Newsletter Week of October 2nd

Week of October 2, 2017

Hello 3AH parents,

It has been a busy week in the class. We had ISA testing and are working on the last bend of our writing and reading units. This upcoming week we will be setting goals in math, reading, writing and the SLR's for our 3-way conferences. You should have received a letter with the time and date for your conference. Please sign the bottom of the form and return it to school. Remember that your child is expected to attend conferences along with their parent(s).

Our Wonder Wall has been a great place to record questions. It located in the common area and is a space where each student can write down a wonder they have. In the coming weeks, we will move on to adding different prompts to encourage even more thinking.

We need your help! Please send in cardboard and other materials that students could use for building. Next week we will be talking about the upcoming cardboard challenge, which will lead us toward Genius Hour. We will need this by October 11.

This week we begin on Day 6. Please make sure your child has a water bottle and hat each day.

Reading This week we end our first reading unit. We will then move from fiction reading to information/nonfiction to focus on main ideas and text structures. This is perfect as we think about areas of interest, so students can build on their strengths.

Writing We are also ending our personal narrative unit. At conferences next week you will see both the pre and post assessments for this unit, which will help with goal setting as we move forward. Many aspects of writing are transferrable across genres, so this information will help us as we move on to informational writing. This is not a unit where the focus is on researching to write, rather the students will use informational writing strategies as they compose texts about subjects they already know well.

Math We have begun our second math unit and in the coming week will focus on rounding to the nearest ten. We will introduce multiple strategies including using a number line, using benchmark numbers, and finding halfway numbers. As always the parent learning connection has ideas for you in math and reading/writing here.

Social Studies As we continue to look at different maps and what we can learn from them, students are creating their own maps (landform, resource, climate, and population are the focus). We have noticed that water is a key resource. We have enjoyed looking at various maps that students have shared.

Enjoy the week ahead.

October 2, 2017- Choose 2 activities to complete before Friday to share in class.

Math: Show an adult how to round 23 56 78 to the nearest ten. Explain to the adult how you know.	Language arts: Write a letter to someone.	Language arts: Read a nonfiction book about one of your interests/passions.  Share something you learned.
Math: Write the following numbers in words (English and your home language if it is different), expanded form, and model it using base 10 blocks. 347 679 204	Social Studies: What has been your favorite part about our Mapping unit? What are 3 things that you learned?	Other: Put on a play for your family or practice keyboarding on Typing Web.

Remember: Reading is just what we do. It is expected each night.

Class Schedule

3 AH Class Schedule 2017-2018

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6
8:00-8:15	Morning Meeting	Morning Meeting	Morning Meeting	Morning Meeting	Morning Meeting	Morning Meeting
8:15-9:05	Reading Workshop/Word Inquiry	Reading Workshop/ Word Inquiry	Reading Workshop/Word Inquiry	Reading Workshop/Word Inquiry	Reading Workshop/Word Inquiry	Reading Workshop/Word Inquiry
9:05-9:30	Science/Social Studies	Science/Social Studies	Science/Social Studies	Science/Social Studies	Science/Social Studies	Science/Social Studies
9:35-10:20	Writing Workshop	Writing Workshop	Writing Workshop	Writing Workshop	Writing Workshop	Writing Workshop
10:20-10:35	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack
10:35-10:50	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess
10:55-11:40	PE/World Languages	PE/World Languages	PE/World Languages	PE/World Languages	PE/World Languages	PE/World Languages
11:45-12:30	Music	Art	Music	Science/Social Studies	Art	Guidence
12:35-1:00	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess	Recess
1:00-1:20	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
1:20-2:35	Mathematics	Mathematics	Mathematics	Mathematics/ Technology	Mathematics	Mathematics/ Library
2:35- 2:45	Dismissal	Dismissal	Dismissal	Dismissal	Dismissal	Dismissal

Newsletter Week of September 25th

Week of September 25, 2017

The days are flying by! We are wrapping up our units in writing and social studies. This past week we finished our first unit in math. I will be sending home this math assessment for you to look over and sign. Please return the math assessment as we need them for reporting.

This week you will receive your appointment time for parent conferences coming up on October 9th and 10th. In third grade, we ask that your child attends along with you as we will be reflecting on progress thus far and setting goals together.

This week we begin on Day 1. We will complete the ISA on Thursday and Friday. Please ensure that your child has a good night sleep and a healthy breakfast. Please remind your child to return their home learning on Friday.

