Arisa's dad stopped by to help us celebrate her birthday. We really enjoyed the story!
We began our new social studies unit! Our main focus this week was local government. We talked about all the important parts of city hall. We discussed how each department has a special job to help the community run smoothly. Some of the jobs we discussed included the city manager and the police department. We will continue learning about local government next week.
Ryan's parents were able to stop by and read a couple of books with the class.
We had a good few laughs because the books were so funny!
Students learned that a map scale shows the real distance between various places on a map. We practiced using a ruler to measure the distance and converted inches to miles. We also talked about the importance of checking the map scale each time, as they can vary depending on the map.
Last week, we read a variety of nonfiction books! Students learned about the nonfiction text structures that authors use to teach the reader information. We read a biography called Snowflake Bentley, which had a problem/solution text structure. We also read Waiting for Ice and discussed author’s purpose. We used the acronym PIE to remember each purpose (Persuade, Inform, Entertain). Students used evidence from the text to support their thinking. We also practiced various strategies to help us figure out unknown words in Animal Tongues (context clues, background knowledge, glossary, substitute a different word, use the photos/illustrations, etc.).
Each trimester we focus on a variety of third grade high frequency words to help your child practice and encourage them to spell them correctly in their written work. In your child’s red folder I have included some of the words from this trimester that your child is still working on mastering. It is not required, but feel free to practice these at home.
We had a great time at the Halloween party. A special thank you to everyone who donated items and/or their time to make the day special.
We were so excited to celebrate Charlie's birthday by having two special visitors (his parents) come and read with us.
We will be concluding our Chapter 3 unit this week in class. Last week, we learned how to solve single step and multi-step word problems. We also worked on drawing a picture to help us solve word problems. Bar modeling is one way that this can be accomplished. We will continue working on complex word problems this week and will test on Monday.
We started our first social studies unit: geography! Students learned about the importance of maps and how we use them to locate places. We discussed key terms like borders, hemisphere, and prime meridian. We also reviewed the seven continents.
We are working on our severe weather research in small groups in the LMC. Your child is creating a newscast to teach others about their severe weather topic. We will conclude this project before the end of October. Thank you to all the parents who volunteered their time to help us with this project.
This week we started our research on severe weather. We will be working on our research in the LMC. Students will learn about how it forms and how to prepare for severe weather. They will be creating a culminating project when they finish their research. Stay tuned !
We have learned several fact fluency games to help us practice our math facts. This week your child got a packet of games to help them practice at home. It was sent home yesterday in their red folder. This is entirely optional. As we learn new games, a new packet will come home.
Typing training is a great way to help your child strengthen their typing skills. Mrs. Goldstein came and talked to the class about how to use home row while typing. Your child can access their account through clever. If your child wants to practice at home, they can log into their clever account using their google log in information that is in their assignment notebook.
