Curriculum Update

Dear Third Grade Parents,

Well, the third graders and I are off and running.  Last week was a fantastic start to what I am certain will be a successful year of learning and creativity.  I am so proud of how quickly and eagerly our class was ready to begin.

Thank you again to all of you for your warm welcome and offers of support.  I cannot tell you how blessed I feel to have such supportive parents.

This week will be our first week of full days and as you will see in the curriculum update below, we will be busy in the third grade classroom.  As I stated in my back to school letter last week, the curriculum update is always subject to change.  Please use the update as a general guide of information.


Curriculum Update: 9/3/13-9/6/13:

Religion:  Finish Chapter 1- Jesus as a young boy growing up in Nazareth; Jesus as the son of Mary and Joseph; The public ministry of Jesus;  Chapter 1 review;  Begin Chapter 2- Jesus teaches us about God's love; The Story of the Mustard Seed

Language Arts:  Continue study of prepositions and begin to identify prepositional phrases and the object of the preposition; Finding the subject and the verb of a sentence

Vocabulary:  Begin unit 1with introduction to the words and their meanings, their synonyms and antonyms

Reading:  Continue to read and discuss the story, "Gloria Who Might Be My Best Friend" and complete comprehension exercises.  There will be a reading vocabulary quiz on Thursday and a comprehension quiz on Friday.  The reading vocabulary words are : tease, lonely, seriously, collection, stiff, and probably

Math:  Continue to study the 5 and 3 times tables;  Exploring the use of arrays; Commutativity; Writing equations for equal groups; Multiplication and arrays

Social Studies:  Begin unit 1, Chapter 1:  Finding your location; map skills; Physical features; Communities;

*** Guidelines and templates for the first social studies class project will go home later this week.  Please read through the guidelines carefully and be sure to contact me with any questions or concerns you might have.  This project is meant to be low key and a fun, creative way for the students to learn more about their local community.

Science:  What questions scientists ask; What skills and tools scientists use.

Writing:  Begin unit on personal narratives.  This is a six to eight week long unit that studies the elements and style of personal narratives.  I am looking forward to watching the third graders discover their memorable small moments and to see them capture the memories with their own personal writing style.

It looks like it will be a busy week, but I know the third graders and I will work hard to accomplish all we can.  Please be on the look out for the social studies project guidelines and templates.  I will send them home on Thursday afternoon in the white homework folder.

I want to thank the Martinez Family for donating 2 fans to the third grade classroom.  They are a big help during these final, hot summer days.

Thank you also to the McSherry Family for donating a Barnes and Noble gift card.  I was able to purchase a few books to add to our classroom library.

I hope all of you are enjoying the final days of summer and sunshine.  Have a fantastic week!  Thank you for all you do to make Stella Maris Academy an amazing place to learn.  Take care and God bless!

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin
Your Third Grade Teacher