Well I apologize for not writing last week but I was still celebrating the holidays with my dad! I hope that all of you had a wonderful holiday and fun holiday break. I also want to again express my deep appreciation for your thoughtful gifts that you gave me.
We have started the new year off right with some review of the classroom rules and expectations as well as writing about our New Year goals/resolutions. We wrapped up our expository writing unit by creating a paragraph on something we love to do in the winter time! We made snowmen and decorated them(out of paper, of course) and they are gracing our walls in the third grade front pod. Check them out! We will move on to creating a non-fiction book next. We have brainstormed ideas and I will be talking to them about table of contents this coming week. This project will take us right up to February break.
In reading we are also concentrating on non fiction texts. We have done quite a bit of work on non fiction text features so your child should easily recognize these. We did a group project where students had to find several text features after reading their definitions and paste them in a booklet. I made copies of these and sent them home today. I will have one on hand in the classroom as a reference guide for them. Next week we will be turning headings into questions in an effort to find information in our books so we can use that information. This is leading up to creating a presentation on our Maine Animals. This is our new unit in science and today we rotated among the three third grade classrooms, learning about habitats, food chains and physical characteristics. We will learn about life cycles next week.
In Math we are working hard on decimals. This is a challenging concept for children but they are really taking it in stride. We will have a Unit 5 assessment next week on Thursday, January 22nd. Our next unit will be focusing on multiplication of double digits. Please encourage your student to practice their multiplication facts for a few minutes each night. This way they will become proficient in their facts.
Please remember to send proper clothing with your child to school. We most often go out for recess and the back field does get very windy. Even a small bit of snow makes pants soggy and uncomfortable for the rest of the afternoon. Snow pants, boots, hats, mittens, and a warm coat are necessary.
I hope you have a wonderful Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and please let me know if any one has any questions or concerns.
We have started the new year off right with some review of the classroom rules and expectations as well as writing about our New Year goals/resolutions. We wrapped up our expository writing unit by creating a paragraph on something we love to do in the winter time! We made snowmen and decorated them(out of paper, of course) and they are gracing our walls in the third grade front pod. Check them out! We will move on to creating a non-fiction book next. We have brainstormed ideas and I will be talking to them about table of contents this coming week. This project will take us right up to February break.
In reading we are also concentrating on non fiction texts. We have done quite a bit of work on non fiction text features so your child should easily recognize these. We did a group project where students had to find several text features after reading their definitions and paste them in a booklet. I made copies of these and sent them home today. I will have one on hand in the classroom as a reference guide for them. Next week we will be turning headings into questions in an effort to find information in our books so we can use that information. This is leading up to creating a presentation on our Maine Animals. This is our new unit in science and today we rotated among the three third grade classrooms, learning about habitats, food chains and physical characteristics. We will learn about life cycles next week.
In Math we are working hard on decimals. This is a challenging concept for children but they are really taking it in stride. We will have a Unit 5 assessment next week on Thursday, January 22nd. Our next unit will be focusing on multiplication of double digits. Please encourage your student to practice their multiplication facts for a few minutes each night. This way they will become proficient in their facts.
Please remember to send proper clothing with your child to school. We most often go out for recess and the back field does get very windy. Even a small bit of snow makes pants soggy and uncomfortable for the rest of the afternoon. Snow pants, boots, hats, mittens, and a warm coat are necessary.
I hope you have a wonderful Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and please let me know if any one has any questions or concerns.