Language Arts:  In Writer’s Workshop, students have started the process of taking their personal narratives through the full writing process. They each have chosen a personal experience to write about, and they are applying new writing techniques and strategies to enhance their stories. When they finish their first draft, we will edit them together, and all students will be publishing their final drafts. We are excited to share these with you!

During the month of November, we will also be focusing on paragraph writing. Students will learn how to write a topic sentence and include supporting details. Students will also be learning to write varied and complete sentences.

Students will soon be learning about fantasy and realism. Our word work focus will be special plurals.  Students will learn about possessive nouns.

Accelerated Reader - Most students in our class have made their personal AR goals - woohoo!! We will be having an all-school celebration on Monday. Students will be setting individual AR goals for the 2nd trimester.

Cursive - We are excited to continue with cursive this month.

Math:
We are fully immersed in multiplication, and by now your child should know that a multiplication problem can be represented by:

1. repeated addition
2. equal groups
3. an array
4. a rectangle
5. jumps on a number line

Test your child by asking them show a random single-digit problem in the four ways listed above. 

Each week we focus on one or two numbers to become more fluent with. This week, we are focusing on 3s and 4s. A great strategy to solve x4 problems is to double the other number twice. For example, with 4 x 7 you would double 7 once to get 14, then double it again to get 28 (the product). 

Science
In science, the children have been reviewing the major concepts we have been exploring since the start of the unit. Here are some of the concepts we have been learning about.  

Energy

1. Energy makes things happen.
2. Energy comes to earth from the sun in the form of light and heat.
3. Energy can be stored in fuel, food, and batteries. 
4. Energy is converted into motion and heat by machines and living things
5. Energy can go from place to place by electric current, waves, and moving objects. 
   

Light

1. Anything that makes light is a light source.
   
2. Light travels in rays (straight lines)
   
3. We see things because light reflects off objects and goes into our eyes.
   
4. Objects absorb some colors and reflect others.
   

Social Studies: 
We will continue our study of the Miwok Indians this month, learning about their traditions and way of life while living in this beautiful area we now call Marin.  We will be making baskets on November 24 and 25 in class, and visiting the Museum of Native Americans in Novato.  I will be sending home more information on both these activities soon!

Technology: 
The third graders are using the iPads as tools to learn, create, and demonstrate their learning in various ways. We use Notability to annotate and draw on documents, Keynote to create digital presentations, iMovie for short videos, specialized apps for skill development, and so much more! 

Depth & Complexity: A common, universal language that helps promote critical thinking and gives students a chance to make connections between past knowledge and new knowledge and ultimately integrate that to the real world! 

This Month’s Icons:

Unanswered Questions - Students understand that there are many times when information is unclear, missing, or unavailable. They ask questions based on this missing information in order to try and gain a better understanding through various forms of research.

Rules - Students understand that there guidelines that help us structure our understanding of a concept learned. They will learn to  construct rules that help us with this understanding. 

Scholarly Attributes: These attributes distinguish strong and promising strong and promising scholars from ordinary academics. We discuss these ideas in depth and promote the behaviors frequently in class. 

This Month’s Icons: 

Inquirers - Scholars are curious and imaginative. They ask questions and seek out knowledge, which leads to more questions. Learning is a lifelong process and never ends. 

Persistent Thinkers- Scholars ponder ideas and exercise intellect. They know it is okay to not always have the right answers and persevere through challenges. 

Language Arts
We will be starting the Celebrating Traditions unit. Students will read several stories in this unit. They will continue to apply inference as well as cause and effect skills. New skills this month will be noting details, finding the main idea, and differentiating between fact and opinion. Students will also be categorizing and classifying information.

Students will be learning about nouns and compound words as part of their word work and language skills.

In Writer’s Workshop students will be taking their personal narratives through the full writing process. They will be editing, revising, and publishing their stories as they learn new writing techniques and strategies!

Students should be at least halfway to their first trimester AR goal at this point. 

Math
We will finish our study of multi-digit addition and subtraction, and then move onto multiplication. Students have engaged in daily number talks, common core math practices, math games, and standard skill practice to have a complete understanding of this concept.    

