Word Study
This week's spelling words are: anyway, monkey, they, really, good-bye, butterfly, January, twenty, July, crying, already, daisy. The three general categories for the sorting are:
- Words in which the letter y has the long a sound
- Words in which the letter y has the long e sound
- Words in which the letter y has the long i sound
Anyway has both a long e and long a sound. Additionally we will be looking at the root words (crying and already) and compound words in our list (anyway and butterfly).
Additional words you may want to use for at home spelling activities which support our generalizations include (see earlier post http://3rdgradehudson.blogspot.com/2011/09/parent-information-highlights.html): lady, shy, eye, busy, easy, clay, stay, payday, playing, speedway, fancy, skinny, myself, crybaby, army, eighty, typewriter, reply, eye opener, heavyweight, skyward, greyhound, February, and tabby.
Students who are receiving Wilson or other spelling and phonological development programs will likely not be in the room during weekly spelling assessments. Instead, they will be assessed on the words they are doing in their respective programs by their intervention teachers. While I do consider spelling assessments, I rely more heavily on students' writing samples for high frequency words and end of quarter assessments than on weekly assessments to monitor student spelling progress.
We continued our study of lowercase cursive letters: i, t, u, w and their connections. Students who are not in the classroom during cursive for additional services (e.g., speech, enrichment, intervention, etc.) will receive the day's practice in their mailbox. They should complete it as homework and return it the following day. Suggestions for practicing cursive were posted in the previous newsletter.
Students continue to have time to practice keyboarding skills in the computer lab. However, due to limited opportunities to go to the computer lab and priority curriculum, I recommend students practice typing at home using the district's Type To Learn 4 license (information and login I.D.'s were shared during Parent Information Night). Please let me know if your student does not remember their login. Their password is "type." Students should practice a few minutes each night using this engaging keyboarding program. A few minutes each night will see them progress much more than longer sessions only a few times per week. Students should be aware of their posture and use the appropriate finger for the appropriate key with their index fingers resting lightly on the home keys of F and J.We are focusing on present and past tense in grammar.
Reading
Students completed their African American research. Their work will be in in the hallway by Tuesday. Please take a moment to look at their hard work and learn something new.
Writing
We received our pen pal letters. We will be focusing on the writing process and paragraphs as a single idea. The class read their pen pal letters to find quality paragraphs and improve others. They have a great understanding of paragraph.
Math
We continued geometry this week naming and drawing parallel and intersecting lines, line segments, and rays. We also named and drew angles (right, acute and obtuse) and triangles. We practiced our 9's for multiplication and will introduce square products this week.
We are starting math with the previous night's challenge problem and are identifying key words and numbers to underline that help us to understand the problem and organize our information. We use one of two strategies, occasionally both, drawing a picture or writing a number model, to solve challenge problems.
Science
Our next science unit will be in conjunction with the Invention Convention. Our process will be to identify a problem and develop multiple solutions to solve it. I encourage students to focus on simple problems and simple solutions. I've helped judge the Invention Convention in the past and have found it is an extremely rewarding experience for students. Students will participate at school through the design process and presentation boards. They will not make prototypes at school, but I encourage students to do so and participate in the actual Invention Convention, which will take place at the Upper Arlington High School on April 21, 2012. You can learn more at http://www.just-think-inc.com/.
Important Dates and Reminders
February 7 - Kindergarten open house at 7:00pm
February 8 - Early Release, dismissal at 1:15pm for staff development
February 13 - 17 - Jump Rope for Heart (details to come)
(http://3rdgradehudson.blogspot.com/2011/10/ohio-wildlife-center-wish-list.html)
February 17 - School Spirit Day, students wear their Hawk-wear
February 20 - No school in honor of Presidents' Day
April Assessment Dates - Please do not schedule appointments and trips on these dates if possible.
April 2-5 - Terra Nova and InView
April 30 - Ohio Reading Achievement Retakes (only for students who did not pass in fall)
May 1 - Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment
I hope you were able to get out and play some in this unseasonably beautiful weather!
I hope you were able to get out and play some in this unseasonably beautiful weather!
