Week of September 29

 

Room 17 is in full swing.  Students are working on Unit 1 in Language Arts and Unit 3 in math. This week the class will begin their study of the Wampanoag Native Americans in Social Studies.

Friday will be the field trip to Wood Memorial Library where students will learn about the Native Americans' way of life, food, clothing, homes and environment.

 

Language Arts

 

Students have listened to several read-alouds to demonstrate the concepts of identifying character's feelings and character traits. One book that stands out in this regard is The Story of Ruby Bridges.

 

                                           

 

This six year old girl was the first African American to attend an all-white school in New Orleans in the 1950s.  The students clearly saw the character traits she demonstrated as this book was read.  Then they were asked to respond in a small group to practice the question, What kind of person was Ruby Bridges?  Students will apply this type of question to books they are reading in their literature circles or in their independent book.

 

Another concept students are focusing on is how a character changes in a story.  After reading to the class The Summer My Father Was Ten, students will discuss the way the character changes from the beginning to the end of the story with emphasis on the character's actions, words, feelings and motives.  Then students will be given guided practice with another book to answer this question. 

 

                                  

 

The purpose of students reading and responding allows students to practice close reading.  Below is a video explaining this concept.

 

 

 

 

 

Mathematics

 

Students are using multiple strategies to add 3 digit numbers in story problems.  They may add by place value or keep one number whole and add the other one in parts.  Some students are using a number line to add.   They do this by starting with one of the addends then use a number to add the second number.

 

                       

 

 

 

Students are also practicing rounding and estimating three digits numbers in order to determine whether their answer makes sense.

 

 

 

                                       

 

 

Social Studies

 

Students will be learning about the Wampanoag Native Americans in social studies.  They will learn about how these people used their environment to survive.

 

 

            

 

Student engagement and motivation are keys to academic success.

 

 

 

 

                                       

 

 

Week of September 15

 

Language Arts

Students will be reviewing metacognitive strategies to use when they are reading.  They will become aware of fix-up strategies that readers utilize when reading comprehension breaks down. 

 

Next, students will practice using these strategies as they read independently.  Furthermore, students will learn to stop, think and react to their reading. Students will use sticky notes to keep track of their thinking.

                                    

The class will begin their study in the language arts' block of character's feelings, traits, motivations and actions.  Students will develop a better understanding of themselves through this unit. Students will also undertake a writing project in which they will write a story about a time that they had to make a choice or had an experience that impacted them as a person.

                                          



This week students will start their literature groups. Each group will read a different book and integrate the whole class lessons on character's feelings, traits, motives, actions and point of view into their small group lessons.

          

Mathematics

Students will be given charts to locate and order numbers up to l,000.  Through the use of landmark numbers, students will read and sequence numbers up to l,000.  Students will solve addition and subtraction problems with two and three digit numbers.  Students will estimate the sums of two and three digit numbers by representing numbers in groups of ten.

Science

Students will explore the respiratory system and digestive system this week.  Students will discover the function of each system, the parts associated with them as well as the organs involved in each.

                           


  

                                             

Welcome to Third Grade!

The first few weeks of school will focus on developing procedures and routines for students to adjust to Room 17.







                                              


Students are learning about the routines of Reader's Workshop.  The students are becoming familiar with the classroom library and are having opportunities to explore the library.  In addition, students are determining "good fit" books in order to prepare them for the independent reading portion of Reader's Workshop.







                     



Students will gradually start writer's workshop with short writing assignments about themselves.




                       


Students will start math workshop this week.  Students will learn the Capture 5 game, which involves adding and subtracting multi-digits on a 100 grid.  Students will gain knowledge of place value by finding pairs of 2-digit numbers that add to 100. Then they will practice this skill with a game entitled Close to 100.  As an additional method of practicing this, students will solve word problems in which they may use either a number line or a 100 grid.

In science, students are undertaking the study of the human body.  First, the class completes a KWL chart in which students reflect on what they know about the body systems and then decide what they want to learn about it.  Finally, as students learn about the body systems, they will record their learning on a KWL chart. The first system students will explore will be the skeletal system.

                                     

                            


Information on content students will be learning will be posted on a regular basis.