Synopses & Reviews
"How do I begin to teach third grade?" What do I do first?" This remarkable year-round resource answers these questions and more by providing more than 600 stimulating, ready-to-use individual and group activities to help you teach and reinforce all areas of the third-grade curriculum while meeting the diverse needs of each of your students! For quick access and easy use, all of these activities are organized into nine monthly sections, September through May/June, and printed in a spiral-bound format that folds flat for photocopying of any reproducible page as many times as needed. Each monthly section includes:
*Recommended Books (Literacy)— An Annotated list of ten books gives you classic as well as current selections linked to the skills taught for the month as well as literature meant for pure reading enjoyment
plus a chapter book that can be read aloud to the entire class.
*Reading/Language Arts— Here you'll find specific strategies and skills necessary for third graders to achieve reading success, from phonics activities on the ever expanding letter-sound connections to finding the main idea of a story, reading to locate information, synthesizing information, spelling, and using story maps, reference materials, similes, and metaphors. Also included is a monthly focus on word origins and sayings.
*Mathematics— Suggested activities help children master the basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division by the end of third grade while addressing other math concepts like length, width, volume, fractions, geometry, estimation, and prediction. Whenever possible, math concepts are related to real-life scenarios.
*Social Studies— Monthly social studies activities center on themes such as citizenship, patriotism, symbols of our country, our city and state, colonial life, and holidays and celebrations. Included are map and globe skills and citizen focus on respect for authority, responsibility, conflict resolution, diversity, courage, and more.
*Science/Health— Hands-on learning center activities encourage students to "act like scientists" as they investigate, use equipment, keep logs, make predictions, test hypotheses, and describe outcomes while learning about birds and migration, dinosaurs, seasonal changes, weather, and other topics.
*Author of the Month— Each month features a different children's author and/or illustrator at the third-grade interest level to add spark to your reading program and to encourage further reading and library research. An annotated list of books and related activities are included. What's more, art, music, and physical activity are integrated into each of the above skill areas where children can make and share books, draw and tell, paint murals, dance to the seasons, sing chants, and participate in bird warm-up exercises for spring, to name just a few. In the author's words, "We must remember that third graders are curious and want to learn new things. School needs to offer these children a variety of challenges and opportunities to ponder and events to explore. However, they can be motivated to memorize facts that will serve them well in future years. Make the most of your year with these exuberant and delightful children!"
Synopsis
"How do I begin to teach third grade?" What do I do first?" This remarkable year-round resource answers these questions and more by providing more than 600 stimulating, ready-to-use individual and group activities to help you teach and reinforce all areas of the third-grade curriculum while meeting the diverse needs of each of your students! For quick access and easy use, all of these activities are organized into nine monthly sections, September through May/June, and printed in a spiral-bound format that folds flat for photocopying of any reproducible page as many times as needed.
About the Author
Elizabeth Crosby Stull, Ph.D. (Ohio State University) has more than 30 years' experience as a primary teacher and teacher educator. Dr. Stull is the author of several teacher resources published by The Center for Applied Research in Education, including Second Grade Teacher's Month-by-Month Activities Program (1992), Kindergarten Teacher's Survival Kit (1997), and Let's Read! A Month-by-Month Activities Program for Beginning Readers (2000).
Table of Contents
September. September Books.
Getting Ready for September.
The Very First Day of School.
Focus on Reading.
Focus on Language Arts.
More Reading Opportunities.
Word Origins and Sayings.
Writing Skills.
Speaking Skills.
Listening Skills.
Focus on Spelling.
Focus on Math.
Focus on Social Studies.
September Citizenship Focus: Honesty, Respect for Authority, Trustworthy.
Patriotism.
Area of Focus: Our City.
Holidays and Celebrations.
Focus on Science.
September Author Study: Margaret Mahy.
Reproducible Activity Pages for September.
October.
November.
December.
January.
February.
March.
April.
May/June.
Teacher Resource Bibliography.
Appendices.