Reading Your child will have at least 90 minutes of English and Language Arts instruction each day. This time frame will consist of a variety of activities such as guided and shared reading, social studies, spelling, grammar and language practice, writing, and read aloud. When we begin guided reading, we will have four leveled reading groups. Please keep in mind that these are flexible groups, so your child may move from one group to another as the year progresses. I use assessment data and classroom work to determine which level will best meet your child’s learning at that time. Also, your child may change groups depending on which skill we are working on.
Spelling The Pleasant Valley Spelling Program is an individualized spelling program that will begin on Tuesday, September 4th. Your child will take a spelling pretest every Monday. Weekly spelling lists will have ten words. The list will consist of regular and/or challenge pattern words for the week. Your child should be practicing his/her spelling words throughout the week in preparation for the weekly tests given each Friday. In the next few weeks, I will send home several ideas on ways your child can practice his/her spelling words at home.
Math We will be using the Everyday Math curriculum again this year. One goal of our mathematics curriculum is for students to know their math facts from memory. Our grade level goal is to learn one hundred facts with 95% accuracy in the allotted time (addition and subtraction in 6 minutes and multiplication in 8 minutes). Our math will be centered around high student engagement, purposeful conversations, daily opportunities to share learning with others, critical thinking, and fostering a culture where all students feel success in math.
Social Studies Our social studies focus will be on immigration and migration. We will use a variety of picture book texts to enhance our understanding of the following: perceptions of reality impact the way people think, act, and react; opportunities provoke and limit possibilities and risks; and ideas can challenge our heads and our hearts. We will also have Junior Achievement taught sometime in the spring.
Cursive Students will learn cursive in 3rd grade. We start with the lower case letters for the first half of the year and then move into the upper case letters in January. Each Monday and Wednesday your child receives a new letter. They have time every morning to work on the letters and are allowed to take their cursive sheets home each night. The cursive letters received are always due the following Monday. This means the students have each morning and night along with the weekend to complete by Monday. If the students use their time well, they should be able to get both of the letters done by Friday.