Friday, December 9, 2016

Weekly Wrap Up

Learning to identify the main idea of a section of nonfiction text is hard work for a third grader! Your children have been working SUPER hard at it this week with lessons from from Mrs. Steck, our Literacy Resource Teacher, and me. An example of the way your child is learning to identify and state the main idea is in the picture below.


If your child is reading a nonfiction book at home, you can ask him/her to pick one section of it and tell you the main idea. It should be in a full sentence.They might need a reminder that it should be what the whole section was about, not just one part of it. Next week we’ll work more on this skill, as well as identifying supporting details that tell more about the main idea.

Once the snow starts to fly and your child is wearing boots, feel free to send in a pair of shoes for them to change into if you don’t want them in snow boots all day. I’ll be sure to give them time to change back into their boots before they head out.

If you have any extra plastic grocery store type bags around your house, we could use them in the classroom. They come in handy when kids have a cold and need a personal trash bag for tissues, forget their backpack at home, or have more stuff to carry home than can fit in their bag. Thanks!

Here's what we're learning about next week:

  • Social Studies: Cultures Across CT
  • Math: Multiplication
  • Reading: Finding the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction texts
  • Writing: Rough drafts of nonfiction (information) texts

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Weekly Wrap Up

Do you know about the website, multiplication.com?  It’s free and has fabulous games for students to practice their multiplication facts. Now that we are well into our study of multiplication, your child should be including multiplication into his/her fact practice at home. As a reminder, we only go up to the 10’s in third grade, although I go ahead and teach them the 11’s, and strategies for the 12’s. Also, as a reminder, the math program we use does not teach the facts in sequence. Unit 5 covered 0, 1, 2, 5, 9, and 10. Unit 6, which we will start towards the middle of next week, will cover the rest. After that, we move on to division!

As the holiday season approaches, we often spend a great deal of time thinking about giving to others. At this time of the year, students and their families often like to give gifts to their teachers. This is certainly a very thoughtful and well-appreciated gesture. However, I feel that when one gives, the more people that can receive, the better. So this year, if you and your child would like to give, instead of giving me a gift please consider giving classroom a gift that all of the children can enjoy. If you want to do this, but need ideas, I’ve asked the kids to help me brainstorm a list of things they’d like to have in the classroom. From that list I created an Amazon wishlist. You can find it here: http://a.co/0dyF07a. Please don’t feel obligated to get anything from that list, I just wanted to put together something from the students that has what they wish they could have in their classroom.

Please make sure your child’s name is marked on their coats, hats, gloves, scarves, etc… Things can get left behind in specials classes or in the cafeteria, and can be more easily returned or found if there’s a name in them.

Here's what we're learning about next week:

  • Social Studies: Cultures Across CT
  • Math: Multiplication
  • Reading: Structures of nonfiction texts, finding the main idea in nonfiction texts (this is one of our big 3rd grade skills that we continually work on)
  • Writing: Organizing information to begin writing nonfiction (information) texts

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your child’s education!