Literacy: Literacy Circles
Here is what we will be doing until Spring Break:
Your child is reading a level-appropriate chapter book by a highly acclaimed author. These are the titles: Stone Fox, The Midnight Fox, Star in the Storm, Hatchet, Island of the Blue Dolphins, or The Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963. Each week, your child will read the assigned pages and will complete a sheet in which they record their thinking as they read. They will record a prediction prior to reading the assigned pages. As they read, they will record what they are thinking by applying the reading strategies we have focused upon all year (connecting, forming mental images, questioning, and inferring, which is predicting, drawing conclusions, forming opinions, etc.).
They will also prepare for and assume a different role in their book talk groups each week. The roles are rotated from week to week so each student gets the chance to experience that role. One role is called "Summary Starter." When your child has this role, he/she is responsible for summarizing the main parts of the assigned pages. Another role is "Word Explorer." This involves identifying unfamiliar/important/unique words which are defined using a dictionary and shared with the group in order to develop vocabulary skills. The third role is that of "Discussion Director." In this role, the student writes five questions that are used for discussion in the book talk. These questions are those that are either literal comprehension questions or the higher-order questions involving evaluating and interpreting the character's actions. Finally, the "Passage Pilot" identifies passages worthy of being read aloud in the book talk group, because they are descriptive, confusing, or important to the story.
Your child has all week to read the assigned pages, ask me questions, and record the required information in the sheet I have provided. On Friday, the students meet in their book talk groups. Each student guides the group based on his/her role. At the end of the book talk, the students record 5 vocabulary words and their definitions provided by the Word Explorer, and all students evaluate the effectiveness of their book talk session with a "Plus / Delta" evaluation. The "pluses" are what went well, and the "deltas" are things that need to be changed or improved.
The book talk sheet is graded, with five points for each section. This is a challenging learning experience in that students are applying the reading skills and strategies they have learned all year in an independent format. This requires them to make decisions on their own, which is a very important skill for third graders to acquire. They must also realize the value of their contributions to their group by being prepared with valuable information that they are responsible for sharing and helping their group members understand. Working in a group format requires the maturity to stay focused, cooperate, and complete the assigned task within a given amount of time.
The open-ended nature of this experience encourages students to transition from the expectations of primary grades to those of the intermediate grades by becoming reflective readers, and, ideally, applying what they are learning to the books they choose to read on their own. It also prepares them for the more challenging fourth grade reading curriculum that expects students to reflect upon what they have read and include details from the story to justify their opinions and the conclusions they draw.
Writing: Personal Narrative
Currently, the students are working on these goals: see yourself as a writer; write with an audience in mind; include a creative title; include details that entertain the reader; use suggestions to revise your writing; and use proper conventions.
Our next writing task is a personal narrative. Students will learn to focus their writing by selecting a very narrow topic and explaining and describing in detail to bring their personal experiences to life for the reader. They will be including descriptive words, similes, and personification to "paint a picture" with their words for the reader.
I have shared two personal narratives I have written and one my daughter wrote in fifth grade to serve as a guide. Please help your child select a narrow topic and jog their memories by recalling details to help your child enhance his/her writing.
Spelling
If your child needs challenge words, I will add words from our curriculum to his/her “Words to Learn” list. Spelling dictation sentences will also become a part of the unit tests beginning with Unit 3.
