Week of October 24, 2021
I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend! I am going to go through our academics for the week first, and then below is some information on the most exciting event of the week... Halloween!
In language arts, we will be continuing Module 2, Week 2 where we will explore poetry with the story "The Upside-Down Boy". We will also try our hands at writing some Halloween poetry of our own! Our grammar skill will continue to be subject-verb agreement and pronoun-verb agreement. We will have a spelling test on Wednesday, October 27th and a reading test on Thursday, October 28th. Please continue to practice the spelling and vocabulary words with your child daily.
In math, we will begin Chapter 3 on subtraction. We will begin by estimating differences using rounding. We will explore the relationship between addition and subtraction and then move into subtracting 3-digit numbers with and without borrowing.
This week in religion, we will be working on Chapter 5 where we will learn about the Apostles who led the Church and about those in the early Church who remained true followers despite the risk. This is a perfect lead-in to All Saints Day on Monday, November 1st. We will have a test on Chapter 5 on Friday, October 29th.
In social studies, we will finish Unit 1, Lesson 2 on the types of communities. We will then begin Lesson 3. This lesson deals with the geography of the United States. We will talk about some of the different landforms we find in our country as well as how people adapt to geography. I am looking forward to seeing the students' community projects, which are due Tuesday, October 26th.
Now for Halloween! Per Mrs. Major's letter, students may dress down on Friday, October 29th in school appropriate Halloween-themed or Halloween colored clothing. No costumes are to be worn to school! There are a lot of fun activities planned throughout the day! The students will have a special treat at lunch from the HSA as well as a treat to take home from the school. As per school policy, please do not send in "goody bags" for the students to hand out.
Third graders are invited to bring in a picture of themselves in their Halloween costume any time this week. We will hang them up in the classroom so they can share their costumes with their classmates. This is optional and if the children prefer, they may bring in a picture of themselves doing a fall activity (pumpkin picking, carving a Jack-O-Lantern, etc.).
A few notes...
Week of October 17, 2021
This week may have only been 4 days long, but we sure packed a lot into those days! The children did a great job this week.
This week in Language Arts, we will be finishing up Module 2, Week 1. We will have our test on the story Dear Primo on Tuesday. We will then begin Module 2, Week 2, which will have us exploring the world of poetry! This will certainly be an adventure. Our grammar skill will continue to be subject-verb and pronoun-verb agreement.
In math, we will be continuing addition. We will work on word problems on Monday and Tuesday as well as reinforcing our addition with regrouping skills. On Wednesday, we will have a test on addition. Students should be able to add 3-digit numbers with and without regrouping, as well as use rounding to estimate a sum. We will then jump into subtraction!
In religion, we will be continuing Chapter 4. We will learn that the Church began on Pentecost and that the early Church then began to grow. We will take Wednesday to review Chapter 4, and our Chapter 4 test will be on Thursday.
We have officially started Social Studies! We covered Unit 1, Lesson 1 and the map skill (cardinal and intermediate directions) this past week. We will continue with Unit 1, Lesson 2 this week. We will learn about the different types of communities and explore some examples of suburban, urban and rural communities.
A few notes...
Have a great weekend! God bless!
Week of October 10, 2021
Another great week in third grade! This past week was full of learning. We read, wrote, added, researched, and more! Our third graders did a great job "leading" the school at Mass on Monday for the feast of St. Francis.
This week in Language Arts, we will begin Module 2, Week 1. The theme of Module 2 is "Use Your Words." We will explore different ways words can be used- in technology, in correspondence, in poetry, and more! Students received the Module 2, Week 1 Spelling and Vocab words in class on Friday. Our story for this week will be Dear Primo. In grammar, we will be working with subject/verb agreement and adding -s and -es as needed to verbs.
In math, we will continue to work with addition with and without regrouping. The children are doing a great job on this important skill! This coming week, we will continue to work with bigger numbers, double regrouping (ones to tens and tens to hundreds) and adding three or more addends. We will also continue to build our stamina with working through word problems! They can be tricky, but I already notice an increased willingness of the students to work through them.
This week in religion, we will be wrapping up Chapter 3 with a test on Wednesday. Tuesday will be a review day for the test. We will then begin Chapter 4. In Chapter 4, we will learn that Jesus promised to send His Holy Spirit on the Church and about the coming of that Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Third grade will be attending Mass at 8:00 on Friday morning this week.
We are starting Social Studies this week! We will be working on Unit 1, Lesson 1, all about communities. We will talk about what a community is and some ways that people work and play together in a community. We will also look at maps and using cardinal and intermediate directions.
A few notes...
Have a great weekend! God bless!
Week of October 3, 2021
I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weekend! This past week was certainly a busy and challenging one for all of us in the SFCS community. 3B did a great job on their first MAP tests for the year. We also enjoyed seeing the officers processing out of the Cathedral after the Blue Mass.
