THIRD Grade

Hello Third Grade Parents! I am so excited you are here! Please use this site as a resource to know what topics your child will be learning about throughout the year. Guidance is a special for 30 minutes every other week. We cover many topics throughout the year however, the topics always fall within academic, social/emotional, or career education. Your child would love to have conversations with you about many of these topics. To make this easier, I will always try to provide "extension questions" for each lesson to help facilitate meaningful conversations at home.

Our School Counseling program is both preventative and responsive. If you need to consult with me about any concerns you may have surrounding your child's school or home life, please feel free to contact me via email Tana.Amodeo@lcps.org.

September

In the first lesson of the year we learned about the role of a school counselor. We had fun playing a "popcorn matching game" to review about the what a school counselor does.

Conversation Starters:

How does a School Counselor help students?
What are some reasons you may see a School Counselor?
How can you ask for help from your school counselor?

Handout: Who is the Mrs. Amodeo/Parent Letter

In the second lesson, we watched "Biscotti Karate" and learned about "Whole Body Listening". We also reviewed the importance to being a ready, respectful, and responsible Puma.

Conversation Starters:

What is whole body listening?
How do you use your ears, eyes, mouth, heart, brain, hands, and feet when you listen?
How does it make you feel when someone is not listening to you?

OCTOBER

During Bullying Prevention Month, third grade students learned the difference between conflict and bullying. They also learned about the 4 types of bullying (verbal, physical, emotional, and cyber). We discussed different scenarios to identify whether or not it was conflict or bullying, as well as to identify the 4 types of bullying.

Conversation Starters:

What is a conflict? How can you solve conflicts on your own?
What is bullying?
What are the 4 types of bullying and examples of each?
What is Stop, Walk, Talk, and how do you use it?

In our 2nd Bullying Prevention Month, we watched the "NED" Upstander Video and learned 4 ways to intervene when students see bullying (interrupt, be a buddy, speak out, and tell someone). We discussed different scenarios and practiced how to be an upstander across the 4 types of bullying. We also reviewed Stop-Walk-Talk.

Conversation Starters:

What does it mean to be an upstander?
Why do you think students don't choose to stand up to bullying?
What are 4 ways you can be an upstander?
Which upstander strategy are you most comfortable using?

Handout: Upstander Worksheet

NOVEMBER

During November, we introduced the topic of "Growth Mindset". Students learned and discussed how to respond when the work "gets tough". We learned how to "grow our brains like a muscle". We also read "The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes" by Mark Pett & Gary Rubinstein and learned how mistakes can help us with our learning!

Conversation Starters:

What can you do when something is difficult?
Are mistakes good or bad? How do mistakes help us?
How can you show kindness to a friend or family member when they make a mistake?

During November, we also explored what it means to have an "Attitude of Gratitude". Saying thank you is a gift that gives twice! It makes the other person happy, which then makes us happy. We practiced having an attitude of gratitude during circle time.

Conversation Starters:

Tell me about a time that someone told you thank you. How did that make you feel?
Who are you thankful for? When can you tell them?
What are you grateful for?

DECEMBER

In December, we celebrated diversity by talking about differences. We identified differences within our classroom and talked about how we are all unique and special! We also discussed how differences are a good thing, it makes the world an interesting place and we can all learn from one another. We read Red: A Crayon's Story , a story about embracing who we are, both inside and out! We took turns discussing the story through a Restorative Circle.

Conversation Starters:

Why are differences a "good thing"?
What makes you unique and special?
How can you show kindness to others who are different than you?

In December, we also talked about inferring feelings. We talked about 3 ways to tell how someone else is feeling: Facial expressions, body language, and words. We discussed the importance of being able to identify feelings in friends, classmates, and family members and how to respond accordingly.

Conversation Starters:

How do you know when someone is feeling ____________ ? (insert feeling word)
How would you respond if someone was feeling ____________?
Why is it important to know how others are feeling?

JANUARY

We started the new year by playing "Jeopardy" and reviewing two prior lessons: (1) The Role of the School Counselor and (2) How to stop bullying.

Conversation Starters:

What are some reasons a student may talk to the school counselor?
If you need to talk to Mrs. Amodeo, what should you do?
What is bullying?
What should you do if you think you are being bullied?
How can you be an "upstander" if you think someone else is being bullied?

During January, we also learned about teamwork, identifying the benefits and challenges when working with a team or group. As a class, we identified qualities that make a great teammate. Through a restorative circle activity, we practiced saying encouraging words to teammates and learned the importance of focusing on the strengths that each teammate brings to the table.

Describe a teammate you would want to work with and be around.
What makes teamwork difficult?
What can happen with we focus on what we don't like in our teammates?
What can happen when we focus on what we do like in our teammates? Should you tell them?

FEBRUARY

In February, we geared up for "Random Acts of Kindness (RAK) week. Students celebrated with a Spirit Week and were invited to participate in a 28-Day Kindness Challenge. After reading "Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler", each third grade class completed an act of kindness by creating a "Kindness ABC's" book for one of our Kindergarten classes (one idea for an act of kindness for each letter of the alphabet!)

Conversation Starters:

What is one act of kindness you saw today?
How does it feel when someone shows you kindness?
How does it feel when you are kind to others?
Is kindness an important part of your school community? Why or why not?

In February, we also learned about empathy, or "seeing through someone else's eyes". We learned that to show empathy, we must have a listening ear, open-mind, and caring heart. Empathy is not giving advice, focusing on ourselves, or feeling sorry for someone. It is about listening, being there for someone else and trying to understand the situation from their point of view. We reviewed and practiced empathetic vs. non-empathetic statements.

Conversation Starters:

What is the difference between sympathy and empathy?
Why may it not be a good idea to tell someone "things will get better?".
How can you show someone empathy with your words? With your actions?

MARCH-APRIL

THIRD GRADE CAREER UNIT

This spring has been all about careers in guidance! In our first lesson, we learned all about how our passions, skills, and goals play a role in choosing our career. We then spent the next month learning all about the 16 different career clusters and how careers can be grouped together based on similar work environments, tools, and interests. We also celebrated Career Day on April 5th by learning about career choices from 4 different community members in our classroom.

Conversation Starters:

What do you need to know about yourself when choosing a career?
Tell me about one career that visited your classroom on career day. Tell me about their passions/skills/goals. What environment do you think they work in? What tools may they use in their career?
Tell me about a career you may be interested in. What career cluster do you think it belongs to?

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