Third grade families,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have begun our second trimester of third grade, and with that brings a lot of new things, too!  We have welcomed five new third grade friends into our class: Aaron, Andrew, Elena, Emma, and Isabella! We are so happy and excited to have them. I am so happy with how our class welcomed them in with open arms and have been so helpful and kind. I must say…they fit in perfectly, and are doing great!

Important dates:

• Friday, 11/30 is a full day.
• Report cards will be sent out on December 4^th.
• Teddy Bear day is on December 5^th: please bring any stuffed animal to school by 12/5. We will be donating our fluffy friends to children in our Adopt-A-Family program.

Homework this week:

• 100 minutes of reading per week (20 minutes a night) & recorded in their reading log.
• Fluency passage
• IXL math: FF.2, FF.3, and FF.6

Homework is assigned every Tuesday, and not due until the following Tuesday. The reading logs and fluency passages can be found in your child’s homework folder. The IXL math skills can be accessed on www.IXL.com. Your child’s username and password is in the front cover of their student planners!

Sneak peek to our academic week:

Math: This week in math we continue with measurement, more specifically with area and perimeter. Perimeter is a concept introduced in second grade, and area is a new concept introduced in third grade! This week we will continue working and practicing with the two. We will explore area by doing a few fun activities: constructing 1-foot squares and finding the area of surfaces in our classroom, using geo boards, as well as pattern blocks.

Reading: In reading, we continue with non-fiction reading.  This week, we will set some goals for our progression in non-fiction reading. As individuals, we will begin analyzing our own reading skills and reflecting on what we do well and what we could improve upon.  To grow, readers come up with clear goals as well as plans for achieving those goals.

Writing: We have set foot into our second unit of writing: informational writing! This week we will get familiar with what informational writing is and what it entails.  We will spend our week brainstorming ideas and topics to write on.  Informational writers are teachers.  They teach (and write) on topics that they are experts on and they share that knowledge with others.  Before putting it on paper, we will be teaching with our words by pairing up with partners and telling them all we know about a specific topic.

Spelling/ Word Work: Spelling tests will be this Friday.  Spelling words can be found in your child’s planner.  Remember, spellingcity.com is a great resource to use when studying those words!

Our new students have not yet received spelling words. This week, we will be getting assessed in order to find their perfect spelling group.  They will be spending this week shadowing a classmate and working with them side-by-side, watching how word work is done in our classroom!

Grammar: We are reviewing on end marks by distinguishing when to use a period (after a statement or command), question mark (after a question), or exclamation point at the end of a sentence.

Religion: We will dive into Chapter 5: Jesus Calls Us to Follow. This week we discuss how Jesus called the apostles and disciples.  As Christians, we are called by Jesus to spread the Good News! Some are called to follow him in a special way as priests, deacons, sisters, or brothers.

Science: In science we continue to discuss how habitats change through fires, floods, and droughts.  Then, we will recall how plants and animals change as well.

Have a wonderful week!

Miss Poindexter