We had a wonderful first week of school.  We are just starting to get to know each other, but I can tell already that this is going to be a fun year.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.  Email will be the most reliable for me, but I will always return phone calls a.s.a.p. 

In math we are reviewing place-value.  One important concept in our chapter on place-value is understanding the difference between a digit and a value.  We will continue to work on this next week.  We will also be comparing and ordering numbers next week (least to greatest or greatest to least).   The way that we teach math these days is very different from the way most of us learned it, so if you ever have questions about what I am teaching or why, please ask!  On September 18th I will be at the parent math night at 6:00.  I hope to see you all there.

In reading we are working on finding Just Right Books, and using text evidence.  We have been reading the book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume.  Text evidence is very important in third grade.  It is no longer enough to say "I think Peter is polite".  We are now looking for students to say "I think Peter is polite BECAUSE he said that he liked his gift so that he wouldn't hurt Mrs. Yarby's feelings."

Next week in reading, we are going to start talking about non-fiction texts.  It is important for kids to read and understand non-fiction.  We will be working on vocabulary strategies, finding the main idea, and navigating text features to answer questions (probably through the end of September).