CLASS NEWSLETTER
THIRD GRADE

WHAT WE'RE STUDYING IN CLASS - January 8 - 31, 2007

Reading - We begin a new unit of story selections with the theme: teams work best when they use each member’s strengths to get the job done. The children will read stories and selections in the genres of: fantasy, informational fiction, poetry, magazine article, folk tale, and narrative nonfiction. These readings will all have the underlying concept that every member of a team is important. Each story will have a slightly different sub concept such as:
· the need for cooperation among team members in The Story of Z
· how teamwork helps factory workers achieve big results in Siggy’s Spaghetti Works
· the way sharing creative ideas leads to success in The Legend of the Persian Carpet
· how individuals contribute to a creative project in Stardom Hasn’t Spoiled Lassie

Reading Skills and Strategies -Throughout these stories we’ll be focusing on improving our comprehension by:
· recognizing signal words (before, after, finally, later) for the passage of time and the order of the sequence of events
· using context clues to determine the correct meanings of unfamiliar words
· determining if the author’s purpose is to inform, persuade, or entertain
· recognizing the setting in the story and shifts of location or time
· identifying both cause and effect and understanding their relationship
· recognizing the main idea in a selection

Grammar - Students will learn and practice:
· correctly using the articles a, an, the in written work
· identifying singular and plural nouns their own writing
· checking their writing for proper endings when forming plural nouns
· identifying the context in which an exclamation point is used
· recognizing simple predicates as the verb in complete predicates
· capitalizing and underlining the titles of books, newspapers, magazines, plays and movies in their handwritten work and recognizing them as italicized in printed works
· using commas after an introductory word, phrase, or clause in their writing

Writing – The children will write a fictional narrative about their robot that:
· orients or engages the reader by setting the time and location where the story takes place
· creates a believable world and introduces characters through the precise choice of details
· creates a sequence of events that unfolds naturally
· develops a character, by providing motivation for action and having the character solve the problem
· provide some kind of conclusion
(English/Language Arts Standards E2b.1 Sharing Events, Telling Stories)

Computer Keyboarding - We'll continue going in the computer lab each day working on Type to Learn keyboarding skills. The children can practice typing sentences on computers at home.

Cursive Handwriting - We are practicing each day. The children should continue to print their homework until we’ve practiced each letter and the proper ways to connect them in words.

Math – The children are learning to:
· compute fluently two-digit and three-digit subtraction problems involving regrouping
· solve multi-step word problems using strategies involving addition and/or subtraction
· model and explain multiplication using appropriate symbols and strategies
· explain and perform multiplication of one-digit numbers
· make predictions, identify relationships, and solve problems by using the concept of patterns
· solve open sentences by representing an expression in more than one way using the commutative and associative properties for multiplication.
(Mathematics Standards: M1 Numbers and Operations and M2 Algebra)

Science – The students will identify and describe specific properties of mineral, soils and fossils:
· Earth materials have different physical and chemical properties, which make them useful in different ways (e.g., building materials, sources of fuel, sources for cultivation of crops and animals, sources for energy).
· Rock is composed of different combinations of minerals. Smaller pieces of rocks come from the breakage and weathering of bedrock and larger rocks. Soil is made partly from weathered rock, partly from plant remains – and may also contain many living organisms.
· Fossils are the remains or traces of organisms that lived long ago. They provide evidence about the nature of the environment at that time.
· Students will compare the needs of a population with sources and changes in environmental resources.
· Students will practice conservation of resources.
(Science Standards: S7 Earth and Space Sciences and S3 Science in Personal and Social Perspectives)

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