Families,
We've already made it through another two weeks! The school year seems to be flying by already!
In math, we have begun Unit 4, which is where we really begin to practice multiplication and division concepts. The students have begun learning some basic multiplication facts, as well as strategies for solving division (which we call "equal grouping") problems.
In writing, students have completed the narrative unit, and they made tremendous strides through the end of it! I am so impressed with their writing and how they have grown. We are starting our information writing unit next week, where the students will become "expert writers" on a topic of their choice.
Ask your child what they wrote about in their latest personal narrative.
We have begun to switch rooms with Mrs. Strickler's class for science, and the students are enjoying learning all about planet Earth. Ask your child about the neat activity they did in science today!
In reading, we have been working with nonfiction texts to find the main idea of what we are reading, as well as how to ask and answer relevant questions about the text. We have spent a lot of time learning about our nation's government and the communities in our country. The students have enjoyed learning about how our country works and what symbols we honor in the United States.
I am so enjoying watching your children learn and grow this year; they are an impressive bunch! Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a safe and fun weekend.
Upcoming dates to remember:
-The parent teacher conference portal is now open
-Camo/Tie Dye Day is Wednesday 11/4
-Report cards go home Thursday 11/5
-School store Monday 11/9
-Mrs. Slessinger
Hello Families,
We have had a great week in third grade. The students worked hard and learned a lot even though it was a short week!
We had a visitor from the Susan Byrnes Health Center come to do a lesson in our classroom this week. The students figured out which "color" personality they are and learned more about themselves and how to be a good friend. Ask your child which color he/she was!
We are currently wrapping up our science unit on space and the solar system. The students will be starting a new unit next week. For this unit, third graders will switch rooms and our class will be taught by Mrs. Strickler! This gets them used to switching classes, which they will do every day starting in fourth grade.
We started our first Social Studies unit today, during which we will be studying communities. Today we learned what a community is and what types of buildings, people, and cultures can be found in a community.
In math, we had our first "exploration" lesson, in which the students get to work in stations doing hands-on activities. The students worked with geoboards and rubber bands to build rectangles with different perimeters. We will be wrapping up unit 3 next week, and the test will be on Tuesday, October 27. The students have been doing a wonderful job in math this year and seem to really enjoy it!
We have just completed our first fiction unit in reading. The students learned the differences between a retelling and a summary and have been practicing summarizing texts they read. They have also been working on identifying the main idea and key details in fiction texts that are on a third grade reading level, which can be a little trickier as the texts get more difficult. Try to have conversations about the main idea of a story when reading together at home.
I have seen so much progress in the students' writing already! We are wrapping up our first unit (personal narratives) of our brand new writing program! This is a more rigorous program than we had in the past, so you may be seeing some lower grades in writing than you are used to seeing for your child. However, I am extremely impressed with the work the students are doing. We took time today to look back at writing they did in the beginning of the year to compare it to their current piece and they were amazed at themselves! Ask your child about their current writing piece and what they chose to write about.
We also had a special announcement in class today that I am sure many of you will have heard about from your child. If not, be sure to ask them about it.
Upcoming events:
-The parent-teacher conference portal opens on Monday
-Next Friday we will be participating in fire prevention week activities
-Unit 3 math test on Tuesday, October 27
-Marking period 1 ends 10/29
-Picture retake day is 10/30
Below are some pictures from this week. Enjoy!
-Mrs. Slessinger
