Next week's spelling words are: stage, stair, shrink, strand, strange, fresh, shell, brush, stamp, shower, hailstorm, bookstore. Our patterns are words with sh, st, and str. The letters in the letter pair sh work together to make a single sound that is neither the sound of /s/ nor /h/; whereas, although the letter sounds in st and str blend together, the sound of each letter is heard. sh is a digraph. st and str are consonant blends.
Additional words you can use for this unit are star, start, stray, street, shot, shoe, shook, push, stepping, strap, washer, shape, shipped, shook, cashier, flesh, strength, stretch, stormy, ghost, shortcut, shortening, bashful, and stare. See earlier post http://3rdgradehudson.blogspot.com/2011/09/parent-information-highlights.html for additional activities. A particularly useful activity that we are doing in class is identifying parts of speech. For instance, many of our words, e.g., shell, can be both a noun and a verb.
We started our new read aloud, Nory Ryan's Song, which shares the plight of a young Irish girl during the 1840's famine. I will use this as background knowledge for our future People In Societies study to discuss reasons Europeans immigrated to America.
We are also learning about facts versus opinions. See if you can get your student to tell you facts and opinions.
In writing we are working on persuasive writing. We have practiced starting with a strong topic sentence and persuasive supporting details that do not include statements such as, "You'd be the best mom," "I really, really want it," and "I'm going to bug you till I get it." Instead we've replaced these with reasons WHY the student wants their position or item. We also wrote from the other person's perspective, very difficult for third graders. Now I am giving students a prompt that they can take a position for or against on, e.g., students should be responsible for cleaning Windermere's halls, cafeteria, restrooms and grounds. Then I randomly select two students to represent each position who then share, essentially creating a mini-debate team. This is highly motivating to the students. Students earn points by using strong topic sentences and conclusions as well as meaningful persuasive details.
In math we completed geometry. I was very pleased with students and have sent home their tests. Please check their backpacks to see their learning. We started fractions. See the Everyday Math Family Newsletter below.
Important Dates and Reminders
From Mr. Hill and Mr. Moore - "Windermere is holding a Jump Rope for Heart event on Friday, March 9th from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. As part of the kickoff for this great event the students watched a video in P.E. and received a permission slip and donation form which will be coming home in your child's backpack. If your child chooses to participate in this activity, please return all permission slips and donation forms to school by Thursday March 8th."
March 6 - Election day. “Attention Parents: Primary Election Day is March 6th. Students will be eating in their classrooms. The sack lunch menu for March 6 (Election Day) is: A 5 inch sub with lettuce & tomato on the side, carrot sticks with ranch dip, diced peaches and a milk. Please do not place any peanut products in your child’s packed lunch on that day.” .
March 11 - Daylight Savings time begins
March 16 through 25 - Spring Break
March 29 - End of third grading period
March 30 - No school - Teacher grading day
April & May Assessment Dates - Please do not schedule appointments and trips on these dates if possible.
April 2-5 - Terra Nova and InView
April 6 - No school - Good Friday
April 9 - Progress reports sent home
April 11 - Early dismissal at 1:15
April 21 - Invention Convention at UA High School (more information coming)
April 30 - Ohio Reading Achievement Retakes (only for students who did not pass in fall)
May 1 - Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment
