Reading Workshop
Reading Workshop is an exciting and engaging approach to reading instruction. This innovative method of learning to read encourages children to glean important information from text, as well as to connect with the books they read. With Reading Workshop, expect for your student to ask questions, relate to characters, make inferences, and respond to literature in new and inventive ways! The third quarter during Reading Workshop, we will continue to make connections to text: Text to text, text to world, and text to self connections, as well as work towards responding to text. In addition, we will work on summarizing, characterization, main idea and supporting details, and making inferences. These are higher order thinking skills! Also, we will look at nonfiction text and work on test taking skills. Keep reading and logging your minutes on your PMES Reading Log. Spelling/Word Study Authentic spelling occurs in writing. Learning to spell certain words helps authors communicate in an effective way. Assessing student spelling will occur in student's writing. What is Word Study? Word study is a conceptual way of thinking about how to read and to spell words and of knowing what those words mean. It is a richer and more rigorous way of thinking about words and how we use them. Word study has three components: phonics, spelling, and vocabulary. These components are powerful tools to help our elementary school students learn new words and know how to use them in reading and writing. Learning how to read and decode patterns in elementary school will serve students later as they encounter much more complex words made up of those same patterns. |
Writing Workshop
Everyone loves to tell a story! Writing Workshop is a wonderful way for children to articulate important events in their lives through text. This year, during Writing Workshop, students will learn how to craft a story - adding details, developing a strong lead, creating an "inside story", and writing an effective conclusion. We will also focus on informational writing and persuasive writing. We will be working on poetry for the next few weeks. We begin our unit with free verse poetry, looking at ways to incorporate similes, metaphors, and personification. Students will also examine patterned poems, such as haiku, cinquain, and rhyming poems. As authors, we explore the entire writing process, and write about something we know and love. We will still incorporate Writer's Craft! It usually takes three to four weeks to complete a persuasive piece from planning to publishing! The second half of the quarter we will work on responding to literature. When reading books, students often have ideas and opinions about their reading. The characters, setting, theme, and plot often invoke specific thoughts and feelings. We will work on sharing our ideas in writing. In addition to writing, we will also read and write poetry and understand the basic elements of certain types of poems. Parent Sites |
Reading Log
Improving reading skills is critical for all academic areas. Please support our efforts at home by encouraging your child to read daily.
Students are expected to read a minimum of 30 minutes daily. Parents, please check your child's reading log after the reading assignment has been completed. Reading logs are randomly checked each week. This log helps me to see and follow reading trend of of your child in and outside of school.
To help support students as they work on volume principle and to ensure students have just right books, we will be sending home a book and a reading log each night with your child. This book will be at his or her independent reading level (or their instructional level if we have given them the book in a group). Each night your child should read for at least 30 minutes (more would be great!) and record their reading on their PMES reading log. After your child finishes reading, please remind him or her to put their book and log back in their book bag. Students’ just right books and logs will travel back and forth from school to home each day.
In addition to reading at home, please know that we are doing everything we can at school to support your child as a reader. In addition to teaching them various reading strategies, we will also provide them with large blocks of uninterrupted time to read every day. Finally, know that we are aware that due to other commitments, it may be hard for your child to read for 30 minutes some nights. If that happens, don’t fret! Instead, do the best you can (maybe read more on other nights or on the weekends?). We know that sometimes life gets in the way of even our very best intentions. Please feel free to email if you have any questions. Thanks in advance for all your help and support. We look forward to a great year of literacy and learning together!
Sincerely yours,
Puckett’s Third Grade Team
Improving reading skills is critical for all academic areas. Please support our efforts at home by encouraging your child to read daily.
Students are expected to read a minimum of 30 minutes daily. Parents, please check your child's reading log after the reading assignment has been completed. Reading logs are randomly checked each week. This log helps me to see and follow reading trend of of your child in and outside of school.
To help support students as they work on volume principle and to ensure students have just right books, we will be sending home a book and a reading log each night with your child. This book will be at his or her independent reading level (or their instructional level if we have given them the book in a group). Each night your child should read for at least 30 minutes (more would be great!) and record their reading on their PMES reading log. After your child finishes reading, please remind him or her to put their book and log back in their book bag. Students’ just right books and logs will travel back and forth from school to home each day.