Keep reviewing those basic math facts until your child has them completely memorized!

Later this month our third  graders will begin multiplication. They will learn about arrays, patterns, skip counting, new vocabulary, and other strategies to learn multiplication.

Science
We will begin our first unit of science this month. This year, each teacher on the 3rd-grade team will be focusing on a single unit, and students will be rotating amongst the different teachers. This allows for specialization and more rigid instruction. Another benefit is that students get to know other teachers which makes them feel more connected to our school.

Our class will be rotating between Mrs. Cabarrus, Mrs. McDonald and me. For the first unit, I will be teaching our children about Energy.

Social Studies
In Social Studies, will be finishing up our study of California's geography and learning about the California Coast Miwok. We will be doing research on the iPads as we discover more about the people who lived here before us.  

Depth & Complexity - This Month’s Icons
A common, universal language that helps promote critical thinking and gives students a chance to make connections between past knowledge and new knowledge and ultimately integrate that to the real world! 

Multiple Perspectives - Students understand that we have different roles and knowledge within what we learn. We may have opposing viewpoints and we do our best to understand each other’s point of view. We use empathy and ask ourselves how others might see a situation differently.

Language of the Discipline - Students understand how vocabulary terms are used in a specific content area or discipline. 

Scholarly Attributes - This Month’s Icons
These attributes distinguish strong and promising strong and promising scholars from ordinary academics. We discuss these ideas in depth and promote the behaviors frequently in class.

Principled - Scholars do the right thing because they know it is expected. They demonstrate integrity, honesty, and fairness, even when no one is watching. 

Risk Takers - Scholars are courageous and know that mistakes are a part of the learning process. Scholars willingly take on academic risks that will benefit their personal learning.  

Language ArtsThis month we are starting our first unit, “Off to Adventure!” by reading a variety of stories, we will focus on a variety of skills. Students will deepen their reading comprehension skills by practicing sequencing key events, making inferences, and identifying cause and effect. You will find your child’s spelling list with their homework. Your child may practice their words using the website www.spellingcity.com. I have also posted the link under the student section on our class website. In addition, we will be focusing on grammar using Daily Language Review and a variety of targeted mini-lessons.

Students have already leaped into Accelerated Reader (AR). In this program, students earn AR points by taking quizzes based on books they’ve read. All students will start the trimester with a modest goal. We will adjust individual goals as necessary to give each child an achievable challenge.

In writing we will be launching Writer’s Workshop. Students will be learning about the difference between watermelon stories and seed stories. They will be brainstorming seed ideas and beginning to write drafts of memorable moments in their lives in preparation for writing their first personal narrative.

Math
Using common core math strategies we are focusing on place value for the first few weeks. The main difference between Common Core and the California State Standards is that we cover fewer topics in greater depth. Students are asked to explain their thinking and to come up with multiple ways of solving problems. Students need to memorize their basic addition and subtraction facts as well. 

When we finish place value, we will focus on rounding, and move onto regrouping in addition and subtraction.

*Challenge Math - The first monthly math project is available to our students for extra credit. This optional work is posted on our website under the Student Tab - Planning a Birthday Party. This project is due at the end of September. Students will also be given alternative math homework sheets for extra challenge, or extra reteach, depending on their needs. Reminder - math homework should be an independent activity that takes about 10-15 minutes each night. Lastly, students are working on different assignments, tasks and games throughout the week based on how they are understanding the skills being taught.

Science
For our first science unit we will study "Matter and Energy" which focuses on plants and animals.

Social Studies
3rd Grade students will begin the year studying Geography. We will focus on their local community and landmarks, as well as world geography and map skills. 

Technology
All 3rd grade students at Bel Aire will be using iPads in our one-to-one classrooms to enhance their learning.

We will be using Edmodo as a tool not only for conversations, but to complete assignments as well. Students will be able to "discuss" books and literature read in the classroom using Edmodo. We will be focusing on "Depth and Complexity" questions that direct the students to take a deeper look at the story they are reading. Students are learning that all comments must be kind, important, and necessary.

