What's Coming for December?

Hello Parents!  I hope everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!  It's so hard to believe that Term 1 is already over, and December is just around the corner.  YIKES!  Where is all the time going????  Academically speaking, this is the time of year when so many new things are happening in the classroom, so here's a summary of where we are with our learning:

In Fundations, we have just started Unit 5, and Week 1 is all about the "schwa" sound!  And believe it or not, it's more than just a fun word to say!  The schwa sound occurs when a vowel in the unaccented syllable of a word doesn't make the expected vowel sound.  For example, in the word "wagon," the 'o' doesn't make the short o sound.  Instead, it sounds more like a short i sound.  As you can imagine, the schwa sound can make spelling a challenge for young children, so we'll be working with this sound quite a bit in class.

Reading

It's all about NONFICTION in Term 2!  Students will be reading informational text, biographies, and autobiographies.  The skills needed to read and comprehend nonfiction are more involved, and many of our classroom lessons will focus on specific features of nonfiction text.  These will include:  headings, captions, labels, special print, charts and graphs, diagrams, insets, sidebars, etc...  As third graders, students will learn how to use these features to increase their understanding of text.  I encourage you to have your child explore nonfiction books or magazines at home for their nightly reading.  Many upcoming Fluency Bag passages will also include nonfiction information.

As you probably already know, we are having lots of fun with multiplication in math.  Chapter 6 began with a basic review of multiplication - emphasizing the idea that multiplication is repeated addition and always involves equal groups.  Students are learning to use key vocabulary terms like: factor, product, and multiple.  Although students will need to memorize the tables, we are focusing on  using simple tricks like "doubling" when we multiply by two, or using the "double, double" strategy when multiplying by four.  Be sure to ask you child about some of these strategies at home.

Students are reading about the geography of Massachusetts.  We are using our nonfiction reading skills each day when we dig into our textbook and explore new parts of Massachusetts.  So far, students have read about Cape Cod, the North Shore, and the South Shore.  

We are still working on our matter unit in science.  This week, we will be investigating the properties of gas - asking important questions like:  Does air take up space?  Does air have weight?  Classroom demonstrations will prove that the answer to both of these questions is YES!  After these lessons, we will be studying the properties of water, and how it is affected by temperature.  Students will be learning about melting, freezing, evaporation, and condensation.  Again, if your child loves science and is eager to explore more at home, be sure to check out Steve Spangler science or Bill Nye's website.  There are so many fun ways for your child to further their understanding of these concepts!

As always, thank you for all you do at home to support your child's learning!

Be well!

Equal Groups and Repeated Addition: Bean Style!

Today we explored the concept of multiplication by making equal groups and using repeated addition sentences.  Students worked in pairs to "build" our equations with beans.

We learned that in a multiplication sentence, the first factor tells us the number of groups, and the second factor tells us the number in those groups.

5 x 4 = 20

5 groups of 4 = 20

4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 = 20

I was so very impressed with the mental math strategies used by students to find their products!  A job well done everyone!

Magnificent Multiplication!

We are getting ready to begin Chapter 6 in math:  Multiplication Tables of 6, 7, 8, and 9.  Last year, second graders worked with their 2s, 5s, and 10s.  Next week, we will be starting a program called, "Multiplication in 7 Days."  Your child will have a specific set of facts to memorize each night and will be quizzed the following day.  For example, on Day 1, students will learn the "squares."  On Day 2, they will review the squares and learn the 2 facts.  It will be very important for students to continue practicing their addition facts as well.  These facts truly create a foundation and the number sense necessary to master multiplication.  

Please be aware that multiplication is presented as repeated addition.  Students must understand that multiplication always involves equal groups.  For instance, 8 x 7 would be 8 groups of 7.  Your child will also be learning and using important vocabulary terms including:  factor, product, and multiple.

Standards connected to this chapter are: 

3.OA.A.1 - Represent and solve problems involving multiplication

3.OA.B.5 - Understands properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division.