Week of October 17th, 2011

Reminders -

Wednesday, 10/19:  Conference notices go home.  Please send them back ASAP to confirm the correct date and time for your November conference. 

Friday, 10/21:  End of 1st grading period

Friday, 10/28:  Report cards go home

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Reading -

We will continue our reading and research on BATS!  Last week we started by reading Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.  Then we moved onto Zipping, Zapping, Zooming Bats by Ann Earle.  We compared and contrasted fantasy and nonfiction using these two books.  We also learned many facts about bats that we didn't know.  This week we will be doing some activities with both books and finishing off our study with BAT RESEARCH!  Students will create a bat a poster including the bat facts they learned.  We will also be discussing the difference between facts and opinions during this time. 

Please continue to have your child read nightly and log his/her minutes onto Reading Stars (tab on the top)

Grammar-
Our focus this week will be on homophones.  Homophones are words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings.  An example of a pair of homophones would be see and sea.  Check out the following sites for some homophone practice.

Go for Grammar Goal: Homophones

Whiteboard Homophones

Homophone Quiz

Spelling-
Week of 10/17= Unit 6 kn, wr, gn, ph

Writing-
During the month of October, the students will be learning how to write well-developed paragraphs.  The learning targets for the month are..

1.What do good paragraphs look like?

2.What are main ideas and details?

3.What is elaboration?

4.What is an ending sentence?

5.What does it mean to indent?

6.How do you use a graphic organizer to brainstorm ideas?

We started our unit with immersion.  This means that the students have been shown multiple examples of good paragraphs.  We began by looking for things paragraphs have in common. Students will learn that a paragraph is a group of sentences that have to do with a particular topic.  Good paragraphs have a main idea that is supported by details and elaboration.  We will continue to learn how to write paragraphs for the next two weeks.


Math -
Third Grade-
The study guide for Unit 2 was sent home Thursday Oct. 13 and will be reviewed on Tuesday, Oct. 18.  The Unit 2 math test will Wed. Oct. 19th . We will then begin Unit 3 which focuses on measurement, perimeter and area.
Accelerated Math -

We have started Unit 3 which focuses on multiplication and division, number sentences and algebra.  This is a longer unit and it will take us some time to get through it.  Please help your child by practicing multiplication and division facts at home.

Social Studies-
We have started our Social Studies unit on maps and globes.  Students will be expected to know...

Why do we use maps?
How are maps and globes different?
What are the tools that are used to help read maps and globes ? (map key, etc.)
How do we figure out the distance from one place to another ? (map scale)
What are the cardinal and intermediate directions?

Have a great week!  Make sure to check the individual teacher blogs to see updates for each specific class!