Dear Third Grade Families,
Hi! I’d like to welcome you and your child to third grade. My name is Emily Williams and I am your child’s teacher this year. I’m excited for a wonderful year filled with new learning, fun, and building a strong classroom community.
A Little About Me:
I am new to Green Mountain this year. I recently moved to the area after getting married this summer. My husband and I live in Vancouver with our dog, Oliver, and we love to hike, travel, and bake together. I previously was a third grade teacher in Mount Vernon, WA, for the last two years and have also taught kindergarten and first grade for a year each. It has been helpful teaching the primary grades and seeing how that learning in kindergarten, first, and second helps lay the foundation for third grade learning. Please feel free to contact me throughout the year if you have questions, comments, or concerns. We are a team!
Third Grade Learning:
This year for English Language Arts, we are continuing to us Reading Street as our curriculum. Every day, we will have a whole group lesson of topics such as grammar, writing, spelling, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. In writing, your students will focus on writing narrative, informational, and opinion pieces that are several paragraphs long and include an introduction and conclusion. Students will also receive individualized, small group instruction during the day to support their current reading goals.
For math, we are using enVision Math. Students this year have textbooks that they will reference during daily lessons and provide opportunities for students to practice the skill or concept for the unit. Among math topics, we will be closely focusing on multiplication, division, fractions, and geometry. It is very important this year that students master the basic multiplication facts which will help them move into more advanced multiplication and division in the coming years.
Your student will be learning about many exciting things in science this year! We will be using Foss Science kits that have been adapted to support Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and will have units focused on the weather, organisms, and forces of motion.
Homework
In third grade, students will have daily homework. Each day, students will write in their assignment calendar listing the different assignments they have as homework for the night. Homework typically consists of reading, math, and multiplication practice and should not take longer than 30 minutes to complete.
- Reading: Students will receive a weekly reading calendar that goes in their binders on Friday afternoons. Each night, students are required to read for 15 minutes, write a sentence about what they read, and then have an adult initial their reading calendar. By Friday, students should have at least 5 days of reading.
- Math: Math homework will consist of math workbook pages that support our daily math lessons.
- Multiplication: Students will bring home a ring of flash cards in October to practice each night for 5-10 minutes. An adult needs to sign off on their multiplication page once practiced and students should have at least 5 days of practice by Friday.
- Missing/Absent Work: If students are missing due to illness or other reasons, they may bring additional homework consisting of the classwork they had missed. Please help your student complete and return their work in a timely manner.
Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm in your child’s success at school. I look forward to a wonderful year filled with wonder, joy, learning, discovery, and friendship. If you should ever have any questions, please feel free to contact by sending a note, email, or by calling the office.
Thank you once again for all that you do,
Emily Williams