What Will Your Child Learn This Year?
Third Grade Curriculum in Mrs. Timm’s Room
Reading
We will be reading a variety of novels this year along with stories at
your child’s reading level in our Benchmark Literacy Language Arts program.
The following components will help your child become a fluent and expressive
reader, as well as strong in comprehending the text.
At School:
1. Small group individualized instruction at your child’s level.
2. Whole group discussion will strengthen comprehension skills to develop
a deeper meaning of what is being read. The Chocolate Touch, Sara
Plain and Tall, Johnny Appleseed, Harriet Tubman, Addy, and Pilgrims
are just a few. Many of these books will tie into what we are studying
in Social Studies.
The children will be exposed different genre’s (historical fiction,
biography, fantasy, non-fiction) and authors that they may be new to
them.
3. Word Study: Understanding how words are put together and their
meanings.
At Home:
4. Your child may be asked to access a story on RAZ-Kids (www.razkids.com), an online library of stories, at various reading levels. The
children will learn to use the site at school before I ask them to
access a story at home. A password to access the site will come home
in the assignment notebook.
Nightly Reading from the Weekly Reading Folder: The goal is to read
and reread the same selection and poem each night. Fluency and
expression should improve by Thursday with repetitive readings.
Some children even memorize the poem for fun! Research shows that
when a reader has developed strong fluency, then comprehension of
what is being read is stronger. During the third grade year students
will move from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”. The Folder
will come home on Monday and will need to be returned on Friday.
Math
Math Expressions is the name of our textbook series. The first
month of school focuses heavily on multiplication. The series does a super
job of teaching geometry continually through out the year, building on
vocabulary and practicing skills so they are not forgotten. You can access
thinkcentral.com to print homework pages that might have been left at
school or to help your child grasp a concept by using some of the lessons and
games that go along with our series. Passwords will come home in the
assignment notebook.
Each morning, as part of your child’s daily routine he/she will work
through 5 math problems. On Friday he/she will take a 10 point quiz that will
reflect how well your child has grasped the various types of problems
discussed during then week.
We take 4 min. timed tests (100 problems) to strengthen our
computation skills (-, x and /) several times per week, as well as use the
computer program FASTMath to do the same thing.
We will begin working on multiplication right away in September! Please help
your child practice flash cards each night! Once we have learned all our
facts, we will celebrate by having an ice cream sundae party.
At Home:
1. Check out thinkcentral.com for additional support. This vocabulary
intensive program has a great visual glossary and games/activities
to compliment what we are learning in school.
2. The best way for you to help your child is to be aware of his/her
homework each night. Please provide a quite place to work and give
support when necessary.
3. This math page is always due back the next day. I rarely give
homework on Friday.
Spelling
Students will learn several spelling patterns and are responsible for
spelling the patterned words in our unit each week. The words will come
home in the Weekly Note each Monday. We take a practice test on
Wednesday and the final test on Friday. If your child receives a 100% on
the Wednesday practice test, they do not need to take it on Friday. If you
are available on Wednesdays to help correct the practice tests please
consider volunteering to help. This would make it possible to get the
tests home first thing Wednesday afternoon.
Often children will memorize the words for a test and then misspell
them in their daily writing. Grading on the report card will take into
consideration daily spelling not just spelling tests. Check out
www.spellingcity.com as an additional resource to study your words.
Science
This is a “hands on” program in which we learn about concepts in depth
through the use of science kits. Starting out the year, the students will
learn about the life cycle of plants by planting their own brassica seeds and
watching them go through the complete life cycle from seed to seed in 6
weeks. Students will plant, water, fertilize, thin,
observe, graph, and draw conclusions regarding the
growth of their plants. Class participation, written
work and drawn diagrams will all be taken into
consideration in regard to determining your child’s
proficiency level for each unit of study. We will also learn about nutrition,
the digestive system, our solar system, weather and simple machines!
