March 24, 2017

Dear Parents,

Our week was full of fun activities. The kids all had a great time participating in Spirit Week! Today, we had a visit from some of the members of the CU Buffs football team. They talked to our class about how important it is to work hard in school, sports, and in life and to always do our best. Before they left, the kids were able to get their autographs. (Hopefully, you can see the pasted pictures below.)

On Tuesday, we had a guest speaker, Ms. Pam, from the North Metro Fire Department. She talked to the third graders about fire safety and the importance of making a family plan for how to get out of the house safely if there is a fire.

We also worked very hard this week to complete many of our learning units before Spring Break. All students completed the Fractions Unit math test. We will do test corrections when we return from the break on Monday. Most of the class is also finished with a draft of their slide shows for their research. After the break, students will continue to edit and revise their work, and they will be on display for the Learning Fair (now known as the Inspiration Exhibition) on April 20. Finally, we finished our Social Studies unit on Regions of the United States. When we return we will begin our final Science unit on Earth Material (Rocks and Minerals).

I hope you all have a safe and relaxing Spring Break. We will return to school on Monday, April 3rd.  State testing starts on the 4th!

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt

March 17, 2017

Dear Parents,

We have one more week to go until Spring Break. We are super busy finishing up a variety of units before the break. Here’s a recap of what’s going on in 3rd grade. It’s a lot of information, but please read to the end to get it all.

PARCC

PARCC testing begins the week we return from Spring Break. 3rd graders will be taking the tests online each morning from 8:30-10:20. Please make sure your student is at school on time and well fed with breakfast each day. Please do not schedule any appointments during this testing time to reduce the number of retakes we have to do at the end. NOTE: This is only the 3rd grade testing schedule. If you have 4th or 5th graders, they have more days than this to test. Please refer to their testing schedule.

April 3	April 4 3rd ELA 1 8:30 – 10:20am	April 5 3rd ELA 2 8:30-10:20am	April 6 3rd ELA 3 8:30-10:20am	April 7 3rd  Math 1 8:30-10:20am
April 10 3rd Math 2 8:30 – 10:20am	April 11	April 12 3rd  Math 3 8:30-10:20am	April 13 3rd  Math 4 8:30-10:20am	April 14 NO SCHOOL

If your child would like to do some practicing at home for the tests, follow this link: http://bvsd.org/assessment/Pages/default.aspx

Students should also be practicing their typing skills at home to be able to complete the writing portion of the test. One of the best ways to practice typing is to type the alphabet over and over until they remember where all the keys are on the keyboard.

Literacy

We have finished researching and writing a rough draft of our informational writing project. This week we learned how to create Google slides for a presentation of our learning. We will continue to work on our slides next week and hope to be finished with them before break. Look for your child’s slide presentation at our Kohl Learning Fair, coming in April.

Math

This week we started Unit 7 in our math books- Fractions. By the end of this unit, students will understand:

• How to write a fraction and a unit fraction for a part of a whole and for a number on a number line
• Write equivalent fractions including fractions that are equivalent to whole numbers
• Compare two fractions with the same denominator OR the same numerator
• Solve real world problems involving fractions

The unit test for Fractions is scheduled for next Friday before break.

Social Studies

We have been learning about the regions of the United States during Social Studies. Students have watched videos (virtual field trips) for each of the regions and are learning about the similarities and differences of the regions of the United States. Students will be assessed next week on this unit. Our next Science unit, Earth Materials, will start after Spring Break.

Please let me know if you have any questions about anything in third grade.

Just as a reminder, the third grade music program is scheduled for next Tuesday, March 21st at 6:00.  Also, next week is our Kohl Spirit Week. Monday: Random Day, Tuesday: Sports Day, Wednesday: Pajama Day, Thursday: Crazy Hair Day, Friday:Kohl Spirit Day.

Enjoy the warm weekend!

Aisha Galt