Newsletter for April 29, 2011

Dear Families,

What We Learned This Week

Testing is over! TerraNova, In View (formerly Test of Cognitive Skills) and Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessments are now complete. Results are usually back late spring, shortly before school is out. Please let me know if you have any questions once you receive them.

Next week's spelling words are comparatives and superlatives. Words that compare two things (comparatives) end in -er. Words that compare three or more things (superlatives) end in -est. Sometimes a spelling change is needed before adding an ending. This week's words are: taller, biggest, sadder, nicest, bigger, darkest, hotter, hottest, fattest, finest, safer, happiest. Other examples include: finer, cutest, sillier, madder, littlest, reddest, smallest, loudest, tallest, skinnier, luckier, earlier busier, silliest, stickiest, nastiest, funnier, loveliest, heaviest, rainier, glossier, chubbier, fancier, moodier. This week, during Word Study we looked at each spelling word in relationship to parts of speech. Can a word be both a noun and a verb (e.g. preview, premix, preset)? Because we had so many words with the same prefixes, we reviewed strategies for alphabetizing, which transfers to dictionary skills (although with computers, this skill is largely obsolete).

In Reading Workshop we completed our second author study on Peter Sis. We read two fiction books from his predominately non-fiction catalog of author/illustrator books, Komodo and The Three Golden Keys. We also read Tibet - Through The Red Box, the biographical account of his father's trip to Tibet during China's invasion. We also completed The Wall. Common elements in Sis's books are literal walls (Himalayan mountains, Berlin Wall) and figurative walls (scientific and cultural censorship, non-democratic forms of government); non-fiction; scientists, explorers and adventurers; maps and geography; research; and searching for scientific and universal truths. You can learn more about Peter Sis at his website: http://www.petersis.com/index2.html We will begin our final author study next week on Aminah Robinson, a Columbus born and based multi-material artist and book illustrator. She will be a focus of Mrs. Chisholm's art field trip. http://www.aminahsworld.org/index.php This is a fun interactive website that you may want to explore, especially if you are planning on chaperoning the upcoming field trip.

We began our Moustache Mysteries this week in Writing, a favorite fiction writing. Fiction writing, while preferred by most students because they tend to read more fiction, is very hard. Students have to create characters and plot, tie up loose ends and fill in explanations, all of which is fairly sophisticated. When writing research, personal narratives, friendly letters, persuasive writing, and instructional writing students do not have to create so much as recall and organize. Moustache Mysteries are supported with an equal amount of direction and freedom. Our four paragraphs are 1) discovering your moustache 2) an advantage to having a moustache 3) a disadvantage to having a moustache 4) making a final decision to keep the moustache or shave it. Within this framework, students have freedom to be creative and experience the challenges of writing fiction. Students also seem to really enjoy the idea of sporting a moustache:)

During Math, we started multi digit multiplication using partial products. Here is a short animation that demonstrates partial products https://www.everydaymathonline.com/ (Click on the following sequence: Free Family Resources Launch/Algorithms In Everyday Mathematics/3/Multiplication/Partial Products/Select an Animation). These animations are very beneficial for home understanding of what we are doing. The benefit of partial products is that it forces students to understand what they are doing as they perform their operations, efficient addition of same size groups. I do change the operations order from what Everyday Math (EDM) suggests. EDM starts with the largest place value factors, but I start with the ones place so the transition to the traditional algorithm is less confusing. We will begin the traditional algorithm, which is much more efficient and has fewer opportunities for errors, once we have a strong understanding of what we're actually doing during multiplication. Knowing your basic facts is essential for multi digit multiplication and is something you can help your student with at home as well. If they have not learned their facts yet using strategies, they should be completing a multiplication table each night as homework. Here is a link to blank multiplication sheets. It's even better if you can scramble the factors across the top. http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/multiplication/multiplication-table-blank-ten.pdf
We've nearly completed our study of immigration in Social Studies. Our guiding questions are:
- What does it mean to be American?
- Why did/do people immigrate to North America/United States?
- How have immigrants shaped North America?
- How (and why) do we define "us" and "them?"
- How (and why) do definitions of "us" and "them" change over time?
We will conclude this lesson with students writing journal entries and sharing what would be exciting and what would be scary or sad about immigrating to a new country.

