What We Learned This Week
Word Study
- We continued with synonyms and antonyms using sign language (building motor memory), playing synonym says and synonym/antonym head/catch, a game where students have to do the same or opposite direction to head or catch a Nerf ball. We are also building lists of synonyms and antonyms for common words and I'm stressing that most synonyms are far more descriptive than their common partners and should be used for writing. You can play with synonyms and antonyms during dinner with the whole family. Have someone offer up a common word and go around until you've exhausted all of the possible synonyms or antonyms. We have discussed that most synonyms we've used are adjectives. We will study nouns, verbs, adjectives and I will introduce adverbs as the year progresses. This is something I suspect is developmentally difficult for most third graders as most struggle with these concepts for the entire year.
I also introduced contractions and apostrophes. I use the language that a contraction is when we combine two words and use an apostrophe as a "place holder" for the missing letter or letters. I also discussed that there are only two occasions we use apostrophes: ownership and contractions. Apostrophes are often confused by third graders for commas and quotation marks. See if your student remembers these games and signs.
Reading
- I conducted two assessments that measure fluency (speed and accuracy) this week. These are nationally normed screeners we rely on to help us identify students who will benefit from reading support, small groups, and in some cases, intervention.
- We continued to focus on creating a main idea summary statement using the 5 W's. Being able to summarize what a student has read is a critical skill. This will take time. Students have a short non-fiction passage with a graphic organizer at the bottom with room for the 5 W's (see above). We are using student statements to analyze whether or not they have the critical 5 W's and whether or not they are complete sentences (see writing).
Busy streets of New York with horses, cars and people
Young gang members (like Bruno and the Plug Uglies in our story)
Newsies
- We continued our read aloud,
City of Orphans by Avi. We stop periodically to record important elements of a book summary: character (who), setting (where and when), and plot (what: beginning, middle and end). I find it is helpful to continue to use the 5 W's as a reference. I shared some photos with the class to help them start creating mental images of the characters and setting.
Writing
We are focusing on sentences and editing. All sentences must start with a capital letter, end with punctuation (only three choices: . ! ?), have a "who" and a "what." We are also editing paragraphs with specific errors and developing single paragraph narratives, one of our most important writing formats. I shared with the class I'm excited to have pen pals again from Tremont. Letters are simply one of the most effective ways to convey and understanding of paragraphs and are a very meaningful and real motivation for writing.
Math
We are focusing on number sense as we begin the year. I administered our first math assessment this Friday and will send it home soon. I will emphasize vocabulary as we progress through the curriculum. Topics we have covered include:
- factor factor sum (e.g., 3 + 4 = 7)
- composing large numbers (e.g., 6 ten thousands and 3 tens = 60,030)
- decomposing large numbers (e.g., 60,030 = 60,000 + 30)
- naming large numbers (I ask students to focus only on three numbers at a time and add commas as "last names," e.g., 345,016 students read three-hundred forty-five 'thousand,' sixteen.)
- fact fluency (I've introduced zero more, one more, two more and doubles.)
- comparing numbers (e.g., put the following numbers in order from smallest to largest: 407, 470, 740; and using <, >, and =, e.g., 657,384 > 657,299)
- time to the half hour using only the hour hand and rounding down in hour
- self sorting (We do a lot of non-verbal sorting exercises where I pass out time, money or other quantity cards and the students arrange themselves from smallest value to largest value (or vice versa). In order to do this students perform multiple rapid operations, which is obviously great practice.
Science
We did our first collaborative engineering project this week. Students were put into teams of four and given the following parameters:
- Build a tower at least two planks high.
- Ball must start on tower.
- Use a domino trigger (not allowed to use their fingers or blow to start the ball moving).
- Ball must travel at least six inches.
- Ball must stop in a container.
- Everyone must participate. (Everyone must include everyone else in their group.)
We had varying degrees of success, but teamwork (collaboration) is paramount and all groups were successful in that regard. It's important that students have opportunities to re-eingineer to develop both their problem solving and their willingness to try again.
Important Dates & Reminders
I'd like to share my congratulations to all of the students who participated in our student council election. They all did a wonderful job! Persuasive writing will also be an important part of our writing curriculum this year and these students have a great head start.
PTO Room parent forms went home this week. Please let me know if you are interested in being a room parent and helping to organize our parties: Halloween, Winter Break, Valentine's Day, and End of Year. I have historically invited the Ohio Wildlife Center to bring animals in exchange for cleaning and food donations for our Valentine's Day party.
Our first field trip will be an earth sciences trip to Highbanks MetroparkWindermere promptly at 8:30 and should return to Windermere near noon. I would like to have 5 to 6 chaperons. Please send me an email if you can assist us on the field trip. Please plan to accompany us on the bus to and from Highbanks.
Rian displays her moustache fandom:)
Important Dates
Safety first: please have your student practice their address and phone number, including cellphones. Many students do not know these.
We will go to library approximately every other week this year on alternating E days. Our library days are: September 11, 25; October 9, 24; November 8, 27; December 11; January 8, 24; February 7, 22; March 8, 22; April 16, 30; and May 14, 29. This is a new schedule approach this year and may be modified. I will update as needed. Please refer back to this information to help your student remember to return their library materials.
September 5, 2012 - Picture Day
September 12, 2012 - Early Dismissal for professional development at 1:15pm
October 2, 2012 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment (Please avoid scheduling absences on this date)
October 3, 2012 - Walk To School Day
October 8 through 12, 2012 - PTO Book Fair
October 8, 2012 - Field trip to Highbanks Metropark
October 12, 2012 - Fall Family Night from 6pm till 8pm and Windermere Spirit Wear Sale
October 22, 2012 - No school, professional development day
October 24, 2012 - Picture Retakes
October 26, 2012 - End of the first quarter
October 29, 2012 - No school, teacher grading day
October 31, 2012 - Halloween party (extended lunch from 12pm till 1:30pm, most students go home to change into costumes)