Depth and Complexity - This Month's Icons
The Depth and Complexity icons promote a common, universal language that helps promote critical thinking and gives students a chance to make connections between past knowledge and new knowledge and ultimately integrate that to the real world!



Relate Over Time - How are elements related in terms of the past, present, and future? How and why do things change? What doesn’t change? Great thinkers make connections to past and present events.  They also extrapolate from the past and present in order to infer about the future.  I will be encouraging kids to think about past, present, and future when discussing an array of topics.   

Big Idea - What theory or general statement applies to these ideas? How do these ideas relate to broad concepts such as change, systems, chaos vs. order, etc? What is the main idea?  Great thinkers are able to identify "the big idea" of a particular topic and build their understanding from there.  They can see the full picture and understand how the details fit into the big picture.  I will be encouraging kids to identify "the big idea" in a number of circumstances.  For example, "What is the big idea behind me asking everyone to be quiet while standing in line?  Is it just a rule you have to follow, or is there a purpose for that?"  "What is the big idea behind having to always show your work when you complete math problems?  Is it just so you can get a good score on your paper, or is there another reason?" "What is the big idea behind photosynthesis?  Is the answer, 'it is what happens when the sun shines on plants' or is there a bigger idea?  The bigger idea is that living things need energy and photosynthesis is how plants get their energy."  (We will be studying photosynthesis at a later date).  

Scholarly Attributes - This Month's Icons
Scholars are good communicators - Scholars express themselves with confidence and clarity. They collaborate and actively listen to others while honoring multiple perspectives.

Scholars are productive - Scholars come ready to learn with the necessary tools and materials. They set goals, gather resources, and complete tasks.

Language Arts
We have almost concluded our Information Writing unit on animals of the world. Students have been researching and taking notes on an animal of their choice. We have started writing reports, and students will do some art, poetry, and even some card trading along with it.

This month students will be engaging in the Voyagers unit. They will be inferring, predicting outcomes, and analyzing text organization. Students will also be expanding their knowledge of homophones and analogies. Pronouns will be our language focus.

We are about to begin reading Charlotte’s Web as a class. Our reading focus is character analysis and answering text dependent questions.

Writing 
We are several weeks into our Opinion Writing unit. Ask your child what makes for a great opinion essay.

Math
Students are having fun exploring Geometry! We have been focusing on attributes of quadrilateral shapes and comparing them to other shapes and figures. Students have been taking notes in Notability, and are working on several projects to enhance their learning and understanding. We are about to begin learning about perimeter and area. Next we will begin studying measurement. We will continue studying the above concepts in depth with common core activities by using Georgia and Mars Tasks, Journal entries, and Houghton Mifflin Practice and Problem Solving pages.

Many students are still memorizing their basic multiplication and division facts.  The goal is to have all students by the end of this trimester have their facts completely memorized.  So keep on practicing!

Science
Students have started their rotation with Mr. Gleason and are learning about energy.

Language Arts
Students have been excited to begin learning cursive! They are writing very carefully, while focusing on good posture and pencil grip. 

Our class has started a very fun unit on "Animals of the World." They will be researching, taking notes, and writing about an animal of their choice. We will be studying and practicing skills that writers use when writing informational pieces.

We will be wrapping up our reading unit, "Animal Habitats", this February. We will be exploring and learning about nonfiction text features.  Students will be learning to make judgments and infer as they read. They will learn more about prefixes and suffixes, as well as learn about helping verbs, too. Students will be doing "close reading." During close reading, students are guided to reread a text to dig deeper and find evidence to answer more challenging comprehension questions.

Math:  
Geometry has begun in third grade!  The focus for the month will be on quadrilateral shapes along with other shapes.  In a week we will move onto understanding perimeter and area.  After that all third graders will study measurement.  We will continue studying the above concepts in depth with common core activities by using Georgia and Mars Tasks, Journal entries, and Houghton Mifflin Practice and Problem Solving pages.

Many students are still memorizing their basic multiplication and division facts.  The goal is to have all students by the end of this trimester have their facts completely memorized.  So keep on practicing!

