3rd Grade Newsletter
Third Grade Newsletter
Volume 7, Number 8 sadkins@pennoyerschool.org Halloween, 2008
Hello Parents! Happy Halloween everyone! What a week we had. The kids are so glad that this day is finally here, and so am I. We had some kids making some poor choices this week, but we talked about it and they did much better yesterday and today. Those darn consequences will get you every time! It is always hard for children to concentrate when a fun holiday is so close. I hope many of you were able to see our parade from this afternoon – what a lovely day! We sure got lucky with the weather. We had a busy week, so here’s what’s been happening:
Reading ~ Our story for this week was informational non-fiction. We had fabulous discussions about this! I have been teaching the kids new words to associate with reading while we are practicing skills that good readers do. I introduced the word schema, (pronounced skeema) which means your background knowledge – what you already know. We have also been using the word metacognitive, which means thinking about what you are thinking about while you are reading. Good readers ask questions while they read, and I did a number of think alouds with the children to model for them my thinking while I read a story. The kids have responded extremely well to these “fancy” words, and have enjoyed using them all week. I will continue to use these words and focus on these skills with the kids throughout the year. We have practiced using these words lots of times this week, so please ask your child to explain to you what they mean.
Language Arts ~ Our grammar lesson for this week was on irregular plural nouns. Some words change completely (or don’t change at all!) when they become plural and they don’t follow the normal rules that we learned last week. Some examples are: child becomes children, man becomes men, and fish stays fish. The children did very well with this as they were familiar with those plural versions already. You could say they were already stored in their schema. J During our writing time, I have been able to have mini conferences with each of the children while they work. Everyone got their four square done this week, and they did very well. We will get started on our rough draft next week and get into a little editing as well.
Math ~ We had a lesson on subtracting across zero on Monday, and explaining their answers on Tuesday. We reviewed Wednesday and the kids took their chapter 5 test yesterday. Please look for this test in your child’s Friday papers. This will be their final math grade for the quarter, so please have your child correct it if they got a D or F. Many of the mistakes I noticed were either simple subtraction mistakes, or else they regrouped incorrectly at one or two places. We had a fun day today, and we will get started next week on chapter 6.
Science ~ We did our final experiment this week on weather maps, and we read through the final section of this chapter. Please have your child start reviewing for our test. It will take place on Monday, November 17. They should at the very least bring home their green science notebook to review the vocabulary definitions twice a week. I will remind them in class as well.
Social Studies ~ This past week in social studies we have identified that George Washington was our country’s first President. Also we used information on a map to identify locations and we compared and contrasted cities, suburbs, and rural areas. The lesson students learned is that communities range from small to large. They learned that cities are the largest communities and that a capital city is where the leaders of a state or country’s government work. Students learn that the smaller communities are suburbs and rural areas. We ended the week with a discussion about the two candidates running for presidency. Voting takes place next Tuesday. Just as your child is going to vote in school, we hope you vote as well.
Other Areas of Interest:
Today is the final day of the first grading quarter. Report cards will go home next Friday, November 7. I will meet with you on Monday, November 24 to discuss any concerns and/or questions you may have regarding your child.
Since the quarter ends today, I will not be able to accept any late or corrected work for this quarter after Tuesday. On Monday I will send home any low grades that need correction from their tests taken today so that your child can get that done and returned to me the next day. I will officially close the books for this quarter on Tuesday.
I sent home the November Book-It form today. Again, your child needs to read at least four chapter books in the month of November. Please have them record their book on their paper as they finish it, and I will accept the forms any time on or before Monday, December 1.
* We had two birthdays to celebrate this week, both on the same day! Justyna and Matthew both turned 9 this past Tuesday. What fun to celebrate a double birthday! We sure don’t see that very often. Happy birthday Justyna and Matthew!
That’s it for now! I would like to thank all of our room parents for helping contribute to our party today, with a special thank you to Mrs. Plesha who took charge and helped me organize the day. I wish you all a fun and exciting weekend, and please be safe out there tonight. Remember to vote on Tuesday if you haven’t already! It is exciting to see such a historical event taking place this week. Remember to keep your child reading!
Mrs. Sarah Adkins
