THIRD GRADE

ROCK VIEW POSTImportant Dates to Remember

Mon., October 15Data Notebooks Go Home

(please try to sign & return them the next day or as soon as you can)

Wed., October 17 Special Rock View

Parent Math Education Day/Evening(2 sessions - see the article on the back page of this newsletter for

more info)

October 17-18Rock View School Picture Days

Third graders will take pictures on Thurs., October 18

Fri., October 19 No School - MCAAP Fall Conference

October 22-26Rock View Book Fair

October 23-26Red Ribbon Week(Drug Awareness week)

Thurs., October 25Anacostia Watershed GrasslandPresentation to Third Graders

(held at Rock View)

Tues., October 30Third Grade Field Trip to Make

Bird Houses for Anancostia Watershed(Baxter, Golando, Class/Kramer)

October 31Fall Festival

November 1Third Grade Field Trip to Make

Bird Houses for Anancostia Watershed(Kuzner, Lando)

November 21st Marking Period Ends

November 5Professional Day for Teachers

(no school for students)

November 6No School - Presidential Election

November 8-19GreenKids Environmental Lessons for 3rd

Graders

November 12 & 13Early Release Days

(parent-teacher scheduled conferences)

Wed., November 14Report Card Distribution

November 19 and 20Third Grade Anacostia Watershed Pontoon Boat

Trip (different classes will go on different days)

October 2012 ISSUE NO. 2

EXTRA! EXTRA!Rock View Third Graders to Embark on a 3-Day Learning Adventure with the Anacostia Watershed

Starting on October 25, Rock View third graders will embark on an awesome adventure to learn more about the Anacostia River, our environment, and how to make a change. This fall, AWS (Anacostia Watershed) is working on enhancing and creating riparian buffers along the rivers and tributaries. As a result, AWS has a new educational program called SONG - Saving Our Native Grasslands. This program involves engaging students in a 3-day long experience to learn more about what the Anacostia Watershed does to help Maryland’s environment. The program’s three parts include: in-class instruction, a restoration activity, and a field experience/boat ride down the Anacostia River. In general, the aim is for students to develop an understanding, both intellectual and emotional, of their relationship to the Anacostia River and the Chesapeake Bay. This 3-day event includes:

•AWS coming to Rock View Elementary for an hour-long presentation about native grasslands (Oct. 25)

•Students participating in a common good service project constructing and installing bird houses at one of AWS’s meadow sites along the river, Bladensburg Waterfront Park and Magruder Park (Ms. Baxter’s, Ms. Golando’s , and Ms. Class’s/Kramer’s third graders will go on Oct. 30;

Ms. Kuzner’s and Ms. Lando’s classes will go on Nov. 1)

•Students taking a pontoon boat trip along the Anacostia River (half of third grade will go on Nov. 19 and the other half will go on Nov. 20).

The mission of the Anacostia Watershed Society is to protect and

restore the Anacostia River and its watershed communities by cleaning the water, recovering the shores, and honoring the river’s rich heritage. This vision includes making the Anacostia River and its tributaries swimmable and fishable, which is in keeping with the Clean Water Act, for the health and enjoyment of everyone in the community. Community involvement is critical to achieving this vision and AWS seeks win-win solutions through strong partnerships and coalitions, with all parts of the community, government, and other stakeholders. Core to their work is reaching out to, educating and engaging the next generation of decision-makers, our youth. This is going to be an exciting journey and one that we hope will inspire the students to see the bigger picture, open their eyes to other possibilities, and realize that one person can make a difference.

students enjoying a pontoon boat ride down the Anacostia River

As Quarter 2 quickly approaches, students will focus on two new critical

thinking and academic success skills, Evaluation (critical thinking skill) – Weighing evidence, examining claims, and questioning facts to make judgments based upon criteria and Metacognition (academic success skill) – knowing and being aware of one’s own thinking and having the ability to monitor and evaluate one’s own thinking. Teachers will emphasize these important skills in all academic subject areas.

Here’s a brief overview of what’s coming up...

ReadingStudents will read various genres including poetry, plays, and informational text. Central

themes, literal and nonliteral meanings, main idea and supporting details will be explored as well as many other important reading skills and strategies.

WritingStudents will continue to utilize the writing process steps and will focus on the 6-traits of writing when creating poems, informative and opinion writing pieces.

MathThird graders will focus on multiplication and its inverse operation, division, this quarter. Strategies to help students fluently solve problems using these two operations will be introduced and practiced. We also encourage parents/guardians to help their children practice basic facts mastery at home.

Social StudiesGeographic features of Montgomery County, Maryland, the United States, North America, and Africa will be explored. Students will examine changes people have made to the environment and will study ways people can help the environment.

HealthStudents will learn ways to safely respond to emergencies and ways to access emergency services. Personal safety and ways to effectively deal with harassment will be discussed. Avoiding diseases and treatment of diseases will be introduced as well.

ScienceConservation of matter. properties of matter, technology and scope of technology, and how human need affects technological advances and innovation will be evaluated. Temperature and its effects on physical properties will also be investigated.

Third Grade Common Core 2.0...

COOL WEBSITES TO EXPLORE THIS MONTH...•Spellingcity.com A great site to study spelling words. It includes computer generated practice tests and fun games. Other language and word study skills offered too.

•Arcademicskillbuilders.comWe LOVE this site. It offers students great games to practice their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division basic facts. It offers reading and language games as well. THIS IS A GREAT RESOURCE TO HELP YOUR CHILD FLUENTLY PRACTICE BASIC ADDITION,SUBTRACTION, DIVISION, and of course, MULTIPLICATION. facts to memory in a fun way.

•Starfall.com

The first part of this site is geared more toward younger students, especially those in first grade who are learning to read, but we LOVE the sections, It’s Fun to Read, and I’m Reading. This site is so wonderful for ESOL students and reluctant readers. CHECK IT OUT!

More websites to come in future newsletter editions....

SAVE THE DATE ROCK VIEW ELEMENTARY PARENT

MATH WORKSHOP THIS WEEK Wed., October 17

This event promises to be a GREAT OPPORTUNITY for parents to learn more about

the new common core math standards. Parents will also be given fun, educational math games to play at home with their children.

Students are invited to the

EVENING session to enjoy and learn new math games.

Offered at 2 times during the day- both approx. 45 min. long

Daytime Session - 9:30 amEvening Session - 6:30 pm

GREENKIDS COMES TO THIRD GRADE

On several different days throughout the month of November, Greenkids, an eco-friendly educational organization, will visit each third grade classroom. Students will participate in a “Pollution Prevention” themed activity. The students will learn about the dangers of pollution from harmful chemicals in cleaning products and will make an environmentally-friendly desk cleaner for the classroom. This activity ties in nicely with our second quarter Social Studies unit on ways people can help the environment.

How do you repair a broken pumpkin?

With a Pumpkin Patch!