Language Arts: Students have been learning how to write an organized paragraph. They are learning how to begin a paragraph with a topic sentence followed by 3 - 4 supporting detail sentences. They "wrap up" their paragraph with a concluding sentence that restates the topic sentence. Students will also be learning to write varied and complete sentences, as well as to take time to go back and edit their writing. We are particularly focusing on starting each sentence with a capital letter and ending each sentence with a period!
Students have been taking their personal narratives (stories about themselves) through the full writing process. They each chose one of their personal quick-writes from their writing journal, then applied new writing techniques and strategies to enhance their stories. Students are "painting a picture" for their reader, including similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia (zap! boing? zoom!), and dialogue, as well as other Figurative Language techniques, to make their writing more interesting and enjoyable. We are editing the drafts together, and all students published their final drafts before the holiday break. We are excited to share these with you!
Reading - Our class is LOVING their reading time in school. Each week, we listen to one of the short stories from our literature series. Then students read in pairs or small groups the following day, answer questions, work on small projects, and take an AR quiz on the story.
Book Clubs - All groups completed their fist round of Book Clubs. Children read with our parent volunteers who came in twice a week to read with us. Students discussed the literature and completed "Literature Jobs" to help them understand and think about the stories they read. THANK YOU to all the moms and dads who were able to join us!!
Accelerated Reader - All students in our class made their personal AR goals - woohoo!! We will all be enjoying a celebration assembly on Wednesday, November 9th! Students will be setting individual AR goals for the 2nd trimester.
Social Studies: Our class has been learning about various features of maps. We will soon begin a unit on the Coast Miwok, the first people to have lived in the Marin County area. We will be creating personal books depicting the life and times of the Coast Miwok. We will be making baskets in the near future as a fun project to complete our study. We will also be visiting the Marin Indian Museum in Novato early next year.
Math - Our class has been going to Mrs. Dianne Rhodes each morning for math. We are both very impressed with the way in which the students are learning 3rd grade math skills through complex problem solving. They are learning new vocabulary and techniques for solving mental math and standard algorithms.
We started the year off with multiplication and division, learning to use the commutative and distributive properties. We also learned how to use tape diagrams and number bonds to help us solve mathematical problems. Students are currently working in Module 3, which is a continuation of multiplication and division with our "trickier" numbers (6 - 9).
Language Arts: This month we are starting our first unit, "Off to Adventure!" By reading a variety of stories, we will focus on a variety of skills. Students will deepen their reading comprehension skills by practicing sequencing key events, making inferences, as well as identifying cause and effect.
You will find your child’s spelling list in his/her homework packet. Your child may practice these words using the website www.spellingcity.com. I will post a link under the student section on our class website. In addition, we will be focusing on grammar using Daily Language Review and a variety of targeted mini-lessons.
Students will also dive into Accelerated Reader (AR) this month! Students will earn AR points by taking quizzes based on books they’ve read. All students will start the trimester with a modest, five point goal. We will adjust individual goals as necessary to give each child an achievable challenge.
Writing:Our focus throughout this first trimester is in writing narratives. All students have completed their Autobiopoems and will be working on developing a narrative paragraph. Additionally, we will be launching Writer’s Workshop. Students will be learning about the difference between watermelon stories and seed stories. They will be brainstorming seed ideas and beginning to write drafts of memorable moments in their lives in preparation for writing their first personal narrative.
Math: Third Graders are moving through their first module of Eureka Math. All students are building on 2nd grade knowledge of addition and are working toward greater fluency. Module 1 has students working on learning multiplication and division skills, while using arrays to demonstrate the properties of both operations. An array follows a specific pattern as we look at the number of rows (or groups), and the size of each group. The Commutative Property explains that one can rotate an array 90 degrees to show that the factors in a multiplication sentence can switch places.
How can you help at home?
Have your student set out a group of small objects in arrays (equal groups in rows and columns) and write a multiplication sentence, a repeated addition sentences, and a division sentence.
Encourage your student to practice multiplication facts for 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 10s until they know them fluently.
Social Studies: 3rd Grade students will begin the year studying Geography. We will focus on their local community and landmarks, as well as world geography and map skills. All children will be making their own World Geography coloring book after doing fun research activities in class.
Technology Skills: All 3rd grade students will become certified as Digital Citizens before using their iPads as learning tools. These lessons allow a student to become competent members of the digital community by learning how to think critically, behave safely, and act responsibly online. Our focus this year will be to teach students what to do when someone uses mean language on the internet and which keywords give the best search results.
Once students complete the digitally citizenship certification program, they will be using iPads to enhance their learning. KeyNotes, Explain Everything, ShowMe, and Notability are just a few of the Apps students will be using and becoming very comfortable working with.
MOSAIC:Our school-wide Social-Emotional Learning program is MOSAIC. Students will learn to be Mutually respectful, Open-minded, have Self respect, keep a positive Attitude, be an Individual, and a member of our Community.We are discussing focusing weekly lessons on one letter per week and continually discuss the importance of “spreading peace, not poison.”