I think I need to buy new running shoes to keep up with everything including Father Time. I cannot believe it's almost Thanksgiving! I am thankful for my children and for you! I appreciate all your support at home with homework and all the many extra things that we do at school.
We are winding down on a few topics and lessons this week. In Math, we will have or Math test on Friday. We have a couple more lessons on circumference, diameter, perimeter, and area. We will practice all the skills of the unit in class and hopefully all will be prepared on Friday for the test.
We will also have a Wordly Wise Test Thursday on Lesson 5. The children have been reading a story about the creation of the basketball game. You may want to ask them about how the weather in New England helped to create the game of basketball. (a good cause and effect example)
Our Spelling words this week are all contractions. The words as follows: doesn't, isn't, didn't, it's, wasn't, aren't hasn't, haven't hadn't, I've, there's, they're couldn't, here's, that's, let's, who's, you're, I'll, I'm. Last night the children had to put the words in abc order and then write them in cursive. They need to be thinking of detailed sentences that they can write on Friday when they have the test.
YEA! We have begun our study of the Native Americans indigenous to Florida. You will want to ask your child how the Calusa learned to catch their fish. You will also be interested in learning that they lived in a Chickee. Ask your child just what that is and you will learn just how smart the Calusa were. During our study, the children will keep a map of where each group lived and we will also make comparisons on not only where each group lived, but what they ate, shelter, and their belief structure.
We will complete our unit of study of Poetry this week. Today we learned about Diamante. This is a type of poetry and begins with a topic and then through the use of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, the poem ends with a topic that is the exact opposite of the one at the beginning. We used the characters in Charlotte's Web to guide our thinking and writing. We will continue with Haiku and end with Free Verse. Once we have completed all our poems, each child will have a booklet of samples that they have written and illustrated. I know this will be a treasure that you will want to keep as a memento of third grade.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, please check over your child's supplies. They may need a couple of newly sharpened pencils or loose leaf paper. I would like each child to return after the break with two pads of 3 by 3 super sticky post-it notes. ( yellow, beige, or green) This will help with our post-it work in reading workshop.
We are currently reading 7*9= Trouble. The main character is having a hard time learning and remembering his multiplication tables. I am hopeful that each child will begin studying their multiplication tables. I did send home a letter tonight reminding everyone to begin to study and encouraging everyone to make some flash cards that they can use for practice.
The children have successfully completed their study of simple machines using lego robotics. I will be sending out an email this week that will have the pictures of each group highlighting one of their projects. The children learned a lot by doing this project. Perhaps the most important thing was how necessary it is to work together if one is to have a finished product.
The children will enjoy an edible Thanksgiving treat on Friday after lunch. Third grade will have a dessert treat including traditional Thanksgiving pies. What fun!
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