Curriculum Update

Dear Third Grade Parents,

It is time to prepare for SMA's annual Spirit Week!!!!  Yahoo!  Be sure to check this week's E-Notice for each day's theme.

I am posting this week's Curriculum Update with the idea some topics may not be covered due to the excitement and enthusiasm that usually comes with celebrating Spirit Week.  Thank you for your patience and understanding with regards to the fact some topics may be bumped to the following week.

Curriculum Update for the Week of May 25, 2015:

Religion:  Chapter 25 review;  Chapter 25 Quiz next Wednesday;  Begin Chapter 26:  God's Holy People;  We belong to the Communion of Saints;  Mary is our greatest saint; The Immaculate Conception

Math:  Compare unit fractions by reasoning about their size using fraction strips; Compare unit fractions with different-sized models representing the whole; Review of multiplication facts:  Understand "equal groups of..." as multiplication; Relate multiplication to the array model;  Interpret the meaning of factors- the size or the number of groups

Reading:  Read and discuss the story, " Urban Roosts, Where Birds Nest in the City;  complete comprehension activities in class;  Comprehension Test on Friday 

Language Arts:  Grammar:  Sentence Types; Personal Pronouns; Compound Pronouns; Spelling:  Unit 33 Spelling Test based on words from Vocabulary Workshop Unit 12;  Spelling Test on Thursday

Social Studies:  Begin Chapter 11:  Working in a community and depending on one another

Science:  Continue Chapter 10:  Review lesson 2:  Forces and motion; Magnetism; What is gravity; laws of gravity; gravity and weight

Music:  Continue to learn how to read music and play the recorders


I hope everyone has a fantastic three-day weekend.  Happy Memorial Day!!!  Thank you for all you do to help make Stella Maris Academy a fabulous place to learn.  Take care and God bless!

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin
Your Third Grade Teacher

Dear Third Grade Parents,

Here is this week's Curriculum Update!  Have a wonderful rest of the weekend.  See you tomorrow!

Curriculum Update for the Week of May 18, 2015:

Religion:  Begin Chapter 24:  The Catholic Church is worldwide; Catholics share the same faith;  Celebrating the Catholic faith in different ways

Reading:  Read and discuss the story, "Make Way for Ducklings".  Complete comprehension activities  together;  Comprehension quiz on Thursday

Language Arts:  Grammar:  Continue unit on Adverbs- degrees and double negatives; Adverb unit review; Adverb Test on Friday;  Spelling Unit 32 on Vocabulary Workshop words from Unit 11; Spelling Test on Thursday

Social Studies:  Finish Chapter 10:  The Civil War; Civil Rights, Equal Rights for Women

Science:  Begin Chapter 10:  What is Motion?  How force affects motion, what causes motion, friction and forces

Math:  represent parts of one whole as fractions; write fractions greater than 1 whole using unit fractions; compare unit fractions by reasoning about their size using fraction strips

Music:  Continue to learn how to read music and to play the recorder

Have a restful end to your weekend.  Thank you for continuing to check in on what we are learning in third grade.  Take care and God bless.

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin
Your Third Grade Teacher

Dear Third Grade Parents,

Here is this week's Curriculum Update.  I hope all Moms had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend.  Thank you for all you do to support your child in their Catholic education.  You are all greatly appreciated.

Curriculum Update for the Week of May 11, 2015:

Religion:  Continue Chapter 23:  Working towards Christian unity; Chapter 23 Quiz on Friday

Math:  Locate fractions on a number line; compare fractions; introduction to equivalence; equivalent fractions

Reading:  Finish reading and discussing, The Mouse and the Motorcycle;  Complete comprehension activities

Language Arts:  Grammar:  Adjectives Test on Monday;  Begin unit on Adverbs:  adverbs that answer the questions, when, where and to what extent;  Begin Vocabulary Workshop unit 10:  match the meaning, complete the sentence, synonyms and antonyms;  Spelling test on Thursday

Social Studies:  Continue chapter 10:  freedom of religion- the Pilgrims and the Puritans; The Civil War- Frederick Douglas, equal rights and civil rights

Music:  continue to learn how to play the recorders and read music


I hope everyone has a wonderful week.  Thank you for all you do to help make Stella Maris Academy a wonderful place to learn.  Take care and God bless.

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin
Your Third Grade Teacher

Dear Third Grade Parents,

I trust everyone had a lovely weekend.  Friday's May crowning was a beautiful event and set the tone for a restful and thoughtful weekend.  I was happy to see many of you in attendance.  It makes a difference to your children when they see you being a part of their spiritual life at school.  Thank you!

This coming week is going to be another busy week with this Thursday being SMA's first STEAM Night.  It should be a lot of fun.  I hope to see all of you there.

Here is this week's Curriculum Update.  Thank you for checking each week and staying on top of what we are learning in the third grade.

