Dear Parents and Guardians,

As we prepare for winter break, Room 204 would like to take a moment to think about those less fortunate than ourselves. The students voted to donate some of their allowance to purchase a small gift for a child in need of cheering up. This is strictly optional. I hesitated to do this as it was so late however many of the children really wanted to go forward with this gesture. The children that would like to do this should bring a shoebox or any size box, or even a gift bag to put an item in that could be used by either a boy or a girl. Items the children suggested would be things such as a book, art material, pencils, etc. The children set a five to ten dollar limit on the gift. If any of you know of a particular place that would benefit from this, please let me know. I will see to it the items are dropped off some time next week. Thank you in advance and remember, this is not an assignment.

We will have a winter break celebration on Thursday. We will watch a movie with the other third graders, eat popcorn and drink juice. Please provide your child with a juice box.

This week we will be working on the following:

LANGUAGE ARTS:

We are exploring the nonfiction genre. We will be reading the selection, <em>City Critters </em>which describes the urban habitats of animals that have had to adapt to city dwellings.  Reading nonfiction text includes elements that enable the reader to use different features to understand the text. Graphics, graphs, headings, subheadings, diagrams, questions, highlighted vocabulary and other features of nonfiction will be discussed and used in class.

SPELLING: The "ou" and "or" sound

The spelling words that accompany the reading selection are the following:

GRAMMAR:

We will continue to practice writing good paragraphs that have a topic sentence and details that include at least four or more details. We are working on expository writing as this type of writing will be a part of the ISAT test to be given sometime in March. We will also practice making compound words and recognizing homophones, ( red, read).

WRITING:

We are really working on improving our writing skills. Writing clear, well thought out paragraphs is a an important step in the learning process for third graders. We will be writing expository text that describes or explains things such as giving the instructions for playing a game or cooking a favorite recipe. I will assign various writing activities for homework. Please encourage your child to write the assignments alone, edit their work and then share the writing with you. I have found the children are able to find many of their errors if they take time to proofread.

MATH:

We will complete Unit Three this week and will take the unit test by Friday. I will review the material with the children before the test.

We are learning our multiplication facts. Please support your child in learning the basic multiplication facts, (two - nines times tables). We will using many strategies to support the automatic recall of these facts. Having your child make flash cards that begin with one times the number through ten times the number is a good way to learn the facts. We have a multiplication rap cd that we sing along with as well as taking time test to push our speed of recalling these facts. I have sent home copies of the speed test and ask that you copy it and time your child for practice. Five minutes for one hundred basic facts is the goal.

HOMEWORK: Home Link 3.8, 3.9, Math Box 3.9, Practice multiplication speed test

SCIENCE:

We will complete the water unit soon and will begin a new unit in Science after the break. This week we will complete handouts in which the children have to explain various observations we have completed during this unit.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

We will continue to practice looking up information found in our <em>Map Essentials</em> book. Locating information within text is another skill third graders should learn. We will also learn the fifty states and capitals when we come back from break.

ART:

We will be painting pictures of our favorite things to do using water colors.

<strong><em>I sincerely hope you and your family have a restful and happy holiday and winter break. See you next year!</em></strong>

Ms. Jack