2015 is Here!

Happy New Year Third Grade Families!

We hope you and your families had a restful and joyous Christmas break! We are very excited to be back at school and in the third quarter!  There is a lot going on over the next few weeks.  Now that the third quarter has arrived, your children are expected to exhibit growth in the areas of independence and responsibility.   This will serve the children well as they become 4th graders,  and it will help to prepare them for their First Holy Communion and Confirmation retreat in February.

As we enter into the third quarter and begin to really prepare your children for the fourth grade, our weekly blogs will look a little different. We will continue to inform you on the happenings in our room and at SFX, but we will no longer be putting our weekly homework and assessments on the blog. We are asking you to please refer to your child's agenda for all of this information. Please know, that this helps us to support the fourth grade teachers expectations, and so in turn,  it will also then best support your children for when they enter the fourth grade.  Your children will be learning in class this week, to look at their agendas as their 'Bible'. It is extremely important that they become responsible by writing down (mirroring) exactly what is shown on the board each day. We know that this will not happen over night, so it is a learning process for everyone, which is why we are starting now. 

As your children return to school, please check in with your child to see if they are in need of any new school supplies such as expos, pencils, erasers, scissors, glue sticks, etc.  Also, now is a great time to clean out their backpacks, so that they are starting fresh.

Here is our new Third Grade Motto for the third and fourth quarters of school:

 Focus Wall

English Language Arts

Spelling skill for the week is vowel plus r sound.  Examples:  nurse, work, dirt, serve
Grammar skill for the week is verb tenses.
Reading skill for the week is inferring/predicting.


Math

The students will begin "Multiplication Boot Camp."  It's imperative that every student masters their basic multiplication facts by the end of this quarter, as we also must learn how to do basic division and long division with remainders.

The students should practice their basic multiplication facts, at least 3 nights a week, utilizing the web site multiplication.com 

•  On multiplication.com your child should play at least one game 3 times per week.

•  Then, your child needs to go to the books/resources tab and click on it.

•  From here, your child will click On-line quizzes/tests.

•  Please have your child practice their basic multiplication facts at least 3 times a week.

•  Students may then print off their quiz and return it to school for extra credit in math, or you  may      e-mail me the on-line quiz at megan.connell@sfxphx.org
• All of this information was reviewed and modeled in class.

The students should also continue to visit Dreambox once a week for at least 15 minutes of practice.
Also note, that students who complete Dreambox as part of their weekly homework, receive points at the end of each quarter. These points are added to their quarterly math grade.  Every student that completes their quarterly Dreambox homework, earns 30 points.  This is the equivalent of one test grade.  This will often be reflected in the students that receive an "Outstanding" math grade verses students that do not. 
Here is how the Dreambox points are earned per quarter:
Students that complete 4 hours or more earned the full 30 points.
Students that completed 3 to 3 1/2 hours, earned 26 out of 30 points.
Kids who were on the cusp of meeting at least 3 hours, earned 22 out of 30 points, the equivalent of one "Improving" grade.
Students that did not meet 3 hours or more for the quarter, earned 20 out of 30 points, which is the equivalent of one "Needs More Time and Practice" score.   
The Third Grade blog has had Dreambox listed as part of every child's homework since the beginning of our school year, and the expectation has been discussed daily in class.

Social Studies

We will begin our unit on American Government. In this unit, students will learn about the three branches of government from the city level to state level to federal level.

Religion 

Students will continue to learn about the life of Christ through the Jesse Tree daily ornaments and reflections. Then, we will move into learning about the parts of the Mass. Students will begin to reflect and prepare their hearts and minds in the coming week for their very special Sacrament Retreat (Friday, February 13th)

January monthly book reports will go home this week. Be sure to ask your child to share the directions with you, so that you can get started early. Book reports will be due on January 30th.