3rd Grade Reading, Writing, and Spelling

Welcome back for another amazing year. Your child has begun to master the
fundamentals of literacy in first and second grade. As we begin this new school year, your child
will be taking huge strides. These kids are transitioning into upper elementary school and this is
a crucial time where they will become increasingly independent and mature in their learning.
Your student will progress rapidly from practicing the basics of reading, writing, and spelling to
mastering and developing more complex skills in all areas.
Third grade is an exciting time for this growth, but at the same time we will be structured
very similarly to the elementary classrooms you’ve experienced in the past. Our class will be
using the Daily 5, which is a framework for literacy that is intended to engage students as readers
and writers. I choose to use this framework in my classroom because I can meet all of my
students at their level and diversify my plans to meet their needs. The Daily 5 consists of five
tasks which students choose from in our time block for literacy. The five tasks include: Read To
Self, Work On Writing, Read To Someone, Word Work, and Listen To Reading. This allows me
to spend more time teaching and interacting with students and less time trying to manage the
class.
Our reading this year will also look slightly different than second grade. One of our
focuses for third grade is to get our students to become thoughtful and independent readers. By
the end of the year our goal is for students to think deeply about what they are reading and to
have the skills necessary to read and interpret stories on their own. This means we will be
focusing on comprehension skills, which we will do with various thinking map activities,
reflecting before, during, and after we read, tracking characters, and other activities. Fluency and
word study will be a focus as we progress as well, but they are built in to our Daily 5 activities.
Lastly, I will be expecting your child to read at home. I have this expectation because I
want them to enjoy reading. I want your child to have something fun and interesting to dive into,
rather than just focusing on the tablets and phones that kids seem to be glued to in this day and
age. I will send books home, there is no need to worry about purchasing them unless you feel
that you want to. I want the students to read at least 15 minutes a day, but more is great! I will
send home a log and will ask that you sign to verify their reading time. I’m very excited to watch
your student grow into the amazing third grader they’re bound to be. Thank you so much and I
look forward to working with you to best support your student.

Sincerely,
Hayley Nordike