Rosa Lee Carter
Elementary
Ashburn, VA
J a n u a r y 4 , 2 0 1 6
I s s u e 5
Welcome back to school! I hope that you and your families had a happy, healthy two week vacation from school. This is a wonderful time of year to catch up with family and friends. I know I enjoyed the much needed rest!
We have four weeks left in the second quarter. If you are unsure of your child’s grades, make sure you are checking clarity. Paper copies of the assignments with grades are sent home on Fridays.
This is the time of year that many students need a “refresher” on their school supplies. Ask your child if they need any materials at this time. Many students have lost or used up their highlighters. Your child may also be in need of colored pencils or markers. Check with them to see what items they are out of.
We will continue to monitor multiplication fact progress with our short fact quizzes. These will not be counted towards the report card grade. They are only used to incentivize the students to learn their facts faster! If your child is struggling on a particular fact, the 3’s for instance, make sure they are only focusing on that set of facts until they are mastered. Then, move on to the next set.
We continue to use the student devices daily. Many students are forgetting to charge them the night before, or forgetting to bring them to school. If you have allowed your child to have a device at school, please remind them to charge it and bring it in the morning. I do remind students daily to take them home in the afternoon. Your child is also the only one touching their personal device.
Your child should have access to a variety of resources on the Links for Third Grade site off of the third grade webpage. For research sites, go to the Rosa Lee Carter homepage, and then click on the
specialists tab. If you go the library site there is a link for online resources. Your child should be able to access a variety of online encyclopedias and other resources for home research, reports or to find answers on their own for study questions!
 January 18 th - MLK Holiday, Schools closed
 January 22 Spirit Night- The Zone

Unger, pg. 2
When reviewing homework with your child, ask them to explain a few problems to you.
Ask questions such as,
What strategy did you use to solve that problem? What made you pick that one? Do you know others? What is the key information in the question? How do you know?
We always want to see what the children are thinking and then help guide them from what they already know. If a strategy is working, go with it! If the strategy is giving them the wrong answers, then try teaching a new strategy. You just might have a way that they never thought of!
Reminders:
1.
Resources test will be Friday, January 8 th
2.
Make sure your child has lunch money on his/her account if they buy lunch.
3.
Your child needs to be wearing a WARM coat to school. Some students are coming to school in only sweatshirts. We go outside if the wind-chill is above 32 degrees!
4.
Graphing Test: Friday, January 15 th
5.
Resources Test: Thursday, January 14th

Unger, pg. 3
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp
/client_ftp/ks2/maths/3d/index.htm
http://www.kidsmathgamesonline.com/geomet ry.html
http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/findit/geometry/ http://www.math-play.com/Geometry-Math-
Games.html
http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/rainf orest.htm
(rain forest) http://www.kidsgeo.com/geographyfor-kids/0164-ecosystems.php
http://www.kidscourier.com/kids_learning/science/scien ceeco_aqua.html
http://www.songsforteaching.com/jeffs chroeder/habitat.htm
(Habitat song)
http://www.worldoftales.com/
Math:
1.
Geometry a.
b.
Congruent vs. Similar
Identify solids c.
Line segments, rays , lines and angles d.
Area and perimeter
Science:
1.
Ecosystems a.
Grasslands b.
Deserts c.
Forests (4 types) d.
Water (salt and fresh)
Language Arts:
1.
Using context clues to expand vocabulary
2.
Reading fluently with accuracy
3.
Using reference sources
4.
Making inferences and drawing conclusions
5.
Using abbreviations
6.
Regular and irregular site words
7.
8.
Writing nonfiction reports
Writing fantasy stories