Dear Families,
READER’S WORKSHOP: The 3rd graders have learned a great deal this month about the reading comprehension strategies of sensory imagery and predicting. We started the month discussing the important reading comprehension strategy of sensory imagery. Children have used their imaginations to smell, taste, hear, feel, and see what an author or poet is explaining with words. Our students even compiled a book of their sensory imagery to several poems. It is exciting to see illustrations of the different imagery students have to the same poem. Be sure to read our class book when you come visit our classroom. A reader is like a sleuth looking for clues when making predictions. The clues in the text spark thinking about what might happen next in the story. As readers proceed in a story, they will learn if their prediction is or is not accurate. The children were read many wonderful books to practicing make predictions and were encouraged to utilize this strategy to remain interested in their independent reading books. The goal is to remain eager to turn the page to read what happens next. There is a fine line between making predictions and making inferences, which we will learn all about in December. We encourage families to incorporate and discuss these strategies when reading together at home. Using reading comprehension strategies will surely make the stories come more alive!
CURSIVE HANDWRITING: It is amazing to watch the 3rd graders grow and progress as they learn cursive handwriting. They are making the capital D’ Nealian letters with ease. By next week, the children will have learned all the capital letters that connect to other letters, which include: H, K, A, C, E, U, Y, N, M, Z, R, and J. Students then learned all the capital D’ Nealian letters that never connect, which include: I, O, D, L, B, P, T, F, S, G, Q, V, W, and X. The children have learned how to write all first, middle, and last names of students in the third grade. We wrote words and sentences that included capital letters as well as some sentences with alliteration. Soon the children will be encouraged to write using cursive across the curriculum. Be on the lookout in next week’s Friday Folder for a list of all D’ Nealian lower case and capital letters to help your child write in cursive at home.
WRITER’S WORKSHOP: This month, students have been learning what ingredients are needed to raise the quality of their narrative writing. Students are discovering new strategies to make their small moments more powerful by implementing turning points, strong emotions, focusing in on the big idea of their small moment, and creating strong leads and endings. Turning points highlight experiences in a writer’s life when there was a first time/last time they were challenged, or a first/last time they experienced an activity with a person, an animal, or a place, and a time when they realized something important. Students are finding that writers must be able to look back on what they have experienced in the past and share their life in words. Third graders learned new strategies to help organize their ideas. These strategies included creating time lines, building a story mountain, stretching the heart of their story out, and using dialogue. Our next step is to finish drafting our stories and learn how to use a checklist to self- edit and peer- edit our work. We look forward to sharing our third published story with you!
MATH: We started November by listening to a story about a pig family who found money all over throughout their house. Students used a tree map to calculate the total found in each room and then the grand total. The following day, students were given a menu to the same restaurant that the pig family went to- The Enchanted Enchilada. With a budget of $20, pairs of students were asked to carefully plan their meal (Some students chose to order all dessert!), and share their plans with the class. Through this activity, third graders showed various problem solving strategies by budgeting and practiced their addition and subtraction with regrouping skills all while having fun!Next, we introduced the algebra concept of looking at the equal sign as a symbol that represents balance. Students at a young age tend to see “=” as “the answer is”, but an answer doesn’t always follow “=”. By imagining two expressions being on a balance scale (expressions combine numbers and operation signs without an equal sign), students learned how to compare two sides to make the whole number sentence true. To extend the algebra concept, we briefly introduced variables, a missing number or operation sign, represent by a box in the equation. For example, in the equation 6+7 ▢ 5+8, the ▢ represents the equal sign. Students were then able to connect real life examples to written expressions of math and used algebra to solve word problems.
Marshall practicing how to "subtract across zeros" with a whiteboard
Before the Thanksgiving Break, we introduced the concept of rounding. Students learned how to round to the nearest ten, hundred, and thousand. This concept built on our students’ understanding of number sense as they needed to look closely at digits in numbers and their place value. We will end the month with an assessment for all the concepts and skills taught since the beginning of the year, and will be happy to share the results with you during conferences in a few weeks. In December, students will review their multiplication facts 0-9 as a preparation for 2 by 1 digit multiplication (ex. 24 x 4). Please continue to have your child practice their multiplication facts at home.
DWOK: November was a busy month for our third grade community architects. We continued to work with the USC graduate students in helping document our building process. Students learned how to work together in planning and structuring their community landmarks.
Nixie, Montserrat, & Anthony showcase the La Brea Tar Pits
When we were finished, third graders participated in a Gallery Walk, where each student evaluated their own work along with their classmates’ buildings.
Sofia, Spencer, PJ, and Willem building their own city
In addition, to support how their community landmarks connected to the real world, we were fortunate to have an Urban Planner, Mr. James Rojas, come in as a special guest. Mr. Rojas worked with students to see how architects in our community plan and build their vision using a wide range of materials. Students had a blast creating their ideal community!
In December, our 3rd grade community detectives will continue their journey through California. Students will be exploring the four main geographical regions (the Coast, Valley, Desert, and Mountain) by modeling clay maps, discovering the resources found in each region, and creating postcards from each destination.
THEATER ARTS: Our Guiding Question in Theater Arts for November and December is, “How can I create a script?” By working with a partner, each duo will write a script that includes the five W’s: who, what where when, and why, to help draft an original script with two fictional characters, setting, and conflict. Students will Cool Tools strategies in their scripts to resolve the conflict with the characters.
A short clip of Anthony and Jack sharing their choreographed moves in Dance:
