Dear Parents and Guardians,

We have survived the first week after winter break and we are working toward making this year productive and fun.

We will continue to improve our skills in all subject areas, particulary reading, math and writing. ISAT testing will be administered the first week of March. Homework assignments will  include ISAT practice. The goal is to boost our children's confidence in test taking as third grade is the first year they have taken this kind of test. There are websites that have been posted on Room 204's blog that can be used to practice skills in reading and math. Thanks to Ms. Zivko for these websites! Please check your child's assignment book to know what pages they are to complete for homework in the<em> ISAT</em> math and reading practice books as well as our regular curriculum.

This week we will be working on the following:

LANGUAGE ARTS:

We will take the unit test on <em>City Critters</em>, the nonfiction selection in our OpenCourt readers this week. This test may be delayed this week as we will be taking the <em>Learning First Assessment</em>. This assessment is  not used to grade students but is used to help teachers assess areas of strengths and weaknesses in students skill abilities.

We will continue to take practice test in the ISAT practice books.

WRITING:

We are practicting expository writing, i.e. writing that explains something. There will be extended response writing based on selections in the ISAT practice books as well as assignments I assign. I will be sending home writing samples from the ISAT Coach book that have been graded based on the rubric ISAT graders use to assess how well student's write.  It is my hope that you will review the student writing samples as a guide to help your child improve their writing skills. The rule of thumb is for you not to write your child's writing assignment, but to point our the strengths and areas that could be improved upon such as staying on the topic, punctuation, spelling, complete sentences and descriptive vocabulary.

MATH:

We will continue to work on our basic multiplication facts. Please continue  to quiz your child in the basic multiplication facts, (2's through 9's), every day. If your child demonstrates they know all of one fact, i.e. all their 3's times tables, then they have been instructed to work on their 4's times tables.

There will be ISAT practice in the <em>ISAT Coach</em> book. Please check your child's assignment book for specific assignments. We will also continue to complete assignments in our <em>Everyday Math</em> books. Unit Four's focus is on basic multiplication and division.

HOMEWORK: MATH BOXES, 4.2, -4.5, HOME LINK 4.2-4.5

SCIENCE:<strong><em>WEEK!</em></strong>

 

We will begin the next unit of study in Science. We will learning about earth materials and what natural materials are found in our envirnoment. In our first investigation we will examine "mock rocks." Mock rocks are rocks that have been made using natural materials found in rocks such as sand and gravel.

SOCIAL STUDIES:  <em>Map Essentials</em>

We will learn about how we can live in many  different places at one time. We can live in a neighborhood, a city, a state, a country, on a continent or in a global world all at the same time. Please ask your child what this means. We will answer questions in the <em>Student Response Journals</em> based on the the information in Activity Four in <em>Map Essentials.</em>

We will also use <em>Time For Kids to</em> learn about current events that help to shape our view of the world.

<em><strong>HAVE                    A                           GREAT                            </strong></em>

sv