January 8, 2014

3rd Grade News

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

1-8-15

Happy 2015!  I hope everyone had a good break and is ready to be back at school. Third grade has a lot to learn before the next break in March.  I am ready for warmer weather that spring has to offer.

Please check with your child about needing new school supplies such as crayons, markers, glue, etc.  We are halfway through the year and supplies are either broken, worn down, or completely gone.

Math

Third grade are taking the Chapter 4 test today and tomorrow.  Tests will come home at a later date for parents to view.  

Chapter 5 will focus on using the multiplication facts 0-10 that have been learned.  Please continue to work on the basic facts at home.

Science

Third grader are learning about how living things survive in ecosystems. Students have learned about food chains and food webs.  Important vocabulary introduced to the students include producer, consumer, and decomposer.  There will be a test next week over this topic.

Reading/Language Arts

This week the class is reading the humerous fiction selection "Judy Moody Saves the World." In this story Judy learns about was to help the environment at school.  She has difficulties convincing her family they need to give up products from the the rainforest, reduce, reuse, and recycle. The comprehension skill covered story structure (characters, setting, and plot).  The vocabulary strategy focused on using context clues to figure out the meaning of a word.  The phonics strategy focused on words with -air, -ear, and -are.  Students were introduced to adjectives in grammar.

In the take home folder this week are the results of the lesson 15 weekly assessment taken before break.  These are yours to keep.

This week third grade is also taking the Unit 3 Benchmark test.  The reading and analyzing test focused on comprehension and vocabulary strategies.  The comprehension skills covered included understanding characters, story structure, author's purpose, main idea and details, sequence of events, point of view, text and graphic features, drawing conclusions, cause and effect, and comparing texts.  Students were assessed on idioms, synonyms, homophones and homographs, using a thesaurus, suffixes, shades of meaning for the vocabulary strategies.  Students also completed the revisiong and editing section of the test.  Skills tested included subject-verb agreement, verb tenses, sentence fluency, contractions, pronouns and antecedents, plural nouns, and homophones.  Due to a no school day and a late start this week, third grade will finish the benchmark testing next week.

Important Dates

Wednesday, January 14th-1 Hour Early Dismissal

Wednesday, January 21st-1 Hour Early Dismissal

Sunday, January 25th-Friday, January 30th-Catholic Schools Week

Wednesday, February 4th-1 Hour Early Dismissal