We had another great week. I want to share that our class is getting complements from all the special area teachers, teaching assistants and from my third grade colleagues. I feel very fortunate to get to serve this particular group of students!
Word Study
- Nouns, verbs and adjectives were the primary focus of this week's word study. I introduced a game on dry erase boards that is akin to MadLibs. Students have to break up into three groups: nouns, verbs and adjectives. They write an example of their respective part of speech, then find complementary partners from the remaining two categories and form a sentence. Doing this rapidly and multiple times gives them lots of practice and challenges them beyond simple worksheets.
- We continued to study contractions, synonyms and antonyms, and parts of speech (nouns, verbs and adjectives). We discussed how we only use apostrophes, which are frequently confused for commas, in only two situations: contractions and ownership. We reinforced synonyms and antonyms through daily practice. We also started to build on vocabulary, using synonyms as a starting point to show students just how broad and figurative their vocabularies are. Referring to our student generated lists of synonyms, we discussed how specific and descriptive their words were compared to the general word we replaced, as well as what part of speech it was.
Reading
- Please have your student visit RAZ-Kids at http://www.raz-kids.com/main/Login. Students should practice reading aloud to develop fluency. I encourage students to: read with their finger (not tapping out individual words, but simply gliding across the page to help them keep track of where they are), reread when they come to an unfamiliar word, break unfamiliar words into decodable syllables by looking for the vowels, reread for comprehension when they've worked hard to get through a sentence or paragraph as they typically cannot attend to both decoding and comprehension at the same time (although we will soon introduce this skill as context clues).
- I continued to share strategies for identifying and summarizing the main idea of a passage, primarily relying on the 5 W's. As a clarification for supporting your students at home, "who" is an object and "what" is an action. Who does not necessarily need to be a person. Who can be an animal, a tool, even an idea.
- We began comparing and contrasting using Venn diagrams. This is one of research's most supported skills for supporting comprehension. See if you can get your student to compare and contrast favorite books, movies, shows, sports teams, countries, cultures, etc.
- We discussed facts versus opinions. This can get tricky for students: Opinion: Mint-chocolate chip ice cream is the best ice cream flavor. Fact: I like mint-chocolate chip ice cream. See if your student can tell the difference between the two concepts this weekend as you share dinner conversation.
Writing
- We planned and drafted our first paragraphs for our pen pals this week and the class was a huge success. We are still focusing on convention: indenting and skipping lines (for room to revise later) and writing complete sentences.
Math
- I hope you got to read the article in ThisWeek's Upper Arlington News on the new common core standards and our new math program, Math in Focus. In case you didn't the article it sums up some of the core benefits and features of both the common core and program: teaching for mastery (versus the old paradigm of a spiralling curriculum), teaching students to persevere as problem solvers, reason abstractly and quantitatively, construct arguments and critique the reasoning of others. We have been doing all of these during our first daily math period when I offer either a Number Talk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAmLdZQCYtM) or introduce a problem. I emphasize there are multiple strategies or paths to a single correct answer.
- Please visit http://singaporemathblog.com/2011/homework-helpful-only-in-math-research/ to learn more about math best practices for homework.
Science
- I introduced the rock cycle and key earth science concepts this week as we approach our science field trip. We will be visited next week by environmental educator, Linda Pettit, from the Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District to discuss erosion. You can view some highlights via brainpop.com at the following links. If you are asked to log in, visit the August post on "Great Websites."
http://3rdgradehudson.blogspot.com/2012/08/great-websites.html
http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/rockcycle/
http://www.brainpop.com/science/weather/weathering/
http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/erosion/
http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/soil/
http://www.brainpop.com/science/earthsystem/typesofrocks/
Social Studies
As we approach Constitution Day next Monday, I shared the following brainpop videos.
http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/ushistory/usconstitution/
http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/usgovernmentandlaw/billofrights/
Important Dates & Reminders
As we prepare for our Monday, October 8th field trip to Highbanks Metropark I'd like to share some planning tips. This is always a great trip and particularly beautiful in the fall. Please have your student wear comfortable hiking shoes or boots (Crocs are not good for this trip) and bring a sack lunch and disposable drink. In case of rain, please do not send umbrellas. Students should plan to wear layers, preferably light weight coats that can zip or button. Students will be participating in a rocks and soil scavenger hunt. Please do not send cameras as they will have school cameras for this activity. Chaperons should arrive by 8:15. We will depart promptly at 8:30.
Important Dates
Our library days are: September 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.
October 2, 2012 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment (Please avoid scheduling absences on this date). If you would like additional preparation materials, or just to get a better idea of the reading level expected for this assessment, please visit the Ohio Department of Education's website for practice tests: http://education.ohio.gov/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=240&ContentID=4348&Content=126215
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)