Important Dates and Reminders

Kidsfest was a huge success! The weather was great (unless you were in the dunk tank and then you probably wished it was somewhere in the upper 90's). I hope everyone enjoyed themselves. I'm looking forward to soda geysers with the winner of my raffle.
May 3 - Students eat in the classroom, please do not send any peanut products. I will check for peanut products to the best of my ability and will wipe down all tables with Clorox wipes.
May 11 - Early release at 1:15. Science Exchange for students (more to come)
May 21 - Wish Run
May 24 - Art Field Trip to Columbus Museum of Art and downtown branch of Columbus Metropolitan Library (please let me know if you can chaperon)
May 30 - No school, Memorial Day
June 2 - Ukulele Orchestra Performance at 7pm
June 6 - Field Days (think hydration and sunscreen)
June 9 - Last day for students, classroom parties from 12:00 - 1:00

Two Chord Song Book

The Two Chord Song Book is still available for $5.00. You can pick up your copy at Windermere, by emailing or stopping by Wholly Craft on North High Street in Clintonville. Get your copy before the final performance of the year!


The Windermere Ukulele Orchestra is comprised of 28 3rd graders who give up their recesses to learn ukulele and genres of music that don’t get much airplay these days (early country, blues, ragtime and tin pan alley pieces).

Service learning is also an important part of our 3^rd grade learning. As the world gets smaller, people seem to have grown more distant. We encourage students and teachers alike to jump in and lend a hand when others might pass on by.

We’ve combined two of our passions: music and helping in making this little song book. Our class selected 27 traditional tunes and made accompanying prints to illustrate them. After careful research and consideration we chose the Capital Area Humane Society (CAHS) to support through our sales. You can learn more about the CAHS at their website: http://www.cahs-pets.org/

If you don’t know a tune’s melody, look it up on the internet or better yet, have a musician show you. You can even make up your own melody, making it your own, as musicians have done with many of these same tunes over the many years they’ve been enjoyed.

Sometimes considered children’s songs, the majority of the tunes in this book were the rock-n-roll of their day. So dust off that banjo, guitar, mandolin, or ukulele and start playing.

We hope you will be inspired by our efforts to make music and serve others.

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – M. K. Gandhi

UA Invention Convention

This year's Invention Convention was a great success. My sincere thanks to Mrs. Mindy Hassel for her continued sponsporship of this event.

Windermere represented our commitment to science with a majority of entrants. Our class did particularly well with 7 entrants and we took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place respectively for grade 3. We also have several students who will go on to compete in the Central Ohio Invention Convention this May at COSI on May 21st. Congratulations to all of the entrants!

Some of our participants...

Newsletter for April 21, 2011

Dear Families,

What We Learned This Week

Next week's spelling words focus on prefixes. Students will be asked to identify prefixes for the following words: pretest, redo, unzip, unfit, refill, review, undo, premix, preview, unable, recall and preset.

During Word Study we also reviewed nouns, verbs and adjectives. We play a game where students have to give examples of parts of speech without repeating others' and without making lists (e.g., if someone said banana and they were followed by apple, apple would be out). We've advanced to having one student provide a noun and the next person has to quickly provide an adjective that can be reasonably used to describe that noun. We also revisited contractions, building and deconstructing them. When constructing and deconstructing contractions we underline the letters in the root words that are replaced by the apostrophe. Lastly, we discussed apostrophes other use: ownership/possession.

In Reading Workshop we began our second author study building on what we learned from our Patricia Polacco study. Peter Sis, like Polacco, is a talented author/illustrator. He writes as much for adults as he does for children and fills his books with wonderfully detailed illustrations and facts. Common elements in Sis's books are literal and figurative walls (he grew up in Soviet controlled Czechoslovakia); non-fiction; scientists, explorers and adventurers; maps and geography; research; and searching for scientific and universal truths. We have read Starry Messenger (a book about Galileo Galilei), Follow the Dream, The Story of Christopher Columbus; The Tree of Life (the story of Charles Darwin), and we started The Wall (an autobiography of growing up in Czechoslovakia). You can learn more about Peter Sis at his website: http://www.petersis.com/index2.html

