Happy National Catholic Schools Week

Happy Catholic Schools Week! It is going to be a jam packed week of fun activities! Our theme this year is "Kindness Matters."   As a school, and as a class, we are taking the
"Great Kindness Challenge."

Each student will take the kindness pledge this Monday and will receive a checklist of kind acts to 'check off' throughout the week.

Monday - We will take a photograph in the shape of a heart as a school.
Tuesday - Wear a tie with your uniform
Wednesday - School Mass
Thursday - Be You-nique! Wear free dress and the CDA Dance-a-thon is in the afternoon
Friday - Team Kindness: wear your favorite jersey

ELA



Spelling skill focuses on words that make the /k/ and /kw/ sound.
Grammar skill focuses on helping verbs and the verb be.
Reading skill focuses on text and graphic features.

Math
The students are now learning about basic division concepts.  We also, are continuing to build multiplication fluency through our basic facts drills.  Any student who also masters multiplying by the 11's and 12's will receive additional points to be added to their math grade.  Please know, that it is an expectation for all third graders, to master their basic multiplication and division facts.  Also, please continue to have your child practice their basic facts using the multiplication.com web site.  This site also has basic division fact practice.

On Thursday, February 5th, all of the third grade students will take their multiplication facts post test.  This test will weigh heavily into your child's math grade for the third quarter of school.  Please practice the basic multiplication facts at home.  Here is a link that will lead you to free, printable, triangular shaped, multiplication flash cards to assist your child at home.

http://teacherweb.com/NH/HampsteadCentralSchool/heatherburkett/Triangle-Facts-Division-and-Multiplication.pdf 

Social Studies
The students are wrapping up their American Government lessons.  Both classes, will create a study guide and will take a practice test, to assist them in understanding the test format, content, and expectations.  Both the study guide and practice test will go home with the children and they are to utilize these materials for studying purposes.  The actual test date will be announced in class and every child should have the information written inside their agendas.

Religion
Students are beginning to prepare for their upcoming retreat. We will be learning about the Sacraments of Initiation.

Sacraments Information

Sacraments of Initiation Retreat - Mandatory for students and at least one parent
 at Brophy Chapel on Friday, February 13th. 

  

Sacramental Practice - Mandatory for student, parents, and sponsor

at St. Francis Xavier Church, on Friday, April 24th, at 5:30 p.m.

Liturgy For First Holy Communion and Confirmation are scheduled for April 25th, at 10:00a.m.
This date and time has been confirmed by the Diocese.

I Have A Dream...

Hello Third Grade Families,

We hope you enjoyed your long weekend!

Last Friday, the students watched a short video from BrainPopJr.com on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
The students also read about this great American's life contributions. We discussed why we honor
Dr. King and his dream that "A person should be judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin."

Last week, the students took both the STAR Reading and STAR Math benchmark tests. Those results will be going home soon. We also began our January benchmark fluency reading tests. We will continue those through this week.

ELA 



Spelling skill is /j/ and /s/ sounding words such as in circle and age.
Grammar skill is adjectives that compare.
**As a third grade, we will review basic adjectives and retest students this week due to low grammar tests scores from last week's assessment. 
Reading skill is conclusions and point of view.

Math
This week, the students will complete their multiplication boot camp and we will then move into basic division concepts.  It's very important that every third grader masters their basic multiplication facts by the end of this quarter.  Please support us at home, by having your child practice their basic multiplication facts nightly.  It's such a gift for the students to enter the fourth grade with fluency in the four basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division), as many math concepts build on these four foundational skills.

Social Studies
The students are continuing to work hard on understanding the 3 Branches of Governemnt. We will continue our lessons through more videos and hands on activities. Be on the lookout for a student guide and sample test to be coming home soon.

Religion 
The students are finishing up learning about the Parts of the Mass.
*3A students will be retaking their assessment on Parts of the Mass on Wednesday, January 21st. Please remember to study.

We have Mass this week, at Brophy Chapel. Feel free to join us in the celebration.

Please remember to NOT clean out your child's folders and papers unless your child says it is okay. We have had several students unprepared for class, due to not having the necessary papers. We will continue to use our flip books and worksheets as we work through that specific unit. 

Testing Week

Dear Third Grade Families,

What a great first week we had with all your children. They are full of energy and ready to learn. Looks like each of them grew over our Christmas vacation!

This coming week, we have our second round of STAR Reading and STAR Math testing. We will test Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Please try to refrain from pulling your child on these days so that they can take their assessments. Also, please make sure they get a good night's rest the nights before and a good breakfast in the morning.

As a third grade, we have been talking about setting academic goals by looking at our past STAR scores and seeing what areas we can grow in and what steps we will take to achieve that goal.

Reminder: Students are allowed to bring in their device Monday through Thursday to use during Reading class. 

Reminder:  Students are required to wear socks that match the school uniform.  The socks need to be either a solid white, black, or navy blue.  This is in the parent handbook.  If a student comes to school not wearing the proper uniform socks, they will forfeit their morning recess.

ELA 

Spelling skill for the week focuses on vowel teams plus the -r sound as in air, wear, & bare.
Grammar skill for the week focuses on adjectives and articles.
Reading skill for the week focuses on story structure and theme.

All students received their directions last week for the January book report, which will be due on January 30th. 

Math 
The students will complete their multiplication boot camp by the end of this week.  Beginning next week, we will have daily "Fast Fact" drills to begin our math lessons.  This will help to build fact fluency.  Please have your child practice at least 3X a week on multiplication.com
Every child should be playing one game on this site and then practicing their basic multiplication facts on multiplication.com.  All of the students, should also be utilizing our school math program, Dreambox, once a week for 15 minutes.  It's imperative that every child is practicing their basic multiplication facts at home in order to master the basic facts of multiplication.  It's a third grade expectation, that every third grader is fluent in their knowledge of basic multiplication.  Please know, that multiplication.com even provides free printable flashcards for families to print off for their children.   This will also assist your child in the skill of rote understanding of multiplication.

Here are some additional I-pad resources to assist your child in mastering their basic multiplication facts.

• Math Champions (free app on apple)

• Times Tables Quiz!  (free app on apple)

• Sushi Monster!  (free app on apple)

Social Studies
We will continue our lessons on the three branches of government.

Religion 
We will begin our lessons on the parts of the mass by creating a book to list the names of the five parts, what we experience during each part, and a small picture to represent specific parts of the mass.