Welcome to Third Grade!
Greetings Parents and Guardians,
The third grade teachers would like to welcome you and your child to third
grade at Tayac Academy! We will be learning a lot and we look forward to
working with you for a successful year. During the year third-graders focus
on building their reading comprehension! Reading daily at home and at school
will be expected. Students will also learn multiplication facts and engage is
higher level problem solving activities. Third grade is a time of change for
most youngsters with increased responsibility as they prepare for the MSA
assessment. Our goal is to facilitate every students’ learning process in
order for each child to become happy, responsible, independent thinkers.
Together we can guide our students to success through continued communication
and partnership. Here are some highlights of your child’s daily schedules and
routines. Please review the items below. Thank you for your support!
Grades
Third-grade students will be given letter grades:
A- Excellent progress (90%-100%)
B- Above average progress (80%-89%)
C- Average progress (70%-79%)
D- Below average progress (60%-69%)
E- Unsatisfactory progress/ failure (below 60%)
Uniforms
Students are required to wear the proper uniform at all times.
Girls: white blouse, navy blue sweater, plaid kick-pleat skirt jumper, navy
or black knee socks or tights, All black shoes
Boys: white button-down dress shirt, navy blue sweater, navy blue dress
pants, grey tie, nay or black socks, ALL black shoes, PLAIN black belt.
Lunch Account
Please make sure your child’s lunch account is up to date. You or your child
can put money on the account at any time or pay online at:
http://www1.pgcps.org/foodandnutrition/
Supplies
Please make sure that students have the appropriate materials including
pencils, erasers, crayons, markers, etc. Pencil cases are preferred, since
boxes will not fit in desks. Students MUST have their supplies every day to
earn good work habits grades.
Agenda Books
Students will be supplied with an agenda book in which to record daily
homework assignments. This book must be brought to and from school each day.
It is essential that parents check and sign your child’s agenda book. The
agenda may have notes from the teacher. Parents may also communicate with
their child’s teacher in the agenda book.
Reading Logs
Reading logs are a required part of the third grade curriculum and are a part
of students’ reading and homework grades. Students should read every evening
for 30 minutes and make a recording of it on their logs. Parents should
monitor their child’s daily reading habits and sign the log at the end of
each week. Reading logs are due every Friday. Students will receive a new log
each Friday to begin over the weekend.
Homework
Homework will be assigned Monday –Friday each week. Homework is to be
completed on loose-leaf paper. Please make sure each assignment has a date,
subject, and page number. Papers without names will not receive credit. All
homework is due the NEXT DAY. A worksheet for reading and math will be sent
home on Friday to complete over the weekend. The worksheets are due each
Monday. Homework can be viewed daily by logging onto the 3rd grade website
at:
http://TeacherWeb.com/MD/TayacAcademy/ThirdGrade
Textbooks & Journals
Students will receive 2 reading anthologies, a math textbook, science
textbook, social studies textbook, and health textbook. Please take time this
week to cover textbooks. Make sure to place appropriate size covers on books
as to prevent damage to the spine of the book. Paper covers are preferred. If
a student takes a textbook home for any reason, it must be returned to school
so the child can use it for classroom instruction. Students must also have at
least 3 composition books in which to record written work.
******************************************************************************
☺Please label your child’s belongings like sweaters, coats, lunch boxes,
bookbag, supplies, textbooks.
☺Please make sure your child’s lunch account is up to date. You or your child
can put money on the account at any time or pay online at:
http://www1.pgcps.org/foodandnutrition/
******************************************************************************
Third grade Class Schedule
*School begins at 7:30. Please be on time.
7:30-7:45 Homeroom – Morning activity and announcements.
7:45-8:15 Social Studies
Students will learn aspects of communities: communities throughout the world,
types of rural suburban and urban communities, immigration, celebrations in
communities, regions of the USA, Resources, History of communities in the
USA, government, and CITIZENSHIP.
8:15-10:00 Reading
During the reading block students will switch classes pertaining to their
reading level. The class begins with silent –independent reading, then a
whole group comprehension lesson focusing on a skill and/ or strategy such as
sequencing, cause & effect, main idea, questioning, etc… Depending on the
day, children will have small group instruction geared to their reading
level.
