December 17, 2015

3rd Grade News

12-17-15

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

SCIENCE

The next topic third grade is learning about is how living things depend on one another.  Students have learned about producers, consumers, and decomposers.  We have also discussed food chains, food webs, predators, and prey.  

MATH

Lessons now in math will focus on the factors in multiplication.  Students will learn strategies to help them solve problems.  The class has learned that when multiplying by two, you can add doubles

(2 X 8=8+8). Students have also learned that when multiplying by four, solve the problem for twos then double that (4 X 7=2 X 7=14 + 14=28).  Students may also do skip counting if that strategy works best for them.

Overall third grade did a great job on the chapter 3 math test that covered the process of multiplication.  Please work on the basic facts at home has each factor is introduced.

READING/LANGUAGE ARTS

The selection that third grade read this week "The Extra Good Sunday" from Ramona Quimby,Age 8. The comprehension skill focused understanding characters.  Students used a thesaurus to look for synonyms for the vocabulary strategy.  The phonics skill covered words with er, ir, or, and ur.  The class worked on verb tense (present, past, and future) in grammar.

Included in the take home folder are the lesson 14 weekly assessment results.  These are yours to keep.

Next week we will not be moving ahead in the reading series.  I hope to use the two days to get a few things finihsed up.

ADVENT ANGELS

Students have been meeting with their Advent Angels during the month of December.  During this time angels have written letters to alumni, played a memory game matching important facts of Advent, and listened to the O Antiphons.  In the classroom students made ornaments for a Jesse tree that was displayed in the gym,  On December 22nd, students will be bringing a sack lunch (milk provided by the school) from home to eat with their Advent Angel.  Afterwards caroling in the gym will take place.

CHRISTMAS CARDS

Students in third grade made Christmas cards for Safyre Terry, a girl from New York, who was badly burned in a house fire. Her father and siblings died in the fire. She now lives with her aunt.  Her aunt put a post on social media asking for cards to fill a tree holder.  Safyre has received more than 300,000 letters since her aunt made the request.  We discussed how Christmas is the time to think about others. The students really took interest in making their card and concern for this child.  Here are some pictures of students making their cards.

Parker and Taylor

Spencer and Jersey

Omar and Mila

IMPORTANT DATES

Tuesday, December 22-Bring Sack Lunch
Wednesday, December 23-Sunday, January 3-Christmas Vacation (NO SCHOOL)
January 4-Classes Resume
Wednesday, January 6-1 Hour Early Dismissal