Waters Landing
Elementary
School
Third Grade
March Newsletter
Ms. Baek, Mr. Bothwell,
Mrs. Mullenholz,
Mrs. Smoot, Mr. Steiner
Happy March! We are anticipating another exciting yet busy month at
WLES. This month, our third grade students will be taking their very first MSA
(Maryland School Assessment) tests in both Reading (on March 4th & 5th) and Math (on March 8th & 11th). Please
help your child prepare for this very important assessment by making sure that your child: gets a good night’s rest,
eats a healthy breakfast, and arrives to school on time as we will begin testing promptly at 9:30 am. As always, please gently encourage your child to do his/her very best on this assessment. Good luck to all our third graders!
On Friday, March 8th, we will be hosting an “Engineer Meet & Greet Day,” where several local Engineers will be coming to our school to share their educational and career backgrounds with our third graders. The
purpose of this event is to allow our students to approach Engineers in fields that interest the students, and to allow
them to ask these Engineers questions related to their Engineering background, education, and careers.
Lastly, our third grade classrooms would greatly appreciate any donations of tissues boxes, hand sanitizers, antibacterial
liquid soap, and Clorox wipes to keep our classrooms clean. Please feel free to send these donations with your child
to school. Thank you so much in advance!
GO WATERS LANDING DOLPHINS!
Standards Based Grading Reminders
Important Dates
Here is a reminder of our standards based grading rubric:
ES: Exceeds Standard: The student demonstrates an
exceptional understanding of on-grade-level content.
Date
Event
Monday, March 4th &
Third Grade MSA Test: Reading
P: Proficient: The student demonstrates proficiency of
the content of processes
Tuesday, March 5th
I: In Progress: The student is in progress towards
meeting the standard
Monday, March 11th
N: Not Yet: The student is not yet making progress or is
making minimal progress towards meeting the standard.
Students are assessed on two Thinking and Academic
Success Skills (TASS) each quarter. During the third quarter, we will be focusing on the skills of originality
(creating ideas and solutions that are novel or unique to
the individual, group, or situation) and intellectual risk
taking (accepting uncertainty or challenging the norm to
reach a goal).
Friday, March 8th &
Third Grade MSA Test: Math
Friday, March 8th
“Engineer Meet & Greet” Day
Sunday, March 10th
Daylight Savings Time Begins
( 2:00 am)
Wednesday, March 20th
Multicultural Night
(7:00 pm - 8:30 pm)
(All Purpose Room)
Friday, March 22nd
Third Marking Period Ends
Monday, March 25th -
Spring Break
Tuesday, April 2nd
During the month of March, students will be examining literary non-fiction texts in
Reading both guided
reading groups and in whole class instruction. Within this genre, students will explore concepts such as the main idea, cause and effect, and unknown words. As
always, be sure your child is reading for 20 minutes each night, as this is an important part of the
learning process.
Students will continue their focus study of fractions throughout the month of March. They
will be working with equivalent fractions as visual models, and with number lines when comparing
Math
fractions. Please continue to support your child at home by pointing out the use and importance of
fractions in daily activities at home. It is also important that students practice and review their
multiplication facts regularly, as these facts will continue to be assessed throughout the school
year. Students should able to quickly and accurately recall multiplication facts 0-12, in addition to
showing their understanding using a variety of strategies and models.
Science and Social Studies
Throughout this month, students will dig deeper into
their understanding of heat energy and temperature.
They will be working with the Physical Sciences, and
Engineering and Technology measurement topics throughout the rest of the marking period. Students will learn
about good and poor conductors and insulators of heat energy. They will examine which materials work well to
keep cold things cold and hot things hot, and which materials do not work well to perform these
tasks. Finally, they will have the opportunity to put their understanding and knowledge into practice
when they complete a hands-on activity/project, in which the students will design and build their
very own lunch boxes and/or thermos containers. March should certainly prove to be a month filled
with lots of learning and Science fun!!!
In Social Studies, we will continue to focus on the measurement topic of Culture and then
move into Economics. Students will be able to explain how different forms of media provide opportunities to learn about different cultures, why people use media to provide opportunities to understand different perspectives, and explain how media provides opportunities to understand various
perspectives about cultures. They will also be able to identify what makes a healthy family, recognize the different relationships within the family, identify ways family members show they care for each other, and list ways
families can resolve conflicts. Once we move into Economics, students will be able to define and identify examples of responsible financial decision-making, identify examples of responsible financial decisions, and define and
list the components of a spending plan.
During the month of March, students will be putting the finishing touches on their realistic fiction stories. Please ask them about their story and the writing process! Students have already
Writing
determined a theme and will be communicating that theme through the problem and solution
of their stories. We will work on grammatical skills, including dialogue and subject-verb agreement. We
are constantly revising our writing to improve our word choice and include meaningful details. Before
the end of the quarter, students will type their writing, illustrate each page, and present their realistic
fiction story to an audience.
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Third Grade March Newsletter