Social Studies
Our goal is to enrich the students’ knowledge of our state, Wisconsin,
and the factors that have made our communities the way they are today.
We will also become experts at reading maps!
Because our Social Studies curriculum is
vocabulary intensive and the children are learning what
it means to study for a test, we have created study
guides for each unit and will send those home at least a
week before any upcoming assessment. What is on the
study guide will be on the test.
Please use the guide to help your child study a little each night so they
feel less stress, and do well. As always, family discussions about related
topics are wonderful because they help the children connect these concepts
to their own lives.
We will visit Old World Wisconsin in the spring, as well as read several
historical fiction books during the year that will help us understand the
timeline of several important historical events.
Writing
Students will receive lots of practice writing! We will write in “The
Notebook,” our personal journal, and write about just about anything! We
will learn that our memories of special events can be turned into stories.
Our goal is to teach your child how to write a topic sentence and then
confidently create a three to five paragraph piece by the end of the year.
The final copy will stress proper language skills, word usage, and spelling.
Our written work will be on display here at school, and saved in your child’s
“Writer Workshop Folder.” Look for all written work to come home at the
end of year. Feel free to stop in your child’s classroom and look at what your
child is doing, or peruse the hallways! Carollton kids love to write!
Organizational Tips
Assignment Notebook:
To teach the students responsibility and encourage independence we
have students keep a daily assignment book. These books are given to the
students on their first day of school and we fill out the assignments
together each day as a class. We will write down everything we did during
the day, and check it off to show that the work is complete. Any work not
completed in school will come home to finish as homework and is due the
next day.
Students are expected to have their parents sign their assignment
book each evening.
Homework:
Your child will only be bringing home work that was not finished during
regular class time. I always start assignments in class and give time to work
on them so that I can help those who are struggling before the assignment
goes home.
If the homework load is too much for that night, please communicate
that as well. I would expect the Nightly Reading Folder to take about 15
minutes per night and math no more than 20-30 minutes. The assignment
notebook, e-mail (c.timm@ocfsd.org) or a phone call (414 768 6292) are all
great ways to keep the lines of communication open between home and
school.
Some children who are very efficient in class will have little or no work to
complete at home. If you or I are/am concerned that your child is rushing to
complete work I will ask your child to take it home to have you look it over.
Many parents ask if they should sit with their child during homework. I
would discourage you from sitting with them. Third grade is a great time to
help children understand that homework is their responsibility, but that you are
available for help or clarification as necessary.
Weekly Note:
This will come home each Monday and showcases the week. Spelling
words are listed on this sheet. Place it on the ‘fridge, or in a spot that you
can easily refer to it as needed. Some children keep it in their folder all
week. If your child is going between two homes, please request a second
copy, one for Mom’s place and one for Dad’s.
Folders/Backpack:
Also helpful to students is to have a backpack that they carry their
work in, to and from school. On the first day of school we designate one of
the folders as your child’s “Homework Folder.” Please encourage them to
safely keep their school papers and notes in this folder. If sending money
for book orders or lunch, please place in a sealed envelope with your child’s
name.
At the end of the week, students will also be bringing home a “Friday
Folder”. Community fliers and PTO events will also be sent home in this
folder, as well as your child’s corrected work. If a paper needs to be fixed,
please review the work with him/her and tuck it back inside the folder. Sign
and return “Friday Folders” each Monday.
Specials: Art, Gym, Music, Library and German
Please refer to this schedule so that your child is prepared with gym
shoes, library books, etc. on the appropriate days.
Snacks:
We would like to have a healthy snack before recess each day. One of
our science units this year is about the food pyramid and how important good
nutrients are. Please send only fresh fruit/veggies or something low in fat
like pretzels, granola bars or saltine crackers. Please, no fruit cups or
veggie dips.
Getting Home:
If your child has a change in transportation for the day, please send a
note. Feel free to write this in the assignment notebook, as I check for
parent signatures each morning.