In addition to reading at home, please know that we are doing everything we can at school to support your child as a reader. In addition to teaching them various reading strategies, we will also provide them with large blocks of uninterrupted time to read every day. Finally, know that we are aware that due to other commitments, it may be hard for your child to read for 30 minutes some nights. If that happens, don’t fret! Instead, do the best you can (maybe read more on other nights or on the weekends?). We know that sometimes life gets in the way of even our very best intentions. Please feel free to email if you have any questions. Thanks in advance for all your help and support. We look forward to a great year of literacy and learning together!
Sincerely yours,
Puckett’s Third Grade Team
Write it RIGHT! Grammar News
Week 2
What makes a sentence? Types of sentences (declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory)
Week 3
Sentence structure, subject/predicate, types of sentences
Week 4
Singular and plural nouns, sentence structure, subject/predicate, types of sentences
Week 5
Common and proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, sentence structure, subject/predicate, types of sentences
Week 6
Action verbs, review of common and proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, sentence structure, subject/predicate, types of sentences
Week 7
Personal pronouns, possessive pronouns
Week 8
In addition to all of our previous lessons, we will focus on VIVID Verbs, compound and complex sentences. This is a challenging concept, so we will work on adding these sentences to our writing samples as well as look at several examples of each.
Week 9 - 10
"We will be working on quotation marks this week." said Mrs. Morgan.
Week 11
Continue to work on previous skills and possessive pronouns as well as subject/predicate.
Week 12
In addition to all of our parts of speech, we will look at helping verbs this week and sing a special helping verb song!
Week 13
More helping verbs work! We are continuing our work with mentor sentences to review our other concepts of subject/predicate and parts of speech. We will also preview some Latin and Greek root words ("un" and "re")
Week 15
This week, our focus is LINKING verbs - we are also reviewing ALL previous skills - such as subject/predicate, nouns (singular, plural, common, proper), pronouns (subject, object, possessive), verbs (action, helping) and adjectives.
We are also working on the Root Word ex- which means "out."
Week 20
This week, we will work on quotation marks in dialogue and in writing as well as explore/review our previously learned skills. Our homework will include the Quotation Marks lesson packet and Applying Grammar Rules lessons.
Week 21
Continuing our work with dialogue in sentences! Quotation marks can be tricky, so we will continue to practice using quotation marks in sentences correctly.
Week 22
Compound subjects and predicates are our focus for this week!
Week 23
Compound Sentences are back! We will continue our work with compound sentences, compound subjects, and compound predicates. Remember to continue to review all parts of speech in preparation for your weekly check!
Weeks 24
Possessive Nouns can be tricky. This week our focus will be on possessive nouns again. Please review our classwork assignments and homework to help your student understand and use possessive nouns correctly in their writing. There are some possessive noun games available on the LA Links under GRAMMAR.
Week 25
Using vocabulary terms correctly is an important skill for third grade. For the remaining three weeks of this quarter, your student will be doing WORD WORK using different Greek and Latin Root Words. Using the words in a sentence and understanding the context of the words is the most important lesson for these three weeks. This week our word part is "mil" (words like millionaire, millimeter, millipede, militia, and military will form our unit of study)
Week 26 and 27
We are working these two weeks on the greek words "graph" and "gram". These words mean "to draw or to write." We will define several words (autograph, telegram, biography, photograph, phonograph, grammar, autobiography, graphite) and use them in a sentence. We will also alphabetize them and complete some word work activities to complete our study of these useful terms.
Week 28
The students have done amazing thinking when working with word parts and Latin and Greek roots. Here's a quick review of the words we've looked at this year:
mil-, in-, il-, re-, pre-, un-, bio-, graph-, gram-, sub-
This week, we will be taking our LA interim; Monday and Tuesday we will review basic parts of speech and key concepts to refresh our memory!
For writing, we are working on editing our response to literature and using a thesaurus and dictionary to hone our spelling and word skills. We are hoping to publish by Friday.
