This upcoming week will be busy as we kick off our first math chapter, first story in reading, spelling list, vocabulary, and social studies units. We will continue to work on expectations and routines that will make our class work and run smoothly. Library will start this week and we will have our first full week of classes.
Math: Our first math chapter will introduce place value through 1,000 and rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100. This is a very tricky chapter, but one that is needed for further mathematical understanding later in the year. The class is also working on implementing guided math within our math time. Guided math is a special time when students get to work with partners playing math games, work on previously taught skills and concepts, and practice basic facts in a non-traditional way. During guided math I am able to work with small groups to reteach or enrich students according to their individual needs. I determine the groups for math time with a pretest for the chapter, the students then graph their pretest scores and make goals for the chapter. I also use these scores to help create groups that meet with me. What I love about guided math is after our main lesson, kids are allowed to move around and be active in the classroom.
Reading: This week we will be reading A Fine, Fine School which is the first story in our new reading series Journeys by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Our main focus this week will be identifying story elements; setting, characters, and plot. We will also be looking at how the illustrations enhance our understanding of the story.
Spelling: Our phonics focus for this week will be short vowels sounds. We will work on identifying short vowel patterns in one syllable words, and we will look at vccv words and how we divide those words for decoding. Our spelling test will be on Friday. At this time we will work just on the basic words and will add dictation a little later after we have our routines and time management down.
Social Studies: In third grade we teach Social Studies the entire first semester. Our first focus will be on community. We will learn what communities are, how the government runs, different types of communities. Sometime in September we will be taking a walking field trip to downtown to explore our community. Once I have dates officially set I will let you know.
Writing & Grammar: We will be learning how to write a paragraph using a topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence. We will also be learning about simple and complete subjects and predicates.
Please check your child's planner each night. We are highlighting work that has been completed and turned in. If your child has homework I am asking them to circle the assignment and write a H.W. (for homework) next to the assignment. Planners are a great way to help students work on organizational skills. Thanks for checking them and helping your child.
As always if you have any questions or concerns feel free to drop me an email or phone call. My first priority is teaching your kiddos, but I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Have a great week!
Missy Miller