February Newsletter

READING- DETERMINING IMPORTANCE

WE WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE MEANING STRATEGICALLY BY LEARNING HOW TO FIND THE MAIN IDEA OF THE TEXTS WE READ AND THE EVENTS OR IDEAS THAT ARE TRULY SIGNIFICANT TO WHAT WE ARE READING. THE STUDENTS WILL LEARN WHAT IT MEANS TO SUMMARIZE AND HOW DETERMINING IMPORTANCE IS KEY TO WRITING A SUMMARY ABOUT SOMETHING WE HAVE READ OR WATCHED. WE WILL DISCUSS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EVENTS THAT ARE SIGNIFICANT AND EVENTS THAT ARE JUST SOMETHING WE HAPPENED TO ENJOY MOST IN THE STORY.

WRITING- INFORMATIONAL WRITING AND SUMMARIZATION 

WE ARE WRAPPING UP OUR UNIT ON INFORMATIVE WRITING. STUDENTS HAVE DONE AN AMAZING JOB WITH THEIR FINAL DRAFTS AND IT IS CLEAR THAT STUDENTS ARE EXPERTS AT MANY THINGS!  THEY HAVE DONE A GOOD JOB IMPLEMENTING STRUCTURES OF A NON-FICTION, ORGANIZING, AND ELABORATING ON THEIR WRITTEN PIECES.

WE WILL BE FOCUSING ON RESPONDING TO SUMMARIES THROUGH OUR READING AND ALSO PROMPTS. STUDENTS WILL BE LEARNING HOW TO USE THE STRUCTURE OF NAME IT, VERB IT, BIG IDEA TO HELP WRITE A STRONG TOPIC SENTENCE. THEY WILL ALSO FOCUS ON GREAT WAYS TO CAPTURE BIG IDEAS AND ENSURE THAT OUR SUMMARIES ARE WRITTEN IN THEIR OWN WORDS. ADDITIONALLY, THEY ARE MAKING SURE TO ADD TRANSITIONS SO THEIR THOUGHTS ARE ORGANIZED AND WELL WRITTEN.

MATH-

PERIMETER, ANGLES AND AREA: 2-D GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT

THIS UNIT DEVELOPS IDEAS ABOUT THE ATTRIBUTES OF 2-D OBJECTS AND HOW THEY ARE CLASSIFIED (THE DEFINITION OF A TRIANGLE, RECTANGLE, AND SQUARE), LINEAR MEASUREMENT (WHICH INCLUDES PERIMETER), AREA, AND THE MEASUREMENT OF ANGLES. USING THE CONTEXT OF PERIMETER, STUDENTS ARE CONTINUING TO DEVELOP THEIR ABILITY TO USE MEASUREMENT TOOLS AS THEY WORK ON ACCURATE LINEAR MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES. STUDENTS LEARN TO IDENTIFY ANGLES BY THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO A RIGHT ANGLE. (IS THE ANGLE GREATER THAN, LESS THAN, OR EQUAL TO A 90-DEGREE ANGLE?) THEY ARE ALSO DEVELOPING AN UNDERSTANDING OF AREA AS THE AMOUNT OF FLAT SPACE AN OBJECT COVERS AND DETERMINE THE AREA OF 2-D SHAPES IN SQUARE UNITS.

SCIENCE- MATTER

THROUGHOUT EVERY SCIENCE UNIT, ALL THIRD GRADERS ARE USING CRITICAL THINKING TO DEMONSTRATE THE PROCESS OF INQUIRY. BY EXPERIMENTING, READING ARTICLES, DISCUSSING AND REFLECTING. STUDENTS WILL LEARN THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS AND HOW THAT IS ESSENTIAL WITH THEIR NEW LEARNING WITH IDENTIFYING THE STATES OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF MATTER. THROUGH FOSS INVESTIGATIONS, VIDEOS, LITERATURE AND CLASS ACTIVITIES, STUDENTS WILL DISCUSS DIFFERENT ATTRIBUTES OF SOLIDS, LIQUIDS, GASES AND PLASMA WHILE USING EVIDENCE TO DEVELOP A SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION AROUND HOW HEATING AND COOLING AFFECTS STATES OF MATTER. OUR GRADE-LEVEL SCIENCE DAY LATER IN THE YEAR WILL ALLOW STUDENTS TO PRACTICE ANALYZE, INTERPRET AND WRITE OBSERVATIONS ABOUT MATTER AS IT FREEZES AND MELTS, AND BOILS AND CONDENSES.

DATES TO REMEMBER 

SOCK HOP: FEBRUARY 3

SCIENCE DAY: FEBRUARY 10

VALENTINE PARTY: FEBRUARY 14

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY/NO SCHOOL FOR KIDDOS: FEBRUARY 17

PRESIDENT’S DAY/NO SCHOOL: FEBRUARY 20