The Average Third Grader...is there such a thing!? :-)

We had so much fun this week with a math unit called "The Average Third Grader"! In order to learn finding averages...the mean and mode...we found out the mode of our classes' hair color, eye color, favorite subject, favorite food, gender, and we found the mean height and the mean number of letters in our first names! All of this culminated in the creation of "MELANIE"!! She is a 52", brown eyed girl with brown hair who loves PE (go figure!) and pizza! You will get to meet her on Back To School Night next week! We will plan to compare the average third grader in both magnet classes on Monday...the "unveiling" is very anticipated...it's been sort of a secret competition...of course, we're sure ours is much better looking! :-) Ask your child about "Melanie" this afternoon and see if they can define mode and mean.

Your child is bringing home their first graded paper. I am aware that letter grades are new to your child and to many of you! We will be going over the grading policy at Back to School Night in depth...but to give you a quick summary. Each assignment is given a percentage grade.

90-100% A
80-89% B
70-79% C
60-69% D
50% and below F



Please know that by the end of the quarter there are MANY grades to average...so if your child brings home a grade that you are not pleased with...there will be many others to raise the average. On that note...try to use grades to help the children see how they can improve...we don't want the kids to become too consumed with grades...they will follow your lead. :-)

We have been very busy in Language Arts! We have been working on "before reading strategies" when reading a non-fiction or fiction book. The children have become very good at setting a purpose and previewing text. We are now beginning to talk about "during reading" strategies. We focused on "making connections" yesterday and will devote one day to each of the other many "during reading" strategies. We have a classroom full of great readers and we are making them aware of strategies that can make them EVEN better readers! Often these kids equate that with harder text...but we're talking about quality comprehension!

Today your child drew a picture of Scooby Doo! "Why?" you may ask. Please ask your child...and while they describe to you the "because" of this assignment, encourage them to use the Social Studies vocabulary that we have been focusing on! Your children have become quite proficient in interpreting maps...and we have made the grid systems of maps a particular focus. Today using dry erase markers, your child identified places on the world and US maps using degrees latitude and longitude. Next week we will be focusing in on scales of a map using the map of the US and Maryland.

In Writing we have been talking about the writing trait "ideas" and how authors come up with ideas. Each child has a writing folder and in that folder is a "parking lot" where they park different ideas until they can return and write about them. We use sticky notes to put the ideas into our parking lots...and if you don't already know this about your child...he/she LOVES sticky notes...so they have LOTS of ideas!

As you can see, we were very busy for a four day week...as always, if you have any questions, please send me an email. I hope you have a wonderful weekend with your family and I look forward to seeing you next Thursday night for Back to School Night.

PS...if you'd like to send a water bottle in for your child...feel free...but I send them home every Friday for a quick run through the dishwasher. SO try to help them remember to bring them back on Friday.