The Last Week of November 2012

 

We hope everyone had a wonderful, long weekend!  We now have 4 full weeks of school with lots of learning and fun packed in!  There is a lot coming up, but here is the information you need to know for this week...

 

Reading

We are beginning a unit learning about the author Chris VanAllsburg.  This week, the students will be introduced to the author by visiting his website www.chrisvanallsburg.com. Students will also listen to his first book The Garden of Abdul Gasazi.  We will be introduced to Fritz (who is somewhere in every one of his books) and talk about "magic" in stories.  Then we will move on to reading two more of his books, Just a Dream and Ben's Dream.  We will compare and contrast these two books, and we will also look for Fritz!

 

Writing

Some students are finishing up on their personal narratives this week.  Then we will move on to writing about the author Chris VanAllsburg and will respond to his books.

 

Spelling

This Monday 11/26, the students will be given the Unit 12 pretest.  The Unit 12 test will be this Friday, 11/30.  Please make sure to practice every night.

 

Social Studies

The students have been researching different national monuments and are now ready to present what they learned to their class with the powerpoint they created.  We will then continue our unit on our countries government by learning about our nation's capital, Washington D.C..  Students will learn how Washington D.C. became our capital and how it has changed since the beginning of our nation until the present time.

 

Third Grade Math

Unit 3 focuses on measurement, perimeter, and area. Students will be exposed to measuring with U.S. customary and metric units of length. In addition, they will learn the how to find the perimeter and area of a quadrilateral.

Accelerated Math

The beginning of unit 4 focuses on decimals.  Students will be exposed to decimal notation for fractions with denominators 10 or 100.  They will compare two decimals to tenths and hundredths and will learn how to write the decimals in expanded form.  The second part of unit 4 focuses on different types of measurements.  We will learn conversions between measurements as well. 

 

November 12 - 20

Let's take a moment and thank all the veteran's who have bravely fought for our country.  We continue to live in peace thanks to all the men and women who have served in our armed forces

This blog installment will take us through Thanksgiving break.  The third grade team hopes everyone enjoys the time off and spends some quality time with family and friends giving thanks.

Picture Re-Takes - On Thursday,  November 15th picture re-takes are scheduled.  If you would like to get your picture re-taken,  please contact the office to get on the re-take list. Bring back your original packet.

Citizenship -  The students have already learned how to problem-solve and use empathy.  Now, they will learn how to handle a bully situation.  If a student feels he or she is being bullied and has tried to problem-solve the situation by talking it out, then they he oar she needs to remember to STOP-WALK-TALK. Students will tell the bully to stop by using the stop sign.  If the students does not stop, then the bullied student needs to walk away.  Finally, if the bully follows and doesn't stop bothering the student, come and talk to an adult.

Reading - This week we will finish our work on the story The Talent Show.  Every classroom will be holding their own classroom talent show. The important thing to remember is, some things are just meant to be enjoyed!  The kids really enjoy participating and watching their classmates show their special talents.  Thanksgiving week - we will be talking turkey!  The students will work on Thanksgiving activities.

Grammar- The second quarter is devoted to prefixes, suffixes, root words, plural/possessive nouns, and figurative language (idioms, similes, metaphors, and onomatopoeia).

Spelling -  List #10.  The spelling pattern is /ou/.  The test will be Friday, November 16th.

Writing- During the next unit, the students will learn how to write a Personal Narrative. Personal Narratives are stories written from the first-person’s point of view that share personal experiences through descriptive details. We will begin by immersing students in books which focus on how writers narrate stories from their own lives. We will examine how writers share both details and feelings that make the reader visualize the event in their mind. We will model how to brainstorm ideas for narratives by using our heart maps. This unit will be taught using the “I do”, “We do”, “You do” method. 

Social Studies- the students are finishing up learning about how our country began. The students need to know...
- The first Americans were Asian  and crossed a land bridge from Asia.
- Many years later, colonists from England came over and settled in Jamestown
- There were thirteen original colonies
- The colonists became increasing angry with England- especially because the King was taxing them 
   more.
- The colonists were so mad they threw tea in Boston Harbor.  This became known as the Boston Tea
   Party.
- The Shot Heard Round the world was the beginning of the American Revolution
- The colonists wrote a letter to the King stating they wanted to be free from British rule.  This letter is
  called the Declaration of Independence.
- The colonies won their freedom from England and formed their own new country called the United 
  States of America
- A new government was formed and the Constitution was written. The constitution is the law of the 
  land. 

Students are also doing research on some of our national symbols and monuments.  They are working in pairs to create a PowerPoint slide and give an oral presentation to the class.  You can look forward to seeing the slides on Curriculum Night.

The final piece of our government unit will be focusing on Washington D.C. today.  The students will learn there are three branches of government, the executive, legislative and judicial.

Third Grade Math - Unit 3 focuses on measurement, perimeter, and area. Students will be exposed to measuring with U.S. customary and metric units of length. In addition, they will learn the how to find the perimeter and area of a quadrilateral.

November 5th - 9th

Important Reminders:

Parent Teacher Conferences are this week on the following days and times:

Monday, Nov. 5^th- 4:40- 8:00

Tuesday, Nov. 6^th (no school for students)- 8:00- 3:40

Thursday, Nov. 8^th- 4:40-8:00

Friday, Nov. 9^th- Field Trip: Third Graders need to bring a cold lunch and snack because we are going on a field trip to see Great American Tall Tales.

Spelling – There will be no spelling test this week. Instead, we will review previous lists.

Grammar - The second quarter is devoted to prefixes, suffixes, root words, plural/possessive nouns, and figurative language(idioms, similes, metaphors, and onomatopoeia).

Reading – For the next two weeks, we will be reading The Talent Show by Susan Wojciechowski. In this story, Beany is anxious about the upcoming talent show. After a talk with her father, Beany realizes that some things in life are simply meant to be enjoyed! We will be practicing the strategy of creating mental images with some engaging writing and drawing activities that are connected to music. They will also have a chance to participate in a talent show in their homeroom. This is a voluntary activity for students and is a wonderful way for students to be able to show their talent to the class!

Vocabulary: gym, perform, prefer, recite, enjoying, billions, and roam

Writing- During the next unit, the students will learn how to write a Personal Narrative. Personal Narratives are stories written from the first-person’s point of view that share personal experiences through descriptive details. We will begin by immersing students in books which focus on how writers narrate stories from their own lives. We will examine how writers share both details and feelings that make the reader visualize the event in their mind. We will model how to brainstorm ideas for narratives by using our heart maps. This unit will be taught using the “I do”, “We do”, “You do” method. 

Students will then begin to create their own narrated stories. These are some of the areas that we will focus on: writing a good beginning and ending, staying on topic, telling how he/she felt about what happened (feelings important in personal narrative), using clear details and strong word choice, writing complete sentences and used correct spelling, capitals, end marks and grammar, and producing a one to three paragraph personal narrative. 

Social Studies- We will continue to focus on the government. We began with a story about how people arrived in America. We also discussed the land bridge and the Native Americans. Then we focused on Jamestown and the 13 colonies. After learning about the 13 colonies, the students learned about the Declaration of Independence, the Revolutionary War, the Constitution, and the three branches of government. We will also be doing a research project this unit. The students will be researching a monument, creating a slide on power point, and writing a paragraph on a notecard to present to the class.

Third Grade Math - Unit 3 focuses on measurement, perimeter, and area. Students will be exposed to measuring with U.S. customary and metric units of length. In addition, they will learn the how to find the perimeter and area of a quadrilateral.