Mrs. Kucharski’s 3rd Grade Class

Reading/Language Arts
            This week, we will finish up our second theme “What a team!” by reading Rosie, A Visiting Dog’s Story by Stephanie Calmenson. In this narrative nonfiction piece, Rosie, a Tibetan Terrier, makes visits to people in nursing homes and hospitals.
            As we read the story, students will be: learning new vocabulary, practicing decoding long words, working with compound words, classifying, categorizing and, studying word relationships. Writing complete sentences and putting those sentences into a good paragraph will continue to be the subject of our grammar lessons this week.
            This week, students will be working on words with /ou/.Please spend a few nights with them going over their words learning the proper spelling and usage.
 

Math
            This week students will be able to develop a sense of very large numbers; and to compute with large numbers.  We will also count base-10 blocks; identify polygons; and compare perimeters and areas. On Wednesday, we will begin to model decimals with base-10 blocks and review decimals with money. The rest of the week we will work on understanding tenths and hundredths and exchanging between tenths and hundredths.
 

Science
            Our study on soil continues this week. We begin with identifying common resources and recognizing the difference between renewable, reusable, and nonrenewable resources and understand that some resources are mined. The students will also compare different types of soil, identify the different materials in soil, and recognize the different layers that soil forms. Students will also learn about loam and identify why loam is beneficial for growing vegetables, grass, and overall farm land. Friday we will observe how pollution affects plants and identify how land is used and identify different types of pollution. Ask your child, “Who Dirtied the Water?”
 

Extra
Monday-Third graders to High School to practice for music concert in morning.
Tuesday-Third grade concert at 2:00 in afternoon and 7:00 at night.  Please have your child meet me at 6:40 in room 057 which is the band room. This is located at the far left end of the high school by the woods.
 

Only 2 days this week. Wednesday through Sunday is Thanksgiving Break.  Get plenty of rest and be safe if traveling.
Monday we will be writing holiday letters and concentrating on the heading, greeting, body and closing of a letter. We will also be continuing how to read large numbers in math class up to the millions. In science we will start our soil unit by learning about the 3 different layers in the soil.

Music Concert Practice - The students will be practicing this week at school in preparation for the Holiday Musical next Tuesday, December ^1st at 7:00 PM at the Highschool. A letter came home last week with all of the information.
Extras
Ginger Bread Project due by Wednesday, December 2nd. This is coming home today.
 

Reading/Language Arts
          This week our story is titled Little Grunt and the Big Egg by Tomie DePaola.  When caveboy Little Grunt finds an egg, it hatches into a baby dinosaur he names George. The Grunts let Little Grunt keep George, but he grows too large for the cave and must be exiled to the swamp. Then a volcano erupts, trapping the Grunts, and George is there to save the day.
          As we read the story, students will be:  learning new vocabulary, word relationships, self-questioning, multiple meaning words, making predictions, synonyms, and author’s purpose.  In spelling our pattern will be:  words with /oi/.  The grammar lesson this week will involve irregular plural nouns. We will also do Thanksgiving writing projects.
 

Math
            It is nearly impossible to “do” mathematics without having a basic understanding of our notational system for numbers. It is a remarkable system:  With just ten symbols-digits 0 though 9-it is possible to express any value, no matter how large or small.  Children who develop a good understanding of our numeration system will not only refine their sense of the size of the numbers represented by numerals, but will also develop their estimation and computation skills. Unit 5 has three main areas of focus:

• To extend previous lessons on the base-ten place-value system to whole numbers through millions and to decimals through thousands
  
• To apply these concepts to reading, writing, comparing, and ordering whole numbers and decimals.
  
• To use whole numbers and decimals in real-life contexts.
  

          We finish chapter 4 on Monday with a review guide that will be sent home. Tuesday will be our test on this chapter. On Wednesday, we will move on to chapter 5 with place value through ten thousands. We will continue practicing this and move on to millions by the end of the week.
 

Science
            We continue to work on rocks and minerals. Our unit will end this week and the class will have their test on Friday.  Look for their notes packet and review guide to come home this week to study with.
 

Reading/Language Arts
            This week, we will be reading Wild Shots by Tui De Roy. In this magazine article, a wildlife photographer describes how she took some of her favorite photos. As we read the story, students will be: learning new vocabulary, word relationships, self-questioning, multiple-meaning words, making predictions, synonyms, and author’s purpose.