3rd Grade Newsletter
Third Grade Newsletter
Volume 7, Number 2 and 3 September 19, 2008
Hello Parents! Wow, being gone for three days really threw things for a loop! I am so sorry that I missed curriculum night as I always look forward to meeting you at that time and covering some very important topics. I would like to extend a big thanks to Mrs. Michaels for hosting the evening for me. She did mention some questions that came up which I would like to address: someone asked about spelling lists. They always go home the first day of the week, and your child will have two copies of the list – their pretest and a letter about our story that includes vocabulary words and spelling words as well. Someone asked about when papers go home. You wouldn’t believe the stack that I ended up with this week! I send graded papers home on Fridays. The tests the kids take on Friday come home the following week as I am unable to grade them by the end of the day. Sorry I have held on to these for so long – it took me forever to get caught up on the grading! Since I am on the topic of graded papers, I have a special policy about tests that have a D or F (L) on them. I put a green Please Correct stamp on them, and your child has the option to correct their mistakes and I will then raise their grade. This is voluntary and something that I never ask for – it is up to your child if they wish to learn from their mistakes and raise their grade. I give half credit for each corrected answer. Whew. Now onto this week. We sure were busy, so here’s what’s been happening:
Reading ~ Our story this week was a nonfiction article called “Whose Habitat is it?” and I hope you enjoyed it with your child Monday night. We had some good discussions about urban sprawl and whether it is the fault of the animals that we took over. One group even got into talking about how we drove the Native Americans out of their land too. Our story from last week was Dear Juno and the kids had a great time relating to having relatives far away that we communicate with. Thank goodness for e-mail and Skype!
Language Arts ~ Our grammar lesson last week was on commands and exclamations, and the kids seemed to do pretty well with that. I am missing an assignment from about half the class from when I was gone. Last week on Thursday, the grammar assignment was pages 9 and 10, and about half the class turned it in. I found a couple still in grammar books, but I have no idea what happened to the rest. Please look for this paper at home and return it to school as soon as possible. I also had lost spelling sentences from last week, and I understand that my sub stamped them and sent them home instead of collecting them for a grade. I collected and graded the ones that turned up for me, but did not count it against anyone who took it home and lost it. Whew. It is good to get things back on track. Our grammar lesson from this week was on subjects, and I spotted no problems with this lesson in class. Our writing time was spent with expository writing, focusing on details.
Math ~ We have been flying through our math chapters, and I am comfortable doing this since most of our skills have been review from last year. I discovered that many of the kids did not grasp rounding very well despite learning it last year, and I pulled several kids in the class for interventions on rounding who did not do well on their test. Remember to have your child correct their test if the green Please Correct stamp is on it! We will encounter rounding again many times throughout the year, so we will have more opportunities to learn and practice this important skill. I taught the kids a rounding song to the tune of If you’re happy and you know it. Ask your child to sing it for you! We worked with money this week, and the children will be tested on it next week on Wednesday. Please take some time this weekend to practice counting money and making change with your child. These are real life skills that they will use almost daily as they get older, so practicing with real money at home is an added benefit.
Science ~ We have wrapped up our first chapter on the water cycle. Their review homework (P. D24) was due today, and the test will be on Monday. The review homework is an important tool for the kids to use to help them learn to study. This is why they need to write their review answers in complete sentences. I give two points for each question, one for it being written in a complete sentence, and one for the correct answer. Those kids that turned in only answers only got half the points for the assignment. If your child does not study for science tests, s/he will not do well on the tests. They are very difficult, especially compare to second grade. All vocabulary words are always on the test, and I covered all concepts to be tested with the kids during our review game we played yesterday. Ask your child to tell you about it and tell you the parts that they did not know and need extra studying for.
Social Studies ~ (This section of my Newsletter is always composed for you by Mrs. Michaels herself) The past couple of weeks we have learned why people live in communities. They live in communities to belong, to have fun, and to work. We read about Walt Disney and his plan for creating his very own community. The name of his community was to be called EPCOT. This stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. Unfortunately, Walt Disney passed away and his dream did not become a reality. We discussed that all people have the same basic human needs and that we all depend on each other to meet these needs. We will be concluding Chapter One at the end this month and the social studies test is scheduled for Oct 10th.
Other Areas of Interest:
The Walk-a-Thon is scheduled for next Friday, September 26 in the afternoon. Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather and that they have good walking shoes to wear for this fun event.
Next Friday is also the mid point of the first quarter, and progress reports will be going home for grades less than a C- or 73%. I will also be sending home progress reports for those children that are missing five or more homework assignments. Not doing homework drastically affects grades in third grade, so please make sure your child is doing their homework every night and that they bring it back to school the next day!
That’s it for now! It looks like a beautiful weekend ahead of us, and the Cubs should clinch the division this weekend! Summer officially ends this Sunday, so make the most of your weekend with your family. I wish you all a wonderful weekend and remember to keep your child reading!
Mrs. Sarah Adkins
