Peek at the Week News January 9th, 2012

Dear 3rd Grade Parents,

Please take a look at this week's highlights:

Vocabulary/Spelling: Unit 18 is the final weekly chapter in the Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop textbook. Next week, we will review our skills and begin our PSIA Spelling List. Unit 18 workbook pages are due on Wednesday. Unit 18 Vocabulary Quiz on Thursday. Unit 18 Spelling Test on Friday.

Reading: Using the Essential Skills supplementary workbook, we will analyze point of view and purpose, identify literary forms and sources of information, and apply prior knowledge. We will also begin a new novel unit which is a children's version of Knights of the Round Table.

English: More on Verbs: Verb Tenses (Past, Present, Future) with Subject-Verb Agreement

Math: We continue with our Geometry lessons in the textbook this week focusing on classifying polygons (by the number of sides, vertices, angles, quadrilateral), identifying different types of triangles (right, isosceles, equilateral, scalene), and identifying congruent and similar figures. In computer lab, we will work on covering ALEKS topics in more complex multiplication and division problems as well as reinforcing what we learned in class by covering ALEKS topics in Geometry. Recommended practice at home is to cover at least four topics per night (two in Multiplication/Division slice, and two in Geometry slice).

Religion: Last week, in collaboration with Sra. Lynn's Spanish class, we celebrated El Dia de los Reyes Magos (The Day of the Three Kings) by learning the religious and cultural significance of the feast day celebrating the Epiphany. Students discussed and reviewed the story of the Three Wise Men, ate the "rosca" bread, which is the Spanish king's cake pastry traditionally eaten on January 6th. In most of Spain and Spanish speaking countries, January 6th is the day when children traditionally receive presents, which are attributed to the Three Kings (not Santa Claus). Since the kings rode camels the night before, kids leave their shoe or an empty box stuffed with grass to give the camels something to eat. In the morning of the feast day, the grass is gone but a sweet surprise is usually left in its place! 3rd graders received some sweet treats when they returned to school that day!

Science: We will continue building our models in class (using simple machines) and begin to demonstrate our inventions this week. We will also conduct and collect data with our observations.

Social Studies: We will discuss Dr. Martin Luther King's role in the civil rights movement and briefly recount how segregation affected his childhood. We will watch video clips and discuss parts of his "I Have a Dream" speech.

Notes/Reminder:
1. 2nd Quarter grades will close this Friday. Be on the lookout for report cards mid-month. We will soon begin 3rd quarter.

Have a blessed week!
~Mrs. Pia Villanueva-Pulido