Mr. Wasil’s 3rd Grade Class

Reading/Language Arts

This week, we will start our second theme “What a team!” This theme explores ways that people and animals can work together to accomplish goals. Students discover that cooperation can make a difference in relationships and are encouraged to apply that concept to their own lives.

We will begin our work in theme two by reading Turtle Baym (pages 158-177) by Saviour Pirotta. This realistic fiction story introduces us to Taro, a young boy who helps Jiro-San, a wise old man, clean up the beach for the giant sea turtles that swim ashore to rest.

As we read the story, students will be learning: new vocabulary, classification, categorization, homographs, homophones, compound words, and author’s purpose. Writing complete sentences will continue to be the subject

of our grammar lessons this week. This week, students will be working on words with wr, gh, ph, and kn. Please spend a few nights with them going over their words learning the proper spelling and usage.

Writing

Many parents ask about how they can help their youngster become a better writer. The answer is simple, the more they write,the better they become. Set aside 20 min. some night to discuss the day events, but instead of oral language, communicate through written language only. Children quickly see the importance of writing skills when they can only communicate this way!Also, pick a concrete object from home to look at and describe.Kids will initially say: “Its nose is black.” Try adding things like “Its wrinkly nose was as black as the night sky.” This is a great activity to do with your youngster and you can share your different ideas at the end. Again, any extra writing students do at home will allow them to practice what they are learning at school.

Math

Students will be able to use arrays, multiplication/division diagrams and number models to represent and solve multiplication stories. We will also work on the factors of 2 and 3. Toward the end of the week we will review division as equal sharing and equal grouping. Please encourage your child to study their multiplication facts every night.

Science

This week students will test the luster and how much light shines through a mineral. They will also do a hardness test and continue to work in their minerals packet. We are enjoying what the students are bringing in from home to share with on rocks and minerals. The class will begin a birthstone report soon on their own special birthstone!

Extras

Thursday-Picture retakes

Friday-Halloween Party at 2:00 followed by the parade at 2:45.

Friday- End of First Grading Period.

Homework:

Monday, October 26th -  Math- simple solutions page 34-35. Spelling- Pages 27-29 due by Thursday

Tuesday, October 27th- Math- 6.6 Use What You Know. Reading- take book home and read Turtle Bay on pages 158-177

Wednesday, October 28st- Math- 8.2 Use What You Know division sheet. Reading- study for vocabulary test.

Thursday, October 29th - Bring costume in for tomorrow’s Halloween Party and Parade. We will change into costumes tomorrow before the party.

Friday, October 30th-

Reading/Language Arts

Now that we have completed the five stories in our language arts series, we will take a reading and language skills assessment test. On Monday, students will work on a pretest which mirrors the actual test for Tuesday. The skills that will be tested on are using a dictionary, decoding long words, narrative elements, sentences, statements and questions, commands and exclamations, subjects and predicates, and compound subjects and predicates. Please have your child look over this pretest Monday night to prepare for the actual test on Tuesday. No Spelling Words this week.

We will have also been working on stories that contain a setting, plot, characters, topic sentence, ending sentence, proper punctuation, and spelling. This week, the students will be given a writing prompt to create their own story that contains these elements. This will be the writing portion of the language arts test. Students will take this on Wednesday.

Throughout the week, we will finish reading The Haunting of Third Grade, work on our monthly keepsake writing, and do some activities for pasta month with the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs!

Math

On Monday, we will continue to develop the idea of area. Tuesday we will work on a study guide for chapter 3. Students will bring this study guide home on Tuesday to study with for our test on Wednesday. Thursday and Friday we begin our unit on multiplication! Stay tuned for details about our banana split party!

Science

Now that we have studied our twelve types of rocks in class, we are moving on to minerals. We will be doing various tests with our minerals and recording them in our minerals packet. This week we will focus on the similarities and differences among minerals and apply a streak test. Your child will also be writing a report about their own birthstone.

Extras

Thursday-Planting of tree in the front yard at 3:00.

Tuesday, October 27 is Sally Foster Pickup.

