General Information
Class work and tests will be graded, showing both the number incorrect and the letter grade at the top. Occasionally papers will be marked with “correct and return” or “finish and return”. Please assist your child with this and return those papers as soon as possible. Generally, work returned that I have requested finished or redone will then receive half credit for corrected/completed work which had been counted wrong.
We will have homework daily, except for Fridays. Homework should be returned the next day. Homework will be spot checked and marked as completed. Completion of homework is a requirement and will affect your child’s grade. Homework that is not turned in the next school day after it is assigned will receive half credit. Homework still not turned in the second school day after it is assigned will receive a zero. Homework assignments will be written in the assignment notebook daily. Please be sure to check your child’s notebook regularly.
In addition to written homework, students should read for 20 minutes each night. Next week I will send home a reading log to be filled out daily and returned weekly. The daily reading should be done at least one day over the weekend (Fri.-Sun.). This reading is considered homework, and the reading logs show that the homework was completed. As with written homework, return of the reading logs will affect your child’s grade.
We will have “Take Home Folders”, which will be taken home daily and returned the next day. Homework, graded work, newsletters, and notes will be placed in this folder to be taken home. Completed homework and any notes to me should be returned in this folder. This folder should be emptied regularly.
Third Grade Curriculum Overview
LANGUAGE ARTS (Reading, Spelling, Grammar, Handwriting)
Our reading series contains six units, each with a different theme: Our World; Investigations; Discoveries; Determination; Challenges; and Achievements. All of these themes work towards several goals, including phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and writing skills. The reading series also contains grammar lessons. In grammar we will learn about sentence parts, parts of speech (noun, verb, adverb, adjective, and pronoun), and capitalization and punctuation. We will also learn several kinds of writing, including personal narratives, stories, instructions, research reports, opinions, and persuasive writing. In handwriting, we will continue to learn and master cursive. By mid- year, we will be writing much of our work in cursive.
MATH
In math we will cover many new concepts including: two and three digit addition and subtraction with regrouping; adding money; multiplication; division; identifying, writing and comparing fractions; decimals to tenths and hundredths; using number lines; graphing; congruent shapes; measurement, including perimeter, area, temperature, and volume; geometry, including plane and three dimensional (solid) shapes; symmetry; squaring numbers; time to the minute; arrays; writing four digit numbers; positive and negative numbers; Roman numerals.
SCIENCE
In science, we will learn in three major areas: Life Science, Earth Science, and Physical Science. In Life Science, we’ll learn about how plants and animals live, grow and change, and about environments and how they change. Earth Science will include changes in the Earth’s surface, earth’s resources, the solar system, and weather. In Physical Science, we’ll learn about matter, forces, machines, energy, and sound.
SOCIAL STUDIES
We will have six units in Social Studies: Community and Geography; America’s Early Communities; People Move from Place to Place; Community Government; Making Economic Choices; and Celebrating People and Cultures. These will include learning about living together in communities, people long ago, changes over time, how citizens take part in communities, human needs and wants, and meeting new and different people.
RELIGION
In religion we have four units. They include: Jesus Gives Us the Church; We Are Members of the Church; The Church Leads Us in Worship; and We Are Called to Discipleship. These will include how the Church began, how the Church teaches us, how our parish is our home, celebrating the sacraments, respecting all people, and that the Church is worldwide.