3 rd Grade Gifted Curriculum Night Wednesday, August 15, 2015

 Welcome to the Third Grade Gifted Classroom!  Please take a moment to find your child’s seat, and see if you can fill-in the blanks on the Parent Night Kid Quiz!  No Peeking!  When you have finished, you can then flip it over and see what your child wrote.

As you sit at these tables, you may be asking, “Where did the desks go?”  We do a great deal of group work that takes advantage of the student’s divergent thinking. The desks had to go! This is why…. Tables help to create an environment that encourages  CRITICAL THINKING  CREATIVITY  COLLABORATION  COMMUNICATION

What subjects will your child cover in their third grade gifted classroom, and what strategies will be used to teach them?

Reading Research based instruction in phonics, fluency, vocabulary, spelling, and text comprehension. We will incorporate the following into our reading instruction:  Whole Group  Small Group  Partner Reading  Literature Studies  Independent Reading

Reading Skills  Making inferences  Shared inquiry  Main idea/ Summarizing  Cause and effect  Comprehension  Sequencing  Author’s Purpose Using Literature and Informational Text (Novels, Junior Great Books, Scholastic News, Bear Essential News for Kids, etc…)

WRITING PROCESS  Prewriting  Draft  Revision  Editing  Publishing

Genres of Writing  Narrative  Opinion  Informative/ Explanatory  And opportunities to become published authors!

Bear Essential News  The Young Reporters Program gives kids in grades 3 through 8 the opportunity to experience journalism firsthand. Through this free program of Bear Essential Educational Services, kids learn the fundamentals of reporting and how to apply them by writing for the "Get the Scoop" section of Bear Essential News for Kids. 

LANGUAGE Grammar and Usage Parts of speech, subject and predicate, types of sentences Conventions Capitalization, punctuation, spelling patterns, high frequency words Vocabulary Use of reference materials

MATHEMATICS Adopted Materials: Engage New York Fosnot AZ College and Career Ready Standards:  Operations and Algebraic Thinking (multiplication and division)  Number & Operations in Base Ten (multi-digit arithmetic)  Number & Operations (fractions)  Measurement and Data  Geometry  Mathematical Practices (problem solving, reasoning)

Science  Life Science – Plants, Ecology  Physical Science – Light and Sound  Earth Science – Rocks, Erosion, Weathering Social Studies  Geography – Map Skills  American History – Immigration, Civil War  World History – Early Explorers; Ancient Greece and Rome  Civics and Government  Economics

Social-Emotional Activities That Build:  Self-esteem  Teamwork  Communication  Anger Management  Self-Discovery  And Coping Skills

Brain Break! 

Project-based Learning Focuses on student choice, teacher responsibility, and opportunities for differentiation.  students participate in projects and practice an interdisciplinary array of skills from math, language arts, fine arts, social studies, science, and technology.

How we make Project-based Learning work in our gifted classroom:  Follow the district’s curriculum calendar  Adhere to AZ Career and College Ready Standards  Employ both Acceleration and Enrichment  In addition to class projects, there will be a homework project almost every month.  Cross Curricular Projects  Plan a business  Planning a vacation  Fencing a yard  Decorating a Room  Planning a Party  Research Papers  Etc…????

Take a look at one of the in-class projects we have already tackled! S.T.E.A.M  Marshmallow Challenge  ks/view/lang/en//id/ ks/view/lang/en//id/83 7  The task is simple: in eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top.

Homework  IXL - online  Monthly project

The August Homework Project!!!  Design your own business.  No directions as such…. I want the kids to feel free to be creative without too many parameters.  A packet will come home this Friday.  This will need to be completed and returned to school for grading by Monday, August 31 st.  Please work with your child to pace the work.  There will be a new project each month.  Contact me with any questions!

Grading  Proficient 85 – 100%  Developing 70 – 84%  Area of Concern – below 70% Progress Reports (quarterly)

Fun Friday Each Friday, students have the opportunity to participate in Fun Friday. Fun Friday includes a choice of an activity, such as games, art, or computer. Students who have not earned Fun Friday will go to Study Hall. Students earn Fun Friday by:  Completing and turning in all homework  Completing and turning in all class work  Acceptable behavior for the week

How Can you reach me?  –  Phone

How do I communicate with you?   Remind.com  Class Website

Remind 101 Mrs. Dow created 3rd Grade Self-contained Gifted on Remind. Follow these steps to join! 1. Download the Remind app. It’s free! 2. Enter the class Or visit this link: Join via SMS! Enter this number (520) with this What’s Remind? Remind is a simple way for you to stay informed and up-to-date with what’s happening in your class. By joining your teacher’s class on Remind, you’re choosing to receive class messages via push notifications, SMS, or . Don’t worry, your phone number will not be shared with the teacher or anyone else in the class.

Class Website

Monte Vista School-wide Information - The 3 B’s - Parent drop off and Pick-up

School-wide Guidelines The 3 B’s! 1.Be safe 2.Be responsible 3.Be respectful

Parent Drop off Please drop off between the cross walks. Pull up as far as possible. Do not let your students out before the crosswalk. If you pull into the lot and park, please walk your student across the crosswalk. Please be patient when waiting to pull into the lot. There is only one line of traffic that is pulling in from the street. Students should be ready to exit the car when the time is appropriate.

Parent Drop Off PARKING ONLY / NO STUDENT DROP OFF LANE FOR STUDENT DROP OFF Enter Exit CROSSWALK South Parking Lot – Mountain Sky Avenue Mountain Sky Avenue

Parent Pick-up  Please have the Blue sign with your students first and last name, and grade level displayed in the windshield or hanging from the visor.

Parent Pick-up  Pull up as far as possible and your student will be sent to your car.  Students can enter cars after car passes the cross walk. PARKING ONLY / NO STUDENT PICK-UP LANE FOR STUDENT PICK- UP Enter Exit CROSSWALK South Parking Lot – Mountain Sky Avenue Student waiting zone

Stay in Your Car & Pull Forward

Let’s Put Student Safety First!

That’s about it! Thank you for visiting with me tonight!