about how to use known facts to help us learn hard facts. Next week - Reading – Next week in reading we will continue to look at more text features in expository text and we will practice using the R.U.L.E. Strategy as we continue to prepare for the FSA. Writing – Next week we will begin our second writing performance task on opinion essays. Math – Next week we will continue to work with arrays and beginning to memorize multiplication facts. A few dates to remember as we look forward to next week.
--2/3 teachers This week – Feb. 5-9 Reading – This week we explored a new facet of non-fiction called Functional Texts. These are texts we use everyday to help us. Things like recipies, lists, calendars, street signs and menus are all good examples of functional texts. Students have been asked to notice functional texts around them in or out of school, and how we might use those texts in everyday life. During independent reading, students have been searching for text features in their own books (captions, photos, fact boxes, glossaries, etc…) and stating what they learned from those text features. Continue these conversations of non fiction books and articles at home. Vocabulary – This week we learned the words achieve, challenge, determination, graceful, original, and spectacular from the non-fiction article The Japanese Art of Origami. Check in with your student about this week’s words, and which was most interesting to them. Ask them about what the article was all about, and how the words were used in the article. Writing – This week, students were learning how to organize their persuasive essays. We’ve explored how these essays are organized into paragraphs where they have an opening statement (opinion), two-three reasons, and a closing statement. Math- We have moved onto Unit 5, which is our second multiplication unit. Students have been using color patterns to work on their multiples of 3’s, 4’s, and 6’s. Continue practicing multiplication at home by using Reflexmath.com. Next week - Reading - Next week we will review how to choose a Just Right Book, and then move onto our next unit which focuses on wonderings and asking questions from our text. Writing – Next week we will continue our unit study of persuasive writing and begin choosing an essay to publish. Math – Next week students will be making connections between multiplication and division. In addition, they will revisit arrays and factor pairs. This week –
Jan. 29-Feb.2 A few dates to remember as we look forward to next week.
--2/3 teachers Reading – This week in reading we started to talk with students about the FSA (Florida Standards Assessment). We used two texts to read through and discuss the skills of sequence, main idea (central idea), cause and effect, and relationship between paragraphs. We are beginning to show students test questions to help them become familiar with the question style and vocabulary. We also continued to work on reading non-fiction expository texts and use text features to help us learn more from the text. Vocabulary – This week we reviewed the words convenient, hazardous, detect, plain, differ and refreshing from the non fiction text entitled, Homes. Talk with your students about these words and how they were used in our read aloud. Writing – In writing this week, we worked on a group of skills including: verbs, linking verbs, simple verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, regular and irregular verb tenses, and comparative and superlative adjectives. Math – This week in math we almost finished our unit four study of perimeter, area, and angles. Students worked with straw building kits to explore different types of triangles and quadrilaterals. Students listed all the attributes of triangles and quadrilaterals. Next week - Reading – Next week we will continue to talk about FSA type questions and concepts. Additionally, we will read articles and learn how to use their text features to help us learn while reading. Writing – Next week we will return to our unit on persuasive/opinion writing. Students will learn how to organize their writing, develop supporting reasons, and how to write concluding paragraphs. Math – Next week we will finish up Unit 4 on perimeter and area. Homework – Beginning Feb. 5, students will receive a weekly FSA reading homework packet, which is due the following Monday. We have chosen these passages carefully to help you and your child see each kind of passages that may be included on the FSA this year. Please work through the packet with your child and use the R.U.L.E. Strategy (explained on the front of each packet) for each question. We will be reviewing these in class each Monday morning, so it is important that students return them on time. Please look over your child's work and talk through any confusions. |