Last Newsletter of the Year! 3rd Grade Resource List

Dear Room 4 Families,

I want to thank everyone for contributing to such a wonderful year! Your child enjoyed their last week of school writing compliments for each other in both English and Chinese. We wrapped up the year with several crafts and prepared for 3rd grade by writing a ton! We also have been working on our multiplication and division concepts. To help your child transition into 3rd grade math, it would be very helpful to have your child memorize the times table.

Please check your child’s brown bags for their report cards and any mementos that you would like to keep. The report card is not in an envelope. It is folded in half and stapled. Your child also received a black and white copy of our class yearbook. In their brown bags should be 2 packets to help them get ready for third grade. One is a math packet, and one reviews ELA and Math skills. Some students left some of their papers/work in the classroom, which will be recycled.

Many of you are asking about resources for third grade. Here is a link to an article from Scholastic.com that clearly lists what your child should know already and is expected to do in 3rd grade. http://www.scholastic.com/parents/resources/article/what-to-expect-grade/preparing-3rd-grade

For families that want to brush up on skills from 2nd grade or would like to start preparing for 3rd grade, there are many workbooks that can be purchased that will help your child practice and retain skills. Costco is currently selling workbooks that review math and English. If you feel like your child needs to review 2nd grade material, I would suggest purchasing the 2nd grade book. If you would like to start working on 3rd grade skills, I would recommend to purchase the 3rd grade book. The following are some links to workbooks that have been popular with families in the past. The Amazon link is just so you can see the pictures of what they look like:

• Summer Bridge Activities Grade 2-3
• Summer Express Between 2nd and 3rd Grade
• Summer Fit Second to Third Grade: Math, Reading, Writing, Language Arts + Fitness, Nutrition and Values
• Summer Bridge Math Grades 2-3
• Summer Bridge Reading Grades 2-3

For those who want to have your 3rd grader practice their skills on the computer (which will help them with their standardized testing next year!), I highly recommend ixl.com as a learning website. It is neatly organized, sorted by subject and grade level, and addresses all of the grade level standards in a methodical way.  If you have children in other grades, they have games targeted towards all primary grades and pre-K. There is a subscription fee for unlimited access and they also have a paid iPad game available in the Apple app store. They do offer a limited amount of free games per day, so if you wanted to play a game or two daily, you and your child could navigate the website and go through all of the standards throughout the summer.

Here are some other websites that offer skill practice. Some are free, some have subscription fees, and some are paid sites with free areas to explore.  Please remember to monitor your child’s usage. Some of the websites will require adult assistance in navigating and finding age appropriate games.

• BrainPop
• Fact Monster
• Play Kids Games
• FunBrain
• ABCya! 
• Gamequariam
• Cool Math Games
• Math Games
• Moneyville
• Softschools
• Arcademic Skill Builders (This is the company that makes Multiplication Grand Prix on the ipad that the kids love to play against other students. They have other online versus games you can play on the website that I think the kids will love!)
• Mathplay 
• Internet4Classrooms
• Sheppard Software Language Arts Games
• Vocabulary.co.il
• Tumble Books
• Spin and Spell
• Magic School Bus
• Readquarium
• Storyline Online (Stories read aloud by famous people!)
• Interactive Poetry – Instant Poetry Forms
• PBS Kids – Between the Lions
• I Spy
• Word Girl

The following is a list of Chinese games that you can play online. Please remember to practice over the summer and review words that they have already learned so your child is ready to start 3rd grade Mandarin!

• Digital Dialects
• Learn Chinese Kids
• Kids Learn Chinese
• Chinese iLab
• English 4 Kids (Yes, it is a Chinese website!)
• Hello World
• Learn Chinese with Kai-lan
• Games at University of Maine
• Chinese for Kids
• Zon Labs
• Fun With Chinese Learning (Traditional Chinese, website is in Chinese and will be advanced for your child.)
• Yes Chinese (Webpage is in Chinese, but easy to figure out how to navigate)
• Games at Better Chinese
• Chinese Idiom Zoo (Webpage is in Chinese, for advanced students)
• DuoLingo
• KidsGo Flash
• Idiom Stories – Link to YouTube Channel

Thank you once again for such a wonderful year! Have a great summer and I’ll see you and your child in 3rd grade!

Sincerely,

-Ms. You