Welcome to Unit 2: Furs, Feathers, and Fish!

Our 3rd graders are stepping into the shoes of young scientists to explore the incredible diversity of the animal kingdom!

Here is a glimpse of what your child will be discovering and learning over the coming weeks:

• Animal Classification: Students will learn how scientists categorize animals, exploring the differences between vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as between warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals.

• Spelling & Vocabulary: We’ll practice alphabetizing words by the second and third letters, work with suffixes (–ed, –ing, –es), and explore how prefixes (un–, non–, re–, pre–) change root-word meanings.

• Grammar Skills: Students will strengthen their writing by identifying nouns, verbs, adjectives, subject and object pronouns, and mastering sentence structure (learning to catch fragments and run-on sentences while building strong compound sentences).

How You Can Help at Home: Ask your child about the stories we’re reading in class! Encourage them to share their opinions about the characters' decisions and to point out interesting adjectives or nouns they encounter during shared reading time at home.

Test on Tuesday, October 20th-study guide went home on Wednesday, October 14th

We are excited to begin our next math unit: Multi-Digit Addition & Subtraction! Over the coming weeks, our 3rd graders will deepen their computational skills by confidently adding and subtracting larger numbers.

What We’re Learning:

• Fact Practice & Computation: Continuing to strengthen fluency with addition and subtraction.

• Rounding & Estimation: Learning how to round multi-digit numbers to quickly estimate sums and differences before solving.

• Strategies & Algorithms: Adding and subtracting 2- and 3-digit numbers using standard algorithms along with flexible mental math strategies.

How You Can Help at Home:

• Estimate in Daily Life: Ask your child to estimate totals while grocery shopping or comparing distances (e.g., "About how many miles/items is that if we round to the nearest ten?").

• Explain the Thinking: Encourage your child to talk through how they solved a problem—explaining their steps is a great way to reinforce their understanding!