Greetings Families,
English: Students should be ready to recite our poem, "The Adventures of Isabel," this week! Recitations will be on January 20th. We will have a condensed week of spelling. We will also be composing a three-paragraph essay independently after last week’s successful guided effort. Finally, we will continue our novel, The Trumpet of the Swan.
Math: During week three, students will continue to work with fractions. They will begin the week by looking at fractions on a number line and how to measure items to the nearest ¼ inch. They will then look at how to add and subtract fractions.
Science: In science, students will learn about the atmosphere and biosphere. The study of the atmosphere will include looking at what an air mass is, air pressure, and the layers of the atmosphere. During the study of the biosphere, students will learn about biodiversity, what a biome is, and different types of species.
I hope you are doing well and have enjoyed the long break thus far. Please remember that there is no school tomorrow, January 18th, in honor of Martin Luther King Day. On Tuesday, we will be reading this article about Martin Luther King Jr. together, but feel free to read it yourself or with your child (students participating in the 95% reading intervention will not be reading this article with the class). I suspect that many students are aware of the events from this summer, and this is likely a good conversation for families to have with their children. We will not discuss the current events in the classroom.
Fractions
Before I get into lessons, I wanted to make sure you knew that I sent home graded work on Friday which included an assignment grade report. Some of you may be discouraged by your child's performance on Friday's math test over fractions. I would like to offer a few thoughts about this. (1) Don't let this cause you too much stress. We saw this same sort of thing with multiplication and division earlier this year. I didn't like to see so many students get Ds and Fs, but I knew that we would be working with multiplication and division a lot and figured most students will start mastering it over time. Most students are now very good with multiplication and long division. (2) One of the reasons students struggled with fractions so much is because they still don't have mastery of their math and division facts. In third grade, one of the biggest things students must master is equivalent fractions. They need to know this to simplify fractions, compare fractions, and add and subtract fractions. If your child is still struggling with multiplication and division facts, mastery of these needs to be a huge priority. We practice them every day in class, but it may not be sufficient for your child to find mastery. Please make mastery of this a priority in your home. (3) Your child may need some support with fractions at home. Though not generally an expectation, your child may find more success with fractions if a parent provides support. For some, this will mean working with them. For others, it may mean just reviewing their homework each night. Not every problem would need to be checked, but a few problems from each section. Any support you can offer would be hugely helpful.
Tutoring
My wife, Emily, and I are now leading an arts and crafts club after school on Mondays and Fridays to provide the K-2 students with some club opportunities. Therefore, I must move my tutoring days. Going forward, math tutoring will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the same time as before (3:05-3:35 p.m.). The focus during tutoring will be fractions.
Okay, thank you for bearing with me. Let's get to this week's lessons.
Lessons
English: Students should be ready to recite our poem, "The Adventures of Isabel," this week! Recitations will be on January 20th. We will have a condensed week of spelling. We will also be composing a three-paragraph essay independently after last week’s successful guided effort. Finally, we will continue our novel, The Trumpet of the Swan.
Math: During week three, students will continue to work with fractions. They will begin the week by looking at fractions on a number line and how to measure items to the nearest ¼ inch. They will then look at how to add and subtract fractions.
Science: In science, students will learn about the atmosphere and biosphere. The study of the atmosphere will include looking at what an air mass is, air pressure, and the layers of the atmosphere. During the study of the biosphere, students will learn about biodiversity, what a biome is, and different types of species.
History: In history this week, our students will be reading about the Viking explorer, Leif Eriksson, and his travels to Greenland and Iceland. They will recognize that the Vikings were the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the land we now call Canada, and what we know of the Vikings has been discovered by archaeological discoveries. They will also be learning about Norse mythology.
Please let me know if there is anything I can do to support you. If you have questions or concerns, please let me know.
Best,
Michael Naaktgeboren