Dear
Families of Room 23,
Thank
you for a wonderful Teacher Appreciation Week. I feel so loved and honored! The
coffee, delicious lunches, amazing baked goods, and beautiful flowers were all
such a special treat. I’m also grateful for the thoughtful cards and notes that
you and your children wrote to me. I’m so lucky to work with your students
every day, along with each of you, in such a supportive community. Thank you!
Also,
another big thank you to those of you who drove on our field trip to the Mill
Valley Library last Friday. The visit to the history room was the perfect way
to start our Mill Valley study. We couldn’t have had this wonderful experience
without you!
Please
look for a “Mid-Year Assessment” for math in your child’s green folder today.
We reviewed and corrected these in class this morning. Please take some time to
discuss areas for learning and growth as well as to celebrate your child’s
successes. After review, please sign at the top and have your third grader return
it to me by Friday.
Please
let me know if you have any questions.
Regards,
Teresa
Shern
Reading: Our reading focus is
currently around high interest non-fiction through a routine we call “Article a
Day”. Students are assigned a text set of short non-fiction articles to read
and respond to, practicing finding main ideas and writing about key points of
learning. Text sets are integrated with what we’re learning in social studies
and science, such as: “U.S. Government”, “Relationships Between Living Things”,
“Natural Wonders Around the World”, and “Australia”. This week we will read “All
About Bees”, connecting to our science unit (see below).
Writing: We began our Opinion
Writing unit today. Our first topic was “Waffles vs. Pancakes.” We will practice a new topic daily and then formalize
this type of writing with students choosing their own topic to write about. We
will focus on how to clearly state an opinion and give supporting facts. We
will continue to practice the basic structure of a well-written paragraph as
well as reading for spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Social Studies: We have been busy with our
Geography Unit. Students made Geography pamphlets and filled them in with
useful information. The unit concluded with an “open pamphlet” Geography test
which we will review in class. This project will be on display at Open House.
We are also beginning our Mill Valley History Unit, going back in time to 1579
when Sir Francis Drake claimed “New Albion” (including the San Francisco Bay
Area) for England.
Math: Students need to continue
to memorize their multiplication tables so that multiplication facts become
automatic. We have begun our study of fractions using the Marilyn Burns
fraction kit. We will begin Unit 6 in Everyday Math tomorrow which focuses on:
subtracting multidigit numbers, multiplication fact strategies, the
relationship between multiplication and division, and solving multistep problems
(including grouping symbols and the order of operations).
Science:
We began our study of plants last week. Our first investigation is titled
“Power of
Flowers”. We investigated what flowers do for the plant and how they work and
solved the mystery, “Why do plants grow flowers?” (It’s to attract
pollinators!) Next we will learn why plants produce fruit and then delve into
the concept of variation within plants and fruit. This ties into our previous unit
regarding “Traits and Inheritance”.