10:00-10:30 Lunch
10:30-11:00 Science/ Health
Students will explore 4 major areas of study throughout the year: Life
Science, Earth Science, Physical Science, and Space & Technology. Hands on
projects will also be performed in class.
11:00-11:15 Recess
Students may bring basketballs, soccer balls, kick-balls. NO FOOTBALL is
allowed. Proper sportsmanship is expected at all times. If a student chooses
not to adhere to the rules of sportsmanship, they will be excluded from the
activity.
11:15-11:40 Specials
Students will go to P.E., music, or library depending on the day. Art class
occurs once per quarter.
11:40-1:10 Math
Students will switch teachers based on their instructional level. During math
the class begins with a whole-group lesson to teach each skill. The students
have opportunities to work with manipulatives, paper and pencil activities,
projects, journals, and math textbooks. Students will be guided through the
lesson, then have time to engage in independent practice. Small group
instruction will occur daily.
1:10-1:45 Science/ Health
1:45-1:55 Pack Up & Dismissal
******************************************************************************
Third-Grade Behavior Policy
Our students participate in a community of caring philosophy. This philosophy
expects attitudes of:
Respect
Family
Caring
Responsibility
Honesty
Trust
Our major standards for behavior are:
1. Show respect for yourself and others at all times.
2. Be mindful of personal space by keeping hands, feet, and objects to
yourself.
3. Follow teacher directions.
4. Come to school ready to learn.
Students will be graded on their behavior using a color code system:
Green = Good behavior
Yellow = Warned about breaking the rules.
Orange =Repeated instances of poor behavior.
Blue = Refusal to follow directions most of the day.
Red = Constant disruptive behavior.
*Teachers may call or write a note in a student’s agenda book regardless of
their color code.
Consequences could be:
• Warning- reminder of expectations and a chance to reconsider choices.
• Move within the class to allow re-focus.
• Written note in agenda book.
• Time-out in another class.
• Phone call home.
• Loss of privileges (centers, recess, etc.)
• Removal from class.
• Guidance counselor/ administrative intervention.
• In-school suspension.
• After school detention.
Daily Positive Reinforcements include:
• Verbal praise.
• Good Job! Phone call home.
• Teacher’s helper.
• Visit to another favorite teacher.
• Recognition on A.M./ P.M. announcements
• Stickers and tangible rewards (prizes, books, erasers, pencils,
certificates, etc...)
• Lunch with the teacher.
• Team points.
******************************************************************************
Scholastic Reading Inventory
The Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) is a comprehension test that assesses
student reading levels, tracks growth over time, and helps guide instruction
according to student needs. Prince George’s County Public Schools uses the
SRI throughout the year to measure reading growth. The scores are called
lexile levels.
Here are the target reading levels your child should meet throughout the year:
Time Period: Proficient On-grade level score should be:
Beginning of year At least 316
Mid Year At least450
End of Year At least 511
Go to www.lexile.com to find books on your child’s reading level!
Characteristics of Above Grade Level Readers:
• High level of success on reading core anthology.
• Reads a wide variety of text including advanced chapter books and
magazines
• Reads above grade level material independently and with good
comprehension.
• Independently applies reading strategies (see pg. 6) and skills to
more complex materials including social studies and science ext.
• Exhibits advanced phonics (Multi-syllabic words, blends, digraphs,
prefixes, suffixes, word endings.)
• Exhibits advanced vocabulary (knows and uses a wide variety of words
from different subject areas, knows multi-meaning words, comprehends
figurative language in text)
• Reads fluently (pauses between sentences, attends to punctuation,
uses intonation)
• Scores high proficient/ advanced on SRI and weekly assignments.
Characteristics of On Grade Level Readers
• Student is successful when teacher models skills and guides students
through the anthology.
• Reads grade level material independently and with good comprehension.
• Reads beginning chapter books.
• Fluency is appropriate and does not interfere with comprehension
(Student may read in a monotone fashion).
• Takes an interest in fiction and non-fiction including news articles.
• Has a variety of words in their vocabulary and decodes text well.
• Is familiar with most words in books, but needs guidance with multi-
syllabic or multi-meaning words.
• Needs guidance to understand figurative language or themes in
literature.
• Scores proficient on SRI and other class assignments.
• Needs some teacher or peer support to complete class work.
