September

HISTORY: Our studies will include the Early Americans' progression into North America, becoming familiar with the some Native American cultures and looking in detail at specific tribes. 

SCIENCE: Our first science unit focuses on the scientific concept that forces change motion. Students explore concepts that include:

• the qualitative size and direction of forces and motion;

• an object on Earth has forces acting on it even when the object is at rest;

• any change in the speed or direction of motion is the result of a change in the forces acting on that object;

• motion can be predicted based on regular patterns and with knowledge of forces; and

• magnetism is a force that can be applied to solve problems.

The emphasis will be on the enjoyment of poetry and stories and the appreciation of the beauty of language. Specifically we will be listening to Native American legends and reading  the poems "Catch a Little Rhyme" and "Trees".

Late Work

Student will stay in for morning recess to start or complete missing work. After this, students will have one week to turn in the missing assignment before it becomes a zero in the gradebook.  

Once it becomes a zero, the student will need to stay in at recess to finish the work, but will receive no points.  Homework is assigned so that skills are practiced and reinforced, so it is necessary that students complete ALL assigned work.

Redos

If a student does not complete an assignment according to teacher directions, they may be asked to redo the assignment.

We are anxious to hear how well the students remember the jingles from last year. Third grade covers sentence patterns 1, and 2. We begin the year reviewing information taught during first and second grades. 

We will be practicing our handwriting this year.  I’m sure that all of the children are excited to learn how to write in cursive.  Please note that all children will be asked to use proper formation of all the letters.  We will also be paying close attention to the four keys to legibility—size, shape, slant, and space.  Attached to this newsletter is a guide for parents that shows the proper formation of both lower and upper case letters.  In order facilitate the transition to fourth grade next year, we will slowly phase in homework and assignments to be completed in cursive.