3rd Grade Newsletter
Third Grade Newsletter
Volume 7, Number 11 sadkins@pennoyerschool.org December 5, 2008
Hello Parents! Welcome to winter! We sure were hit with a blast of it this week. The rules at recess when there is snow out, is that children must have boots and snow pants to go on the snow piles and/or the playground. If they don’t have both, they will have to remain on the blacktop. Please make sure your child is dressed warmly. We go outside unless the temperature or wind chill reaches zero degrees. I enjoyed meeting with all of you last week for conferences, and I have made some changes with the kids based on our conversations. Thank you for making the time to come in and see me. My door is always open to you if you have any other questions or concerns. We had a good week together, so here’s what’s been happening:
Reading ~ Our story this week was the folk tale of Stone Soup. Some of you may be familiar with the story already. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it with your child Monday night. We focused on inferences this week, seeking out the implied message from the author. I also introduced a thesaurus to the kids, and they had the opportunity to use one to find synonyms. They really seemed to enjoy using this tool, so pull yours out at home if you have one for your child to look through and use. Please remember to practice using our weekly vocabulary words with your child at home. Our goal is for these words to become part of their everyday language, and the more they practice them, the more likely they are to use them.
Language Arts ~ Our grammar lesson for this week was on verbs. Finding these verbs can be tricky, especially the being words such as am, was, were, and is. I gave them some extra practice with this in class in hopes of clearing up some confusion. Hopefully they do well on their test today. We spent our writing time on revising and editing our expository papers. I am looking to start the kids on a writing workshop, which includes allowing the kids to write about whatever they like. They just need more practice writing, and they are more likely to do so if they are interested in their topic. I still need to teach them the formal writing of expository, persuasive, and narrative, but I am going to start having a writing workshop twice a week for now. We’ll see how that goes starting next week.
Math ~ I am so proud of how the kids did on their chapter 7 test this week on probability. I am happy to report that my Please Correct stamp remained in my drawer as everyone got at least a C on that test. Yay! I also gave the kids a unit test this week on this chapter and our last one on charts and graphing. They didn’t do as well on that test, but I’m still pleased with their effort. Please look for both of these tests today in your child’s Friday papers and go over it with them. We have skipped ahead in our book to chapter 12 on time and temperature. Please practice having your child tell time on an analog clock at home. Elapsed time is always a tricky lesson, so any extra help you can provide at home will be very beneficial. I will be teaching multiplication (the skipped chapters) in an intense, 7 day span in January. We will immerse ourselves in multiplication throughout the day, and I really enjoy those few days of Multiplication Mania that we do every year. I will send home detailed information about that sometime in mid January.
Science ~ We have started our new chapter on the planets in our solar system. The kids have been excited to get to this chapter. We currently have a hanging solar system in our classroom, and the kids spend much time admiring it and observing the differences in the planets. Please ask your child to explain to you why Pluto is no longer considered a planet. We took a look at several mnemonics to use to help us remember the order of the planets from the sun. The one our class settled on is Many Very Educated Men Just Seem Uneducated Now. I’ve shared my own mnemonic with the class that I learned as a child (Mary’s Violet Eyes Make John Stay Up Nights Proposing) and if you remember yours, please share it with your child. We are all very excited to be going to the Planetarium next week on Wednesday as an extension of this chapter.
Social Studies ~ This past week in social studies we read a story about Jane Addams, “Peace and Bread”. We learned who Jane was and that she decided at age 6 that she wanted to grow up and improve life in Chicago. She wanted to help others and by doing that she exemplified good citizenship. We learned many interesting facts about Hull House so please ask your child about it. Finally, we read and discussed other volunteers who believed in justice, equality, and responsibility for the common good. We gave examples of community changes that resulted from individual or group decisions. We also are able to distinguish between elected and appointed government leaders.
Other Areas of Interest:
We celebrated Marcin’s 9th birthday this past Monday. His actual birthday was on November 25, and we were delighted to celebrate with him a few days late. Happy birthday Marcin!
Progress reports went home today for any grades less than a C- or 73%. Please look for these in your child’s Friday papers, and return it to me signed next week.
That’s it for now! It is looking like a really cold weekend ahead of us. Brrrr! Hopefully the cold will be an advantage for the Bears in their game this Sunday, and they can win! Be careful out there with any holiday shopping your find yourself doing, as the malls have been crazy busy. I wish you all a wonderful weekend and remember to keep your child reading!
Mrs. Sarah Adkins