Characteristics of Below Grade Level Readers:
• Experiences difficulty with the reading anthology
• Dependent on teacher or other support to read and understand text.
• Needs teacher support when applying skills and strategies to grade-
level material.
• Phonics skills may be missing (student may know some sounds but not
know how to put them together to make words)
• Fluency is weak and interferes with comprehension (Student has a very
labored/ slow reading rate).
• Scores basic on SRI and weekly assignments.
******************************************************************************
Reading Strategies
THE INNER CONVERSATION
• I have an inner conversation to help me better understand the text by
paying attention and thinking about the words and ideas as I read. It is a
quiet inner voice, not a speaking out loud voice. Readers use many different
starters for their thinking.
MONITOR COMPREHENSION:
• I monitor when I ask myself if what I’m reading makes sense, and when
I stop to think if I’m confused or don’t understand what I’ve read. I
clarify when I work to figure out what’s confusing me. I can clarify by
rereading, using illustrations or other text features, or reading ahead, and
thinking about clues from the text and what I know.
o Thinking Starters:
• (Monitor) I’m confused about… I don’t understand… What doesn’t make
sense is…
• (Clarify) It could be… Maybe… Oh, now I see… When I reread I realized…
USE BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE TO MAKE CONNECTIONS:
• I make connections when I relate what I am reading to:
o my own experience (text-to-self connection)
o other texts I have read (text-to-text connection)
o my knowledge of the world around me (text-to-world connection)
o Thinking Starters: This reminds me of… I have a connection… I
remember when… What happened is just like… The character is like…
QUESTION:
• I question when I wonder about important ideas in the text, and ask
questions to think more about them.
o Thinking Starters: I wonder… Why… How come…
VISUALIZE:
• I visualize when I make pictures in my mind of what I’m reading.
o Thinking Starters: I visualized… I have a picture in my mind of… I
have a mental image that… I see… The movie in my head is…
INFER:
• I infer when I figure out things the author does not say directly.
To infer, I use what I’ve read so far and my own knowledge to help me.
• Thinking Starters: I infer… I think this means… I think…
DETERMINING IMPORTANCE IN TEXT:
• I determine importance in text when I pick out the most important
information.
o Thinking Starters: This is really important…I now know that…The most
important point to remember about…is…
Note: When readers determine importance in fiction, they infer the bigger
ideas and themes. When readers determine importance in non-fiction, they
focus on important information to arrive at main ideas.
SUMMARIZE:
• I summarize when I think about the main ideas or the most important
parts of what I read. Then, I briefly tell in my own words what it was all
about. Summarizing means restating briefly the most important parts of the
text in my own words.
o Thinking Starters:
• (Informational text) The main idea is … I learned that… (I think
about the most important parts of the text, passage or paragraph)
• (Literary text) What happened is… The story is about… (I think about
the main characters, setting, problem, solution, and theme or lesson)
SYNTHESIZE:
• I synthesize information when I combine new information with my own
knowledge to form a new idea.
o Thinking Starters: I used to think…but now I’m thinking…At first I
thought…but now I’m thinking…Here’s what I’m thinking so far… This is very
different than I thought it was going to be… I get it… Aha!... Yes!!...
******************************************************************************
Overview of Skills for Third Grade
Reading Skills
Story Structure
Sequence of Events
Main Idea and Details
Noting Details
Identifying Character Traits
Compare and Contrast
Categorize and Classify
Fact and Opinion
Cause and Effect
Fantasy and Reality
Drawing Conclusions
Making Judgments
Identifying Text Features
Organizational Structure of Informational Text
Math Skills
Number Sense & Operations
Place value up to 10,000’s
Fractional parts of a set
Fractional parts of a whole
Compare and order numbers
Even and odd numbers
Round whole numbers
Add and subtract whole numbers
Multiply whole numbers
Write number setences
Use estimation
Word problems
Algebra
Number patterns
Visual patterns
Equations (ex. 7+3+b=18)
Expressions
Inequalities
Statistics
Read & interpret bar graphs, tally charts, pictographs
Probability
Geometry
Solid figures
Polygons
Quadrilaterals
Symmetry
Congruence
Slides, flips, turns
Measurement
Time & elapsed time
Count money and make change up to $100
Area
Perimeter
Read a thermometer
Use a calendar