March:
Unit 8: Irregular verbs; spelling patterns for /s/ (s, ss, ce, ci, and cy);
similes; homophones; contractions
Unit 9: Spelling patterns for long /i/ (y, igh, ind, i, and i-consonant-e);
prefixes and suffixes; irregular spellings; compound words;
homophones
April:
Unit 10 : Spelling patterns for /j/ (j, ge, gi, and gy); spelling patterns
for /s/ (s, ss, ce, ci, and cy); spelling patterns for /o/ ( o, al,
au, and aw); homographs; prefixes
Unit 11: Words with "silent" letters; r-controlled vowels; homophones
May:
Unit 12: Compound words; possessives; suffixes; apostrophes and
contractions
Unit 13: Spelling patterns for long e (e, ea, ee, and y); consonant
digraphs (two letters that make one sound) ch, sh, th, and
wh; frequent spelling patterns for /k/ (c, k, ck, qu, and ch);
suffixes
Math: Unit 9, Multiplication and Division
Unit 9: Multiplication and Division (after SBA testing)
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has identified multiplication and division as a focus for third grade. The authors of Everyday Math have recognized this and have written three units involving multiplication and division, increasing in complexity with every unit. Unit 9 is the third and final unit involving multiplication and division. The students will learn two methods parents are not familiar with for multiplying multidigit numbers (see Student Reference Book for explanations). The students will learn the partial products method for multiplying, which focuses on place value and can be done mentally (as opposed to the method we grew up learning!). The "lattice" method is a favorite of many children--ask your child to explain how to do this method that historians have traced to India, around 1100 A.D. We will also develop readiness for long division by exploring problems with sharing money. Unit 9 has the following four main areas of focus:
* To multiply and divide with multiples of 10, 100, and 1,000
* To use mental math to multiply
* To share money
* To find products of 2-digit numbers
To help develop the concept of dividing with and without remainders, you can play this game at home with your child (directions are in the Student Reference Book):
Division Arrays, p. 282
Multiplication facts will continue to be the focus this quarter. Once all students have passed their facts tests, we will continue to practice these facts daily; however, there will be no assessment at the end of the quarter.
The new edition of Everyday Math has added an “Open Response” item to each unit test. The children must show how they answered the problem by "Organizing" by drawing pictures or completing charts, tables, or diagrams, "Calculate" writing number models, and "Explaining" by answering the question in a sentence. Students are also encouraged to show another solution to the problem.
These problems are multi-step problems that have multiple solutions. We will complete a practice open response item in class, either independently, in partners, in cooperative groups, or as a whole class. I will provide feedback to students on this practice item to help them be successful when completing a similar problem for the test. A ten-point evaluation sheet will be attached to your child's practice problem. The goal is to earn 8-10 points. Eight points is considered to be proficient, and 9 or 10 points is advanced. Your child should use this score to set goals for improvement. The final evaluation will have this chart attached as well. This information will be recorded by your child in his/her data notebook along with a reflection to encourage goal setting.
Since using reference skills is an emphasis in third grade, I am encouraging students to use their Student Reference Books (SRB's) first when they need assistance. Encourage your child to do the same by noting the "SRB" icon on the Home Links. When children learn to look up information themselves, they tend to remember it better than if they are simply told the information. Becoming independent learners is a goal for all third graders.
Technology Projects: Famous Artist Power Point Presentation; Chemical Reactions Graph Using Excel; Three-Dimensional Solids Web Using Word
The students will use Excel to enter data reflecting changes in temperature when we combined baking soda and vinegar, then hydrogen peroxide and yeast to make and print graphs. They will recognize how much easier it is to make graphs using technology rather than a pencil and a straight edge!
The students worked in groups to identify the properties of one of six three dimensional solids. They used Word to create a web that displays those properties. Next, students used their artistic skills to draw a scene featuring the 3-D solid they were assigned--in as many situations and areas as they possibly could. Finally, all webs and scene illustrations will be combined in a group mobile that displays the solids as either polyhedrons or not polyhedrons.
As an extension of Ms. Gold's "Artist in a Bag" project, the students are creating one slide about their artist that will be merged into a class Power Point presentation. The students must choose a color scheme (warm colors, cool colors, or complementary colors) and must consider the elements of art when designing their slides.
They are learning to add text, photos from a file, Auto Shapes, Word Art, and to format these elements as well as the background to create an aesthetically pleasing composition. They will type the information you helped them find for their Artist in a Bag book reports into text boxes and/or Auto Shapes.
The students will also access pre-approved web sites to enhance their learning in all subject areas.
Social Studies: Imaginary Island Project
We will soon finish our science kits for the year, leaving the final quarter for learning the social studies standards. The students will be involved in what I call, “The Imaginary Island Project.” A list of questions related to all the areas we will study will be clipped into your child’s homework folder. Please take a few moments to discuss ideas with your child in relation to the questions.
This is a very creative project that requires students to learn about our country in terms of geography, history, government, the economy, the environment, and our culture and then apply their knowledge through an island nation they invent themselves. First, the students will trace, color, and label a world map. Next, they will draw, color, and label a political and physical map of their islands. We will transform our physical maps into 3 dimensions by creating a relief map with salt-dough clay. That covers geography—see the list of questions soon to be in the homework folder for what is next!
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