READING- Students focused on analyzing characters as a strategy to help them reach a deeper understanding of the story. They evaluated a character's traits, motives, and actions to help them think critically about a character. They used this information to analyze how certain characters impacted a story.
How you can support learning from home. Look for the reading log coming home on Monday. Encourage your child to read for a minimum of 30 minutes every night. Encourage accountability by having your child fill out the simple reading log every night. 

WRITING- Students learned how to write what we called, a Red Robin Paragraph Burger in a scholarly voice using information from our outlines. This well-organized contained a simple topic to introduce the reader to the main idea of the paragraph, several "meaty" details to make the paragraph "tasty" and finally a concluding sentence that restated the topic sentence using slightly different wording. Students will continue to work on these Red Robing Paragraph Burgers as they work on completing the first draft of their character analysis.

How you can support learning from home. Ask you child the name of his or her chosen character. Make sure your child brings a copy of the book they are using for the character analysis to school every day. 



MATH- Students worked on building fluency with their 3s. They also learned a new trick to help them solve larger, unknown basic facts as they continue to work on memorizing their basic facts.

How you can support learning from home. If you haven't already, get your child a set of multiplication flash cards. Encourage your child to practice for a few minutes every night.

 SOCIAL STUDIES- Students are beginning to compare and contrast the different regions within the US. They are learning to identify key landmarks throughout the nation. They are also learning the cardinal directions and how to use features of map such as a compass rose.

MISC- We celebrated our second Champion Movie Lunch. Students worked hard to demonstrate learning behaviors that are above and beyond what we could reasonably expect from third graders. They ate their lunches in the classroom while watching the ending of the movie based on our class read aloud, Matilda.

Student #18 cashed in the Show-n-Tell pass he earned with his DOJO points. This student shared  his recent karate achievement of earning his yellow belt. He shared a few moves with his peers. Two other students turned in Show-n-Tell passes, too. They will be sharing their stuff with the class later this week.

#18 shows his stuff

How you can help at home. Remember to check your child's DOJO points at home. Also, for those students with Show-n-Tell passes, remember to turn your pass in at least 24 hours before you plan to share. You should have a few sentences on the back of the pass describing your presentation 

One last item for the week. It appears that Oliver the Well-Intentioned Cat has returned to his literary roots and has resumed updating his blog. You can find a link to his blog in the sidebar. Students, it appears Oliver is in need of some advice. Be sure to leave him any tips you may have in the comment section. Before you do, please take a moment to comment on one thing you learned this week that reminded you of just how "smartified" you are.