Curriculum Update for the Week of May 4, 2015:


Religion:  Chapter 22 quiz on Tuesday;  Begin Chapter 23:  People around the world have different beliefs about God; the importance of the Jewish faith to Christians;  Christ calls all of his followers to be united

Math:  Identifying and counting unit fractions by drawing picture models; identify and represent fractional parts of different wholes;  represent a whole into equal parts and define the equal parts to identify the unit fraction numerically;  building non-unit fractions less than one whole from unit fractions; identify and represent shaded and non-shaded parts of one whole as fractions

Reading:  Continue to read and discuss The Mouse and the Motorcycle- Ch 9-12 and complete comprehension activities

Language Arts:  Grammar- begin unit on Adjectives:  descriptive adjectives and limiting adjectives; Vocabulary Workshop:  Begin Unit 8:  completing the sentence; synonyms and antonyms; Spelling Test on Thursday

Science:  Continue chapter 9:  how light and matter interact; the path of light; how light interacts; what are light and heat energy; thermal energy and heat; heat and light

Social Studies:  songs and word of liberty; the Star Spangled Banner; Charters of Freedom

Music:  Continue to learn and practice to play the recorder

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Thank you for all you do help make Stella Maris Academy a wonderful place to learn.  Take care and God bless.

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin

May the Fourth Be With YOU!!!!!

Dear Third Grade Parents,

Here is this week's Curriculum Update.  Thank you for checking it every week to see what we are up to!

Curriculum Update for the Week of April 27, 2015:

Religion:  Continue Chapter 22:  Jesus shares his mission with his disciples; The Church works for justice and peace; We live out the Good News of Christ:  May Crowning on Friday before all school Mass

Math:  Unit 6 Review; Chapter 6 Test on Tuesday;Begin chapter 7:  understand fractions; model fractions

Reading:  Continue in guided reading groups;  Continue The Mouse and the Motorcycle:  Read and discuss chapters 5-8

Language Arts:  Grammar:  Review unit on nouns;  Nouns test on Wednesday;  Begin unit on Adjectives:  descriptive adjectives;  Spelling test on Friday;  Vocabulary Workshop:  continue unit 8- word associations and word study

Social Studies:  American landmarks; songs and words of liberty; charters of freedom

Science:  Continue chapter 9:  How light and matter interact; path of light and how light interacts and changes;

Art:  Learn about the life and art of Romero Britto;  Use pattern and line to make a picture in the style of Romero; Use analogous colors to make patterns;  Art Literacy:  Learn about the life and work of Marc Chagall

Music:  Review songs for May Crowning;  Continue to learn how to read music and play the recorders

Have a wonderful week.  Thank you for all you do to make Stella Maris Academy a terrific place to learn.  Take care and God bless!

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin
Your Third Grade Teacher

Dear Third Grade Parents,

What an amazing weekend of sunshine and the perfect weekend weather.  I hope all of you had the opportunity to go out and enjoy it!

Here is this week's Curriculum Update.

Curriculum Update for the Week of April 19, 2015:

Religion:  Review of Chapter 19- Anointing of the Sick; Jesus healed and cared for the sick; Eternal life with God; Chapter 19 Quiz on Thursday;  Begin Chapter 20

Math:  Compare areas and perimeters; area of rectilinear figures; solve perimeter and area word problems; tangram shapes and area

Reading:  Continue to read and discuss novels in guided reading groups; Begin Beverly Cleary novel, The Mouse and the Motorcycle: chapters 1- 4

Language Arts:  Continue unit on Nouns:  common and proper nouns; singular and plural nouns; Vocabulary Workshop:  Continue unit 8:  synonyms and antonyms and completing the sentence; Writing: a look at poetry and creating original poems to share

Science:  Continue Chapter 9:  How energy changes form and travels

Social Studies:  Continue Chapter 9: Getting to know the flag, the Pledge of Allegiance and flag flying holidays; American Landmarks and City monuments

Art:  Continue to work on and finish Navajo weaving

Music: Continue to learn how to read music and play the recorders.

Have a wonderful week and in the mean time, go out and enjoy this beautiful Sunday sunshine!  Thank you for all you do to make Stella Maris Academy a fabulous place to laugh and learn.  Take care and God bless!

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin
Your Third Grade Teacher

Happy Easter!

Dear Third Grade Parents,

Happy Easter!  I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter vacation and enjoyed some solid family time.  I cannot believe we are now in the final stretch of the school year.  WE CAN DO IT!!!!!

Thank you for continuing to check in here each week to stay connected to what the third grade is learning.  Here is the latest Curriculum Update!

Curriculum Update for the Week of April 12, 2015:

Religion:  Begin Chapter 19- Jesus cared for and healed the sick; the Sacrament of Healing; Eternal life with God

Math:  Continue Chapter 6- perimeter and area; lengths with area and perimeter; area of rectilinear figures

Reading:  Continue Greek Mythology; Guided Reading Groups- Continue in groups to read and discuss chapters 8-11 of group novels: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Penderwicks, Tuesdays at the Castle

Language Arts:  Finish unit on Verbs;  Verbs quiz on Thursday;  Begin unit on nouns- proper nouns and identify nouns; Vocabulary Workshop:  Begin Unit 7; Spelling Test on Thursday

Social Studies:  Begin Chapter 9- national and local symbols; patriotism

Science:  Finish chapter 8- how matter is measured; Begin chapter 9- forms of energy: electrical, sound and mechanical energy; potential and kinetic energy

Have a wonderful week of spring time sunshine!  Thank you for all you do to help make Stella Maris Academy the best place to learn and laugh.  Take care and God bless!

Sincerely,
Ms. Eileen Griffin
Your Third Grade Teacher

Hallelujah!