Third Grade News
October Activities
by Deb Nickolite
October 20, 2008
October Activities
October in the Third Grade classroom has been filled with as many changes as the weather. Many of you have seen the ECRI notebook for Reading coming home more this month. Some of the class is finding out that they need to work a little faster and more diligently during Practice Time in order to stay caught up. Please remember that all students must Mastery Test by Thursday-unless I tell them differently. If they are not able to do so, they will stay on Thursday until they test. This motivation has helped most stay focused and caught up. One area that you can help me out with is to ask your child if they have their vocabulary sentences done for the list they are testing on. This is something new for them this year and it is an assignment that is often forgotten.
Math class has focused mainly on money and story problems. We have learned a couple of methods for sorting out the information and solving for the answer. Being able to “weed out” the unnecessary information in story problems is a big step in understanding and solving the problem. Whenever your child gets the chance to count back change to you, please encourage them to do so. Several students are having a rough time counting back the correct change. They are all pretty good at counting money, but the change is a stumper. We will continue working on this. Our next unit of study deals with standard and metric forms of measurement.
We have been working on natural resources, man-made products, and renewable and nonrenewable resources in Social Studies and Science. It has been extremely nice to be able to combine all of these subjects and use both class periods. This has enabled us to spend more time doing activities that cover multi-curricular standards. Famous inventors are next on the agenda.
Your child will be bringing home a fire escape plan that they made for your home. Our local fire department does a wonderful job on educating our children about the safety from fire. Please take the time to go over this plan with your child.. Make sure that they are comfortable with escaping from fire if the need would arise.
Parent Teacher conferences were held on Thursday, October 11, 2007. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it. If you were unable to be there and would like to conference yet, just let me know and we can set up a time.
Remember that the school policy regarding shorts is in effect starting November 1st. It looks like the weather may be changing before then anyway. Dress in layers for now-it is easier to shed a little clothing than to be to cold and uncomfortable.
Yes, Halloween costumes can be worn on Halloween day. If your child wants to wear them all day make sure the costume is comfortable enough to do so. Is there a parent out there that would like to provide a treat and game for the afternoon on the 31st?
Deb Nickolite
