We have gotten off to an amazing start for the school year! The kids have picked up on the routines easily and are already making progress! I am so excited to see what this year holds for us!
Here is what we will be doing this first nine weeks:
Writing:
Students will write their first piece this nine weeks and it will be a narrative piece. We will read many narrative stories to understand how an author gives their story a "voice". We will take our time with this piece to make sure that they understand the concepts of the parts of a writing assignment. We will be talking a lot about "Bold Beginnings" "Mighty Middles" and "Excellent Endings". We will work and edit on each of these parts separately.
Reading:
I have been meeting individually with students to work on specific skills for their reading comprehension and fluency. Starting next week they will begin to move into reading groups to work on standard based skills. This nine weeks we will be working on main idea and being able to answer explicit questions from a narrative piece. I have really loved sitting with each of them and having that one on one time. I will continue to do this as well as meet with their groups.
Grammar:
We will be working a lot with nouns this nine weeks. We have a journal called their "Write Rights" journal. It is part of our writing program that we are using called "Writing A to Z". Students work during their "Word Work" time to complete the skills for the week. We review it together and then assess on Friday. We will be working with regular, irregular, abstract and plural nouns.
Math:
This is an exciting time in the curriculum for third grade students in math as they put all of their hard work from 2nd grade math strategies to work! We are learning the standard algorithm for multi-digit addition. They have already done very well with this skill. The more fluent they are with their math facts, the easier this will be for them. We will also be moving towards multi-digit subtraction as well. We will introduce the "CUBES" strategy for attacking word problems. I have seen great success with kids using this strategy. It really forces them to slow down and attack the problem. So when you see the word problems all marked up ask them to explain what they are doing and trust the process!!
Science:
We have begun our units of Rocks and Soils already. Some of you are discovering that you have geologists in the making with all of the rocks that are coming home! I am partnering with Ms. Slayton next door to create hands on experiences for the students. She is an amazing asset to my science lessons! CATO will come out soon and they do a wonderful job of supporting our standards!
Social Studies:
We will begin our social studies unit with a look into the branches of government. All the way from federal to local. We will also be discussing opportunity cost for our economics standard.
As you can see we have a very full nine weeks! Testing will be here before we know it as well. We will have conferences in October, but if you need to discuss something before then, know that my door is always open. I am pretty easy to schedule appointments with, so don't hesitate to reach out!
Thank you for sharing your kids with me...it's going to be a great year!
Michelle
Upcoming Dates:
8/23: Chick-fil-A Spirit Night; 5:30 - 7:30 pm
8/29: Early Release
Students will be dismissed at 12:30 (Students will be home from the bus approximately 2 hours earlier than usual.)
8/31: BINGO Night
PTSA Budget Presentation: 6:15-6:30
BINGO 6:30-8:00
Here is what we will be doing this first nine weeks:
Writing:
Students will write their first piece this nine weeks and it will be a narrative piece. We will read many narrative stories to understand how an author gives their story a "voice". We will take our time with this piece to make sure that they understand the concepts of the parts of a writing assignment. We will be talking a lot about "Bold Beginnings" "Mighty Middles" and "Excellent Endings". We will work and edit on each of these parts separately.
Reading:
I have been meeting individually with students to work on specific skills for their reading comprehension and fluency. Starting next week they will begin to move into reading groups to work on standard based skills. This nine weeks we will be working on main idea and being able to answer explicit questions from a narrative piece. I have really loved sitting with each of them and having that one on one time. I will continue to do this as well as meet with their groups.
Grammar:
We will be working a lot with nouns this nine weeks. We have a journal called their "Write Rights" journal. It is part of our writing program that we are using called "Writing A to Z". Students work during their "Word Work" time to complete the skills for the week. We review it together and then assess on Friday. We will be working with regular, irregular, abstract and plural nouns.
Math:
This is an exciting time in the curriculum for third grade students in math as they put all of their hard work from 2nd grade math strategies to work! We are learning the standard algorithm for multi-digit addition. They have already done very well with this skill. The more fluent they are with their math facts, the easier this will be for them. We will also be moving towards multi-digit subtraction as well. We will introduce the "CUBES" strategy for attacking word problems. I have seen great success with kids using this strategy. It really forces them to slow down and attack the problem. So when you see the word problems all marked up ask them to explain what they are doing and trust the process!!
Science:
We have begun our units of Rocks and Soils already. Some of you are discovering that you have geologists in the making with all of the rocks that are coming home! I am partnering with Ms. Slayton next door to create hands on experiences for the students. She is an amazing asset to my science lessons! CATO will come out soon and they do a wonderful job of supporting our standards!
Social Studies:
We will begin our social studies unit with a look into the branches of government. All the way from federal to local. We will also be discussing opportunity cost for our economics standard.
As you can see we have a very full nine weeks! Testing will be here before we know it as well. We will have conferences in October, but if you need to discuss something before then, know that my door is always open. I am pretty easy to schedule appointments with, so don't hesitate to reach out!
Thank you for sharing your kids with me...it's going to be a great year!
Michelle
Upcoming Dates:
8/23: Chick-fil-A Spirit Night; 5:30 - 7:30 pm
8/29: Early Release
Students will be dismissed at 12:30 (Students will be home from the bus approximately 2 hours earlier than usual.)
8/31: BINGO Night
PTSA Budget Presentation: 6:15-6:30
BINGO 6:30-8:00