It’s been quite the week in third grade! With winter-time celebrations on their minds, third graders had trouble containing their excitement (who can blame them?!). Luckily, students managed to complete their academic work as well.
This week in reader’s workshop, third graders targeted work with homophones. We have been working to determine the difference between homophones, and know when to use them accurately in our writing. Noteworthy homophones we’ve practiced are: there, they’re and their, it’s and its, your and you’re, to, too and two… and many more! We will continue to target these the remainder of the year! Writer’s workshop this week was all about typing final copies of our Cursive: Yes or No? essays. Third graders developed and formatted a five-paragraph essay, focusing on editing their writing and adding explanations. Their work will be featured on our third grade bulletin board out in the hallway, so check it out if you have a chance! Social Studies this week centered on touring the Southeast region of the United States. Third graders took a virtual tour of cities like New Orleans, Memphis and Montgomery. They learned about important events in history like the Civil Rights Movement with Martin Luther King Jr. and Hurricane Katrina. Third graders also learned about the Southeast’s influence on food and music. When we return from winter break, we will engage in a study of important events and people involved in our country’s Civil Rights Movement. In math, we dove into Unit 4 of Bridges, focusing on telling time and solving elapsed time problems. Time-telling (specifically on an analog clock) can be a tricky skill to master. Third graders practiced on paper, with hand-held analog clocks, and even participated in a time-telling scavenger hunt. Check out pictures from our hunt below! We will continue practicing this skill next week, working more on elapsed time problems down to the minute. This week, we also learned the science behind snowflakes! We watched a short video about how they form, and read about the life of Wilson Bentley (the man responsible for discovering that no two snowflakes are alike). We then made our own snowflakes! We plan to decorate the classroom with them for the winter. Business:
What a week in third grade! Not only did students earn themselves a ‘Classroom Comfy Day’, but third graders worked incredibly hard across all subjects. Check out the picture below of third graders relaxing! This week in reader’s workshop, our focus was on taking reading responses a step further. As part of our workshop, third graders have independent reading time each day, followed by time to respond to their reading in their reader’s notebooks. Third graders can craft responses in many forms. Some examples include: a letter to a character, story webs, or comic strips. Many third graders had become comfortable with one particular response type, or one specific genre of reading. This week, third graders were challenged to step beyond their comfort zones; to take on more of a challenge and really get their thoughts out onto the page. Most took the task in stride! We will continue working on stepping outside the familiar in the next couple of weeks, starting with book previews, where third graders will have the chance to preview books across a variety of genres/subject matter. Writer’s workshop this week was dedicated to a dying art… Cursive! Third graders took part in a debate regarding whether or not cursive should still be taught in school. Students read an article with information on both sides of the argument, and watched some local news clips on the subject as well. They then began crafting essays titled: Cursive: Should We, or Shouldn’t We? I’m sure many of you have a strong opinion on the subject… feel free to ask your third grader about theirs! In math, we wrapped up Unit 3 of Bridges: Multi-Digit Addition & Subtraction and took our post-assessment on Friday. Graded work will go home next week, when we will be starting Unit 4: Measurement and Fractions. That being said, I strongly encourage third graders to be practicing their multiplication math facts at home. Our goal is to be fluent in facts 1-10 by spring. I have bookmarked two websites students can use to practice. Simply head to the ‘Student Resources’ tab to find them. Other methods like flashcards and paper-pencil practice are encouraged as well! Business:
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Mrs. Minatta is a third grade teacher at Cottonwood Creek Elementary. See and read all about what third graders are up to throughout the school year! Archives
March 2021
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