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.