Social Studies:
We are studying the history of Tiburon and learning about important landmarks in our community. The students will be learning about the economy, the people, and the community of early Tiburon. Our classes are visiting four of these landmarks: Old St. Hilary’s, the Art and Garden Center (former bunkhouse for railroad and  brick workers), the Railroad Museum, and the China Cabin (social cabin of the SS China).

Science:
We are wrapping up our science rotations this month. Students did a great job navigating to different classrooms to learn about a variety of topics including Matter and Energy, Structures of Life, and the Sun, Moon, and Stars.

Technology:
During our "Specialist Block" on Wednesdays, students are using iMovie to design MOSAIC Public Service Announcements. They’ve had so much fun highlighting their unique personalities and knowledge of MOSAIC through this creative process.

Language Arts
We will be starting the Animal Habitats unit this month. Students will be learning to distinguish between fact and opinion, as well as compare and contrast content. Students will learn syllabication rules between consonants, prefixes, and suffixes. Students will also learn to use helping verbs and the verb to be.

In writing, students are learning how to write an opinion piece using a topic sentence, supporting details, transitional words, and concluding sentences. We will start with a fun writing assignment with “Calvin and Susie,” deciding which superpower we feel is best. We will then hold an informal debate in teams, one supporting the flying superpower, and one supporting the power of invisibility.

We are continuing our Reading Centers this month with parental support. Students will continue reading social studies text, lit circles, and doing word work from our language arts short stories. We look forward to reading with our volunteers!

Math
Division is our new focus for this month!  We are teaching division using Smart Balance and MARS Tasks, Houghton Mifflin Practice and Problem Solving pages, Math Journal warmups, IXL, and Khan Academy.   Students are given open ended math problems and asked to work in small groups to demonstrate solutions and justify their answers.  

In order for students to be successful in their mathematical problem solving they must memorize their basic facts!  I can’t stress the importance of this enough!  Each student is at his/her own level and should practice for ten minutes each night until their facts become automatic.

Some students are continuing to work on long multiplication concepts.  All students must continue to memorize their basic multiplication facts so that they are able to do the long multiplication steps and carry the correct products in their heads.  Accuracy counts!  

Another wonderful opportunity for all third graders has been for them to learn coding.  Many students have taken this on for themselves and are becoming more and more proficient.  Khan Academy has a great website that teaches anyone how to begin coding.  There are also many iPad apps that have free downloads.

Science
We are officially starting our science rotations this month. This means your child will be leaving their normal classroom twice a week to learn science from a different 3rd-grade teacher! By specializing instruction this way, teachers continue to improve their craft and students make connections with more adults around campus. We love getting to know the other kids too!

Technology
We are looking forward to showcasing our fantastic 1:1 iPad program this month! Site Council and Board members will be visiting our classrooms on January 28th in order to see the wide variety of programs and advantages to having iPads supporting our curriculum.

Depth & Complexity
A common, universal language that helps promote critical thinking and gives students a chance to make connections between past knowledge and new knowledge and ultimately integrate that to the real world!

This Month’s Icon - Trends
Students will understand that certain patterns may occur over time based on changes in your environment or surroundings. Students will use the skill of comparing and contrasting to help identify where these trends take place.

Language Arts
Students are focusing on drawing conclusions and following directions when reading. In word work, students will learn how to choose the correct meaning of a word using a dictionary. Students will also learn about words that end with –er, -est, -y, and –ly. We will also begin to learn more about verbs.

After reading three "trickster stories," students are working in partners to write their own “folktales.” They are taking care to include characters and details that are commonly found in traditional folktales. They are then drawing pictures of their folktale and will finish up the process of narrating them into short movies. They will be uploaded onto my website for you to enjoy by next week.

Next, students will be writing various forms of poetry.

Math
In math, third graders are continuing with the Common Core Math multiplication practice by moving into multi-digit multiplication. Students are learning to highlight what is necessary to help them solve their math problem, write down what they know, restate the problem in their own words, and show their work in an organized way to demonstrate their understanding of the math concepts.  Students will receive a copy of a 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Rubric which helps them understand what is expected at each level.

