Classroom Messenger
Mrs. Mercer
Third Grade
Lovettsville Elementary School
September 15, 2014
bmercer@lcps.org
Calendar
Mon., Oct. 13Columbus
Day—school
holiday
Tues., Oct. 14Monday
schedule
Fri., Oct. 31—End of first grading
period
Mon., Nov. 3 and Tues., Nov. 4—
Teacher workdays, student holidays
Wed., Nov. 26-Fri., Nov. 28—
Thanksgiving holiday
Specials At a Glance:
P.E.—Tues., Thurs., Fri.
Music—Tues., Fri.
Art—Mon.
Library—Wed.
Every other week:
Guidance—Thurs.
Search—Mon.
Math
We have started working on a
math unit about numbers and place
value. A study guide for this unit is
attached to this newsletter.
Science
In science, we are learning about
the scientific method and scientific
investigations. This is an introductory
unit that includes skills and concepts
that we will utilize throughout the
school year. Students will be
introduced to these ideas, then we will
practice and build on them as we
complete our units of study.
Consequently, there will not be an end
of unit summative assessment for
scientific investigations. Attached to
this newsletter, you will find two
information sheets, called “Science
Update”. The first update is an outline
of the school year, and the second
update is about our current unit. There
is no separate study guide for this unit.
Our first study guide in science will be
sent home when we begin our unit on
matter.
Students and parents may access
the student version of our science
textbook at home. This book contains
lots of information and great color
photos and illustrations.
Directions for accessing science
textbook, published by Five Ponds
Press:
website-http://www.fivepondspressbooks.com/
Loudounstudent
Scroll down to the Science Curriculum
section, then click on the Grade 3 All
Around Us book.
Student username: Loudounk5
Student password: 12345
We are working on Chapter 1, “Be a
Scientist”. If you click on the book
with the red “Audio” triangle in the
bottom right corner of the book, you
can access the text with audio. Click on
the circles with a triangle in the middle
to start the audio reading of each
section.
Social Studies
In social studies, we are
beginning a unit about citizenship and
government. We are using a textbook
for social studies that is also published
by Five Ponds Press. This textbook
may be accessed online using the same
information that is listed in the Science
section of the newsletter. Find the
Social Studies Curriculum section and
click on the Grade 3 textbook.
A study guide for our current
social studies unit is attached to this
newsletter.
Reading/Writing
In reading, students are choosing
“good fit” books—books that they are
interested in reading that are not too
easy or too hard, but “just right”. I am
meeting with each student individually
to talk about their reading choices
during Readers Workshop. We are
working on making connections to
what we are reading, visualizing what
we are reading, and retelling stories.
In writing, students are
reviewing recognizing and writing
complete sentences and writing
paragraphs that include a topic
sentence, details, and an ending
sentence. In Writers Workshop, we will
begin writing personal narrative stories.