Week in Review: November 5-9

This week in language arts, we wrapped our first expository compositions about which animal makes the best pets. Students are learning how to come up with a central idea, and then develop details to support that idea. Look for those papers to come home in Thursday folders this week! We are learning about different structures of expository writing, such as description and problem / solution. Next week, we will discuss other structures including cause /effect.

In science, we are continuing to learn about changes to earth's surface, and will have a test over this unit on Thursday or Friday of this upcoming week. We did a fun investigation about earthquakes with Ms. Cho's class on Thursday. Be sure to ask your child what they learned about tectonic plates from graham crackers and frosting!

We are working on fractions in math. Students have learned about set models, area models, and length models, including fractions on a number line.   You can provide support at home with conversations about fractions such as:

• How hungry are you? Would you rather one-eighth of a pizza, or one-fourth of a pizza?
• What fraction of eggs are missing this one dozen carton?
• If I need three-fourths of a cup of flour for this recipe, how many times will I need to fill up the 1/4 measuring cup?

Please know that fractions are a tough concept for many third graders, and we will continue working with them until Thanksgiving, with a quiz on Friday.We will also come back to fractions in January or February, so this is not the only time they will be exposed to them.

And finally, in social studies, we are continuing our study of heroes in our community. This week, we focused on Ruby Bridges and Daniel Boone.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and is looking forward to the extended Thanksgiving break. Remember, no school at all during the week of November 19-23!