I hope that all of you had a relaxing, restful, and fun Labor Day weekend. I was really happy to hear about many of your adventures today at school! Every week, I will be posting a weekly update that shares with you the content that will be covered this week, important dates, friendly reminders, and some recaps of things that have happened.
This week starts our beginning of the year assessments. Over the next few weeks your child will be taking NWEA and DRA assessments to see just where they are. These tools are used to help guide my instruction for the beginning of the year and gives us a great starting point to begin crafting a plan for helping your child reach their academic goals. This year along with reading and math, your child will be taking the NWEA ELA portion. This portion is used to assess your child’s writing, grammar, and language development.
Listed below is the NWEA testing schedule for our class.
Wednesday 09/04- NWEA Reading at 10:30
Thursday 09/05- NWEA Math at 10:30
Wednesday 09/11- NWEA ELA at 9:00
In addition to beginning the early assessments, your child will also begin our reading pilot program called Benchmark Advance. This year 3rd grade has been selected by the district to pilot the new ELA programs. These programs will encompass the writing, reading, grammar, and spelling curriculum that we will be using within the classroom. Since we are piloting two separate programs each third grade class will be using different materials. Therefore assignments will not be the same for each class. We are very excited about this new opportunity, however we all will be learning together.
In addition, I will be sending home a parent letter and survey with more specific information about our program. Please make sure to check for these letters in your child’s communication folder.
At any time if you have questions please feel free to reach out to me. I’m always only a phone call/email away!
Content Overview this Week
Reading- Introducing Reader’s Workshop expectations, choosing the “good fit” books, and understanding author’s purpose for writing text.
Writing- Introducing writing about their reading by using their reader’s notebooks. Showcase how to write in response to a text and how to correctly format a paragraph.
Word Study (Phonics)- open syllables, closed syllables, and final e syllable patterns (silent e).
Math- Beginning Module 1 Topic A: Multiplication and the Meaning of the Factors unit. We will begin by learning about how equal groups and arrays relate to multiplication.
Social Studies- Starting Unit 1: Geography of Michigan. During this week students will discover what is a state. They will also learn to discuss the location of Michigan using relative and absolute location.
Science- This week in science we will start our unit on forces, called “Invisible Forces.” Your child will learn how almost any action one can imagine consists of a push or a pull, or as scientists call them: a force.
In class your child was presented with a list of action verbs like “drag,” “lift,” “press,” and asked to decide whether they were pushes or pulls. You can help support your child’s learning by continuing this at home. Try applying it to actions that might be of personal interest, like the actions involved in a favorite sport (a throw, a hit, a slam dunk, a tackle, etc.).
Upcoming Events
Tuesday 09/03- PTA meeting at 7pm
Wednesday 9/04- NWEA Reading and School Kick-Off Assembly
Thursday 09/05- NWEA Math
Friday 09/06- Book Fair Setup in Library
Next Week
Tuesday- Thursday- Book Fair
Wednesday- Dearborn Public Schools Bond Meeting at 7pm in library