October 7 - 14th

Math
Now that we have composed and compared numbers using their place values, we will begin to round numbers to the nearest 10 to 100 using a number line. In third grade students worked on looking for patterns of numbers on a hundreds chart. We will use this same knowledge of patterns to expand to placing numbers on a number line to round. For the next two weeks we will use and discuss this visual representation. Our goal is for students to understand the process of rounding and real world connections to the purpose of rounding rather than learning the procedure of rounding. We will introduce this "rule" but we want students to be able to walk away know why we round certain numbers above or below based on place value patterns.

A helpful website that we will be using in class is http://www.softschools.com/math/rounding/game/

Our goal is to have weekly quizzes that will assess student progress with each section of material taught. The day we have the quiz will depend on how far we get in teaching the concept. Quizzes will be announced and written in agenda books each week. Math homework will be assigned Monday through Thursday to reinforce concepts students are learning in their small groups that week. If your child is frustrated by the homework and unable to determine a strategy for completion, please write a note on the paper and we will review with him/her the following day.

In addition, students should be practicing their basic facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication) each night. Students must be fluent in all four operations by the end of this year. Two great websites we use in class are:

www.multiplication.com

www.thinkingblocks.com


Reading/Social Studies
This week students will engage in reading informational texts in order to highlight and paraphrase a text. Students will then meet with a partner in order to synthesize information from two sources. Students are reading in order to recognize various ways Native Americans used their natural environment to provide clothing and shelter. This depended on the region they inhabited.

Each day students will practice what is taught in the mini-lesson in their guided reading group. Students will also be reading text to determine the beginning, middle and end in order to summarize a text.

Social Studies/Media/Writing
In Media we will continue to research the geography and settlement patterns of Native Americans before 1400.  Now that we have gathered our research, students will use what they have learned about native culture to continue crafting a historical fiction piece for writing.

Our media time will be flexible and based on the needs of each class. Mrs. Hudson's class is gathering photographs and beginning to create a PowerPoint presentation this week.

Now that we have gathered research about various Native tribes in media, in writing we will use the background information to write our historical fiction narratives about life in a Native tribe pre-European exploration.

Students will continue working in media and in writing to create a historical fiction piece centered around a native person from the 1300s. They will have to create a setting based on where their tribe lived and create a problem and solution that would have been possible in the 1300s. By the end of this week, students should have drafted their fictional story.

Science
During this marking period we will study ecosystems, particularly the Chesapeake Bay.
We will observe each animal (cricket, isopod, snail, guppy) and the plants that will provide nourishment for survival. We will examine our habitats (Eco-columns) to determine how well our plants/animals are surviving based on our design. We will continue to observe our ecosystems each week.
We will also use bread to analyze the process and importance of decomposition. We will learn about symbiosis and mutualism between organisms in a specific habitat.  Last week we used a plastic bag to put a piece of bread with five drops of water on it. We hid the bag in a dark location to see if we can draw conclusions about decomposition over the next three weeks. This week we will observe our bread and the changes that occurred in order to make scientific generalizations.