What We Learned This Week
It's Easy Being Green
Here are some great photos of the 3rd grade musical performance, It's Easy Being Green. Thank you Mrs. Sethi!
Word Study
This week's spelling words are had, did, hopped, patted, kidded, danced, stopped, made, called, wrote, liked, and held. The two general categories for sorting are irregular past-tense words and words that end with -ed. Ending sounds are /ed/, /t/, and /d/. Many past-tense verbs are spelled with -ed at the end, even though the pronunciation can differ.
Additional words include baked, blamed, cared, graded, ate, met, spoke, won, lined, noted, piped, scored, kept, was, were, slid, sloped, stared, tuned, waved, drank, caught, bought, taught. See earlier post http://3rdgradehudson.blogspot.com/2011/09/parent-information-highlights.html for additional activities. Activities we are doing in class include identifying parts of speech, roots, prefixes and suffixes.
We are beginning a comprehensive review of parts of speech, grammar, subject verb agreement, and tenses that will continue through the end of the school year.
Reading
We concluded our author study on Roald Dahl and will begin comparing his work with a new author, Mark Twain. We will start reading Huckleberry Finn on Monday. We will compare Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox in theme, author's message, characters and style.
I want to share a wonderful reading resource, RAZ-Kids, for your student that either wants or needs additional support. Please visit: http://www.raz-kids.com/main/Login Once on this page, you can login using the following password: jhudsonn
Your student can click on their name and they will be redirected to their home page. Please explore this page with your student to learn more about the many options they have. The page will offer at-level texts specifically chosen for your reader's needs. It also offers assessments and even a reader so your student can listen and follow along. There are fiction and non-fiction texts, as well as core curriculum science and social studies links as well. It's a great resource. The class has had direct experience with this site at school. No alignment is perfect and some students may have a too easy or too challenging text level. Please let me know if the text is too difficult. I will be able to adjust and monitor student progress. I would recommend reading one story per night on school nights.
I've challenged the class to really dig into the RAZ-Kids reading by offering a weekly prize for the student that makes the most progress each week. I'll award the student who has made the most reading progress on Monday with a selection of sealed paper bags with mystery prizes in them. They will range from homework passes to buying them lunch from a favorite fast food restaurant (e.g. Chipotle, Subway, Wendy's, etc.). Please let me know if you do not want your child to have fast food and I can ensure they do not select that mystery bag. Happy reading. This will be a great summer reading resource as well.
We began an independently selected research project. I am modeling elements of non-fiction texts: table of contents, tables, charts, glossary and index. We are using the table of contents to help us organize our thoughts and determine how we will organize our research. We started by writing down what we already think we know about the topic and questions we have. Table of contents categories, background knowledge and curiosity will drive our research practice. I hope to have students use PowerPoint or another slide show program to share their findings.
Writing
Students are working on their pen pal drafts for what will likely be our final pen pal letter of the year. I have some fun fiction and research writing projects and an end of the year convention push planned.
Math
Friday, I sent home a copy of the 2010 Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment. This represents your student's math homework for next week. I do NOT need it returned. Rather, I would like them to spend time on it nightly, optionally this weekend for those who want to get started, and bring in problems they are confused on. This will also introduce them to the format of the assessment as it is coming up soon. Because I want students to really absorb this material I will not be accepting any homework passes next week.
We began an independently selected research project. I am modeling elements of non-fiction texts: table of contents, tables, charts, glossary and index. We are using the table of contents to help us organize our thoughts and determine how we will organize our research. We started by writing down what we already think we know about the topic and questions we have. Table of contents categories, background knowledge and curiosity will drive our research practice. I hope to have students use PowerPoint or another slide show program to share their findings.
Writing
Students are working on their pen pal drafts for what will likely be our final pen pal letter of the year. I have some fun fiction and research writing projects and an end of the year convention push planned.
Math
Friday, I sent home a copy of the 2010 Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment. This represents your student's math homework for next week. I do NOT need it returned. Rather, I would like them to spend time on it nightly, optionally this weekend for those who want to get started, and bring in problems they are confused on. This will also introduce them to the format of the assessment as it is coming up soon. Because I want students to really absorb this material I will not be accepting any homework passes next week.
Ukulele Practice Schedule
April 23 - Ukulele Orchestra.
April 24 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
April 30 - Ukulele Orchestra.
May 1 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
May 7 - Ukulele Orchestra.
May 7 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
May 14 - Ukulele Orchestra.
May 15 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
May 21 - Ukulele Orchestra.
May 22 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
May 29 - Ukulele Orchestra.
May 30 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
May 31 - Ukulele Orchestra Performance at 7pm in the Multipurpose Room at Windermere (more information to come). This will be our final ukulele date for 3rd and seniors.
Important Dates & Reminders
April 27 - Kids Fest 5:00 till 8:00. Please visit the Windermere PTO's page for more information. http://www.windermerepto.org/ The dunk tank has been cancelled. Maybe you can save your money for next year:)
April 30 - Ohio Reading Achievement Retakes (only for students who did not pass in fall)
April 23 - Ukulele Orchestra.
April 24 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
April 30 - Ukulele Orchestra.
May 1 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
May 7 - Ukulele Orchestra.
May 7 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
May 14 - Ukulele Orchestra.
May 15 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
May 21 - Ukulele Orchestra.
May 22 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
May 29 - Ukulele Orchestra.
May 30 - Senior Ukulele Orchestra.
May 31 - Ukulele Orchestra Performance at 7pm in the Multipurpose Room at Windermere (more information to come). This will be our final ukulele date for 3rd and seniors.
Important Dates & Reminders
April 27 - Kids Fest 5:00 till 8:00. Please visit the Windermere PTO's page for more information. http://www.windermerepto.org/ The dunk tank has been cancelled. Maybe you can save your money for next year:)
April 30 - Ohio Reading Achievement Retakes (only for students who did not pass in fall)
May 1 - Ohio Mathematics Achievement Assessment
May 9 - Early Release at 1:15 for teacher math professional development
May 12 - Windermere Wish Run
May 28 - No School, Memorial Day observed
June 4 - Field Days, send your student with a water bottle and sunscreen already applied.
June 5 - Field Days rain date
June 7 - Last day for students
June 8 - Summer begins for students
May 9 - Early Release at 1:15 for teacher math professional development
May 12 - Windermere Wish Run
May 28 - No School, Memorial Day observed
June 4 - Field Days, send your student with a water bottle and sunscreen already applied.
June 5 - Field Days rain date
June 7 - Last day for students
June 8 - Summer begins for students
