Third Grades A Hoot!

Whats Happening In Our Class?

Dont forget to check out: www.michelebatesclassroom.blogspot.com
for weekly updates

Its hard to believe that September is almost gone and we

are starting our 4th week of
school. Students are starting to learn the routines and
expectations of 3rd grade.
As you know, your child has
started filling out a Homework Planner every night.
This sheet will tell you what
weve done in class, if theres
any homework and how your
childs behavior has been for
the day. Remember everyone
starts on green (ready to
learn), they can then either
clip up to Great Day, Great
Choices or Outstanding Day.
They can also clip down to
warning, Teachers Choice
and Parent Contact. Please
help your child by looking
this over with them, initialing
it, and reminding them to put
it back in their folder. This
should come back to school
every day for that week. I
walk around the room daily
and check to make sure that
the planners are being filled
out correctly. Filling out the
planner is part of their
homework grade for responsibility. You have probably also noticed that Friday
folders are going home.
These need to come back on
Monday. You may keep the
work that is in them and re-

turn the empty folder.

We are still working hard at
following our classroom rules.
We are trying to work on
listening actively as a class.
Many times students are interrupting and talking when
others are talking. We also
have morning meetings three
times a week. These meetings allow us to discuss rules,
share with each other, learn
a word of the day, as well as
go over our schedule for the
day.
We will be finishing up math
Unit 1 next week or so.
Rockford has given us a new
common core math program
to follow. I am very excited
to teach the concepts as
they are in a very different
order from past years. We
will take a quick assessment
check and then move on to
Unit 2. Please go over your
childs homework with them
and have them correct any
errors. This will help to
reinforce concepts learned
in class. Thanks!
In science we are studying
about plants and animals. You
may have heard about our pet
hermit crabs. We have observed them and have no-

ticed that they have some

interesting physical characteristics and adaptations.
This week I will introduce
plants and we will be looking
at the different parts of a
plant and the function of
that part. When we are finished, I will be sending home
a review sheet for your child
to study for an assessment
check.
In Language Arts we are going to start learning some
comprehension strategies to
help us become better readers. Our first strategy will
be metacognition. Simply
stated metacognition is
thinking about your thinking!
As we read we need to interact and think about the text
instead of just reading the
words. Third grade is usually the time when children go
from learning to read, to
reading to learn. All of the
strategies that we will learn
will help us to connect deeper
with the text. There are 7
Keys to comprehension; Visualizing, Mental Images,
Schema, Connections, Fix Up
Strategies, Inferring and
Determining Importance.
Please make sure and check
out our classroom blog at
www.michelebatesclassroom.
blogspot.com for updates on
our classroom!

Mrs. Bates
3rd Grade Class
September, 2015
mbates@rockfordschools.org
863-6363 ext. 4707
If you ever need to contact me with questions,
please dont hesitate to
call or e-mail me. Together we can make this
a great year for your
child!
I will be asking for volunteers soon. I will have
a sign up at sign up genius as soon as our class is
ready for volunteers to
come in. Also, please
make sure that you
have filled out a volunteer consent form.

Please remember to
write me a note or e
-mail me if you are
picking up your
child early. Also,
please remember to
arrive a little early
so your child has
time to gather their
things.