Newsletter - August
Third Grade Families,
Welcome back to school and to an exciting 2019 - 2020 year in room 506! I hope that everyone has enjoyed their summer vacation and are rested and ready to get back to the business of learning. I am always excited, at this time of year, to meet my new students and their families. I will, of course, be providing you with much information about your child's 3rd grade year at Back to School Night, but, until then, here are some thoughts about the upcoming year and what to expect.
First of all, since your child spends the majority of his or her day, Monday through Friday, at Bollinger Canyon, in room 506, and with me, I want them to love the hours spent at school. School and learning should be fun! I want them to love coming everyday and having fun with their friends and myself. Our classroom is a community, and we spend the first few weeks getting to know each other and becoming friends. They will learn classroom rules and expectations. I also want to build an enthusiasm for the year ahead.
Third grade is a very pivotal year in your child's education. It is during this year that we not only strengthen concepts learned in previous grade levels, but present much new curriculum and skills that are vitally important for success in the upper grades. I will work on building independence and confidence while supporting each child according to their individual needs.
You may expect your child to have nightly homework. Generally this includes studying weekly spelling words, math, practicing multiplication facts, and reading. I do believe that homework and other long term assignments are the responsibility of your child...not you. School is your child's job, and their compensation is the grade earned and positive reinforcement of their efforts by their parents. I hope to foster, in each child, a pride in accomplishment and a sense that they should always do their very best. I expect that their work is neat whether done at home or in the classroom. I hope that this begins to help build a work ethic that will serve them as life long learners.
I look forward to meeting you at Back To School Night on Wednesday, August 21st. Please meet in the classroom. (Please do not bring children.) If you are unable to attend, the information will be posted on the website and I will send the information packet home with your child.
Please remember we have PE on Fridays . Students should wear appropriate shoes and bring a water bottle.
What We are Learning This Week:
Reader's Workshop:
Our first unit in Reader's Workshop is called, "Building a Reading Life". The focus of this unit is on Inferring About Characters, Envisioning/Predicting, Summarizing a Story, and Analyzing the Author's Craft. We will be reading the chapter book, "Stone Fox".
Unit 1 is called, "Crafting True Stories". The focus of the unit is on writing personal narratives with independence.
Our first math module is called, "Properties of Multiplication and Division and Solving Problems with Units of 2-5 and 10. We are well underway with the unit.
Schedule this Week:
Monday: Recorders
Tuesday: Science Lab
Wednesday:
Thursday: Science,
Friday: Library, PE
Third Grade Families,
Welcome back to school and to an exciting 2019 - 2020 year in room 506! I hope that everyone has enjoyed their summer vacation and are rested and ready to get back to the business of learning. I am always excited, at this time of year, to meet my new students and their families. I will, of course, be providing you with much information about your child's 3rd grade year at Back to School Night, but, until then, here are some thoughts about the upcoming year and what to expect.
First of all, since your child spends the majority of his or her day, Monday through Friday, at Bollinger Canyon, in room 506, and with me, I want them to love the hours spent at school. School and learning should be fun! I want them to love coming everyday and having fun with their friends and myself. Our classroom is a community, and we spend the first few weeks getting to know each other and becoming friends. They will learn classroom rules and expectations. I also want to build an enthusiasm for the year ahead.
Third grade is a very pivotal year in your child's education. It is during this year that we not only strengthen concepts learned in previous grade levels, but present much new curriculum and skills that are vitally important for success in the upper grades. I will work on building independence and confidence while supporting each child according to their individual needs.
You may expect your child to have nightly homework. Generally this includes studying weekly spelling words, math, practicing multiplication facts, and reading. I do believe that homework and other long term assignments are the responsibility of your child...not you. School is your child's job, and their compensation is the grade earned and positive reinforcement of their efforts by their parents. I hope to foster, in each child, a pride in accomplishment and a sense that they should always do their very best. I expect that their work is neat whether done at home or in the classroom. I hope that this begins to help build a work ethic that will serve them as life long learners.
I look forward to meeting you at Back To School Night on Wednesday, August 21st. Please meet in the classroom. (Please do not bring children.) If you are unable to attend, the information will be posted on the website and I will send the information packet home with your child.
Please remember we have PE on Fridays . Students should wear appropriate shoes and bring a water bottle.
What We are Learning This Week:
Reader's Workshop:
Our first unit in Reader's Workshop is called, "Building a Reading Life". The focus of this unit is on Inferring About Characters, Envisioning/Predicting, Summarizing a Story, and Analyzing the Author's Craft. We will be reading the chapter book, "Stone Fox".
- Lesson 1 - Building a Powerful Reading Life
- Lesson 2 - Reading As if Books are Gold
- Lesson 3 - Finding Within-Reach Books, and Reading Tons of Them
- Lesson 4 - Setting Goals and Tracking Progress
Unit 1 is called, "Crafting True Stories". The focus of the unit is on writing personal narratives with independence.
- Lesson 1 - Starting the Writer's Workshop - Visualizing Possibilities
- Lesson 2 - Finding Ides and Writing Up a Storm
- Lesson 3 - Drawing on a Repertoire of Strategies: Writing with Independence
- Lesson 4 Writer's Use a Storyteller's Voice: They tell stories, not summaries
Our first math module is called, "Properties of Multiplication and Division and Solving Problems with Units of 2-5 and 10. We are well underway with the unit.
- Lesson 4: Understand the meaning of the unknown as the size of the group in division
- Lesson 5: Understand the meaning of the unknown as the number of groups in division
- Lesson 6: Interpret the unknown in division using the array model
- Lessons 7-8: Demonstrate the commutativity of multiplication, and practice related facts by skip-counting objects in array models
Schedule this Week:
Monday: Recorders
Tuesday: Science Lab
Wednesday:
Thursday: Science,
Friday: Library, PE