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Third Grade Newsletter

To find out what your student has been learning this week, ask them about...

• Properties of Multiplication 

  • Zero Property, Ex: 0 x 7 = 0

  • Identity Property, Ex: 1 x 7 = 7

  • Commutative Property, Ex: 6 x 7 = 7 x 6

  • Associative Property, Ex. (2 x 5) x 8 = 2 x (5 x 8)

  • Distributive Property (Break Apart Strategy), Ex 8 x 9 = (8 x 5) + (8 x 4)

• Shark Attack (ask about Rodney Fox and Ron and Valerie Taylor)

• Conversation starter: Who is more dangerous, sharks or humans? 

• Central Message Paragraphs

• Including evidence from the text in our writing

• New syllable type: Vowel Consonant E exception (v-e), Ex: ive in the word live, ask your child how to mark it!

• Habitats

• Bird behavior

• Designing a bird that can survive in a particular environment 

Math Flashcards - Multiplication

Your child brought home a set of multiplication flashcards in their Friday Folder.  Please have them cut these out, and practice facts for 5-10 minutes each night for homework.  Keep the flashcards at home.  We've noticed that the kids who do this work memorize the facts much more quickly and they are able to show their knowledge in class.  Our goal is for all third graders to have multiplication facts memorized this year (but the sooner, the better)

Snacks

Windy's class is just about out of classroom snacks.  If you are able to donate, we'd appreciate your help!

Tissue Boxes!

Thank you so much for the tissue donations!  We should be good on tissues for a while.  

New DonorsChoose Project

If you're able to post on socials, we'd appreciate your help spreading the word!  Here's the link:

Making Hard Work Enjoyable: Empowering Tools for Success

A Note From our School Social Worker:

My name is Kate Lefco and I am Peninsula's school social worker.  I can help assist families in connecting to resources, such as clothing assistance, food boxes, mental health services, and other services.  While we don't currently have rental assistance we can refer directly to support if families have an eviction notice.  You can reach me via phone or text at 971 276 1759 or email klefco@pps.net.  I work part time and I'm in the school Mon-Thurs.  In addition to supporting families, I provide individual and small group social emotional support to students and outreach and support regarding attendance.  You can see a list of past resources shared here. 

All About Birds Website:

Students have asked for us to put up a link to the All About Birds website that we will explore during our Schoolyard Birds unit.  Feel free to check it out and learn all about North American birds!

All About Birds Website  

Project FeederWatch has begun!

This year third grade will be participating in Project FeederWatch. This is an opportunity for students to participate in Citizen Science! Students will observe, identify, and count the species of birds that visit our courtyard during the months of November through April. 

Interested in learning more about Project FeederWatch?  Check out this link: Project FeederWatch 

Scholastic Book Orders

If you order through our class page, orders can be placed anytime.  Scholastic sends us an email and we can submit the same day.  Books usually arrive about a week after we submit the order.  Each order adds "points" to our class points total which can be used to purchase new books and keep our classroom library filled with the latest books. 

Mandy's Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/PK2W3

Windy's Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/HF27Y

Parent Teacher Conferences

See Windy's & Mandy's Parent Teacher Conference Schedules below.  If your scheduled time needs to be changed, please email or text.  

Please note, students are an important part of the conference and should attend so they can guide us through their work and their goals for this year.  

Calendar of Events

Monday, November 10: Literacy Night 5:00-7:00

Tuesday, November 11: No School, Veteran's Day

Friday, November 14: Not Cracker Performance Assembly

Monday, November 24: Student led Parent Teacher Conferences (students need to attend)

Tuesday, November 25: Student led Parent Teacher Conferences (students need to attend)

November 26 - 28: No School, Thanksgiving Break

December 2: Curriculum planning day - Guest teachers in both classes

December 22 - January 2: No School, Winter Break

3rd Grade Photo Album

Mandy's Class

On Monday we had fun making Fish Loops as a fun addition to our literacy unit. Ask your child how to make them!

We worked really hard on our paragraph writing skills this week using Shark Attack, our newest text!

Commutative Property in action!

This week we learned about physical and behavioral adaptations in birds.  Then we created a habitat that would be challenging for a bird to survive in. Up next: create a bird that could live in one of these habitats! 

Windy's Class

Birdwatching with our new binocular & bird guides 

(Thank you DonorsChoose!)

Shark Attack Writing

Design a Bird Challenge

Don't see any pictures of your student here?  If you would like to see occasional pictures of your student in the 3rd Grade Photo Album, take this quick survey and let us know!