Welcome to Third Grade
Curriculum Night!
•Please sign in & have a seat at your
child’s desk.
Welcome to
Curriculum Night!
West Wing School
August 23, 2012
Introductions
Third Grade Team
Mrs. Amarillas
 Mrs. Bohlman
 Mrs. Logan
 Mrs. Patti
 Mrs. VandeBerg

Tonight’s Curriculum Overview
I.
II.
III.
III.
IV.
Reading
Math
Writing
Science & Social Studies
Spelling
Reading Assessment
 DIBELS
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Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy
Skills
One Minute Measures of Child’s Literacy
Development
Assesses 3rd Graders in the area of Oral
Reading Fluency (ORF) & Comprehension
(DAZE)
Monitors Growth Throughout the Year
• Assessed Three Times Per Year
Core Reading Program
Reading Street Common Core Series
Audio CDs
 Leveled Readers Below Level, On Level, Advanced, & ELL
 Decodable Books
Student Text Books – Weekly Story, Reading
Strategies & Skills ~ Both Fiction & NonFiction
 Small Group Practice
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Phonics
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Phonics & Word Recognition
 Know & apply grade level phonics & word
analysis skills in decoding words.
• Identify & know the meaning of the most common prefixes &
derivational suffixes.
• Decode words with common Latin suffixes.
• Decode multi-syllabic words.
• Read grade appropriate irregular appropriate words.
Reading Expectations
3rd Grade ~ Strategies & Skills
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Strategies include: Background Knowledge, Important Ideas,
Inferring, Monitor & Clarify, Predict & Set Purpose, Questioning,
Story Structure, Summarize, Text Structure, & Visualizing.
Skills include: Author’s Purpose, Cause & Effect, Classify &
Catgorize, Compare & Contrast, Draw Conclusions, Fact &
Opinion, Generalizations, Main Idea & Details, Graphic Sources,
Literary Elements, Sequencing, &
Steps in a Process
Ways To Improve
Comprehension
Use Cues Prior to Reading:
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Set a purpose for reading
Discuss New Vocabulary
Taking a Picture Walk
Making Predictions
Building Background if necessary
During Reading
• Ask all levels of questions
After Reading
* Retell Story & Discuss Main Idea & Characters
Ways to Improve Comprehension.
Continued
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Comprehension can be improved by building
fluency. Fluency is gained by repeated oral
readings.
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Over the course of the week- Reread the same
story several times.
Vocabulary
 Helps
children understand what they read
 Use context clues to decode new words
 Vocabulary words are correlated to the
weekly story and supplemental texts
Flex Reading Groups
*Students switch classrooms for 30 minutes per day
for specific reading instruction based on
independent needs.
*Within each group, students will work on one of the
5 areas of comprehension: Making Connections &
Predicting, Questioning, Monitoring, Summarizing,
and Visualizing. Students will switch groups
throughout the year.
*Students will not receive grades from their Flex
Group teacher.
Why Can’t My Child Skip the 20
minutes of reading each night?
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Student A practices 10 whole school days in a year.
Student B practices 2 whole school days a year.
By the end of 6th grade, if both students maintain these reading
habits...
Student A will have read an equivalent of 60 whole school days.
Student B will have read an equivalent of 12 whole school days.
Based on these habits and statistics, one can expect the gap of
information to have widened considerably.
How do you think both Student A and Student B will feel about
him/herself as a student by the end of 6th grade?
Writing & Grammar
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Prewrite, Draft, Revise, Edit & Publish
 Goals –
 Expressive Writing:
 Personal narratives, Stories
 Expository:
 journals, making lists
 Functional:
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Rules, Letters, Notes
Persuasive:
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Support your Point of View
Six Traits of Writing
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Organization – formats (friendly letter),
transitional words (next, then, but, etc.)
Voice – Demonstrate a personal touch through word choice,
style & expression.
Word Choice – use a variety, conveys meaning
Sentence Fluency – flows & sounds like natural speech.
Conventions – capital letters & punctuation.
Ideas – brainstorming, staying on topic
Math

enVision Math from Scott-Foresman
 Based on Common Core Standards
 Research Based
 Incorporates Manipulatives
 Number Facts
 Assessment at the end of each topic
 Rocket Math for fluency in addition, subtraction &
multiplication facts.
Math
Number Sense & Operations – Identifying numbers &
relationships, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication
Estimation
 Data analysis, probability,
discrete math – data, graphs,
outcomes of experiments,
counting possible outcomes
 Patterns
 Geometry
 Structure & Logic - Reasoning
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Science
 Foss
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Science
Active & hands on learning.
Engages students in real world processes.
 Third
Grade Themes
 Inquiry Process, History and Nature of
Science, Science and Personal and Social
Perspectives, Structures of Life, Physics of
Sound & Earth Materials Science
Social Studies
 Harcourt
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Series
American History
World History
Civics & Government
Geography
Economics
Special Areas
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P. E. ~ Ms. Langseth & Ms. Knuth
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Band ~ Ms. Rich
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Art ~ Mrs. Hilbert / Music ~ Mrs. Ortiz
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Technology ~ Ms. Witteveen
Dismissal
 Students
MUST know their route home
each day.
 Please be sure to add a note about any
change in your child’s dismissal in his/her
homework folder.
 Park Gate / Parent Procedure & Yellow
Card

ALL DISMISSAL CHANGES/EMERGENCIES
AFTER 2:00 p.m. MUST be addressed through
the front office.
Homework & Behavior Colors
 Please
review & correct homework nightly
 Sign Agenda Nightly
 Behavior Colors ~ Note the change in
colors:
Outstanding
Super Day
Great Day
Ready to Learn
Reminder
Teacher’s Choice
Parent Contact
Field Trips
 Possible
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Excursions:
Pioneer Village
Science Museum
Fire Department
Desert Outdoor Center
Housekeeping
 Time
For Kids Magazine $5.00 request per
child
 T-Shirts ~ Grade level shirts! More
information to come. 
Thank you
 Your
time is valuable!
 Thank you for attending this informative
evening!