During the month of January, our Social Studies units of study will be on "Mali" and then "Ancient Civilizations".   The students will locate Greece, Rome, and Mali on a map.  They will identify and describe the physical and human characterisitics of all three ancient civilizations. Students will also be able to explain how the people of Greece, Rome, and West Africa adapted to and/or changed their environment to meet their needs.  See your child's homework folder for notes and study guides as well as the dates for the CFA tests. You may also find additional resources here on our webpage under "Social Studies".

During the month of January, our third grade students continue to write daily across all content areas.  When they write letters, stories, reports, and simple explanations, the instructional emphasis starts with proper sentence development building up to paragraph development. Sentences become more complex with at least 7 or more words within each sentence as the students become more proficient with their writing skills. This month, we will continue writing reader responses, journal entries, and book reports as well projects to include applying our knowledge of sentence development in addition to proper usage of capitalization and punctuation.  The students will review identifying, reading, and writing three types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory. Declarative sentences are making a statement, perhaps to provide information. A period (.) is the proper ending punctuation for a declarative sentence. Interrogative sentences are asking a question.  A question mark (?) is the proper ending punctuation for an interrogative sentence. Exclamatory sentences express emotion or excitement. An exclamation point (!) is the proper ending punctuation for an exclamatory sentence.  As the students review the different types of sentences, they will begin applying them into their writing. The major writing focus this month is writing a paragraph on a specific topic or prompt.  Students will be working on adding similies to their writing and using adjectives to make their writing more exciting.

During the month of January, our unit of study on 2-D Geometry and Measurement includes the following concepts: measuring to the nearest 1/2 inch, finding perimeter and area, identifying as well as applying congruency and noncrugency, symmetry, and identifying points/lines/line segments/rays/angles.  The CFA assessment is scheduled for the last week in January. Your child's agenda will denote the specific testing date. It is also very important that your child does their math homework since this reinforces concepts taught in class.

During the month of January whole group mini lessons are teaching the students specific skills on a weekly basis.  This month, the instructional focus includes: drawing conclusions, compare & contrast, and sequencing events in chronological order within fictional and nonfictional text. The students are learning and reading the different types of genres to include: folktales, fairytales, trickster tales, legends, fables, porqoui tales, and myths. Our major unit of focus this month includes biographies and autobiographies on Famous Americans.  Some of the famous americans that we will be learning about include:  Elenoar Roosevelt, Helen Keller, Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Cesar Chavez, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington Carver, Thurgood Marshall, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jackie Robinson, George Washington,  and Benjamin Franklin.