“Third Grade Rocks!!” The shift from 2nd to 3rd grade is major.  Reading for understanding and information is a big focus in third grade. You may have heard people say it’s when kids shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” In preparation, it’s important for kids to master basic reading skills, such as building vocabulary, fluency, stamina and reading comprehension. It is also a very important year for students to flex their math muscles as they dive into multiplication and division. It is imperative that students know their basic math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). Third graders also practice explaining these concepts by showing how they solved a problem, both out loud and through writing. We work with larger addition and subtraction problems and begin to study fractions in 3rd grade as well. In third grade, students face all sorts of new school demands. Third grade is a very independent grade. They’re expected to build upon what they’ve already learned in math, reading and writing. They’re taught new skills they’ll use for the rest of their school lives. We look forward to having a productive and positive school year. Let’s make this school year amazing as we work together to build up OUR students!