Newsletter Week of February 5th

Good morning parents, 

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend. Grade 3 was lucky to have 2 parent experts come in and share their knowledge. We learned about the work an archeologist does and the process archeologists use when planning and excavating a dig as well as the legacy of hygiene that Ancient Rome left us to learn from and improve upon. What a week! 

Please note that ASAs start this week and the week will start on a day 6. 

Reading

We will begin our unit on character book clubs. Here students will get to know the characters in their book club book, making inferences and noting patterns in their behaviors based on actions, words, and thoughts. We will begin to apply character traits based on this. We will also begin to read aloud fairy tales in preparation for our next writing unit. Reading fairy tales at home and practice in applying character traits and talking about the characters in the books your child reads would be helpful.

Writing

This week in writing students will learn about petitions as another type of opinion writing. Students can say more by including interviews and surveys they have conducted. They will also learn that writers revise their introductions and conclusions, trying out several different styles before deciding which one will have the biggest impact on their audience.

Math

Students will continue to notice patterns in multiplication tables as well as continue their fact fluency. When learning new facts such as x6, students will develop strategies to become more efficient. Instead of skip counting by 6's students can multiply the number x5 then add x1. For 6x7, think 5x7 plus 1x7. Students will also begin to solve multistep division and multiplication word problems. Ask your child, how do they solve their x4, x6, x8, or x9 facts. Talk about what mental math strategies they could use.

Social Studies

This week, students will learn how geography and location effects ancient civilizations.

February 5th-9th  Choose 2 activities to complete before Friday to share in class.

Math:

• Play a math game that helps you practice multiplication and/or division. What game did you play?
• Teach someone at home about a pattern you notice in addition or multiplication. 

Language arts:

• Choose a character in a book you are reading (or read recently). What is the problem in the story and how would you solve the problem?
• Would you rather have more math time or more reading time? Write down 3 reasons why. Be sure to say more about each reason.

Social Studies

• Choose a problem that someone in an ancient civilization might have had and build something to help solve it (if you can not think of a problem you could use moving water). 

Other:

• Spend some time outside and sketch/write/daydream while you are there. Share something you liked about your time outside.

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