Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year!
We are extremely excited to get to work with all our Third Graders, and their families, to help make them the very best they can be. Below, you will find the subjects we will learn about this year. As each subject's matter changes, the postings below will change as well! Coming here often is a great way to keep up on current curriculum at Wheeler!
Math
This week, we will continue working on Chapter 1: Multiplication and Division. In this chapter, we have learned strategies to help us multiply and divide with 2's, 5's, 9's and 10's. Students are learning a variety of strategies including arrays, repeated addition, drawing pictures, number lines, and patterns found in numbers like 5, 9 and 10's. These strategies will be used all year long to solve multiplication and division equations.
Important vocabulary for this chapter has been: multiplication, division, factor, product, array, equal groups, dividend, divisor, quotient, commutative property of multiplication, zero property of multiplication and the identity property of multiplication, distributive property, associative property, area, fast array, square numbers, length, width, array problem, equal groups problem, area problem, expression, evaluate and multiples.
Homework for the next two weeks:
Wednesday, September 7th: No Homework
Thursday, September 8th: No Homework
Friday, September 9th: Homework 1 - 10
Monday, September 12th: Homework 1 - 11
Tuesday, September 13th: 3-2 Homework 1 - 12
Wednesday, September 14th: No Homework
Thursday, September 15th: Homework 1 - 14
Friday, September 16th: No Homework
Homework is always due the next school day unless notice of a due date change is given. Students should have the assignment written in their planners. If needed, homework sheets can be printed from the "Math and Math Homework Pages" tab in the menu above. Simply match the lesson number to the homework number. For example, if we do lesson 1.4 that day (which stands for Chapter 1, Lesson 4) at school, the kids will have homework 1.4 that evening. They will be able to tell you which of the three groups they were in.
Reading
Third grade students make tremendous growth in reading during this particular school year! They move from concrete "right there" questions and answers to inferential "reading between the lines" questions and answers. This is done through much modeling and explicit instruction during whole group, guided groups, and one-on-one sessions. Students will be given explicit strategies to know when to stop and notice what is happening in both fiction and non-fiction texts and ask WHY, closely read texts to figure out what they know and need to figure out in order to understand better, and learn how to find evidence in texts to support their answers. This is taught in a step-by-step process so that by the time the Nebraska State Test (NSCAS) comes up in April, students are prepared and confident in their test-taking skills and overall reading capabilities.
Homework:
Students should read daily! The more children read, the better readers they become and I appreciate your support in helping your child learn and grow!
Reading for September:
Genre: Fantasy
Skill: Character traits and Inferencing
Science
This week in science, we will continue working on discovering the science behind the floating train. In this unit, we have been tasked with writing a scientific explanation of how an elevated train works to give to the people of Farraday, an imaginary town that is looking at buying one of these trains. As we explore this phenomena, we will learn about the forces that push and pull and the engineering that uses them. This week, our focus will be learning how to write detailed explanations that use the vocabulary and key concepts we have been studying to explain the science behind the floating train.
Important vocabulary for us will be: force, push, pull, contact, non-contact, magnetism, balanced force, unbalanced force, attract, repel, exert, and gravity.
Writing
In our first major project in writing, we will research an animal and write the rough drafts of our four body paragraphs and our introduction and conclusions. Once these paragraphs are written, we will edit and revise each piece using our 6 trait rubrics and begin our final drafts. During the week, we will have mini lessons on transition words, commas in a series, adjectives, conjunctions and possessive nouns. Once we have written a piece together and taken it through the writing process, students will be picking an animal of their own and taking it through the process on their own.
This week we will be completing editing and revising our rough drafts and writing our final drafts. We will then use the grading rubric to score our own work and make any corrections before turning in our finished product.
Social Studies
This year we have a new Social Studies curriculum called TCI. It looks amazing. Some of the units we will be studying are geography, history, economics, Omaha- past and present, and civics- forms/functions of our government.
Spelling & Grammar
During any week of school with 5 days, our spelling schedule is as follows:
Monday: All kids take a 15 word pretest over a pattern. Any words missed will go onto their 10 word personal spelling list for the week. If they miss less than 10 words on their pretest, kids will be able to finish the list with challenge words that follow the same pattern as originally tested.
Tuesday: All students work with the weekly pattern and apply the pattern to their personal words with different activities. Students will have some study/buddy time to practice their lists with a partner.
Wednesday: All kids take a practice test over their list. Anyone earning a 100% will be participating in spelling/language stations for the rest of the week.
Thursday: Students not earning a 100% on Wednesday will continue working on their lists with a study buddy or in a small group.
Friday: Final tests are given to all kids not earning a 100% on Wednesday.
Homework:
Each week we will have a spelling pattern or rule that we will learn to not only help us in our spelling but also our reading and writing. While it's wonderful when students learn their weekly lists, the ultimate goal is for them to carry over those new learnings to their daily writing! Please help your child review the patterns we talk about in school as they study their lists. Lists will come home on Mondays, and the test is on Fridays.
Spelling Pattern for September 12:
Short Vowels e, o and u
Grammar Skill this Week
Complete and Incomplete sentences
