Week 9

Our Mystery unit is under way and the kids have had a great time being detectives! Since this is the first week, we have been familiarizing ourselves with how to read mysteries with comprehension.

In regards to the independent reading work, many kids were in the middle of their books from last week when we began our unit. It is natural that the children would want to finish their last stories before fully diving into their mysteries. We have decided that we would read mystery books at school but save our other books for home reading.

Our reading response assignment can be about the main character in any book. In mystery, there can often be a couple or trio of characters that receive equal billing, so it is just best if your child picks one of them to write about. Reading responses are given out on Mondays and due the following Monday. On shortened school weeks, we will skip this assignment.

Here are the math links that support the work we did recently in class:

• https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/relate-addition-and-multiplication-for-equal-groups
• https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/write-multiplication-sentences-for-number-lines
• https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/write-multiplication-sentences-for-arrays

Coming next week:

• Tuesday is Wacky Wardrobe Day for Third graders. On this day, we don't have to worry too much about being fashionable. In the past, kids have come in with some creative ways to wear their regular clothes. Some clothes are turned inside out, some children layer skirts over pants, some wear paisley and plaid combinations. If your child chooses to wear mismatched shoes, please make sure the shoes are of the same height.
• We will have our Chapter 3 math test on Thursday.
• On Family Friday, we will spend some time together with aunts, uncles or grandparents who are invited to our classroom. We look forward to seeing you there!

Have a warm weekend!

Week 8

October continues with an exciting new unit in Reading! Next week, we will begin looking at the genre of Mystery. This unit challenges students to read with attention to details in order to make theories as the reader tries to solve crime along with the characters in the book.

We also started the first of three units about multiplication in our math work. Chapter three focuses on the concepts behind multiplication and strategies for figuring out the product before students learn the multiplication facts. Here is a link for additional support:

• https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/relate-addition-and-multiplication-for-equal-groups

You can also continue to play the Halloween Math facts game and choose the multiplication option if your child has begun to study the facts and want a speed challenge:

• http://www.smartygames.com/igre/math/halloweenMath.html 

Here's what else is happening next week:

• We are heading to the Armory on Tuesday. Please make sure your child is dressed with shoes that are good for running. 
• We will meet with our Buddies on Friday. Our buddy class this year will be Ms. Concannon's first graders. Our third graders are ready to meet with the younger children and show them their work on their Continents poster. :)

Have a great weekend and Happy Boo Bash! 

Week 7

This Friday, students received the first of their Friday Updates. This is a small yellow slip pasted onto the bottom of your child's weekly homework sheet. It is intended to give you a snapshot of how your child was during the school week. Often it is a compliment on your child's general behavior or a remark about a topic your child is working on. Please review this over the weekend and sign the sheet so I know you have seen it.

This week, we worked on writing our reading response with more explanation to help up the level of our writing. Due to the shorter week, we did not send this assignment home, which is why the assignment was crossed off the homework sheet. We will send a new sheet home on Monday.

Here's what's coming next week:

• On Tuesday, we will have our Chapter 2 Math test. It was a quick unit on Data that built on what your child learned in the second grade. We have been working on reading the story problems more carefully this unit and students are encourage to read and reread the problem in chunks and to think about how numbers can replace parts of the story. The problems in the book can contain much information in very few words!
• Here are two links that might be helpful for your child: http://www.smartygames.com/igre/math/halloweenMath.html In this seasonal game, you have to use the left or right arrows of the keyboard to move the ghost underneath the pumpkin with the answer to the math expression. Watch out for the bat, which will move the ghost back to the starting point!

          https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/interpret-line-plots 

• Picture Day will take place on Wednesday. We will receive instructions for how to order pictures soon. Please keep an eye out for a notice in your child's folder.
• The Annual Boo Bash will take place on Saturday, October 21. 

Have a cozy weekend!

Week 6: Schools Closed on Monday

The All About Me Museums were a really fun way to get to know each other. Thank you all for coming in and complimenting the children's first quick publish of the third grade. There were many heart warming stories told about our special artifacts and many of the stories celebrated our families!

Your child has probably finished his or her first reading response sheet. We have practiced how a response looks like in class and children have been describing characters in our read alouds ( Tooter Pepperday by Jerry Spinelli; Freckle Juice by Judy Blume) and supporting their descriptions by giving details from the text.  Using text evidence is an important skill we will be revisiting often this year. 

Students took the Mid-Chapter Checkpoint for our current math unit. They were returned to your child today. Please review and sign. This assessment is not as formal as the chapter test but will provide feedback to what needs to be retaught so that the children can have a better understanding. As we continue our work with charts and graphs, it has become necessary for students to revisit skip counting skills. Here are two links that will provide practice with this skill. This is also a great way to prepare for the upcoming multiplication units.
https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/skip-counting
https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/skip-counting-puzzles

 In addition, here is a link for additional practice with picture graphs:
https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/interpret-pictographs

Here's what's happening next week:

• Schools will be closed on Monday in observance of Columbus Day.
• We will take our first trip to the Armory on Tuesday. Please have your child dressed with sneakers. 

Finally, I would like to thank parents who have donated books to our class library. If you are purchasing through our Amazon Wishlist, please be sure to let us know who you are so we may thank you! If you are thinking of donating books for the class, we would currently benefit most from nonfiction childrens books about the continents.

Have a beautiful three day weekend!

Chapter 1 Practice

The Chapter 1 Math test was returned to your child today. In general, the class did well with the content. Of course, there can always be room for practice, especially since we are moving onto a different topic in math. If you feel your child can benefit from some review, please check out the following links:

Subtraction with estimation:  https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/estimate-differences
Addition with estimation:  https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/estimate-sums
Subtraction word problems: https://www.ixl.com/math/grade-3/subtract-numbers-up-to-three-digits-word-problems

These links will provide a handful of problems for practice which is sufficient for a quick review. The website does time out, unless you have a subscription.

Regarding the math test, please review it before signing so that I know that you have seen it. We will keep it in class as part of your child's math portfolio.