In writing we did a daily short write with emphasis on "quality" writing, allowing students to self determine how many paragraphs and sentences they feel are sufficient. This is an important skill in developing as a writer. Students are also developing a sense of how much they can write in different time limits, from ten to thirty minutes. I expect convention to be automatic for most students at this point in the year. "Quality" writing focuses on topic sentences that hook the readers attention without getting into the supporting details, sufficient supporting details, and conclusions that wrap up the paragraph with one of three strategies (asking a question, making an observation, or sharing feelings/emotions). A recent prompt was "Groucho Marx said, 'I find television very educational. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.' Which do you prefer, television or reading, and why?" Example topic sentences range from the straightforward, "I like television more than reading," or "If I had to choose between T.V. and reading, I would watch television," to the more sophisticated and passionate, "There are many reasons why I prefer to read than watch television." Conclusions varied from the sometimes overused question strategy of "Which would you choose?" to the "These are some of the many reasons I prefer to read educational books rather than watch T.V. junk" (student generated examples... I did not criticize student choices). Students are sharing with a partner prior to sharing with the whole class to self edit and revise as well as look and listen for complete sentences.

We reviewed key math concepts and prepared for the upcoming Ohio Math Achievement Assessments by taking a practice test to familiarize students with some of the particulars of the test format (e.g., Students must show all of their work in designated boxes. Work outside of the box will not be scored even if it is accurate.). We have also been emphasizing reading the question a minimum of two times to make sure we understand what the question is asking, underlining important words in the question, restating it in our own words, showing our organized work, circling answers and adding units of measure in story problems (e.g., hot dogs, pencils, etc.). I'm looking forward to having this assessment behind us. We will begin multi-digit multiplication next week.

In science we've begun a small flower garden in the classroom and are hoping to see some real growth through the spring. I've ordered our caterpillars and should receive them later next week. We'll observe them through their metamorphosis and release them late spring.

In social studies we've begun our study on immigration with guiding questions of:
- What does it mean to be American?
- Why did/do people immigrate to North America/United States?
- How have immigrants shaped North America?
- How (and why) do we define "us" and "them?"
- How (and why) do definitions of "us" and "them" change over time?
Our mentor texts are The Wall, Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain by Peter Sis, The Arrival by Shuan Tan (a wordless book that allows the reader to determine why people immigrate), The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle by Grutman and Matthaei (a historical fiction account of the realities of reeducating American Indians during westward expansion based on the Carlisle Indian School) and Coming to America, The Story of Immigration by Maestro and Ryan. Students will be researching different ethnic groups' immigration stories from other texts. Mrs. Green helped us compare different world religions and shared her family's Passover traditions. Thank you Mrs. Green!

Important Dates and Reminders

April 18 through 24 - NO TV week
April 22 - No school, Good Friday
April 25 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment retakes for students who did not pass in fall only
April 26 - Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment (scores back late spring) Please try to avoid any doctor's appointments or other absences
April 29 - PTO Kidsfest from 5pm-8pm (ukulele in silent auction)
May 3 - Students eat in the classroom, please do not send any peanut products. I will check for peanut products to the best of my ability and will wipe down all tables with Clorox wipes.
May 11 - Early release at 1:15.
May 21 - Wish Run
May 24 - Art Field Trip to Columbus Museum of Art and downtown branch of Columbus Metropolitan Library (please let me know if you can chaperon)
May 30 - No school, Memorial Day
June 2 - Ukulele Orchestra Performance at 7pm
June 6 - Field Days (think hydration and sunscreen)
June 9 - Last day for students, classroom parties from 12:00 - 1:00

Spelling for the week of April 18, 2011

 This week's spelling words are diphthongs. Categories for sorting are are oi, ou, oy, and ow (if students practice with the challenge words).Two vowels next to each other can make a gliding sound, such as oi in oil. W and y are considered vowels in some cases, such as in the letter combinations (diphthongs) ow and oy.

oil, enjoy, point, about, destroy, count, join, cloud, coin, joyful, out, cowboy

Additional challenge words include:
spoil, boil, foil, our, around, boy, joy, toy, brown, crown, crowd, broil, choice, joint, noise, aloud, appoint, avoid, disappoint, amount, cloudy, doubt, allow, scowl

Windermere Wish Run

Please mark your calendars for Saturday, May 21, the date of the 8th Annual Windermere Wish Run, a service-learning project which includes a 5K race at 9:00 a.m. and a one-mile Fun Run at 10:00 a.m. 

