Week of September 23rd

It was great to see all of you at Open House last week! I know I provided you with a lot of information in that short period of time so do not hesitate to ask me any questions as they arise! You will receive a reminder of your conference time during the first week of October. If you signed up for Mystery Reader, you will be provided with a reminder one week prior to your visit.

This week we are in full swing! During reading workshop, we will focus on increasing our silent reading stamina, review comprehension strategies, and engage in a one on one reading conference with me! It is important that we begin to understand how to have conversations about our reading.

In writing workshop, we will begin our personal narrative writing unit. In this unit we will learn how to write about small moments in our lives revolving around important people and places. Please have some conversations with your children about who means a lot to them and why and maybe some important place that you always visit as a family.

We are wrapping up a portion of our place value unit in math. We will focus on problem solving strategies this week and on Wednesday your children will take their first math chapter test. We will then move on to rounding numbers to the tens and hundreds. Reminder: Your child will take a math fact quiz on the 12s and 13s on Friday.

In science, we will begin our study on seeds and plants. We will observe lima bean seeds to learn about seed parts and by the end of the week we hope to plant our own seeds to watch a plant go through its life cycle! A short assignment to collect seeds came home today. Please try to find as many seeds as you can and return it by next Monday.

Our map study continues this week in social studies by learning about the equator, prime meridian, and hemispheres.

Tomorrow, your child will come home with a calendar outlining when their first current event is due during the month of October. Please look at the back of this calendar...we will do a sample summary of an article together.

Your child's first spelling list will come home this Friday.

We're off and running...

We had an amazing first week of school! We began the week playing an M&M game in which we had to tell a partner all about us depending on which colors were in our M&M pack. Then our partner had to introduce us to the class! It was a fun game!

We spent the majority of the week building a community of learners by understanding class routines, learning how to effectively participate, and establishing a positive atmosphere.

This week...

in Reading Workshop, we will continue our discussions on how readers choose books, begin understanding what it means to think as we're reading to enhance our comprehension, and what a true third grade reader looks like. Students will learn what it means to self-assess by setting reading goals and working toward achieving them.
        
                                                      in Writing Workshop,  we will finish up our summer memory and                                                       begin setting up our writer's notebook.

in Math, we will revisit numbers to the hundreds and how to write them in three different ways. Next, we'll expand this knowledge to numbers in the thousands using number lines and comparing and ordering them. Be on the look out for information coming home early in the week about math fact quizzes. Math homework will begin this week.

in Social Studies, we'll learn the difference between cardinal and intermediate directions, how to use a map grid and how this applies when reading an atlas, and look at various map keys.

in Word Work/Vocabulary, we'll continue our discussion on common and proper nouns by understanding how to differentiate the two. We will begin our vocabulary word of the day this week. Students will be introduced to four words (Monday - Thursday) in which we'll define the words, look for synonyms and antonyms, use them throughout the week, and then students will demonstrate their understanding of these words in a letter to you this Friday! The words this week will come from the book The World According to Humphrey, our One School/One Book!

I look forward to seeing you all this Thursday, September 19 at 7:00pm at Open House. During this time I will be able to explain what to expect for your third grader this year.

Thank you for all of your support thus far. As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns you have. My contact information is located on the sidebar of this blog.