Welcome to the 3rd grade newsletter! Each month a newsletter will be posted that describes what we will be learning. It will be divided into subject areas, and will also include any special events that will be taking place.

Click Here to see October Special Events

Shared Reading

During the month of October we will be reading one story a week.
The following tells which story we will be reading and the skills being
focused on.

Our first story for the month will be On the Pampas. We'll start the week
by focusing on one, two and three syllable words. For comprehension we will
be practicing paraphrasing and our literary element we're focusing on this
week will be the setting. As a family you can read a picture book with your
child and have them paraphrase it for you.

The second story will be a folk tale called How the World Got Wisdom. We
will be talking about different elements that are commonly found in folk
tales. In phonics this week we will be focusing on words spelled with au
and aw. Your child can go on a word hunt for words with those spelling
patterns and categorize them. We will also be spending some time on cause
and effect and how these elements make up the events in the story.

The third week will be spent reviewing the skills we've learned in Unit 1
and taking our unit test.

Math
his month in math we are finishing up a short unit on money. We are
working on writing amounts of money using a dollar sign and a decimal and
also making change. When making change, we are learning how to "count up" from the price of the item to the amount paid. Please practice making
change at home with your children. Set up a small store and let them be the
clerk. This is great practice for them with making change. The rest of the
month will be spent adding and subtracting whole numbers. We'll start out
with adding two digit numbers and work our way up to adding four digit
numbers with regrouping. We'll follow the same pattern with subtraction.
It is so important for your children to know their addition and subtraction
facts. Please practice these a little each night with them!

Writing
In writing we will continue to work on Ideas and Organization. These are two of the Six Traits we teach in writing These traits help students focus in on a topic and organize their writing so it flows. Check our website for writing assignments that will be posted. We currently are working on developing a character for a short story. Students are spending time deciding on character traits for their character and how the character will respond when faced with a problem. Have them describe the character traits for the main character in the book they are reading.

Spelling
The first three spelling lists will be sent home and are also posted on the web site. The spelling lists contain words that are frequently used when we are writing.

Each week we also focus on a specific spelling/phonetic skill. Week 1 we will be focusing on short vowel words. Week 2 we will be focusing on long i words. Week 3 we will be focusing on long a, long i, and long o words.

Handwriting
We are learning how to make the lowercase letters i, t, and

English
We are currently learning about complete sentences. We began by identifying statements, questions, commands, and exclamations. Then we identified the subject and predicate of a sentence. Have your child circle the subjects and underline the predicates in a newspaper article.

Social Studies
We are learning about the globe, equator, continents, and oceans. In Times for Kids we are learning about the Presidential election that is taking place. Discuss what is happening in the Presidential race with your children and what issues you think are important.

Science
We are discovering patterns in the sky during the month of September. Have your child state what causes day, night, shadows, and seasons. We will also learn why the moon’s shape seems to change and what tools help people study stars.

Guided Centers
In centers we are are focusing on: fluency and how punctuation and expression are important parts, comparing and contrasting, spelling skills, language skills (homophones, dictionary skills, synonyms, and antonyms), and a book extension from Little House in the Big Woods.