Mrs. Donofrio

March News!

Language Arts

This week students will learn about making inferences. Students will start by inferring the meaning of vocabulary words. They will use context clues and nonfiction text features to make inferences. Students will read an article about the Titanic which is of high interest to most third graders. The following literacy equation will be taught to support student learning about inference.

BK & TC = I

This equation involves using one's background knowledge plus textual clues which will result in inferring. When merging background knowledge with text clues, students draw conclusions about what they read. Students will start with an essential question, "Could the tragedy of the Titanic have been avoided?" Students will learn that some of their knowledge of the Titanic may not be accurate. Then students will gather facts from the article to infer the answer to the question.

Writing

The following are stories published by students from Unit 3.

Never Lie

By Akshat

Have you ever lied? It was a rainy day and Adam was bored. He told his mom he was bored. “Beep!” It was the phone. Adam hurried off to get it. “Mom, can I go to Brandon’s house?” “Sure,” said his mom. Brandon is 9 and so is Adam. Brandon is athletic. He plays soccer and basketball. Adam is clumsy and curious. Once he arrived at Brandon’s house, he rang the doorbell. Brandon answered. “Guess what?” Brandon said, “I got a new action figure!” “Cool,” said Adam and he went in. They played with Brandon’s toys. When Brandon went to the bathroom Adam suddenly heard a crack. Adam got up to see what it was. He gasped. It was Brandon’s new action figure, his most valuable toy. Adam told Brandon he was going home but didn’t say he was taking the action figure. He went home to fix it with glue but it melted. He told his mom about it. She said, “If you tell Brandon you took it Brandon will still be your friend. But Adam didn’t listen to his mom. The next day Adam went out to play and saw Brandon outside. Brandon said his new toy was missing and asked Adam to help. Adam didn’t want to tell the truth so he helped. Adam and Brandon searched everywhere but couldn’t find it. Soon Adam became tired and said he needed a break. Brandon said, “You have to help until I find it. Adam went home and got the toy. When he returned he told Brandon the truth. To his surprise Brandon wasn’t upset and they remained friends.

Support your Family

By Rachel

Isabelle Jennings thought about school while she ate her dinner. Isabelle had straight, long, blonde hair. She had green eyes and rosy cheeks. On her face were peach lips and long eyelashes. She was eating chicken and rice. Chicken with rice was her favorite meal. Her brother thought the opposite. He hated rice. He was making faces at his food. He was very picky. Isabelle knew why. He was six and she was nine. Isabelle loved spring. Spring was Isabelle’s favorite season because her mother always planted seeds in the garden and the flowers came out so beautifully. Isabelle finished her dinner, but Charlie was still eating so she had to stay seated. That was the family rule. Isabelle always followed the rules. After all, she was very mature for her age. She was also generous and fair. She was always honest and reliable. Her parents were lucky to have her as a daughter. “Charlie and Isabelle, your father and I have some news. Your father lost his job and we are losing money,” Mrs. Jennings said. “What!” Isabelle yelled. “So we’re going to be poor?” Isabelle asked. “No. We aren’t going to be poor, but we aren’t earning enough money. I don’t work because I have to be home when you and Charlie come home from school,” Mrs. Jennings said. “But everything costs money. If we always have to pay for things, we’ll eventually become poor! Right?!” Isabelle asked. “I suppose yes. But that means no money goes to waste. We will only buy something if we need it,” Mrs. Jennings said. “But I wanted that new race car!” Charlie wailed. “Charlie!” Mrs. Jennings exclaimed. “Fine” Charlie said. The next day was Saturday. Isabelle slept in but at 8:30 she got up. At breakfast the Jennings family talked some more. “What are some ways we can make money, now that I’ve lost my job?” Mr. Jennings questioned. “We could make fake money and trick people! We might even trick a vending machine!” Charlie suggested. “No, Charlie! I think that we should open a lemonade stand! We could sell delicious lemonade, and make lots of money. I’m thinking we can charge $1.15 for one glass. I think that is a pretty reasonable price. What do you think?” Isabelle said. “I think that is cheap. We’ll never make money if we charge them $1.15! I’m thinking $200.00!” Charlie yelled. “I think that Isabelle’s idea is a great idea. Now what is our goal?” Mr. Jennings asked. “$300 dollars in 3 weeks,” Isabelle said. “It’s a deal! Let’s start now!” Mr. Jennings shouted. So everybody started making lemonade. After three pitchers were filled, the sale started. A lot of people came. At the end of the day, they had half a pitcher left, and $30 dollars. Every day they earned more money. It was the last day of lemonade selling. They only had $275 dollars and one day left. Isabelle was worried. Everybody in the neighborhood either already got lemonade, or they aren’t interested. The day went by slowly and they earned $10 dollars. Isabelle looked at the total of money that they had earned - $285 dollars. “Don’t give up,” Isabelle told herself. But she had. Three weeks were over, and all they had was $285 dollars. Finally, Isabelle had an idea. She went into her room… and she pulled $15 dollars out from her wallet. Now she looked at the total, $300 dollars. They had met their goal because she had saved them. Isabelle felt heroic. She had never been as proud of herself in her life.

Math

Students will investigate that arrays are one way to express a multiplication equation. Students will experiment making arrays to identify the characteristics of prime and square numbers. Students will use arrays to find the product.

They can use traditional multiplication equations to determine the product of two factors or if need be they can skip count.

More complicated multiplication problems will be introduced and students will use their knowledge of basic multiplication facts to help them determine solutions to higher level problems.

For example 24 x 6 can be broken down into

20 x 6 = 120 + 4 x 6 = 24

Therefore, 120 + 24 = 144