Lower School Faculty - Nicole Cook

THIRD GRADE NEWS

Wednesday April 30, 2008 

Dates to Remember:

• 5/5      Cinco de Mayo Band 10:30
• 5/6      9:30 Field Trip to Diana Wortham Theatre for Huck and Tom
• 5/12-5/14 3:00-3:35     Student Led Conferences
• 5/29-5/20 3:00-3:35     Student Led Conferences
• 5/22        Lower School Field Day/Food Day 12:30-2:45
• 5/23        No School – Commencement
• 5/26        No School – Memorial Day
• 5/28        Lower School Commendations    

Student Led Conferences:   Please look for the attached sheet about Student-Led Conferences that will come home today in your Wednesday Packet.  It will give you an overview about this great opportunity for you to learn about the school year from your child. 

Language Arts / Social Studies:  As we continue to study Ancient Rome we learn about the geography of the Roman Empire, Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, the importance of building roads, bridges and aqueducts, as well as understanding the structure and use of the Colosseum. As we learn about these topics we will review non-fiction reading comprehension skills. We continue to stretch your child’s brain by asking them inferential questions about their reading.  In addition, we encourage you to continue helping your child practice their paragraph writing skills by using the writing process to complete their Thursday night reading responses. 

           Next week we will begin to read the book, The Finches Fabulous Furnace.  This will allow us the opportunity to review story elements of fictional writing.  As we read this fun story, we will concentrate on plot, conflict, setting, character and point of view.

Spelling:  This week’s pattern is –ture.  It makes the /cher/ sound at the end of a word.  There are many words that follow this pattern. See if you and your child can come up with some words that follow this rule. 

Read Aloud Story: Mrs. Ide’s class is finishing the book Detectives in Togas and Mrs. Cook’s class is now reading The Wish Giver by Bill Brittain. This is a fun story that provides wonderfully descriptive language.

Math: We continue to review fractions and will complete this unit next week.  Next we will expand upon our year long study of multiplication and division.  We will introduce multiplying and dividing with multiples of 10, 100, and 1,000 using multiplication stories. The children will be shown how to use mental math to multiply 1-digit numbers by multi-digit numbers.  Finally, they will be introduced to the partial-products algorithm that will show them how to multiply 1-digit numbers by multi-digit numbers.  Because we will be studying multiplication again, it would be a great time to continue your practice at home with the multiplication and division facts. Try to find some time to play those great multiplication games.

Music:  Well, the race for the final recorder ribbons is on! I will be testing Tuesday and Thursday mornings 7:55-8:15 am. The last morning to test is Tuesday, May 13th.  We will be presenting a recorder concert in the front court yard, Thursday May 15, 2pm. Come early for car pick up, enjoy the concert and celebrate the awarding of the recorder ribbons.  After hearing all the practice, it is delightful to hear the students play as a group. -Jane Corbin / Recorder Master

E.R.B Testing:  We finished our E.R.B. Writing Test, which completes all E.R.B. testing for the year.  The children have done a wonderful job taking the tests seriously and putting forth their best effort.  We appreciate your support in making sure they went to bed early and ate a good breakfast. 

Reminders and Comments:

• The end is rapidly approaching but we are continuing to work hard.  Please encourage your child to come to school ready to learn!
• This is a final reminder for those participating in the Caldecott Challenge: All fifteen reports are due to Mrs. Howell no later than Monday May 1.   
• This is a reminder for those participating in the One Hundred Mile Club:  All mile cards are due to Coach Southern by May 15^th.  Keep walking!

Happy Spring!