May 15th - 18th, 2012

The Third Grade Team honors our students' Moms and sends you Happy Mother's Day Wishes!

There is no school for students on Monday, May 14th. It is a School Improvement Day.

This week's news... 

Citizenship – There is no cool tool this week, but we will continue to discuss how to problem solve. Each classroom will discuss specific issues in the classroom. Teachers will remind students of ways to cool-off and use "I -messages" to tell people how they feel. Below is a short video designed to remind students that when conflict occurs they can use various strategies to solve the problem. Check it out - the song is kind of catchy!

How to Get Along

Reading – This week, we will continue reading Yippee-Yay by Gail Gibbons. This is an expository nonfiction piece that describes the life of the American cowhand in the Old West. We will learn that this was exciting, yet tough. There is some wonderful vocabulary and connections that we will make between the Old West and our social studies unit on the pioneers. There will be an open book test at the end of the week, so be sure to check your child’s assignment notebook for the test date.
Vocabulary: corral, ranchers, tending, stray, profit, market

Readers Theater- We will also practice reading The Crowded House. Our focus will be to read our character's part fluently with excellent volume, clarity, and expression.

Writing -
We are continuing and extending our writing unit due to time constraints from CBM Testing, the Oregon Trail, and because the stories that we’ve been reading require more time. Students will continue working on expository writing. Expository means "to explain". Students will learn how to brainstorm a web of ideas and generate a 4-square graphic organizer. This organizer will help them to write a multi-paragraph paper. The students will learn to defend an opinion using reasons, transition words, details, and elaboration. We will demonstrate some” I do’s” and “We do’s”. We will also give instruction on how to write a good introduction, body paragraphs and a conclusion.

Spelling - This week we are on list #29. The pattern is words that end like ever. Please help your child review this week because some of the words may be more difficult. The test is Friday, May 18th.

Social Studies – The students will continue to learn about immigration and migration. We started the unit with reasons for moving west and how difficult it was along the trail. Then we created families to "ride on the Oregon Trail" to see if their decisions allowed them to get all the way to Oregon City to begin a new life. The students will learn about immigration and the significance of Ellis Island. The students will also learn about the Great Migration, when many African Americans migrated to the north in search of a better life.

Third Grade Math-  The Unit 9 Study Guide will be sent home on5/16 and is due on Mon., 5/21. The Unit 9 Test is Tues., 5/22. Unit 9 is all about multi-digit multiplication and applying different strategies to find the answer. During this unit students will be exposed to partial products, lattice and traditional multiplication techniques. The highlight of the unit is always learning lattice multiplication. By the end of this unit, the students should also be able to demonstrate skills from previous units such as: ordering fractions from smallest to largest, understanding order of operations, and drawing rectangles with a given perimeter and determine the area.

Accelerated Math - Please have your child review their Unit 9 Study Guide. The Unit 9 Test is Thurs., 5/17. Unit 9 focuses on fractions, decimals and percents. Students will work on conversions between the three. We will also be comparing results of surveys and taking a survey ourselves. Towards the end of the unit, students will learn how to multiply and divide decimals.