Isaac Fox Elementary s
THE MATRAS
October 23, 2015 s
Ph: (847)540-2815 s
kerri.matras@lz95.org s
MINUTE
A Summary of Third Grade Happenings
Reading/Language Arts
Reading
This past week, we took a “sneak peak” into the
various genre units we will be learning about for
the year: nonfiction, fiction and poetry. The third
graders learned about some of the elements and
common characteristics of each of these. Next
week, we will begin our first genre study:
nonfiction!
Writing
During Writers’ Workshop, we have been
immersing ourselves in a variety of literature to
answer the questions: why writing is important?
and why writers write? We learned that all
writers have something to say, and they write as
a way to communicate to their audiences. One
of our favorite books we read during Writers’
Workshop was If You Were a Writer. The author
had a powerful message to us as writers: writing
doesn’t just “happen”. Writing takes time and
needs to go through a specific process in order
to ensure that it makes sense and is interesting.
Quick Tidbits
October 26-30th: Red Ribbon Week
See attached flyer regarding the activities
scheduled for the week!
October 30th: Halloween Party!
The kids will be changing into their costumes
around 1:10pm. The parade begins at 1:30pm.
Our classroom party will start after the parade.
November 2nd: Homerun Reading Logs Due!
November 6th: No School: Institute Day
November 11th: No School: Veterans’ Day
Mathematics
The third graders have been learning strategies for
adding and subtracting two-and three-digit numbers
mentally, using place value to break the numbers into
parts. These strategies are used so that they can add
mentally, part by part. Please note, it is extremely
important for adults to resist the temptation to
introduce paper/pencil procedures for multi-digit
addition and subtraction at this point. Currently, your
child is developing strong number sense from doing
calculations mentally and using strategies grounded
in the base-10 number system. The familiar methods
you learned in school will be taught and practiced
later in third grade. 
Science
The third graders had a great time learning about
plant and animal adaptations. We did a fun
experiment to learn how birds’ beaks are adapted to
help it survive in its environment. Ask your child
about our activity! A study guide was sent home on
Wednesday with information about our upcoming
test. The test will be on Wednesday, October 28th.
.
Social Studies
We have been learning about various types of maps
(product, political, road, and physical) and what we
can learn from these. For example, we discovered
that a product map provides us with information
about what major products are grown or raised in a
particular area. To wrap up our map skills unit, the
third graders are going on a treasure hunt! We are
using what we have learned throughout our study of
map skills to create our own Treasure Island map
and story.