First Trimester

August 2017 First Trimester

Dear Parents, I’d like to welcome you and your child to 3rd grade. Third grade is an exciting and wonderful year. I am excited to be teaching your children. This is my 34th year teaching at St. Antoninus and my 29th in third grade. I really enjoy this age level because of the enthusiasm the children have for learning. Third grade is a time for the children to gain responsibility. If your child forgets to bring books or papers home please do not come back to school after 3:00 to pick things up. Also, try not to bring forgotten homework to school for your child. I’ve explained to the class that we all make mistakes and that’s okay as long as we learn from the experience and don’t keep repeating the mistake. Three late or missing assignments in a subject mean a check on the report card. The spelling, phonics, grammar, and reading lessons are all integrated and revolve around one story/theme. In spelling and phonics the focus will be on short vowel words with the VC/CV pattern, forming plurals, adding endings to base words, vowel digraphs, diphthongs, open and closed syllable, compound words, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs. There are 20 spelling words each week. The list will be available each week at www.spellingcity.com. This website will also help with practice of the spelling words. Spelling homework will be assigned on Monday and Wednesday, with tests on Friday. In grammar we will study sentence structure, subjects and predicates, types of sentences and nouns. These skills will be used to write narrative and descriptive paragraphs, as well as other things. Once a week I try to do an editing activity. This consists of two sentences with grammar, spelling and punctuation errors to be corrected. At the beginning this seems difficult because so many of the skills are new. However, as time goes on the editing will become much easier due to familiarity with the skills. These skills also carry over into every day writing. In reading class new vocabulary will be introduced with each story. Target skills in the first quarter include literary elements (character, setting, and theme), sequencing, comparing and contrasting, identifying the author’s purpose, identifying main idea and details, and drawing conclusions. In math, we will begin with a chapter on place value through hundred thousands. We will practice rounding numbers up to the thousands to the nearest tens and hundreds. Addition and subtraction of large numbers will also be learned so please continue to practice the basic facts at home. A letter has been sent home with information on the website www.extramath.org . This website is useful for practicing basic math facts. From there we will move on to multiplication and division facts. Facts need to be studied nightly. Simple Solutions lessons will begin around the end of October. There will be a homework lesson every Monday-Thursday night. The following Monday there will be a quiz covering the four lessons from the previous week. The questions on the quiz are taken directly from the homework lessons. In handwriting we will review the cursive lessons taught last year. We will begin by reviewing the basic strokes. After that we will try to review one or two letters each week, beginning with all the lower case letters. For the beginning of the year I am allowing manuscript to be used while the children get used to cursive again. However, their name must always be written in cursive. Our specials this year fall on various days. On Monday we have computer. On Tuesday we have art and music. On Wednesday we have gym and library. This year third grade has been given a wonderful opportunity of working with the Spanish teacher. This will happen on Thursday. And on Friday we have mass. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. My e-mail address is [email protected]. I check this daily. You can also send notes or leave messages. I’m looking forward to a great year.

Sincerely, Mrs. Gina Johnson 922-2500 ext. 2005