Thir d Gr a d e Pe ter s on E le me nta r y S c hool

Third Grade Update

Issue 1I October 2012

A Note from the Third Grade Teachers

Wow! Its hard to believe were already a month into a new school year! The third graders have been hard at work in all content areas and earning their Panther Paws for demonstrating safe, responsible, and respectful behavior. Thank you to those who donated Oreos and Bakers Clay for our previous science activities. As cold and flu season approach, well be accepting donations of hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes to keep us all healthy! Thanks in advance for your generosity! Were looking forward to a great month and have much planned in the way of learning! We look forward to meeting with you next month at Parent/Teacher Conferences to discuss your childs progress.
We have completed our launch of The Daily Five in our Reading Workshop. Students have learned, modeled, and practiced the expected behaviors for each of our five literacy activities (Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Work on Writing, and Word Work). As we meet with small groups of students for Guided Reading, students will have the opportunity to practice and reinforce the literacy skills and concepts from our weeks lessons at each of the five literacy stations. This month our anchor stories, focused skills and strategies will be:

Nate the Great: San Francisco DetectiveMystery - Skill: Summarize - Strategy: Decode long words

Allies Basketball DreamRealistic Fiction - Skill: Narrative Elements - Strategy: Summarize

Important Dates

Columbus Day10/8 No School 10/17No School P.M. 10/31AC Rock Assembly in the afternoon

We have spent many weeks launching the Writers Workshop. Students have set up their Literacy Binders with different tabs for each of the stages of the writing process. They have also learned about the various parts of speech, ways to brainstorm topics and ideas to write about, and have started to take a look at our editing process. This month we will continue to take a look at the various parts of a paragraph and will spend time brainstorming, drafting, editing, and publishing paragraphs on various topics (narrative and informational). As we begin publishing paragraphs we will take a closer look at the grading rubric and begin to learn how rubrics will be used to assess our writing.

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T H IRD G RA DE U P DA T E

IS S U E 1 I

The Family Letter provided at the beginning of each unit outlines specific skills and strategies covered within the unit. Outlined below are the specific skills and strategies we will be focusing on as outlined by the new Illinois Learning Standards (Common Core). This month our study will focus on:

The Family Letter provided at the beginning of each unit outlines specific skills and strategies covered within the unit. Outlined below are the specific skills and strategies we will be focusing on as outlined by the new Illinois Learning Standards (Common Core).
This month our study will focus on:

Rounding (to the nearest ten, hundred, thousand) Fluently add & subtract up to four-digit numbers Say & write time to the nearest minute Measure elapsed time Solve number addition, subtraction and elapsed time number stories.

Place Value, Rounding, Ball-park Estimates Strategies for solving multi-digit addition and subtraction problems Solving for the unknown in equations; strategies for solving multiplication and addition problems Interpreting remainders, identifying factors, prime numbers and multiples Creating and Interpreting Line plots and Tally Charts

Unit 2 Assessment week of October 15th * Please practice multiplication facts at home on a daily basis!

Unit 3 Assessment week of October 8th

* Please practice multiplication facts at home on a daily basis!

Social Studies
The essential questions guiding our study of maps and globes will be:

This month we will be learning about maps and globes. We will also be learning about the Presidential Election process and following current events related to the election next month.

We have completed our study of the Moon. Moon Calendars are due October 10th.

How do we use maps? How are maps and globes different? What are the tools that are used to help read maps and globes? (map key and compass rose) How do we figure out the distance from one place to another on a map? (map scale) What are the cardinal and intermediate directions?

Later this month we will begin our study of bones and muscles. The essential questions guiding our study will be:

How do the parts of the skeletal and muscular system function and work together? How does nutrition and exercise affect the muscular and skeletal systems?

Our Maps & Globes test will be on Wednesday, October 17th.

Topics included in our study will focus on the importance of: our skull, spine, various bones in our body, cells, calcium, joints, voluntary and involuntary muscles

Great Websites & Resources

Please check our grade level blog at http://thirdgradepanthers.blogspot.com under additional fun websites for activities to support our upcoming bones and muscles unit!