February Newsletter

"Love is in the air" and everyone is gearing up for Valentine's Day. Each class will have their own Valentine's Day celebration on Friday, February 12th.  Students will bring valentines for each of their classmates.  These can arrive early during the week of February 8th, if needed, and stay in the lockers. The Lower School office has decided that candy cannot be included with valentines.  Graland has a Pinterest account with a board titled “Candy Free Valentines." Please be sure all classmates receive a valentine from your child. 

We hope everyone is staying warm now that we are in the middle of winter. 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.

Third graders have a wonderful opportunity to participate in a Naturalization Ceremony as part of our Service Learning project.  Señora Christi James presented to third graders about the citizenship process. After studying hard and passing a test, new citizens go to a Naturalization Ceremony where they receive their official certificates.  Since our third graders are becoming experts on Colorado, they will be playing an important role in the next Naturalization Ceremony - welcoming residents of Colorado to their American citizenship ceremony. During the ceremony, our third graders will sing a Colorado song and give a special remembrance gift to the new citizens. This great event will take place on February 17th at the History Colorado Center.  This is our big third grade Service Learning project.

We are wrapping up our Mountain Man (trappers and traders) unit.  Students will be comparing William Bent's Fort National Historic Site in La Junta, to Graland's campus.  Be on the look out for this posting on the student blogs.  Our next social studies unit will be on Colorado Settlers (pioneers and miners).  We will be going to the History Colorado Center on March 4.

 In literacy, we have been practicing a variety of comprehension strategies, including identifying author's purpose, comparing and contrasting, summarizing, visualizing, inferring/predicting, and monitoring/clarifying text. Students are working on reading skills in teacher-led book groups (variety of genres) at their instructional level.

We have been studying different phonics skills, grammar, and vocabulary strategies:

Homophones/Homographs

Prefixes in-, im-

Vowels controlled by r

Pronouns and Verbs

Past Tense

Using a Thesaurus

Adjectives

Context Clues

The writing process can be time consuming, and the homework practice and in-class practice has been so valuable.  These opportunities give the students time to apply the complete writing process: brainstorming, rough draft, editing, and a final copy. Students are learning how to focus their attention on specific editing strategies, as well as expanding their ideas with specific details. We have such a fine writing program and our students demonstrate their skills on Journeys unit assessments.

Students have worked hard on learning multiplication and division, and shortly they will be applying and deepening these skills in Chapter 9: Using Bar Models: Multiplication and Division.  Knowing the multiplication facts has been so important this trimester.  Please continue this practice at home!  For success and confidence during division lessons, automaticity of multiplication facts are imperative.  Graland is hosting a Math Night on Feb. 18th in the evening.  Success as a mathematical problem solver relies upon a child's deep understanding of content in addition to their ability to flexibly consider the givens and constraints within a question; Singapore mathematics (Math in Focus) utilizes visual models in an effort to strengthen both.  If you have ever wondered how to best support and encourage your child as they process through difficult mathematical content, this night is for you.  Our session will trace the trajectory of visualization within the Math in Focus curriculum, allow you to refine your own personal use of this technique and, finally, provide you a glimpse into your child's mathematical future. Details are below:

• Focus: The Power of Visual Models Throughout the Grades
• Date: February 18, 2016
• Time: 6:30 – 7:30 p.m.
• Audience: - K – 8th Grade Parents
• Location: Multipurpose Room

Third graders are singing in a concert on Feb. 12 at 8:20-9:00 and again that day 2:20-3:00.  Please contact music teacher Dan Hazlett if you have any questions about that concert.  Our students are also performing a dance/movement piece in the 6th grade play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  The performances are scheduled on February 24.  Please contact drama teacher, Lee Lee Newcomb with questions.

We appreciate all of your support at home!  Have a wonderful Valentine's Day, and we look forward to sharing with you at our March Student-Led Conference, on March 10-11.

The Third Grade Team