All proceeds from this year’s event go to Pets Without Parents, which was selected by a school-wide student vote after teachers and student council representatives in each classroom presented information about the nominated organizations. 

Please join us at Windermere on Saturday, May 21!  Registration begins at 8:00 a.m.  Click here to register now!

Earth Day 2011

What:         Earth Day 2011
When:        Saturday, April 23rd
Where:       Franklin Park Conservatory, 1777 East Broad Street, Columbus, 43023
Hours:        11a.m. - 10p.m.
Admission:  Free

Green Columbus and ARTillery bring you Earth Day 2011: Lighten Up, a festival centered on Earth Day Awareness. Located on the Scotts Miracle-Gro Community Garden Campus just outside of Franklin Park Conservatory, the celebration is free and open to the public. The festivities include live music, kids' activities, an education pavilion, movies, food and drinks, artist booths, art activities and more.

http://artilleryohio.com/wp/

http://greencbus.org/site/

UA Invention Convention

The 2011 Invention Convention will take place this Saturday, April 16th, at the UA High School cafeteria. I suggest parking in the West parking lot. The cafeteria will open at 8:45. Judging begins promptly at 9:00.

Inventors must bring their prototype and log book. The display board is optional but highly recommended.

Please note, all parents will be asked to leave at 9:00 so judges can talk to inventors. All judging is expected to be completed by 11:30. Please make sure your student has a contact (home or cell) number to reach you to pick them up. Awards will be announced at 1:00. I strongly suggest sending your child with a book or other silent activity in case they have a long wait.

Good luck inventors! I'll see you there:)

More detailed information will be sent via email.

NO TV Week: April 18th - 22nd

Illustration by Julian Glander

In preparation for NO TV Week, April 18th through the 22nd, we will be collecting data on our media and non-media activities this week to provide us with a benchmark for comparison.

We will compare how we spend our time during a typical week to a week when we intentionally find non-electric media (NO TV) activities. Students are not graded on their activities, but we will use the data to practice making bar graphs and interpreting data.   

I'll go over this activity with the class on Monday, April 11th and will send home a data collection survey. 



Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (UOGB) is a wonderfully irreverent and talented ukulele ensemble in England who take pop standards, blues, classical pieces (and everything in-between) and play them in their own unique and unforgettable way.  UOGB was kind enough to have sent the Windermere Ukulele Orchestra (WUO) an autograph last year. They are described best by this quote from Time Out as, "Subversive, rare and very precious... Frighteningly talented and awesome." You can find more UOGB here... http://www.ukuleleorchestra.com/main/home.aspx 

Gabe Walsh, a talented senior member of the WUO, had the opportunity to travel with his family to London for spring break. Eschewing the typical tourist stops, this young ukulele player attended a UOGB concert. The UOGB also kindly invited Gabe to visit their practice studio where he had the opportunity to play with the UOGB's George Hinchliffe and Kitty Lux. My heartfelt and sincere thanks to the UOGB for the generosity and support of young musicians. Gabe's family sent these wonderful clips.

Newsletter for April 8, 2011

Dear Families,

What We Learned This Week

In word study we will be studying double consonants before endings:

batting, jogger, spotted, patting, dotted, hugged, planned, hopping, runner, robber, getting, shopped

Additional challenge words include: 

begging, canned, chipping, chopped, clipper, dragged, dripping, dropped, robbing, sobbed, tipped, trapped, stirring, plugged, knotting, knitted, grabbed, slammed, redder, swimming, jogging, starring, fitted, mopped

Reading Workshop continued our author study of Patricia Polacco. We used Venn diagrams to compare and contrast several of her books. We first read aloud a broad offering of her fiction and non-fiction wirtings: The Keeping Quilt, Babushka's Doll, and Mrs. Katz and Tush. These mentor texts shared her most common themes of family (and extended family of friends and pets), culture, heritage, traditions, and lessons. We also considered the importance of her childhood, setting and grandparents. Raised on a farm in Michigan by her grandparents, rural settings and grandmothers are important elements that reappear in her many illustrated books. We then used Venn diagrams to compare and contrast Just Plain Fancy, the tale of an Amish girl and her special gifts, and My Rotten Red-Headed Older Brother, an autobiographical tale about Polacco's rivalry with her older brother, Richie.

