I enjoyed seeing many of you at Back-to-School
Night. Thank you for taking time out of
your busy day to come and learn about third grade. If you were not able to attend I am sending home
the packet of information that was shared in the classroom. Please contact me
with additional questions. Thank you to
those of you who have filled out the survey.
If you have not had a chance to do so, please take a moment to respond. It is very helpful information as I continue
to get to get to know your children and work to create our partnership. Third graders are enjoying learning more about
one another through the clue box. Ask
your child what clue he/she shared. After
each third grader and teacher shared his/her hope or dream for the year, we
brainstormed ways that we could help our classmates achieve their hopes and
dreams. Some of the ideas that students
thoughtfully shared were to read quietly when classmates are reading so they
can become better readers, to include new people in our games so classmates can
make new friends, and to ask classmates if they need help so everyone can learn
new things. We also signed our “Hopes and Dreams Quilt” as a reminder of what we
agreed to work on this year. Third graders are finished having keyboarding
every day. We will continue visiting the
E & P lab once or twice a week.
However, I encourage them to continue practicing keyboarding at
home!
We finished the first
unit, Numbers to 10,000. Students were highly successful with this
first math unit of third grade. They
engaged in the games, conversations and student work eagerly and productively. We
started the second unit, Mental Math and
Estimation. In this unit we have
practiced a number of different strategies for adding and subtracting numbers
mentally. We also practiced using
rounding and front-end estimation to estimate sums and difference. There are many real world applications of
these skills and I encourage you to have your third grader use estimation while
grocery shopping.
I am almost finished
listening to each child read independently.
This information is very helpful as we move ahead with Readers’
Workshop. Please help your child remember
to have a “just right” reading book at school every day. Our independent reading work has been focused on habits of a good reader. We discussed how important it was for third graders to stop and think as they read. In addition, we shared strategies for choosing a just "right book". Thank you for your support in developing strong reading habits at home.
Each third grader was assigned a writing partner. It has been wonderful to watch them collaborate and set goals together. Each partnership chose something that they were going to help one another with. I was impressed as I heard students ask others to help them use a storyteller's voice, come up with new ideas, and write more.
