Parent Information

  • I am happy your child is in my class this year.  Below is some information that I hope you find useful.  I look forward to working with you and your child this year.
     
    At the bottom of this page are links to:
    1. Third Grade Math RDSW Problem Solving Model 
    2. The Third Grade Handbook (You will get a printed copy on meet the teacher night)
    3. What your child's guided reading level means
    4. Reading Strategies and Skills
    5. Ways to help your child in math at home.
    6. Guided Reading and Guided Math Explanation 
    7. Writing Level information
    8. New York State Testing Information
    9. Why My Child Should Read 20-30 minutes every night.
     
    Below are some words you have heard about, but might not remember what they mean.
     
    • Common Core:  This means we have moved to a national curriculum.  The good news is that if you move, your child should be on track with the rest of the third graders no matter which state you move to!  We have been working on Math and ELA and this year we will be working on the changes in the Science curriculum.  You will notice that we will get into multiplication facts very quickly and it is important that your child really learns them.  To do this he/she will need your help.  Please spend time each night working with your child to help him/her learn the facts.  The following link will take you to the State Education Department site where you can find out more information on the Common Core ELA and Math curriculum    
     
    • Guiding Reading:  Guided reading means that I will be breaking the class down into groups based on their reading levels.  Your child will be reading books that are within his/her ability to read and understand independently.  We have been doing guided reading as a district for several years now and the program fits well with Common core.           

     

     

     

    •   Read-a-loud:  Every day I will be reading a story to the class.  We will be discussing the story and practicing reading skills that were taught during the mini-lesson. This gives the students a chance to focus on the story and share their thoughts with their partner and with the entire group.                                                                                                                                                                                                                
    •  Independent Reading:  Your child chooses a book or magazine that he/she enjoys and reads it every day.  The thing that needs to be looked at is can your child read the book or magazine he/she chose?  A good test is the five finger rule:  as your child reads the first full page you put a finger down for every word your child struggles with or skips.  Once you get to 5 words, you need to redirect your child to a different book.  Telling him/her that this is not a book for right now, but if he/she continues to read nightly, they will one day be able to read the book.  You also need to check to see if your child is understanding the book he/she is reading.  Sometimes a child can easily read the words, but when you ask what the story is about, he/she really doesn't know.  In these cases you need to have your child slow down and read closely stopping at the end of each page to summarize what was read.  If your child still is having problems, then it would be best to go to an easier book and practice comprehension.  Your child can also go onto Raz-kids on the computer.  Raz-kids provides leveled stories with comprehension questions. Your child has a raz kids account.   The link is:                                                                                                                    http://www.raz-kids.com/main/Login                                                                                                                                                                       
    • Writing Workshop:  your child will be writing in his/her journal.  In addition, we will be studying author's craft and your child will be writing 2 stories based upon Helen Lester's funny penguin Tacky and your child will be writing his/her own Casey and Bella story that will be submitted to a contest for publishing.  Your child will be writing a story about a favorite memory in personal memoir.  In our nonfiction unit your child will be reading a biography and creating a project to teach the class about the person he/she learned about.  During our rain forest unit, your child will be learning about a rain forest animal and putting together information to teach the class about the animal he/she learned about.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
    • Guided Math/Math Workshop:  In math, I will be breaking the class down into smaller groups for each lesson.  At the beginning of each unit, I will be doing a pretest.  Based on the pretest, I will determine my groups.  While I am working with groups, the remaining students will be working in math centers and on the daily math classwork.  This is run a lot like guided reading, only we are doing it in math.                                                                                               

     

     

     

     

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