May/June Newsletter

It is hard to believe that this school year is coming to an end. We have had such a wonderful experience with this special group of students, and we don't want to say goodbye! Lucky for us, we still have five weeks left to learn with them! We know there are a lot of activities, late nights, and busy schedules. Please help your child stay organized and get good sleep, as we wrap up this important third grade school year.

The Colorado History Affinity Project is in full swing and we look forward to seeing the first drafts due this Friday, May 6th. We have spent an incredible third grade school year studying Colorado history. Now, they are focusing on one area that really interests them. In the classroom, we are learning about how territories become a state. Students are in the process of writing a Bill that they will propose to the class. Our voting process will culminate at our Constitutional Convention as a whole third grade. Throughout this final social studies unit, we will be answering the following questions:

• What is a territory?
• How did Colorado become a territory?
• Who were the first territory governors?
• What was a Constitutional Convention?
• How was a Colorado territory law passed?
• How did Colorado finally become a state?
• What are some of Colorado's state symbols?

In literacy, we will continue practicing a variety of comprehension strategies, including story structure, monitor/clarify, compare and contrast, visualize, sequence of events, analyze/evaluate, author's purpose, questioning, text and graphic features, and inferring/predicting.

We are studying different phonics skills, grammar, and vocabulary strategies:

Base Words and -ed, -ing, -s, -es endings
Suffixes -ful, -y, -ous, -ly, -er, -est, -less, -ness, -able
Base word and prefix non-, in-, im-, un-, pre-, re-, bi-
Possessive Nouns and Pronouns
Less Common Plurals
Changing Final y to i
Abbreviations
What is an adverb?
Analogies
What is a preposition?

Our classroom writing instruction is now focused on two specific writing traits: voice and word choice. These traits will enhance our students' writing. We will continue to practice brainstorming, editing skills, and development of ideas. Due to the writing portion of the Affinity project, our next Go Write is scheduled for the week of May 9^th.

Students have been working hard in math. We are exploring the properties of angles and lines. This fun unit allows us to do activities that explore our classroom and find angles and lines all around us. Soon, we will begin our study of two-dimensional shapes to wrap up the year. It is still essential that students practice their math facts daily!

As you can see, we are busy in third grade, and we have even more events to look forward to. Mountain Man, Doc Grizzly, will be joining us on the afternoon of May 16, and all day on May 17. More information about this special event will come home soon.

The third grade tradition is to hold our end-of-year party on the last morning of school. Parents and students celebrate at a potluck breakfast on the terrace off the Anschutz Commons. More information will be coming from your room parent, and please plan to join us for breakfast from 8:30-9:30 on June 8^th!

We appreciate all of your support at home! We will be in touch many times over these last weeks. Thank you for a wonderful school year!

The Third Grade Team