Students are required to memorize their basic multiplication facts in this order:  0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 9, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8.  Those students who have a complete understanding of multiplication concepts will continue working in a challenge group with Problems of the Month, long multiplication, and creating multiplication games.

Social Studies
Students are learning about the Coast Miwok American Indian nation. We are finding out how our local geography and climate influenced how the Coast Miwok adapted to their natural environment. Each student has created a Keynote Presentation to share what they are learning.

Depth and Complexity
Depth & Complexity: A common, universal language that helps promote critical thinking and gives students a chance to make connections between past knowledge and new knowledge and ultimately integrate that to the real world! 

Across Disciplines: Students make connections across subject areas in order to obtain a deeper understanding of curriculum. They relate an area of study to other subjects within, between, or across disciplines.

Ethics: Students take the time to identify when a character or idea involves principles or morals and when it may be controversial. They use “multiple perspectives” to help with this understanding. 

Scholarly Attribute:
Balanced-Self: Scholars understand the importance of emotional, academic, and extracurricular balance. They incorporate various activities into their day-to-day lives in order to achieve a balanced self.

Language Arts
In Writer’s Workshop, students have been taking their personal narratives through the full writing process. They each chose one of their personal quick-writes from their writing journal, then applied new writing techniques and strategies to enhance their stories. We are editing the drafts together, and all students will publish their final drafts soon. We are excited to share these with you!

During the month of November, we  will be focusing on paragraph writing. Students will learn to write a topic sentence and include supporting details. Students will also be learning to write varied and complete sentences.

Students will also be learning about fantasy and realism. Our word work focus will be special plurals.  Students will learn about possessive nouns.

Accelerated Reader

Technology
Students are getting more familiar with the iPads and will continue to utilize them in the classroom in a variety of ways.  As October unfolds, students will become more familiar with the program “Pages” which they will be using to type up their personal narratives. Students are using the “mirroring” feature of the iPad to display ideas, examples, and other items of note to the whole class. The mirroring feature projects the screen of any particular iPad onto the projector for everyone to see.  Students will become more familiar with Edmodo and will begin using it as a platform to collaborate, take quizzes, and track their achievements. Students will also continue using “Explain Everything” which will allow students to record their voices and pen strokes to help explain and show mastery of various concepts. The third grade team is also experimenting with having students take spelling tests on the computer. The computer will give results immediately to provide instant feedback.

Language Arts
Students are getting more familiar with the iPads and will continue to utilize them in the classroom for many different things. As October unfolds, students will become more familiar with the program, “Pages” which they will be using to type up their personal narratives.  Students are using the “mirroring” feature of the iPad to display ideas, examples, and other items of note to the whole class.  The mirroring feature projects the screen of any particular iPad onto the projector for everyone to see.  Students will become more familiar with Edmodo and will begin using it as a platform to collaborate, take quizzes, and track their achievements.  Students will also have the opportunity to learn a program called, “Explain Everything,” which will allow students to record their voices and pen strokes to help explain and show mastery of various concepts.  The third grade team is also experimenting with having students take spelling tests on the computer.  The computer will give results immediately to provide instant feedback.

Math
Third graders have finished reviewing rounding up to 1,000. Students used common core math practices as well as standard practice sheets to have a complete understanding of this concept.  We have been having lots of fun playing different math games that give students the opportunity to practice these skills and standards. At the beginning of this month we will continue with regrouping in addition and subtraction.   

Keep reviewing those basic math facts until your child has them completely memorized.    

Later this month our third  graders will begin multiplication. They will learn about arrays, patterns, skip counting,  new vocabulary, and  other  strategies to learn multiplication.

Science & Social Studies
We will begin our first unit of science this month. This year, each teacher on the 3rd-grade team will be focusing on a single unit, and students will be rotating amongst the different teachers. This allows for specialization and more rigid instruction. Another benefit is that students get to know other teachers which makes them feel more connected to our school.

