Week of September 10th, 2017-18

Reminders for the Week
Map testing starts this week. 

September 12 - Language

September 14 - Reading

September 18  - Math

Picture Day
3C- September 13th
3D- September 14th
3H- September 14th
3W - September 11th

Principal's Coffee

September 11 @ 8:00 - 9:00AM

Elementary Hall

Agenda

• Welcome and beginning of year feedback
• Elementary PTO liaison 
• Challenge and Enrichment Specialist

"Come and meet Selena Gallagher, our new Challenge and Enrichment Specialist. Selena will share some information about our philosophy and approach to meeting the needs of our highly able learners, share some advice for parents about nurturing children's talents at home, and answer any questions you may have." 

Mark your calendars:

• Christy Curran reading writing workshop for parents, October 11
• Kg - Grade 2 reading and handwriting workshop, October 30 (repeated session from 16/17)

READING

This week, readers in Grade 3 will continue to work towards building a great reading life. They will review skills and strategies learned so far and will add on new tools that help strengthen comprehension. They will draw upon specific details from their independent reading stories to make higher-level predictions. They will predict not only the main events likely to happen later in the story, but also include details about how some of these events might happen. They will also learn that expert readers often retell books they are reading as a way to lay out the story for themselves and to get a better understanding of the characters and sequence of events, so they can easily read on and see how a new part fits with what has already happened. Ultimately, they will reflect and decide how to raise the level of their reading and recruit partners to support them along the process. 

WRITING
After writing their Discovery Drafts they will start to revise their stories and learn that revision is not about fixing errors but developing writing to make your story just the way they want it.They will draw on strategies they already know, to change and improve their story. A new strategy students will learn is paragraphing. They will learn that paragraphs are a signal to the reader that something in the story has changed. They will focus on making new paragraphs when a new person is speaking or when time in the story has moved forward. 

MATH

This week, our mathematicians will continue building their understanding of the relationship between multiplication and division working with units of 2, 3, and 4. Students will be interpreting quotients as the number of groups or number of objects in a group using pictorial models, including arrays, number bonds, and tape diagrams. They will also be revisiting the commutative property using both arrays and tape diagrams to illustrate equality. For example, students might initially draw a 2 × 4 array (2 rows of 4) and then a 4 × 2 array (4 rows of 2). From these models, they see 2 bars of equal length; one with 4 equal parts and the other with 2 equal parts. Now, they have diagrams that show (2 × 4) = (4 × 2). 

During the week, practice of multiplication and division will be dedicated to modeling the relationship between operations using facts of 4 in different real-world word problems. By the end of the week, mathematicians will examine the distributive property in greater depth by being introduced to the 5 + ? pattern as a strategy for finding unknown facts involving 4. For example, students know that 4 × 5 is 20, so 4 × 6 is the same as 20 + 4 more, which totals 24.

SCIENCE

This week Third Grade Soil Scientists will learn about soil structure (combination of sand, silt, clay, potting soil and gravel) and particle size. Both soil structure and particle size affect soil’s ability to hold and drain water. Our second experiment this week includes testing soil for minerals/nutrients and PH levels in the different soils. Science groups will use this information to revise their ideas about what makes good soil to create a fourth pot by putting together a new mix of soil ingredients.

Guidance News: Digital Safety 

This week students in grades 3-5 will begin a unit on Digital Safety.  They will learn about the digital world and how to operate within it safely and responsibly. The lessons and activities in this unit are designed to help students:

• understand the digital world is global in nature and everything done online leaves a trail;
• learn the skills to protect the privacy for self and others;
• learn how to seek help if confusing or inappropriate material is seen online;
• be sensitive to the needs and feelings of others online;
• learn how to handle inappropriate and/or hurtful messages received online.

Students will learn the 3 rules for Digital Safety. We will begin with an introduction to the digital world and the importance for protecting Y.A.P.P.Y while in this “world”.

Y - Your Name

A - Address

P - Passwords

P - Phone Number

Y - Your Plans

More information will be shared in the coming weeks! 

From the Peace Day Committee

Dear Parents,

The ES Peace Committee is planning a bake sale after school on Sunday, September 17th. Our theme this year is “Together for Peace: Respect, Safety and Dignity for All.” We are trying to build peace through meaningful actions such as raising money for the National Cancer Institute. If you are willing to participate in this Peace Bake Sale, please let your son/daughter bring their baked goodies in the morning to the ES Office on Sunday, September 17th.  If you wish to help in the sale, this would be greatly appreciated. You can contact Basma Salem bsalem@cacegypt.org  to volunteer for the sale after school by the lawn area.

We are encouraging our students to eat healthy snacks so we expect goodies to follow the same criteria. (muffins, banana cakes or bread, cup-cakes or brownies without extra chocolate and sugar icing are the best choices). Items will be sold for 15 L.E. each.

Your contribution always makes a difference.

Thanks,

The Peace Committee - PIPS (Partners in Peace)