Tag Archives: multiplication

Third Grade News….

Parents,
Here are a few things to know for this week:

  • A new homework packet will be coming home today. It is due next Monday, Oct. 30. A spelling pre-test with a new spelling word list should come home as well. These words should be practiced for the spelling test on Friday.
  • We will have our Geography test on Wednesday. We have been reviewing in class and a review page will come home on Tuesday.
  • We have library on Wednesday. Please remind  your third grader to return their books so they will be able to check out new ones.
  • We have PE on Wednesday this week. Please check with your child to make sure they have gym shoes at school. Changing into clean shoes helps keep our gym floor clean and safe. Thank you!
  • Picture Retakes are this Thursday, October 26.
  • Multiplication Fluency Practice: You will see a practice page come home today. This was completed on Friday. Attached to this practice page will be a note saying NOT YET or GOT IT! This let’s you and your third grader know what facts will need to be practiced for this Friday. Your third grader keeps track of their own progress on a graph here at school so they will know exactly what facts they should be working on.
  • Parent/Teacher Conferences: Conference appointment slips (bright orange paper) should be coming home today. Please look for that in your child’s folder! I look forward to sharing all of your child’s hard work with you!

Math Test Coming Up!

Parents,
We will be having our Unit 1 Math Test next Tuesday or Wednesday. It will be depending on how we do with our review on Monday. I will be letting you know!
This unit has covered multiplication and division and understanding how they relate. Please refer to my previous post HERE.

In preparation for the test, it will be so important to practice multiplication facts with your child. They should be able to show multiplication in a few different ways by using repeated addition, arrays, and area model. We have been working on these concepts in class and as part of weekly homework packets.

We have also learned the distributive property of multiplication. For example, we can find the area of the whole rectangle below by using  7 x 3 = 21.
We can also break the large rectangle into two smaller rectangles (red and white).
Then we find the area of each smaller rectangle and add.

example:  (5 x 3) + (2 x 3) =
15   +    6       =  21

Thank you for your support!

Ms Van Arkel  🙂

Multiplication and Division

We have been working on learning strategies for multiplication and division facts. Today we used counters to help us solve word problems.

Example: I have 12 books that I will place on 2 bookshelves. How many books will be on each shelf?

Joe has 27 baseball cards. He arranges them in 3 rows. How many baseball cards will be in each row?

***Please help your child practice their math flashcards for at least 5 minutes each night. Building fluency with multiplication facts will be crucial to learning division and future math concepts.

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Math Fact Fluency

I want to remind you of the information that was sent home about Xtra Math. A note was sent home that gave you information about how to log into this site. Math fact practice is very important and as a building we will be using this information to track fact fluency and accuracy to report back to the district.

Your child should be spending at least 5 minutes a night on Xtra Math fact practice. Once they pass addition, they will move on to subtraction, then multiplication, then division. Addition and subtraction facts should have been mastered in second grade while multiplication and division will be the focus in third grade.

If addition and subtraction facts are not mastered by November, students will be working in an intervention fact fluency group.

If you do not have computer access to get on Xtra Math, please let me know and I will send flashcards home.

Thank You!

 

For your information-

Multiplication flashcards:
Today we started our math unit on multiplication. We have started with the 5s facts. In your child’s daily folder will be a parent letter and an envelope with flashcards. We will be filling this envelope with flashcards. It should go home for nightly practice and be sent back to school each day as we will use the flashcards in class.
***It is very important to make fact practice part of your nightly routine. We will be learning a lot of multiplication facts and they will be crucial to know as we move on in math concepts this year.

Spelling Words:
We started our spelling work today. Each Monday, we will take a pre-test that will determine the word list for each student. During the week we will use activities to practice the words and the spelling concept. On Fridays, we will have a spelling test. It will be important to practice these words at home during the week. One of the best ways to do this is to write them out in sentences. I also have spelling activities linked to the right side of the blog. Spelling City is a great one!

3rd Grade Update

Hi Parents,
We’ve been working hard in third grade! Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Writing:  We are working on publishing our first personal narrative and will begin our next personal narrative unit. We are learning strategies for good writing such as an interesting lead and ending as well as using describing words and detail to show not tell.

Word Work/Grammar:  Our word work will look a little different. We will be focusing on short vowels this week. Today we did a pretest to determine what words each student would work on. These words went home today and should be practiced throughout the week. The spelling test will be this Friday.

Math: We have been moving through our first math unit that covers multiplication and division. We have started working on our multiplication sundaes. The sundaes are a fun way to help us practice. After passing multiplication facts, an ingredient to the sundae can be added. Please help your child practice multiplication facts at home. Practice does not have to take a long time, but regular practice will be a great help as we move along in math concepts this year.

Reading: We have been learning about characteristics of being a reader. We’ve learned about choosing a good- fit book, how to talk to our partner about reading,  how to listen to our partner, how to clear up confusion when we read, and how to use strategies to help us understand what we read.

Social Studies: In third grade, we learn all about Michigan. We have learned that geography is the study of places and that geographers ask questions. We have also learned about the natural and human characteristics of Michigan. We have located the landforms and bodies of water in Michigan too. We love learning about our state!