Welcome back to another fantastic school year. We look forward to getting to know all of our new students and parents as the year goes forward. We wanted to create a blog format that would enable each of you to stay up to date and informed about the standards we are teaching, activities we have planned, and upcoming events at our school. This blog will be from the entire team, not just one teacher's individual room. Please feel free to ask questions regarding information posted on here through this format. There will be new postings on here at least once a month (at the beginning of the month), and sometimes more often as the need arises.
Without further ado, let us get right to the academics!
Reading/Language Arts:
During the first grading period we will be focusing on reading and understanding traditional literature and breaking down the elements of stories. Traditional literature includes fables, fairy tales, tall tales, myths, and legends. We will be working on this type of literature through read-a-louds, guided reading, and student's individual reading time. We will also be working on comprehension of story elements through the use of story charts. These charts will cover the characters, setting, plot (events in story), main idea, and problem and solution of each story. We will work on these projects together and in small group settings to help ensure students are understanding each segment. Please ask your child about these sections of the books they are reading each night while working on their reading logs.
In language arts we will be covering nouns (plural and singular, possessive), use of commas in a sequence,and contractions. One way to help cover this at home is to have your child look through your junk mail. They could circle all the contractions they find and underline the possessive nouns, or however you decide to mix it up.
Math
During our math classes we will be starting out with a focus on place value and the addition and subtraction of three digit numbers. We will be also be introducing basic algebraic problems during the next few weeks. These problems will be your basic missing addend or "answer" to the problem and they must be solved to find the missing piece.
Our next large portion of learning will cover elapsed time and estimation. Of all that we have mentioned here, elapsed time will most likely be the most difficult for your child. Please start now making your child aware of the time as well as the passage of time from one event to another. When you leave to go to the store, to a friend's house, or other location have your child note the time you left as well as the time that you arrive. Asking them to tell you the time it took to complete a task will go a long way towards helping them gain an understanding of this difficult subject.
Coming up at the end of this grading period we will begin to focus on our multiplication facts. Anytime you can go ahead and start the flashcards on these facts, please do so! : ) You will have an adoring crowd of teachers thanking you for your effort!
Social Studies:
Students will be learning about ancient Athens, Greece and their form of democracy that they created in response to a tyrannical government. During this time we will be comparing their form of democracy to the version we have in our country. We will discuss aspects of their everyday lives, especially their famous architecture. They will need to be able to identify the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian types of columns. Be sure to point out any of these you see as you drive around the neighborhood or other parts of the city. We will take a look at buildings that are similar in form here in our own country (such as the Parthenon there and the Supreme Court building here).
Once we leave Greece's sunny shores we will be working on basic map skills. These will cover cardinal and intermediate directions as well as reading basic parts of a map (title, legend, etc.)
Science:
During Science classes we will be focused on two main areas. Rocks and minerals, and fossils. Students will learn the differences between rocks and minerals and the identifying qualities of each. They will be very curious and interested in rocks during this time... therefore be patient when they come inside with 15 "new" varieties!
We will also learn about fossils. There will be chances for them to create their own as well as learning how they were formed. There are many opportunities for them to investigate actual fossils and have hands-on learning experiences. Encourage them to "teach" you all about these fascinating topics... they will be more than glad to get that upper hand on mom and dad!
We hope that this has given you an overview of the next several weeks of learning here in Third Grade. Feel free to ask your child's teacher should you need more resources or ideas pertaining to a particular subject.
