What We're Learning in Third Grade

The year is off to a great start and the third grade team would like to share what we've been working on this past month in school.

 

Third graders have been working on the unit Mathematical Thinking. It's a review of some concepts such as symmetry, addition strategies and coins. We've also been learning about doubling numbers, dividing numbers/money amounts in half and graphing information. We've started problem solving which is another set of skills we'll work on throughout the year. Soon, we'll start our next unit (called Combining and Comparing) looking further at addition and subtraction strategies.

This week, we'll have our first multiplication timed test. Students should study the 0 and 1 multiplication facts (ex. 0x10=0 and 1x10=10). We'll have the ten minute timed test this Thursday (because there is no school Friday). We'll make flash cards in class, which students can bring back and forth between school and home. We'll focus on one number for two weeks and then move on to the next number. So, students will have two weeks to learn each set of facts. This week it's both 0 and 1 because the facts are pretty straightforward.

As we've been reading our third grade summer scholars book Hachiko Waits, we have been learning about Japan and its culture. We've read about the language, flag, and geography and shared some objects that come from Japan like kimonos, geta clogs and pottery. We also made origami whales and will be working on mulitmedia carp flags in art. Our field trip on Friday to the Japanese Garden was a great conclusion to our studies. Thanks so much to the parents that drove and came with us!

We've begun Writing Workshop by discussing ideas to write about and recording them in our notebooks. We've also explored some of those ideas by doing quick writes. We've discussed narrowing the topic to focus on a small moment in time and using precise verbs to make our writing more interesting. We will be working toward writing a Narrative which we'll complete in November.

In Science, we'll soon start our Changes unit. It will focus on the different states of matter - solids, liquids and gases. We'll explore how they changes forms and what causes that.

 We've been reading lots of books and sharing stories in our reading text, Scott Foresman. We've also been discussing genre, author's purpose and scope and sequence. We've explored what good readers do like how to choose the right books, making good book choices (is it easy, just right or challenging?) and why we sometimes abandon books.

In an effort to avoid spam, PPS has really tightened down on outside email outlets. Unfortunately, this includes comcast, gmail and yahoo. So, if you send an email from one of those accounts, it might not make it to your teacher. Hopefully this will not be too much of an issue this year. If you have an account with one of those companies and send an email, it might be a good idea to follow up with your teacher with a note or call.

Just a reminder that picture day is this Thursday, October 8th.  Friday, October 9th is a teacher inservice day so there is no school for students. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful children! They're full of good ideas and energy.