November and December Third Grade Newsletter

"Oh the weather outside is frightful…"  We hope everyone is staying warm during this very cold week. Please remember to send a coat, hat, and mittens or gloves to school. Students can leave these items in their lockers, since the weather can be unpredictable. It is important to label everything with your child's name. On days when it has snowed, but the weather is acceptable for students to have outdoor recess, they must wear snow boots if they are playing on the field and playground area. If they do not have boots, then they must stay on the sidewalk areas.  

It is because of the cold temperatures this week that we rescheduled our field trip to the Plains Conservation Center. We now plan on going on Wednesday, December 3rd. This field trip fits in nicely with our current Native American social studies unit and will serve as an introduction to pioneers, which is a unit we will cover in March.

Our Native American unit focuses on the Ute and Plains Indians. The students have added both the Utes and Plains to their Colorado interactive maps using Google Draw, and have started a new Colorado history timeline using an app on the iPads.  We will be using an online Venn diagram to compare the Utes and Plains Indians, and we will begin an e-book of important people in Colorado history. 

 In literacy, we have been practicing a variety of comprehension strategies, including inferring and predicting, using text and graphic features, analyzing and evaluating, identifying the main idea and details, and drawing conclusions from text. Students are working on reading skills in teacher-led book groups (variety of genres) at their instructional level.

We have been studying different types of words:

·              Multiple meaning words

·              Verb Tense

·              Synonyms

·              Antonyms

·              Pronouns

·              Proper Nouns

Phonics skills you will see in spelling lists include:

·              Silent letters (kn, wr)

·              Vowel diphthongs (ow, ou)

·              Words with au, aw, al, o

Third graders have been introduced to the six writing traits and will continue to focus on idea development, organization, sentence fluency, word choice, and editing (including the use of commas in a series). We are expecting students to use capitals and ending punctuation appropriately. Third graders have been introduced to the complete writing process: brainstorming, rough draft, editing, and a final copy. Dictionary and glossary skills will be introduced and practiced in December.

We have noticed the students working hard on Moby Max for homework. By winter break, all third graders should be fluent in the addition and subtraction facts. Students have been learning addition and subtraction up to 10,000 with regrouping. Subtraction across zeros can be a tricky process!  We are applying these skills to counting money. When grocery shopping, ask your child to add or subtract the items and figure the change.

We appreciate all of your support at home! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and Winter Break!

The Third Grade Team