Mrs. Aguirre's 3rd Grade Classroom

Welcome to a new school year! I know each year in your child’s schooling presents new expectations and routines for you and your child to become familiar with. My goal is to introduce classroom routines and structures in a way that removes all of the guesswork from the children and allows them to concentrate fully on learning. In reading, the classroom structure I use is called “Daily Five”. Soon your child will be talking about “The Daily Five” at home. The purpose of this letter is to explain to you what The Daily Five is and what you should expect to see at home.

The Daily Five is a literacy structure that teaches independence and gives children the skills needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. It consists of five tasks that are introduced individually. When introduced to each task, the children discuss what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to engage in the task independently. Then, the children work on building their stamina until they are successful at being independent while doing that task.

1. Read to self

The strategy of working backward applies to only some types of word problems. These state the end results and students must find the total number. In order to solve these word problems, students have to work backward by thinking through the correct sequence of events. The strategy of working backward allows students to use their logical reasoning and sequencing to find the answers.

Example: Sarah has a piece of ribbon. She cuts it into 4 equal parts. Then she cuts each part into 3 smaller pieces. If the length of each small piece is 2 inches long, how long is the piece of ribbon?

3 x 2 = 6                     6 x 4 = 24             The ribbon is 24 inches long.

In problem solving, students often use a drawing to show understanding of the problem. This helps them to see the relationships. Using a bar diagram, number line, list or table, can help to see the problem clearly and organize information that is helpful. Clarifying the question is important. Then they can analyze, look for a pattern, which can be helpful to solve the problem.

A parent had a wonderful suggestion: a glossary of new math terms!

regrouping/fair trades  is a new term we use for the idea of “carrying” or “borrowing”. It helps a child connect the idea that 10 ones can be “regrouped” for 1 ten, 10 tens is a “fair trade” for 1 hundred, etc. In class we use place value blocks. Your child is learning how to draw these place value blocks so you don’t need to have these at home.

Addition strategies are addition concepts of “counting on” by one, two or three. For example, if your give your child a number line, such as a ruler, and ask them 6 + 2, they should be able to easily skip a number  and come up with the answer of 8. We are working on being able to quickly do this in our heads.

Doubles are 1+1,  2+2, 3+3, etc. Dominos are a good way to practice this strategy as they can see the dots and count them if they need to.

Doubles plus 1, plus 2, plus 3 are used for harder equations. If a child knows 3+3=6, then they can easily figure that 3+4=7

Bridge to 10 is a strategy that uses 10 as a mile post. Using their 10 fingers is a great way to bridge to 10. For a number less than 10, ask them to show you (using both hands). For a 3, they will hold up 3 fingers on one hand and a closed fist on the other. It becomes very clear to see how many more make 10. Your child may also use a number line (such as a ruler) to figure “how many more make 10″.

Ten frame is another way to make “bridge to 10″ visible. 9 + 6 is made with counters (such as beans). 9 is made as a row of 5 with  a row of 4 just below (this makes it easy for your child to see that it only needs 1 more to be 10). The 6 is displayed in another ten frame as a row of 5 with 1 below it. The child takes one away from the 6, adds to the 9. It is clear to see that 9+6 is the same as 10 + 5. Some kids catch on quick and begin to do this in their heads. Some kids need the materials to touch and move in order to master this concept.

(This will soon be updated for September and October) If your child does not have their own individualized spelling words written in their daily planner for the week, here’s a list of the words that we are practicing in class:

Week of:

November      night, picture, being, study, second

December      soon, since, story, white, ever

December      paper, hard, near, sentence, better

January       best, across, during, today, however

 January      sure, knew, it’s, try, told

 January       young, sun, thing, whole, hear

 January       example, heard, several, change, answer,

 February      learn, point, city, play, toward

 February       himself, five, usually, money, seen

 February      didn’t, car, morning, I’m, body

February      upon, family, later, turn, move

 March       face, door, cut, done, group

 March      true, half, red, fish, plants

 March      living, black, eat, short, United States

 April       run, book, gave, order, open

 April       ground, cold, really, table, remember

 April      tree, course, front, American, space

 April       inside, ago, sad, early, I’ll

 May        learned, brought, close, nothing, though

 May      idea, before, lived, became, add

Welcome to our class website. Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions that could make this website more interesting and useful for you. Please come in to visit our classroom on August 31: anytime between 4 and 6:00. I can’t wait to meet you all!

Mrs. Aguirre