May 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 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 6^th!

We appreciate all of your support at home! Thank you for a wonderful school year!

The Third Grade Team

Helping Verbs

Gold Panning

The Tempest

FANTASTIC PERFORMANCE THIRD GRADERS!

The Tempest Rehearsal

Your children have worked hard and are excited to share their movement piece with you tomorrow!

Tattered Cover Event: This Thursday

Graland and Friends at the Tattered Cover

Thursday April, 6 2017

5:30-7:30 p.m.

Story Times

5:45 The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires

Read by Graland Librarian, Linda Sears

6:10  A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker

Read by Graland Kindergarten Teacher, Liza Baker

6:30  Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard and James Marshall

Read by Graland 2nd Grade Teacher, Cindy Cheadle

6:50  Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann

Read by Graland 5th Grade Teacher, Mitch Masters

Meet and Greet with Authors

Todd Fahnestock

The Wishing World

Heather Preusser

A Symphony of Cowbells

Art Station

Make your own book with Graland Art Teacher, Andrean Andrus

Tattered Cover “Behind the Scenes” Tours

Ask a Graland student ambassador to tell you more

Scavenger Hunt

Pick up a Tattered Cover scavenger hunt and explore the store

Drum Dream Girl

To kick off Graland’s literacy day event, learn more about, Drum Dream Girl by Margarita Engle

State Capitol and Governor's Mansion Field Trip

We had a great trip!

April Newsletter

It seems that spring is finally here! Art is going up in the hallways for all to enjoy, coats are staying in our lockers during recess, and our learning continues.

This month in reading, we are focusing on story structure and building an awareness of different characters’ points of view. We will also be identifying how ideas are different or alike through the use of our compare and contrast skills. Our spelling and phonics will be expanded with an emphasis on the suffixes –ed, -ing, -s, and –es, as well as the prefixes non-, in-, and im-. Our reading groups are focusing on the difficult and higher level skill of inference. Authors they are reading don’t always “tell” but give clues for the reader to pick up meaning. This can be tricky!

The Newbery program has been energizing the kids and opening new genres of literacy to interest them. It is great fun to hear them give their book reviews and recommendations. Our children are reading amazing literature and joining the Newbery Club and Hall of Fame! We thank you for continuing to encourage your student to read these award-winning texts.

Having advanced our personal narrative and persuasive writing abilities, we will now turn our writing attention toward fictional writing. Our early efforts will focus on generating creative ideas and using rich word choice, including similes and metaphors. Thank you for your support in helping your child with the activities working through the entire writing process. It is a time-consuming process to brainstorm, write, edit, and rewrite, but your children have become wonderful writers. We are working more on the traits of editing and voice to make our writings come alive.

Math in our rooms is robust! The long division we have looked forward to is here and the students are working hard. Ask your child to teach you the process that helps with remembering the steps in long division. Our students have been diving into the concept of division with remainders. We will be using our knowledge of bar models to solve multiplication and division word problems. We are also revisiting real-life math skills such as time, money, and graphing in our morning meetings.

“Pike’s Peak or Bust!” In social studies, we are exploring the lives of the Colorado gold miners. We are looking at the lure of the possibility of riches and also the extreme hardships of those who pursued the promise. We even will become prospectors ourselves and try our hands at gold panning. Our Colorado History Affinity Project (CHAP) is in full swing. The “affinities” the children have for Colorado history is exciting. Their research, photo essay writing, and project will demonstrate their learning of our state. Be sure to look in your child’s homework for the weekly CHAP assignment and help them plan accordingly. To make this affinity come alive, management of time and materials is essential. Thank you for your support.

If you want to know what else has been going on, you can spark some great dinner table conversation with the following questions:

*Describe the process of reading analogies. How would you read and explain:

dog:puppy :: cat:kitten

*What happens when you use a dollar sign and a cents sign in writing an amount of money? (Hint: math police) How do you write cents when using a dollar sign?

*What are some questions on the test for becoming a United States citizen?

*April is Poetry Month-what is your favorite type of poem?

*Adding of dollars and coins and reading analog clocks while adding time and subtracting time is fun.

*Ask your child to share some of the fascinating facts that are a part of the foundation of Colorado’s history.

“April showers bring May flowers” . . . but in Colorado we may still have snow. Please be sure your child is dressed for our changing weather! Thank you for your continued support in our teaching and your child’s learning. We have many exciting times to come in the weeks ahead.

Happy Spring!

The Third Grade Team

Upcoming Events:

NOTE: ERB testing will be the week of May 15th – 19th

Friday, April 7 3:30 Art Show and Ice Cream Social-children must be accompanied by an adult

Wednesday, April 12 Performances of the Tempest

9:45 AM and 5:00 PM Stretz and O’Connor

2:20 PM and 6:45 PM Pease and Erlach

For details, refer to the email from Lee Lee Newcomb.

Friday, April 21 Grandparents’ Day-Noon Dismissal

Friday, April 28 Spirit and Go Green Day