BEALL ELEMENTARY
Rockville, MD
TEAMING FOR
SUCCESS
Januar y 2015
THIRD GRADE NEWS
Reminders
Important Dates
Please check with your students to be sure
that they have pencils, glue sticks and crayons
or colored pencils. Our classroom supplies are
being depleted very quickly. Thank you in
advance for your assistance.
Date
Event
January 7th
PTA Meeting
January 15th
PTA Dine Out Night
NO School
January 19th
Martin Luther King Day
January 20th
Professional Day for
teachers/No school for
students
On Monday, January 19th and Tuesday,
January 20th there will be no school for
students. This is due to the Martin Luther King
Holiday and a professional day for teachers.
January 22nd
Instrumental Concert
January 27th
Science Expo in gym
Important Reminders
Now that the cold weather is upon us, please
make sure you send your child to school with
their coats, hats, gloves, and scarves. Each day
a decision is made at recess time as to whether
or not the kids will go out. Since we don’t know
in advance please make sure they are
prepared. Additionally, if your child wears
boots to school make sure she/he has a change
of shoes if it’s a P.E. day.
Donations
We are in great need of Kleenex tissues!
Third Grade News (continued) Page 2
Reading/Language Arts
This month our reading focus will be to
compare and contrast a variety of nonfiction books. We will also be focusing
on how text features help us to better
understand the author’s purpose. In
writing the students will analyze a
character’s response to the problem /
solution from a book they have read
during weeks 1-3. Throughout the
marking period, students will identify
themes to write opinions about literature
and develop themes when writing
narrative texts.
Social Studies
We will continue focusing on the
geographic characteristics of places on
the continent of Africa. Students will
gather information on how geographic
characteristics have changed in cities in
Africa and how these changes have
affected daily life.
Math.
This month students begin focusing on
fractions. Students will match number
lines, numeric representations, and area
models that represent the same
fractional value (denominators of 2, 3, 4,
6, 8). This can be a challenging concept
for our students. Important words for
understanding these concepts include
numerator, denominator, equivalent
and area.
**Please continue to try to spend 5-10
minutes daily practicing multiplication
and division facts with your child. This will
help your child with future concepts.
Science
Third graders will continue to explore
observable properties of matter in
science. They will be learning to ask
testable questions so that they can then
investigate possible answers. Students
will apply processes such as heating,
cooling, cutting or wetting to various
materials and collect data about
physical changes. Students add to their
research of their chosen technology and
identify how human wants or needs
influence technology.