3rd Grade December 2008 Newsletter

P.S. 238

The Anne Sullivan School 1633 East 8th Street Brooklyn, NY 11223 D e c e m b e r, 2 0 0 8 Vo l u m e 1 , I s s u e 1

3rd Grade Newsletter Dear Parents, We are now about 4 weeks away form taking the New York State ELA test. We will be practicing every day in school to get your child ready for this test. This test is in two parts. The first part consists of 4 reading passages and 20 multiple choice questions. The second part is a listening passage with multiple choice questions, a short response and an editing passage. Over the winter vacation, your child will be bringing home a booklet of reading practice tests. Please see your child does one test each day, and review any errors your child might have made. The ELA test will be on January 13 and January 14, 2008. Please have your child bring in two #2 pencils with erasers for this test. We will be asking your child to bring them in starting January 5 and we will hold them until after the test. Have a restful and joyous holiday! Please be reminded that you can access the Acuity Website from your home computer, as well as, the computers in school in room 205. All you need is your child’s user name and password, which were given to them in November. Please hold on to this paper, since you can use it all year long to check on your child’s progress. The Third Grade Teachers

Reader’s Workshop

Your child has now been tested to see what reading level your child has the ability to read. Your child should be reading books on that level. Your child will become more fluent and will gain more comprehension skills as they continue to read each and every day. We are currently working on the skill of locating the main idea in a story.

Writer’s Workshop

Within the writer’s workshop, your child has been working on completing their narrative writing pieces. The focus in the month of November was a fairytale. Your child has been learning many writing skills such as editing and revising their own stories. They have learned how to begin a story with a strong lead sentence and how to end their writing with a concluding paragraph. During the months of December and January, your child will work on a procedural piece of writing. They will show the steps on how to create something of interest to them.

Everyday Mathematics We are currently working on Unit 3 in the Everyday Mathematics program. This unit focuses basic geometry, as well as, using standard and metric units of measurement. We will begin Unit 4 shortly. In this unit your child will be learning the meaning of multiplication and division. Within each chapter, we will be asking that your child studies certain multiplication facts. It is important your child studies these facts each night.