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Mrs. Rasmussen
Curriculum
Reading Our language arts curriculum uses the comprehensive Houghton Mifflin series. In the third grade, we explore adventure, poetry, traditions, trickster tales, incredible stories, animal habitats, biographies, voyagers, fairy tales, and smart solutions. Students will be spending time reading books of their own choice, sharing books with others, and also listening to books on tape and CD.
A good link for kids to try is eduplace.com/kids. There, students can try activities that expand the literature from our classroom, they can practice key vocabulary words, they can look up word definitions, and they can learn more about the authors in our series. For a shortcut, click here.
Accelerated Reader is a system that helps children easily find books that are a "good fit" for them to read. Students take a quick quiz early in the year that tells them their level, then they can find coded books in the library and classroom that are just right for them.
Writing is an important strand of the Houghton Mifflin language arts curriculum. Using these materials, children practice editing, learn grammar skills, and write in a variety of genres every day. I also like to include strategies from four-square writing and the 6 traits of writing models. Students in third grade also practice cursive writing. Samples of the students' writing are saved in a portfolio to share with parents at the end of the year.
Spelling Students will be doing "Word Work", practicing on lists of words that are individually suited to each child's level of spelling and vocabulary skills. Children will sort, write, and practice with their list of words until they are ready to be tested in small groups.
 Science This year in science, our students are learning about electricity, energy and matter, and geology.
Social Studies We learn about the Native Americans in the state of Washington this year. The state is divided by the Cascade Mountain Range, and we compare and contrast the two groups, Coastal and Plateau.
Math Our math program is fascinating, fun, and challenging. Students are expected to have most addition and subtraction facts mastered by third grade, so if your child isn't quite there, I'd suggest finding computer games, board games, or links like funbrain.com for more practice. Another good site is aaamath.com.We spend time in class using hands-on techniques, doing projects, and playing games that help students understand math concepts. After Christmas break, we'll spend more time with multiplication facts. 
Art In third grade, we're exploring line, shape, color, depth, space, and more.
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