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 are working hard on the final drafts here in school. We have
spent an incredible third grade school year studying Colorado history. Our
Google slides of Colorado historical people are almost complete, as are our
interactive Colorado maps. Our final social studies unit is called, “The Making
of a State.” We will learn how territories became states, as well as read about
territory and state governors. Students will write bills that they
will propose to the class, and we will have a voting process that will
culminate at our Third Grade Constitutional Convention. 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 continue to practice 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. “Go Writes” are now complete, and
students are busy completing their photo essays. Each student will
complete one final writing assessment in just a couple of weeks.
Students have been working hard in math. They
learned how to solve word problems using multiplication and division bar
models. Now we are ready to dive into fractions! We have reviewed the
third-grade science lessons on measurement, and we are exploring the properties
of angles and lines, as well as two-dimensional shapes. 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 11, and all day on May 12. Also, 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 8:20-9:10 on June 6th!
We appreciate all of your support at home!
Thank you for a wonderful school year!
The Third Grade Team
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