Upcoming Writing Homework Information

Dear Third Grade Parents,                                                            

At the end of the school year, Lower School Graland students will take a final writing assessment: The Unit 5 Journeys Benchmark. This is part of our Journeys comprehensive literacy curriculum. Starting the week of December 5, third grade students will be practicing the required skills to complete the full writing process. We will practice in class, as well as at home for homework. We are calling the homework writing assignments “GO Write!” and they are scheduled for the week of December 5, and the weeks of Jan. 9, Feb. 6, and Mar. 6. Other homework expectations (spelling, cursive, math, literacy) will be adjusted during these homework weeks.

        

You will notice that the writing homework involves five steps. To help your child with pacing, a recommended timing schedule is noted.   

·      Prompt

·      Brainstorming (15 minutes) 

·      Rough draft (45 minutes)

·      Revising and editing (20 minutes - Please let your child edit on his/her own work.  Providing your child with a child dictionary will be helpful.)

·      Final draft (40 minutes - This skill will be included in the final two “Go Write!” homework assignments). 

The Journeys program provides a prompt that the students must write about.  This process happens at the end of each unit. The students will take the Unit 5 Benchmark writing test in two sessions, over two consecutive days, each sessions taking approximately 60 minutes (Day 1: brainstorm and rough draft, Day 2: editing and final draft).  In the first session, the children write a rough draft, and in the second session they revise that draft and produce their final essay. All writing assessments are scored using our four-point writing rubric, which will also be attached to each “Go Write! homework assignment.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask your child's teacher.  Thank you for all of your support at home!

The Third Grade Team

Chief Mountain Assembly

During an assembly, Third Graders shared with Lower School students about our Chief Mountain hike.  Take a look at our picture and videos below!

Mia and Chase M opened the assembly with an introduction about Chief Mountain

CLICK HERE FOR A VIDEO OF MIA AND CHASE M.

Celia and Luke were two of eight presenters who read from their journals about the field trip.

VIDEO OF CELIA PRESENTING

VIDEO OF LUKE PRESENTING

Johnny, Oliver, and Coco wrapped up the assembly by reading their Thanksgiving poems.

 

VIDEO OF OLIVER PRESENTING

VIDEO OF COCO PRESENTING

VIDEO OF JOHNNY PRESENTING

SNOW

The kids were glued to the window before Thanksgiving break when they saw the first snowflakes of the season!

Holiday Gift Order (Scholastic)

We are putting in one final order before the winter holidays. This quick order closes on THURSDAY, DEC. 1, to make sure it arrives in time (before Winter Break)!

Website:  scholastic.com/readingclub

Class Code: HZJMW

Order by Thursday, December 1st!

Mia & Olivia

Mia and Olivia sang a song to the class today for their share!

Autumn Poem

This is a video of our students acting out an autumn poem.  Enjoy!

Blocks

Our students love to spend time building with blocks!

 

Snap a Thousand

Today a former student of mine, Matthew Kintzele (current Graland 6th grader), came to our class and taught a math game called Snap a Thousand.  This game goes with our current math chapter, addition up to 10,000.  The students had fun, and Matthew was an excellent teacher!

November/December Newsletter

We hope you enjoyed conferences, Fall Break, and Halloween festivities.  One extra hour of sleep is coming our way (Daylight Savings, Nov. 6^th)! We have been fortunate with our pleasant temperatures, but changes in the weather are sure to come. 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.

In the next couple of weeks, we will begin our new social studies unit about the Native Americans of Colorado. On Friday, Nov. 4^th we will head to the Plains Conservation Center for an all-day field trip. This field trip fits in nicely with our Native American social studies unit and will serve as an introduction to pioneers, which is a unit we will cover in March.

Our students will be making a Colorado interactive map using Google Draw.  They will be adding to this all school year. Our Native American unit focuses on the Ute and Plains Indians, both of which will be added to the maps. They will soon create a timeline of major events in Colorado history, and we will use Google Slides to 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 learning about 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 studying math facts for homework. By winter break, all third graders should be fluent in the addition and subtraction facts. In class, students have been learning addition and subtraction up to 10,000 with regrouping. Subtraction across zeros can be a tricky process!  When grocery shopping, ask your child to add or subtract the items and figure the change. After Winter Break we will explore the world of bar models to solve addition and subtraction word problems. Ask your child what part-part-whole means, and let your third grader be the teacher at home to explain these visual representations.

Reminders and upcoming events:

•         Friday, 11/4: Plains Conservation Center field trip (dress in layers)

•         Friday 11/18: NOON DISMISSAL, Spirit Day, Go Green with Graland

•         Monday 11/21 – Friday 11/25: Thanksgiving Break

•         Monday, 11/28: Classes Resume

•         Thursday, 12/15: Spirit Day

•         Friday, 12/16: Holiday Sing Along, NOON DISMISSAL for Winter Break

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

The Third Grade Team