Week 7

Curriculum Night:

As Mr. Bayse shared in the recent parent newsletter, Curriculum Night will take place on Thursday, October 16th. Each grade level is trying a slightly different format this year. While the details may vary, the overall goal remains the same: to give you a clear and informative overview of your child’s school day, academic goals, and learning environment.

For third grade, we will hold a traditional, adults-only Curriculum Night. Parents and guardians are invited to join us in the classroom from 7:00–7:30 p.m. for a formal presentation. During this session, we will share key information about our curriculum, classroom expectations, and the developmental milestones of 8- and 9-year-olds.

Reminders:

Last call: Please send in a 1-inch, 3-ring binder for your child to use for organizing literacy papers and writing samples.

We’re still collecting photos for our “We Are Family” classroom display—if you haven’t yet, please send in a family snapshot.

This Wednesday is an Early Release Day; 12:15 p.m. dismissal

Fundations
We will continue with Unit 2 in Fundations. This week, students will work with 1-1-1 words. A 1-1-1 word has one closed syllable (a syllable ending with a consonant, like ship), one vowel, and one consonant after the vowel. Students will also learn an important new spelling rule about when to double the final consonant of a 1-1-1 base word. The rule is: the final consonant is doubled when adding a vowel suffix (ship + ing = shipping), but it is not doubled when adding a consonant suffix (ship + ment = shipment).

Literacy
In My Name is María Isabel by Alma Flor Ada, the main character’s teacher changes her name to “Mary” because another student in the class is also named Maria. After reading, students reflected on this situation and discussed how they would feel if their teacher changed their name. Together, we explored the importance of respecting and valuing names.

This week, students will write about the special significance of their own name. A conversation at home about your child’s name—its history, meaning, or why it was chosen—would be a wonderful way to support their writing.

Math
This week, students will work on recognizing unknown products and factors in multiplication equations. We will also explore how arrays (rows and columns) can be used to represent multiplication.

Science
Our young scientists are studying how animals survive in their habitats. We explored examples such as feathers (birds), camouflage (various animals), and large bell-shaped ears (foxes). Next week, we’ll continue our research by learning about blubber and opposable thumbs.

Social-Emotional Learning

We are beginning our Second Step lessons. The first unit focuses on being a respectful learner. Students are practicing skills such as staying focused, paying attention, and listening carefully. These strategies not only help with learning, but also show respect to others.

Mystery Reader
Thank you to Mrs. Burke (Maeve's mom) for being our first Mystery Reader last week.  Would you like to volunteer as our next Mystery Reader? Click HERE to sign up.

Repeat Announcements

Scholastic Book Ordering:

If you would like to order books through Scholastic Book Clubs, our online ordering code is DPC2T (purchasing online is required).  SHOP OUR CLASS PAGE. By building your home library with Scholastic, you will also be helping to build our classroom library. The more books students order, the more free books we get for our classroom library!

Library Reminder: 

Our book swap day in the Media Center is every Wednesday. Please help your child remember to return their library books.

Links for more information: 

Click HERE for home support materials for  Unit 2 of Fundations

Click HERE  for home support materials for Unit 1 of Fundations

Special Subject Schedule

Monday -- Art

Tuesday -- P.E. & Spanish

Wednesday -- Media

Thursday -- P.E.

Friday -- Music & Spanish

Important Dates

Wednesday, October 8th -- Early Release Day, 12:15 dismissal

Monday, October 13th -- No School, Indigenous Peoples Day

Thursday, October 16th -- Curriculum Night, 7:00-7:30PM (adults only)

Wednesday, October 22nd -- Early Release Day, 12:15 dismissal

Monday, November 10th-- No School, Professional Development Day

Tuesday, November 11th-- No School, Veterans' Day

Wednesday, November 19th-- Early Release Day, 12:15 dismissal

Wednesday, November 26-- Thanksgiving Break, no school

Monday, December 1st-- Class resumes

Wednesday, December 3rd-- Early Release Day, 12:15 dismissal

Created 9/2025

Jennifer_ramras@needham.k12.ma.us