This week in Language Arts, we will be wrapping up Module 1, Week 3. We will read and work with the story Scaredy Squirrel and the Module 1 Week 3 spelling and vocab words which were distributed last week. We will be looking at compound sentences in grammar. We will have a spelling test on Thursday, October 7 and a reading test on Friday, October 8.
In math, we will be working on addition. We will review two-digit addition with and without regrouping and then move into some different strategies for adding bigger numbers. Our work with rounding will come in handy as we practice estimating sums.
We will be continuing Chapter 2, Lesson 3 this week in science- more about animal adaptations! We will be doing some work researching and learning more about different animal adaptations and how they help animals to survive.
In religion, we will be working on Chapter 3 and also taking some time to celebrate the Feast of St. Francis on Monday. Please join us if you are able for the school Mass at 9:00 AM. Some of our third-graders will be reading and bringing up the gifts at the offeratory procession. Chapter 3 in our religion book is all about the blessing of Jesus' gift of eternal life. We will talk about how Jesus will come at the end of time to invite us to His Kingdom. We will learn more about Jesus' important teaching to love others.
A few reminders for this week...
Enjoy the remainder of the weekend! God bless!
Week of September 26, 2021
Another great week and another beautiful weekend! Thank you to all who attended Back to School Night. It was so nice to "see" so many of you!
A look at the upcoming week...
This week in Language Art, we will be wrapping up Module 1, Week 2. We will finish up with our work on Monday and on Tuesday we will have a vocabulary and grammar quiz. The vocabulary words are the Module 1 Week 2 Big Idea and Critical Vocabulary words. The grammar concept is the four types of sentences. The children are doing a great job on these skills in class, but be sure to take some time to review the words on Monday night! We will then start Module 1, Week 3 on Wednesday. Our story for M1W3 is Scaredy Squirrel, which is always a favorite of the students!
In math, we will be wrapping up our place value unit and starting on some addition concepts and skills. We will have a place value test on Thursday. A review sheet/study guide will be coming home at some point early in the week to help you to help your child prepare. We will also be introducing some of the properties of addition during this week, but that will not be on the place value test.
This week in religion, we will be working on our Good God Choices curriculum. We will talk and share about how we can be the BEST version of ourselves, to be who God created us to be. We will also be preparing for our school Mass on Monday, October 4. This Mass celebrates the Feast of St. Francis and third grade will be the "leaders" for this Mass. Please join us if you are able!
In science, we will be covering Chapter 2, Lesson 3. This lesson is all about how adaptations help animals. We will learn about adaptations that animals have for getting food and for protection. We will also talk about how some animals have instincts that help them to survive.
A few reminders for this week...
Have a wonderful week! God bless!
Week of September 19, 2021
3B had a great first full week of school! I am very proud of the students and how they have handled all the new school routines. Some highlights from the week included lunch in the cafeteria (with the return of the hot lunch program!), recess, Mass and specials classes.
Here is a look at the week ahead...
Religion - Chapter 2 is all about Jesus' teachings about the Kingdom of God. We will learn that we can find Jesus' teachings in the Bible. We will also learn about the gift of faith and why faith is compared to a mustard seed. We will have our Chapter 2 test on Friday, September 24th.
LA - We will begin Module 1, Week 2 this week. Our focus skills are identifying examples of figurative language and key literary elements of a story. In grammar, we are finishing up identifying subject and predicate and will be moving on to learning about the four different types of sentences. Students will receive this week's critical vocabulary and spelling words on Monday. Our spelling test will be Friday, September 24th. Please be sure you review the vocabulary and spelling words with your child nightly. Our readers and Know It Show It workbooks should hopefully be arriving this week. They will be sent home to be covered in contact paper as soon as we receive them.
Math - We are continuing with place value and writing numbers in standard, expanded, picture, and words forms using larger numbers (4, 5 & 6 digits). We will then move on to rounding 2 and 3 digit numbers to the nearest ten and hundred.
Science - Lesson 2 in Chapter 2 is all about the life cycles of different animals. We started on Friday by discussing the life cycle of a butterfly and will continue Lesson 2 this week. We will also learn about how some parts of animals' life cycles are the same while other parts are different.
Some reminders for the week...
I hope you all had a wonderful summer and are safe after the storm last week.
I can't wait to see all of you on Tuesday! I am looking foward to a wonderful year. Just a few reminders for the first day of school:
* Please have your child bring in his/her seat sack on the first day of school. We will need this right away to organize our supplies and get our desks ready for an exciting year of learning!
* The cost of the 3rd grade supplies this year is $18 and is due by Friday, September 10th. Please send in a check made payable to Saint Francis Cathedral School in an envelope marked with your child's name. If your child needs a new seat sack, please add an additional $15 to the check.
* Please be sure to send your child into school with a water bottle every day as the water fountains are still closed.
Enjoy your Labor Day weekend! See you all on Tuesday!
God bless,
Mrs. Botts