Homework:

Monday, October 19th -  Math- simple solutions page 30-31.  Language Arts- look over pretest completed in class today for test tomorrow. Science- study for vocabulary test

Tuesday, October 20th- Math- Look over math pretest completed in class today. 

Wednesday, October 21st- Math- Math boxes 3.10

Thursday, October 22nd -

Friday, October 23rd-

Reading/Language Arts

This week, we will continue our theme” Something Special!” by reading The Olympic Games: Where Heroes Are Made on pages 132-147 by Nicholas Camacho. This expository nonfiction story teaches us how the Olympic Games have grown and changed since the first contests were held in ancient Greece. However, one aspect of the games remains the same – their ability to inspire amazing performances from the world’s best athletes.As we read the story, students will be: learning new vocabulary,practicing syllabication, making inferences, and using antonyms. Writing complete descriptive sentences will continue to be the subject of our grammar lesson this week.

This week our spelling pattern will be “consonant blends withst- and str-“. Please spend a few nights with them going over their words learning the proper spelling and usage. Our test will be on Thursday this week due to no school on Friday.

Math

This week students will be able to collect, tabulate, and interpret experimental data. The class will also make rectangles with given perimeters; to relate tiling to area. We will develop the concept of area, demonstrate the measure of area by using 1-foot and 1-yard squares, and find areas of counting squares.

Science

Students will have an opportunity to identify observable properties that are related to how rocks are formed. They will also identify the three types of rocks and how they form. Many activities will consist of observing and doing tests on rocks.

Extra

Friday-No School- NEOEA day for teachers

Homework:

Monday, October 12th -  Math- simple solutions page 24-25.  Spelling- pages 22-24 due by Thursday

Tuesday, October 13th- Math- Simple Solutions pages 26-27. Reading- Read Story Olympic Dreams pages 132-147.

Wednesday, October 14th- Math- Simple Solutions 28-29. Spelling- due by tomorrow. Science- RS7-RS8- numbers 1, 2 and 4.

Thursday, October 15th - Scholastic Book orders due by tomorrow if ordering

Friday, October 16th- NO SCHOOL TODAY- NEOEA DAY for teachers

Reading/Language Arts

This week we will begin reading the story The Haunting of Third Grade. There is was…the old Blackwell mansion! It was one big monster of a building. It had dark towers, pointed gables, and shadowy arches. It was haunted! Or at least that’s what most people thought. The third grade of Elmwood Elementary was spending the year there because the school’s main building was overcrowded. And very strange things were happening…..We will do some guided reading activities along with this book.

We will take our OAT test this week on Tuesday. Please encourage your child to get plenty of rest and to eat a good breakfast that morning. If you would like to do some additional practicing for this test you can visit http://ohio3-8.success-ode-state-oh-us.info/

We will also be taking the Otis Lennon Ability test on Thursday.

The students will also complete their September common assessment of writing a final copy of their book report and presenting it to the class. There will be no spelling words this week.

Math

Students will chose an appropriate measuring tool to measure items. They will also learn about U.S. customary and Metric Units of length. We will review polygons by measuring sides of polygons and finding their perimeters. The class will finish up the week by working with liquid capacities.

Science

We will begin our unit on rocks and minerals this week! On Monday, we will create a model of how a rock is formed. The class will explore 3 different rocks and discuss similarities and differences. Next, they will observe and describe the properties of 12 rocks from our kit. This information will be recorded into a book.

Extra

Tuesday-OAT (Ohio Achievement Test) Reading only

Thursday-Otis Lennon Ability test given this day.

Friday- Scholastic Book Orders due if ordering

-Hearing and Vision Screening starts today and ends next week

Homework:

Monday, October 5th -  Math- simple solutions page 18-19.  Reading Ach. Test tomorrow- get plenty of rest and eat a great breakfast tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, October 6th- Math- study math facts. No h.w. due to Reading test today

Wednesday, October 7th- Math- Simple Solutions pages 20-21. Language Arts- pages 11-12

Thursday, October 8th - Scholastic Book orders due by tomorrow if ordering

Friday, October 9th-