CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING WCDS EVENTS
- September 22 – October 3 – Parent/Teacher Partnership Meetings
- We will be sending out emails prior to your meeting!
- Wednesday, September 24 – 2nd through 5th – School Pictures
- Photo forms were sent home on Friday with your student!
- Friday, September 26- Freedom Friday and 8am Parent Coffee
- Friday, October 3- Early Dismissal
- Friday, October 10- Special Person’s Day. More details coming soon!
- Saturday, October 18- Mark Your Calendars for Vantoberfest!
- Parent’s Night Out- An evening made just for WCDS parents! A chance to relax, connect, and enjoy time together without the kids!! Plus raise some money for student transportation.
- Mark your calendars now. More details coming soon.
Wow — what a week! Third grade is truly taking flight as we grow as mathematicians, readers, writers, scientists, and friends. Our classroom was full of laughter, collaboration, and a few “aha!” moments this week, and we can’t wait to share the highlights with you.
Math:
This week we dove into rounding to the nearest hundred — a big skill for third graders! We practiced with number lines, games, and even created our very own rounding Bingo cards (which were a huge hit!). Students also learned how to use their math textbooks — a skill that helps them build independence and responsibility for their learning. Our math centers were buzzing with activity as students rotated through hands-on practice, problem-solving, and small group work.
Phonics:
In phonics, we focused on the OW sound — like in cow and snow. We played word sorts, practiced reading and spelling words, and challenged ourselves to find OW words in our independent reading.
Literacy:
Our literacy focus was character traits — the outside traits we can see and the inside traits we have to infer. We read The Letter Thief and A Bad Case of Stripes and had great discussions about what makes a character unique. Students practiced writing about a character’s inside and outside traits and shared their ideas with partners. It was so fun to see them dig deeper into what makes a character tick!
Writing:
We became detail detectives this week and worked on “exploding the moment” — slowing down an important part of a story and adding descriptive details so the reader feels like they are right there in the action. We welcomed a fifth grade guest to share his memoir and our third graders loved hearing his story. Best of all, we published our very first memoirs! Students were so proud to share their writing and see how much they’ve already grown as authors this year.
Deep Dive (Science):
Our bird study is soaring! Students worked through crossword puzzles to review bird vocabulary and started writing sections for our class zoology book, which will be published through Student Treasures. It’s exciting to see their research and creativity come together as we write like real scientists.
SEL (Social-Emotional Learning):
We joined the entire school for an assembly reviewing our school acronym WCDS — We are Respectful, We are Caring, We are Determined, We are Safe. Our amazing fifth graders showed us what each of those looks like at Wheeling Country Day School through real-life examples of how we can show these traits every day.
Specials: This week in Art, Music, Drama, Spanish, and PE, students had opportunities to explore their creativity, move their bodies, and try new things. Specials are such a wonderful way for students to expand their horizons and discover talents they might not even know they have! Our Spanish class had so much fun creating papel picado, a traditional Mexican folk art made by cutting colorful designs into tissue paper. These bright and cheerful banners are often hung to decorate for special celebrations, including Mexico’s Independence Day on September 16th. The students loved learning about this beautiful tradition with festive color!
We are so proud of the effort and excitement your children bring to school each day. Next week promises even more adventures — stay tuned!
Parent Partnership meetings begin next week and we can’t wait to connect with you all!
We hope you all have a great weekend and see you on Monday!
Miss Madison and Mrs. Buck
**Please contact us BOTH if you have any questions or concerns this school year**
mkmcdonald@wcdsedu.com & pbuck@wcdsedu.com
