An Exciting Week

    Our class did a fantastic job last week learning the classroom routines and procedures. We are in full swing with our daily schedule and we have begun our new units in all subject areas. On Friday your son/daughter came home with a letter he/she wrote in school. This letter is meant as a communication tool between school and home. As stated in my letter, this is an unedited piece of writing. I think you will be amazed when you see how quickly we turn a few sentences into paragraphs and pages! Please be sure to respond to the letter and tuck it back into your child's backpack. The students will read your response first thing tomorrow morning.
    The students should also come to school tomorrow with their first completed reading log. I ask that each students reads 5 out of 7 nights for at least 20 minutes.

     In Reader's Workshop this week we will continue to build our reading stamina. We will also continue to discuss our thinking as we read. The students have been using post-its to jot down questions and observations as they read. This week we will use those post-its to begin writing small entries about our books.

     In Writer's Workshop we will continue to work on our personal narrative unit. This week we will focus of strategies to help students come up with story ideas. We will be thinking about important people in our lives and places that hold special memories for us. Any discussions at home about these areas would be greatly appreciated!

    In Math we will work on reading number lines, comparing and ordering numbers. We will also begin our math workshop routine this week. I am excited to share more about this with you at Open House.

     In Language Arts we will finish our work with nouns (ask your child to show you how we remember the word proper). We will begin learning about verbs this week. Your child will bring home a spelling list this Friday.

     In Social Studies we will look at the globe and a world map. This week we will learn about the parts of the map and how to read a compass.


    On Thursday night we will have Open House at 6:00 pm in our classroom. I look forward to seeing you!

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First Full Week of School

     This week will certainly be very busy and full of new experiences for your third grader. We will continue to practice our daily routine and begin our first units in all the subject areas. On Monday your child will come home with his/her assignment notepad for the year. I would greatly appreciate if you could sign this each night so that I know you have seen the homework assignment. 

    Your child will also be bringing home a reading calendar for the week. I require the students to read 20 minutes per night for 5 out of 7 nights a week. The student may choose which nights he/she reads. This calendar also requires your initials, but it should be filled out by the student. The calendar does not need to be returned to school until next Monday. 

Reader's Workshop:

     We will be exploring our classroom library and discussing what it means to have reading stamina. The students began choosing independent reading books last week, but we will discuss how to choose a book that is on each student's reading level. 

Writer's Workshop:

     Our first unit in writing is a personal narrative study. We will explore some entries from former third grade students and make writing goals. Then we will dive into where writers get their ideas for personal narratives. The students will also begin collecting their own personal narratives.

     This Friday we will also write our first Friday Letter. We will be writing to a family member each Friday detailing our week and sharing our learning with you. I ask that someone write back to the student in the notebook each week. I will include a letter with many ideas to help you create your response.

Math:

     We will begin working on place value. We will learn different ways to express a number and we will order numbers on a number line. 

Language Arts:

   This week we will focus on the parts of speech, particularly nouns (common and proper) and verbs. I am currently testing the class on the third grade spelling priority words. We will not begin a regular spelling list/quiz until after Open House.

Social Studies:

    We will explore the seven continents, learn about the compass, and study different types of maps. 

    Thank you for sending in your family photos. If you have not had a chance to send one in, please feel free to do so at anytime. We will keep the photos on our wall all year. Finally, thank you very much for your responses to my back to school questionnaire (found with the supply list). If you haven't sent in a response I would still love to hear from you. It is valuable information that helps me get to better know your child these first few days of school.