The first team will rotate between Ms. McKay, Mrs. Rhodes, and Mrs. San Galli. The second rotation team will rotate between Mrs. Cabarrus, Mr. Devoto, Mr. Gleason, and Ms. McDonald (Social Studies - Local Community and Tiburon Landmarks). For the first unit, students will stay with their home teacher.

In Social Studies, students are learning about local and world geography. We are doing research on the iPads as we discover more about the world around us. Some students are creating coloring books and others are creating virtual tours using Explain Everything.

Depth & Complexity
A common, universal language that helps promote critical thinking and gives students a chance to make connections between past knowledge and new knowledge and ultimately integrate that to the real world! 

This Month’s Icons:
1. Multiple Perspectives - Students understand that we have different roles and knowledge within what we learn. We may have opposing viewpoints and we do our best to understand each other’s point of view. We use empathy and ask ourselves how others might see a situation differently.

2. Language of the Discipline - Students understand how vocabulary terms are used in a specific content area or discipline. 

Scholarly Attributes
These attributes distinguish strong and promising strong and promising scholars from ordinary academics. We discuss these ideas in depth and promote the behaviors frequently in class. 

This Month’s Icons: 
1. Principled - Scholars do the right thing because they know it is expected. They demonstrate integrity, honesty, and fairness, even when no one is watching. 

2. Risk Takers - Scholars are courageous and know that mistakes are a part of the learning process. Scholars willingly take on academic risks that will benefit their personal learning.  

Language Arts
This month we are starting our first unit, "Off to Adventure!" By reading a variety of stories, we will focus on a variety of skills. Students will deepen their reading comprehension skills by practicing sequencing key events, making inferences, as well as identifying cause and effect.  You will find your child’s spelling list with their homework. In addition, we will be focusing on grammar using Daily Language Review and a variety of targeted mini-lessons.

The Accelerated Reader (AR) program has been launched! 

Writing
In writing we will be launching Writer’s Workshop. Students will be learning about the difference between watermelon stories and seed stories. They will be brainstorming seed ideas and beginning to write drafts of memorable moments in their lives in preparation for writing their first personal narrative.

Math
We are using common core math strategies to focus on place value for the first few weeks. The main difference between common core and California State Standards is that we cover fewer topics in greater depth. Students are asked to explain their thinking and to come up with multiple ways of solving problems.   Students also need to memorize their basic addition and subtraction facts as well. 

When we finish place value, we will focus on rounding, and then move onto regrouping in addition and subtraction.

Social Studies
3rd Grade students will begin the year studying Geography. We will focus on their local community and landmarks, as well as world geography and map skills. All children will be making their own World Geography coloring book after doing fun research activities in class.

Technology
All 3rd grade students at Bel Aire will be using iPads in our one-to-one classrooms to enhance their learning. iBooks, KeyNotes, Explain Everything, ShowMe, DoodleBuddy, and Notability are just a few of the Apps students will be using and becoming very comfortable working with.

We will be using Edmodo as a tool not only for conversations, but to complete assignments as well. Students will be able to "discuss" books and literature they read in the classroom using Edmodo. 

We will be focusing on "Depth and Complexity" questions that direct the students to take a deeper look at the story they are reading. Students are learning that online comments must be kind, important, and necessary. Students may occasionally have homework in Edmodo.

Depth and Complexity
A common, universal language that helps promote critical thinking and gives students a chance to make connections between past knowledge and new knowledge and ultimately integrate that to the real world!

This Month's Icons
Relate Over Time - How are elements related in terms of the past, present, and future? How and why do things change? What doesn’t change?    


Big Idea - What theory or general statement applies to these ideas? How do these ideas relate to broad concepts such as change, systems, chaos vs. order, etc.? What is the main idea?

Scholarly Attributes
These attributes distinguish strong and promising scholars from ordinary academics. We discuss these ideas in depth and promote the behaviors frequently in class. 

This Month's Icons
Communicator - Scholars express themselves with confidence and clarity. They collaborate and actively listen to others while honoring multiple perspectives.


Productive - Scholars come ready to learn with the necessary tools and materials. They set goals, gather resources, and complete tasks.