Dear grade three parents,

I hope you are all well! I appreciate hearing from you. 

Attached you will find documents for this week's work. I have, not surprisingly, heard a variety of responses to last week's work experience, ranging from "it was fun", to "we could've used more material", to "it was really hard". It will be important for each family to strike a balance, finding an amount of schoolwork, and a way of doing it, that works for you. I will help you as best I can; feel free to contact me as needed, and I will work with you to find solutions.

I don't expect that each family will do the work exactly as suggested, but I would like very much to see what your child is doing as we go along. You may find it useful for your child to know that his/her work is being sent to me to look at, and that I am expecting to see it; some parents have reported that "Mr. Esty said....." is a good way of getting past resistance.

That said, this week I would like for you to continue with main lesson bookwork for sit spots and the Jungle Book. (We are reading it at bedtime at my house, too). Please also have your child play some word games this week  ( word games and sight-word battleship .)

Please spend some time each day on beautiful cursive handwriting. I have attached a sheet showing examples of proper use of the "floor", "ceiling", "attic", and "basement", and a sheet of blank cursive practice paper. ( week 2 handwriting paper ) ( cursive practice example )  Though your child will be writing a lot as part of our work, when he/she is focused on content, the beauty of the handwriting can suffer. So, let's balance it out with some time spent focusing on shaping the letters. Each day, your child should pick five tricky spelling words (chosen from the sight words or from the day's editing) to use as cursive practice. Write each of the five words five times in cursive, making proper use of the floor, ceiling, attic, and basement.

For math practice, I have attached two how-to "tutorials", on friendly tens and breaking the number.  ( how to use friendly tens and break the number tutorial )  I have also included practice sheets for each of these calculation strategies, from which your child should practice each weekday.  ( friendly tens practice and break the tens practice )  Please also play some math games  ( math games )  with your child each day. If you can't do it, it would make a great job for a willing older sibling.  Please also have your child practice with the concepts of perimeter and area  ( area and perimeter ).

Thanks, and stay in touch!

Scott

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