3rd Grade April Newsletter

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P.S. 238

The Anne Sullivan School 1633 East 8th Street Brooklyn, NY 11223 Ap ri l, 2009 Vo l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1

3rd Grade Newsletter Reader’s Workshop

Dear Parents, Hopefully, by now the cold weather is long gone, and we can all look forward to the warm days of spring. This year the children are being asked to set learning goals for themselves in order to broaden their learning experience. We hope you will discuss and assist your child in reaching their goals. The Third Grade is embarking on a SEM project. (School Enrichment Model). Your child will become an expert in one area of study in the country of Mexico. We are looking forward to this endeavor with the children. At the end of the year, we hope you will all come to see our end products and join us in our fiesta. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us at the school. Sincerely, The Third Grade Teachers

Social Studies/Science In Social Studies, we are continuing our unit on China. The next community we will visit is also a country in Asia. This new adventure will have us embarking on a journey to the island country of Japan. In Science, the children will be completing a study of their favorite activity --“work”-and the simple machines that can help them.

In the Reader’s Workshop, we are focusing on reading non fiction informational books. These types of books are different from fiction. We will learn something about a topic that perhaps we didn’t know before. As always, the children will participate in guided reading groups, as well as have ample opportunities to explore the world of books independently and on their own levels.

Writer’s Workshop

During the month of March, we completed our response to literature. We wrote letters to a character in a story. We used our editing and revising skills to make our letters interesting and engaging. For the month of April, we are beginning work on our reports of information. The children will be exposed to different kinds of non-fiction books. They will then be asked to write their own informational report on their chosen topic. The children, as always, will be responsible for revising and editing their own work.

Everyday Mathematics We are working on Unit 6 of the Everyday Math Program. This is a fun unit on geometry. It focuses on investigating lines, line segments, and rays. The children will also investigate different kinds of polygons, as well as, creating these shapes. Children will create shapes with different kinds of angles, as well as, symmetrical shapes.