Summer Homework

This homework is for students entering fourth grade in September 2016.  Please use the link below to download/print copies.  (The school supply list for fourth grade is also included in the link)

Summer Homework

May Reading Workshop

This month, students are getting back into guided reading groups and are continuing to individually confer with teachers.  We are working on getting stronger at our current reading levels or moving up a level before the end of the school year.

Some important skills to work on at different levels are:

Level N
-Figuring out the main character's struggle and the lesson he/she learns
-Figuring out how the main character changes throughout a story

Level O
-Understanding the role of secondary characters and their impact on the main character's struggle
-Paying attention to character flaws

Level P
-Identifying and understanding the the role of the setting, passage of time and flashbacks
-Figuring out the main character's inner struggle

March Reading Workshop

March Reading

This month in third grade, we are continuing our work on learning and practicing reading strategies to better understand a variety of complex short fiction and nonfiction texts.  

We are working on strategies to help us make inferences, understand and express the main idea, and figure out the meaning of unknown words or phrases.  

Please encourage your child to use the strategies they are taught and to go back into the text to find and underline evidence while answering questions about a text.  It is also important for students to realize when they are struggling to understand a text or a portion of a text and to then reread texts in a different way.  For example, students have been taught to reread while envisioning (making a movie in their mind) or by breaking down confusing sentences and using punctuation and text features to help build comprehension.   

 

Writing Workshop

January  Writing

We will be continuing our Compare and Contrast essay work for the next week   Students will be working on revising and editing and will be publishing their essays by January 15th.

Writing about Reading: January/February

In the next unit we will be working on writing about what we are reading.

In this unit, students will be asked  specific questions about their reading.  They will be taught to think carefully about each question and even to break it apart so they truly understand what they are being asked.  Students will work on matching details from their reading to the answers they come up with and writing their answers in well defined paragraphs.

Reader's Workshop

Reading in January & February

In the second half of January and through February, we will be working in reading short but complex fiction and nonfiction texts.  We will work on different reading strategies to get through and comprehend these complex texts.  Additionally, we will teach students strategies to understand and respond to questions about what they read, using text-based evidence.

Some examples of the different kinds of texts we will be exploring are:

Fiction
-Realistic Fiction
-Historical Fiction
-Science Fiction
-Dramas/Plays
-Fables
-Folktales
-Fairytales
-Excerpts from longer texts

Nonfiction
-Narrative Nonfiction
-Persuasive Nonfiction
-Informational Nonfiction
-Procedural Nonfiction (how-to)

***Throughout this time, it is important that students continue to read their assigned independent reading books at home for at least 35 minutes each day, and work on their assigned reading jobs!

December Math Workshop

December Math

Third grade will continue working on addition and subtraction. We are focusing on self correcting and finding our mistakes. In addition, we have been using problems with mistakes to look closer and be better mathematicians.  In subtraction, we have been checking ourselves with addition.  We also have been focusing on being able to explain our work and the steps we took to solve, both in writing and verbally. At the end of the unit, the students will be tested on their addition and subtraction skills in word problems and numerically. 

How to help at home:

• go over the homework each night
• encourage self correcting
• make sure students are showing work and can explain their thinking
• practice two and three digit subtraction (especially with middle and double zero)
• make sure children are reading the directions in their homework

December Read-Aloud

                                      

Third grade is wrapping up our reading of Because of Winn Dixie.  The kids are loving this story!  

Here are some of the things we are focusing on toward the end of the book:

• continued work of theme (loneliness, abandonment, friendship, family, forgiveness)
• noticing the struggles of secondary characters
• finding similarities in secondary characters and the main character
• seeing how relationships can change and grow
• learning lessons through the advice Opal is getting from the other characters
• saying how Opal's life is changed because of Winn Dixie

On Wednesday, December 23rd, the third grade will be watching the Because of Winn Dixie movie and comparing it to the book!