In this unit, students are encouraged to write letters to family and friends about a book they are reading. In the letters the will apply the skills learned in this unit, including how to structure a letter, punctuating titles of books and short stories, using possessives (in reference to the characters or ideas in the book), contractions and addressing an envelope. Don’t forget to request a response - getting a personal letter in the mail in this electronic age can be a thrill!

Letter writing is a very engaging and authentic way to learn formatting, punctuation and grammar. The activities in this unit should be learned in tandem with actual letter writing to aunts, uncles or other special far-away people. That way, students can learn and practice the letter writing skills and then apply them in their own letters. It would be especially rich to include their thoughts about books they are reading.

A sentence stands alone to express a complete thought. Surprisingly, most 5th graders still need to revisit the concepts of complete sentences and fragments and how to punctuate the four different kinds of sentences. Combining shorter sentences into longer, more complex sentences is another skill that requires practice. Students get all of that needed review in this unit, in addition to learning how to identify and fix run-on sentences.

This year, third graders will build a stronger understanding of division. This guided lesson uses the repeated subtraction strategy as a way of teaching division. The lesson shows how division problems can be solved by repeatedly subtracting the same number (the divisor). Not only does this help students solve division problems, but it also builds a conceptual understanding of division. For more practice, check out the suggested division worksheets.