Hello, wonderful third grade families!  We have had a busy and productive beginning of our week. 

Crriculum Update:

Reading:  Our main selection this week is a biography titled Jump! by Floyd Cooper.  This biography is about Michael Jordan's life. We are using this text, as well as our small group reading books, to locate and identify facts and opinions.  We are also practicing the questioning strategy to help us better understand what we read.  The students enjoyed the little story I told them about one of my high school jobs in the suburbs of Chicago. I worked in the "Kids Club" of the upscale country club that the Jordan family belonged to and was able to watch his children from time to time.  Unfortunately, I only met Michael once (and probably made a fool out of myself!) because his wife typically dropped the kids off.  I'm pretty sure I knew all of the words to the movie Space Jam while employed there!

Writing:  Because of upcoming Veteran's Day, students are composing letters of appreciation to local veterans.  We will be putting these out during our assembly on Monday morning and sending some to the VA Hospital in Iowa City. 

Spelling:  This week is focusing on the oy and oi diphthongs.  The spelling test will be on Thursday since there is no school for students on Friday.

Grammar:  This week focuses on changing nouns that end in y into plural nouns.  We have been chanting, "Drop the y, turn it into an i, and add an -es" every time we practice! 

Math:  Students have been working on completing multiplication and division diagrams in order to solve number stories (Drop the y, turn it into an i, and add an -es!).  Their homework tonight is a great example of what we have been working on in class.  We also made a little ditty/chant to remember some new math terms:  dividend, divisor, quotient.  :)

Social Studies:  We have been focusing a lot on the election this week.  The rest of the week will be dedicated to completing chapter one in our Social Studies Alive! text. 

A few quick notes:

*Please help your child remember to fill out his/her November reading logs with the length of time and title of the story each night. 

*Multplication/Division triangle flashcards are in your child's zipper pocket of the Leopard Book.  These should go home each night and come back to school every day.  Students are expected to practice these facts a few times a week. 


Have a great rest of the week! 
Mrs. Johnsen
johnsen.jill@iccsd.k12.ia.us