We ended our week with Rechenka's Eggs, a modern folktale, and Chicken Sunday, a multicultural exchange between Jewish and African American communities. Students were encouraged to dig deeply into the texts to find meaningful connections between the different texts. It was interesting to observe the deeper understanding with each new comparison. Venn diagrams are in the hallway. We will continue with Patricia Polacco's books next week. You can see her artwork and learn more about her at http://www.patriciapolacco.com/.

We are still reading The Girl Who Could Fly by Victoria Forester. This is a great read aloud with complex characters and many prediction opportunities. Read aloud has also been shown in studies to be very important in communicating a value in and joy of reading.

In Writing Workshop we are focusing on short writings, single paragraph, with few guidelines on the length, number of supporting details, and are looking less at mechanics (which are assumed at this point in the year) and more at quality of topic sentences, richness or persuasiveness of supporting details, and effectiveness of conclusions. It is important to me that students develop an understanding of quality writing and are able to determine when they have provided sufficient detail. It is often observed that 3rd graders' (and even graduate students) first question in regard to a writing prompt ask, "How long?" We had a consistent theme of being stranded on a deserted island with different choices daily such as who would you like to be stranded with and why or what one tool would you bring and why. We are also focusing on ensuring we are answering the question posed. We are sharing student samples and critiquing specific learning targets. Rather than saying, "I liked (or didn't like) ...," we are participating in the more instructive "I heard Bobby give three reasons he would take his dad to a deserted island. He was persuasive."

In Math we are still reviewing for the OAA, but we are not simply doing practice tests or "teaching to the test." We are exploring math at deeper and more complex levels as well as articulating our strategies. E.g., if you have to pack and sell 60 pounds of rice, is it better to pack it in 3 pound bags that sell for $4 or 5 pound bags that sell for $5? While this problem is simple for adults it is a complex combination of linear and abstract math for a third grader. Most students seem to be enjoying these challenges and the opportunity to work through them. 

We concluded our Social Studies geography and map skills unit by learning the rudiments of how to use a compass, mapping our playground and then using a compass and paces writing directions for another student team to follow with the goal that they arrive at an undisclosed ending place.

Important Dates

Next week I will administer the Terra Nova and In View assessments. The Terra Nova is a battery of standardized tests on reading, math, science and social studies while In View is an assessement of cognitive abilities. These assessments are used to qualify students for enrichment. While I always want every student to show what they know and do their best, there should be NO stress associated with taking these assessments. Students already in enrichment will continue to receive enrichment regardless of how they do on the assessments. The In View, has replaced our Test of Cognitive Skills assessment, but is very similar. Please do not schedule any doctor's visits or other absences next week during the morning. We will begin promptly at 8:30 to ensure sufficient time to administer the tests.

Our class is collecting aluminum drink tabs for Ronald McDonald House. Please send them throughout the remainder of the year. Thank you. You can learn more about Ronadl McDonald House here...
http://www.rmhc-centralohio.org/

We are also collecting plastic bottle caps. Please send in what you have collected so far next Monday. 

Please send your student to school with their ukulele on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Our final field trip of the year is scheduled for May 24th. Please let me know if you would like to volunteer. It will be an all day trip led by Mrs. Chisholm, our art teacher. We will be going to the Columbus Museum of Art and using their studio space. We will also visit the downtown branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

April - Windermere student art on display at UA Board of Education

April 12 - Progress reports sent home

April 12 through 15 - Terra Nova and In View (standardized enrichment assessment) Please try to avoid any doctor's appointments or other absences

April 16 - Invention Convention at UA High School (http://www.just-think-inc.com/)

April 18 - ***Date change*** 3rd Grade Musical Performance, "It's Easy Being Green," at 7pm

April 18 through 24 - NO TV week

April 22 - No school, Good Friday

April 25 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment retakes for students who did not pass in fall only

April 26 - Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment (scores back late spring) Please try to avoid any doctor's appointments or other absences

April 29 - PTO Kidsfest from 5pm-8pm (ukulele in silent auction)

Due to week long testing, there will be NO newsletter next week.

Important Dates

Our class is collecting aluminum drink tabs for Ronald McDonald House. Please send them throughout the remainder of the year. Thank you.

We are also collecting plastic bottle caps. Please rinse and dry them before sending them in.

Please send your student to school with their ukulele on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Our final field trip of the year is scheduled for May 24th. Please let me know if you would like to volunteer. It will be an all day trip led by Mrs. Chisholm, our art teacher. We will be going to the Columbus Museum of Art and using their studio space. We will also visit the downtown branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

April - Windermere student art on display at UA Board of Education
April 1 - End of third grading period
April 4 - No school for students, educator grading day
April 7 - Mr. Hudson at Wickliffe for literacy in-service
April 12 - Progress reports sent home
April 12 through 15 - Terra Nova and In View (standardized enrichment assessment) Please try to avoid any doctor's appointments or other absences
April 16 - Invention Convention at UA High School (http://www.just-think-inc.com/)
April 18 - ***Date change*** 3rd Grade Musical Performance, "It's Easy Being Green," at 7pm
April 18 through 24 - NO TV week
April 22 - No school, Good Friday
April 25 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment retakes for students who did not pass in fall only
April 26 - Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment (scores back late spring) Please try to avoid any doctor's appointments or other absences
April 29 - PTO Kidsfest from 5pm-8pm (ukulele in silent auction)

Newsletter April 1, 2011

Dear Families,

What We Learned This Week

Word Study

We will be studying compound words this week, typically a student favorite. Our words are:
noontime, seesaw, somewhere, without, afternoon, bookmark, background, earring, forever, someday, birthday, outside
Again, there will be NO pattern this week. Many students enjoy coming up with a list of all the compound words they can think of. It is not uncommon for compound words to be over generalized (students combine two words into a compound word when they shouldn't be joined) for a while. This typically works itself out over time. I will not be sending a paper copy of our spelling words home.

We are working on capitals in cursive this week and next. Capitals are used much less often than lower case so we save this for last. I am encouraging, but not requiring, students to write in cursive, especially on spelling assessments, as they are time bound and not very lengthy. It is more important for your 3rd grader to be able to read cursive than write it as many 4th grade teachers will write instructions in cursive. I will begin to do this to introduce them to this skill after the OAAs.

Reading Workshop

We are studying Patricia Polacco in our first author study. Patricia Polacco, a former Windermere guest author/illustrator, writes about her family, culture, lessons and traditions. We will be comparing her picture books, looking for common themes. You can learn more about her at http://www.patriciapolacco.com/

Writing Workshop

We did two short assessments this week for the end of the quarter. I expect convention to be automatic at this point in the year. Students should indent, capitalize the beginnings of sentences and proper nouns and end every sentence with punctuation. I am also looking for topic sentences, supporting details that are sufficient and descriptive, and strong concluding sentences. Revision and writings other than letters and narratives will constitute the majority of the final grading period's writing: research, persuasive, expository, and creative/fictional fairy tales.

Math

I'm reviewing multiplication strategies. The hardest seem to be 3's and 6's. For 3's I suggest using doubles and adding one more group as most students are comfortable with doubles from addition.
                                3 x 6 = (2 x 6) + 6
For 6's I use a similar strategy of relying on knowledge of 5's.
                                6 x 7 = (5 x 7) + 7

We are also reviewing for the Math OAA. I am emphasizing providing detailed answers adn understanding questions. I am also exposing students to question formats that are typically present on the OAA that they may not have seen before to help them be comfortable with the test. We will take one full-length test prior to the actual OAA to ensure they know how long it is (2 1/2  hours).

Social Studies

We began our unit on Geography this week. Big ideas include how we use maps and globes, the poles, identifying continents using longitude and latitude, land and water forms, and the hemispheres. We will conclude this short unit next week by creating maps and making different landforms.