Week of April 30th, 2016 - 17

A Few Reminders For the Week

Drop Everything and Read Again!  Our ES assembly on May 2nd is a second DEAR assembly. Hurray! Start off the last stretch of school by reading all together on the ES lawn from 7:55. Bring a book from home or pick out one from the baskets that your teachers and the library staff will bring down. Parents are welcome to read too. It's a great way to start a morning!

Swim Bags and Library Bags - Never the 'twain shall meet!
Now that swimming has started, please keep swim bags far away from library bags so that books do not get wet. Wet books are dangerous in the library because they can get mold on them, and mold is very contagious. It will pass on to any books that are nearby. Any wet or damp book will need to be replaced or paid for, and it will be discarded from the library collection.

On Demand Writing Starting This Week.
April 30th - Informational
May 3rd - Persuasive
May 8th - Narrative

MAP Testing Starts Next Week
Wednesday, May 10th - Practice Test
Thursday, May 11th - Language
Sunday, May 14th - Math
Tuesday, May 16th - Reading

READING

This week as students learn more about biographies in our newly-launched unit.  Students will compare biographies to fictional stories. They will also start to understand how the time and place in which a person lives impacts a person’s life. As they read they will ask themselves, “How is the time period of this book similar or different to the society I live in now? What does that mean for the subject?” Readers of biographies pay attention to the time and place the biography takes place, in order to gain an understanding of how that time period affects the subject of the biography.  Students will learn to connect what has happened earlier in the subject’s life (the subject’s childhood) and how it influences the decisions they make later on in adulthood.

WRITING

This week in writing, Third grade students will have the opportunity to show all they have learned when writing about Informational (Sunday) and Persuasive (Wednesday) genres. Our students will start their On Demand Writing assessments this week.

Also this week in Writer’s Workshop, students will learn different ways to revise their Fairy Tale writing. As students start to revise their work they will look at the role of magic in their story, to ensure that the magic is strategically placed in the story where it is needed when trouble occurs. In fairy tales, a little magic often helps the main character resolve a difficult situation. 

Our Writing Celebration is planned for May 15 at 8:05. We hope you can make to listen to the creative stories our students have written. 

MATH

Third grade mathematicians will continue their study of geometry and measurement. They will start the week with a lesson focusing on measuring side lengths of a shape to determine the perimeter, building on their understanding of perimeter as the outline or boundary of a shape.

As they move through the week’s lessons, students will measure side lengths of a shapes and write addition equations to calculate the perimeter of various polygons. From this, students will use their knowledge of the attributes of polygons to determine the perimeter of regular polygons and rectangles  when some measurements are unknown. For example, students will calculate the total perimeter of a rectangle when provided with 2 perpendicular side lengths, understanding that the opposite side lengths are equal to the ones provided. 

Finally, our mathematicians will finish the week solving word problems that require them to solve for perimeter. Students will be expected to use the Read, Draw, Write method to show a complete explanation of their thinking in solving the problem.

SCIENCE
This week in Science we continue to investigate words; Habitat, Ecosystem, Biodiversity, Community through the short video clip below.
http://video.nhptv.org/video/1491147728/
We discuss what all organisms need to survive; Food, Water and Shelter. We will play a short game that highlights the importance of each aspect called 'Oh Deer'. This illustrates the importance of each for the survival of all life.

Later this week we will introduce the group project to the students.

We will show students a small habitat in the school that they will be able to observe over the coming weeks.

With this habitat in mind, students will be generating their own specific questions relating to our essential questions below.

Students will use their existing knowledge from past science units, to plan how they are going to collect data

Teachers should guide students in their simple planning to make sure the items in the list below are included as well as sharing graphic organizers for collecting the data.

What do we need to investigate and how do we collect evidence?

• tally marks to count of animal arrivals and departures
• pictures of the habitat
• running commentary of which plants attract which animals and the most animals
• video the interactions
• identify the plants and animals by name and classify them?
• food sources?
• shelter?
• the habitats food web? label producers, consumers
• seed dispersal?

Habitat Essential questions;
How do plants and animals interact with and within their environment?
How are living and non-living things interdependent?