Reading The focus this week is on being more aware of when a text signals the reader to do more thinking and inferring. Students will learn to add their own thinking and consider author’s purpose when something unexpected happens in the text. We are introducing conditional language such as “could it be that…” or “maybe…” so that students explore several ideas to dig deeper.

Writing  Revision and editing take on a bigger role as students work with more independence on their second narrative. We are introducing punctuation within dialogue by referring to our mentor text, Come On, Rain! Students are keeping their goals in mind as they write.

Math This week we begin our second math unit, Solving Problems with Units of Measure. In this unit, students will:

• Investigate, understand, and use place value to manipulate numbers.
• Build on an understanding of place value to round whole numbers.
• Continue to develop an understanding of addition and subtraction and use strategies and properties to do so proficiently and fluently.
• Solve elapsed time, including word problems, by using a number line diagram.
• Solve word problems involving masses or volumes.

We will begin with making conjectures (what we believe to be true) and composing and decomposing numbers.

Social Studies We are looking at different types of maps and the information we can glean from them. As we look at different maps of the same area we are looking for connections. Students are creating their own maps to show their understanding.

Thank you for your ongoing support!

Week of September 25, 2017

Choose 2 to complete and return on Friday.

Math: Play a game that uses math.	Language arts: Find 3 new words in your reading this week. Write down the words and what you think they mean.	Language arts: Free choice writing.
Math: Use dice, a spinner, or cards to choose 4 numbers. Write the largest and smallest numbers you can make from the digits. (For example: 5, 9, 3, 1 could make 9531 and 1359) Then write the expanded form for each. (9531 =9000 + 500 + 30 + 1)	Social Studies: Choose a question you have about mapping and landforms and research to find the answer. Share what you learned on Friday. You can write, make a video, or share your learning in another way.	Other: Make something from an empty box. Take pictures and print them out or share them via Google Drive.

Remember: Reading is just what we do. It is expected each night.

Newsletter Week of September 18th

Week of September 18, 2017

Hello 3AH parents, here is this week's newsletter. It was wonderful getting back into a full week of learning. Thanks to Zara’s dad and Ms. Joan’s son for being great guest speakers about landforms. The day on Friday was fun and educational. The students loved cooking, watching the dancers, and eating new food. Please check your class blog for pictures. It is helpful if you review with your child their ASA each morning as we get used to these new routines.

We begin this week on Day 3.

Parent Teacher Conferences in the ES are October 9 and 10. Your third grader will attend this conference with you. Please let us know if you prefer one day over the other and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Reading In reading this week we continue to work on using contextual clues to read through difficult words. We look at the clues authors may include, such as using synonyms, antonyms, or explanations and how we can determine the gist of the word meaning. Students are encouraged to take note of new words or new meanings for familiar words and start using these words orally and in writing. We are also looking at figurative language, such as “crying over spilled milk”.  You can help by talking about such phrases in your home language.

Writing The students begin a new writing piece with more independence. This allows us to review the many tools they have to help, such as the narrative writing checklist and anchor charts made in class. Revision continues throughout with another look at “showing, not telling” as a way to be more descriptive in writing. We also look at irregular past tense verbs.

Math We will be looking at liquid volume and weight as we finish up this math unit. Elapsed time is still difficult for some students, so look for opportunities to practice this at home (“If we need to be at soccer at 10:00 and it takes 17 minutes to drive there, what time should we leave home?”).

Social Studies This week we begin looking at the specific uses of different kinds of maps (focusing on landform, resource, climate, and population). We are looking at how the place influences the people and their lifestyle.

Have a great week ahead and remember that Friday there is no school due to another holiday, Awal Muharram. By the way, did you know you can translate Google docs into the language that you read best (not perfect, but…)? Go to tools and then to “translate document”. You could have this whole blog post in your home language! If it doesn’t work within the blog, copy and paste the text into a Google doc and then go to tools.

Week of September 18, 2017

Choose 2 to complete and return on Thursday.

Math: Use dice or cards to make up 5 different 4-digit numbers. Put them in order from least to greatest.	Language arts: Plan a book talk for a book you have read this week. If you want, you can create a video.	Language arts: Free choice writing.
Math: Practice math facts.	Social Studies: Draw a resource map of an imaginary land.	Other: Teach something you have learned at school this week to an adult.

Remember: Reading is just what we do. It is expected each night.