In reading, we will continue our work with figurative language. The students have enjoyed playing with phrases and words!
Weeks 29 - 30
Students focus on commas in a series and adverbs, as well as review the eight parts of speech.
Weeks 31 - 32
Preparing for the CRCT is a fun and exciting time! The next TWO weeks, we will play review games, practice sentence structure, parts of speech, and types of sentences, as well as review other grammar skills.
What makes a sentence? Types of sentences (declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory)
Week 3
Sentence structure, subject/predicate, types of sentences
Week 4
Singular and plural nouns, sentence structure, subject/predicate, types of sentences
Week 5
Common and proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, sentence structure, subject/predicate, types of sentences
Week 6
Action verbs, review of common and proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, sentence structure, subject/predicate, types of sentences
Week 7
Personal pronouns, possessive pronouns
Week 8
In addition to all of our previous lessons, we will focus on VIVID Verbs, compound and complex sentences. This is a challenging concept, so we will work on adding these sentences to our writing samples as well as look at several examples of each.
Week 9 - 10
"We will be working on quotation marks this week." said Mrs. Morgan.
Week 11
Continue to work on previous skills and possessive pronouns as well as subject/predicate.
Week 12
In addition to all of our parts of speech, we will look at helping verbs this week and sing a special helping verb song!
Week 13
More helping verbs work! We are continuing our work with mentor sentences to review our other concepts of subject/predicate and parts of speech. We will also preview some Latin and Greek root words ("un" and "re")
Week 15
This week, our focus is LINKING verbs - we are also reviewing ALL previous skills - such as subject/predicate, nouns (singular, plural, common, proper), pronouns (subject, object, possessive), verbs (action, helping) and adjectives.
We are also working on the Root Word ex- which means "out."
Week 20
This week, we will work on quotation marks in dialogue and in writing as well as explore/review our previously learned skills. Our homework will include the Quotation Marks lesson packet and Applying Grammar Rules lessons.
Week 21
Continuing our work with dialogue in sentences! Quotation marks can be tricky, so we will continue to practice using quotation marks in sentences correctly.
Week 22
Compound subjects and predicates are our focus for this week!
Week 23
Compound Sentences are back! We will continue our work with compound sentences, compound subjects, and compound predicates. Remember to continue to review all parts of speech in preparation for your weekly check!
Weeks 24
Possessive Nouns can be tricky. This week our focus will be on possessive nouns again. Please review our classwork assignments and homework to help your student understand and use possessive nouns correctly in their writing. There are some possessive noun games available on the LA Links under GRAMMAR.
Week 25
Using vocabulary terms correctly is an important skill for third grade. For the remaining three weeks of this quarter, your student will be doing WORD WORK using different Greek and Latin Root Words. Using the words in a sentence and understanding the context of the words is the most important lesson for these three weeks. This week our word part is "mil" (words like millionaire, millimeter, millipede, militia, and military will form our unit of study)
Week 26 and 27
We are working these two weeks on the greek words "graph" and "gram". These words mean "to draw or to write." We will define several words (autograph, telegram, biography, photograph, phonograph, grammar, autobiography, graphite) and use them in a sentence. We will also alphabetize them and complete some word work activities to complete our study of these useful terms.
Week 28
The students have done amazing thinking when working with word parts and Latin and Greek roots. Here's a quick review of the words we've looked at this year:
mil-, in-, il-, re-, pre-, un-, bio-, graph-, gram-, sub-
This week, we will be taking our LA interim; Monday and Tuesday we will review basic parts of speech and key concepts to refresh our memory!
For writing, we are working on editing our response to literature and using a thesaurus and dictionary to hone our spelling and word skills. We are hoping to publish by Friday.
In reading, we will continue our work with figurative language. The students have enjoyed playing with phrases and words!
Weeks 29 - 30
Students focus on commas in a series and adverbs, as well as review the eight parts of speech.
Weeks 31 - 32
Preparing for the CRCT is a fun and exciting time! The next TWO weeks, we will play review games, practice sentence structure, parts of speech, and types of sentences, as well as review other grammar skills.