Newsletter for December 12, 2014

Dear Families,

I can't believe we have already hit this stage of the year. It is a very interesting and busy time of learning and transition. Students, who were only recently second graders, have flipped the switch and developed into third graders as learners, communicators, and problem solvers.

This will be the last newsletter before break. I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable break. Thank you for your tremendous partnership. I look forward to seeing you in January.

Word Study

We added e vowel sounds to our common long vowel patterns (V, VVC, VCE) sorts and revisited a, o, i, and u patterns. Our vowel patterns thus far this year include:
vowel-consonant (VC, closed syllable, short vowel sound)
vowel (V or CV, open syllable, long vowel sound)
vowel-vowel-consonant (VVC, a vowel team where two vowels "go walking, the first does the talking," long vowel sound)
vowel-consonant-silent e (VCE, long vowel sound)
We will be moving on to a new spelling feature after break.

Students expanded their understanding of how to spell plural nouns. Most singular nouns can be made into plural nouns by adding -s (frog to frogs). When we add a syllable, we add -es (box to boxes). Words ending in f or fe are converted to -ves (wolf to wolves). We will conclude this unit of study next week with nouns ending in -y, which are changed to -ies (bunny to bunnies).

We learned four new vocabulary words this week: banquet, babble, unfortunate, and withdraw. Students define these words and write sentences with context clues to show their understanding. We are also looking for them in our chapter books to earn apple punches.

Reading

Reading groups are continuing to develop an understanding of main idea and supporting details. We are reading short, leveled books and are creating T-charts where we record the main idea of each chapter and at least one supporting detail from each paragraph in our own words. We are learning the chapter headings suggest the main idea. We will eventually use this to create research reports.

T-chart

Students will increasingly rely on context clues to decode and comprehend unfamiliar words. We can use many subtle levels of context clues to understand even non-sense words. In the following examples, we add details that increasingly support our understanding of the non-sense word splekted.
I splekted. (Verbs follow nouns. Past tense -ed shows the word has to be a verb.)
I splekted! (Punctuation tells us it's exciting!)
I splekted down the stairs. (Down the stairs tells us more about action.)
I splekted quickly down the stairs. (Quickly suggests a dangerous verb, e.g., raced.)
I splekted carefully down the stairs. (Carefully suggests a cautious verb, e.g., tip-toed.)
Ow, I splekted down the stairs. (Ow provides context that you were injured, e.g., fell.)

We are just getting into the fantasy element of our read aloud. I'm excited that many of the class are enjoying this book enough to check it out from the library. However, this can ruin the read-aloud for them, especially their ability to participate in discussion. It is hard to make predictions and ask questions when you already know what happens. Therefore, I have asked them not to read book one of the series.

Writing 

Students are responding to text. We generated persuasive essays that supported whether or not Laura Ingalls Wilder's family was happy living as pioneers. Students had to support their perspective with evidence from the text. We began reading a short realistic fiction story and are looking for evidence of how the character feels throughout the story: beginning, middle, and end.

We are also working on editing for convention from teacher produced writing samples. Each writing will have various errors, but will focus on a specific feature, such as apostrophes for contractions and ownership or commas for pauses and breaking up lists.

Math

Students have their math fact triangles and should practice their "don't know" pile for a few minutes each day.

Partial Products demonstrated

I am introducing the associative, commutative, and distributive properties of multiplication. We will continue this next week.

A huge component of the PARCC, and more importantly, of learning this year focuses on understanding and solving unknowns in multiplication and division equations. Most students are successful when they are presented with a "regular" question with an unknown product or quotient,  (4 x 5 = ? or 20 ÷ 5 = ?). ​​However, it is much harder with unknowns when the problem is presented with a missing factor or dividend, (? x 5 = 20 or ? ÷ 5 = 4). This is even harder when the ​order is moved around (5 = ? ÷ 4). Students are using multiple strategies: fact triangles, rewriting the problem in the "regular" order, and circling the product or dividend. I will send home this week's multiplication math quiz next week. 


Science

We did a really fun physical science lesson on density. Click on the image below to go to a link on how to do this week's science experiment. This is a fun and easy one to try at home. See if your student can explain how this works. See what happens if you reverse the order or if you turn the straw upside down. Would the same thing happen if you substituted sugar? Have fun!

Click to view.

science challenge

Click to view.

Inspired by the work of two high school students, our class is working in groups to design a cradle or carriage for an iPhone that will allow us to record video of Windermere from a bird's eye view. Click on the image above to see the video that inspired this challenge.

Students working in teams on the design challenge.

Students collaborate by asking questions and making suggestions. 

The most successful teams will incorporate ideas from all members.

Guidance

From Ms. O'Keefe...

This week I visited Mr. Hudon’s class and we talked about tattling vs. reporting, as well as conflict resolution strategies.  There are times when it is imperative that a child tell an adult about problematic situations and times when a child needs strategies to handle a problem on their own.  When there is danger, someone is hurt, sick, fighting or there is a bully* they should tell an adult, but if it was an accident or they’re okay, they can use Kelso’s Choice Wheel for some ideas on how to solve the problem on their own.  *Bullying is intentional, aggressive behavior that involves an imbalance of power and repetition (http://www.stopbullying.gov/).  We will discuss bullying in January’s lesson.

Below you will find two images that I shared with the class.  Both will be posted in their classroom and they received a paper copy of Kelso’s Choice Wheel.  Please ask your child how this wheel works!  We encourage them to try two of Kelso’s Choices before going to a teacher to get help with a small problem.  Please feel free to use this at home!  The more they get used to using this, the better!

Thank you for your continued support and reinforcement of these important life lessons at home!

Katie

 




Important Dates & Reminders

December 2014
Dear Windermere Families,
If you think you will be serving in a level-two volunteer position, please visit www.uaschools.org/volunteer to initiate the background check process at your earliest convenience. There is no charge to the volunteer for the background check. You will be notified via email once the background check is processed, and at that point, you will be asked come to the district’s central office, 1950 North Mallway Drive, to receive your official volunteer identification badge and sign the volunteer form. Background checks and badges must be renewed every three school years.
Julie Nolan

The Upper Arlington School District recognizes that volunteers play an extremely valuable role in the education of our students. At the same time, the district is committed to ensuring safe and secure learning environments. To that end, the district will require background checks for volunteers serving in certain roles beginning second semester (January 21, 2015).
Level one volunteers will not require background checks. Volunteers in this category do not have unsupervised contact with students. Examples of level one volunteer positions include book fair workers and classroom visitors for presentations or celebrations.
Level two volunteers will require background checks. Volunteers in this category take part in activities that may involve unsupervised contact with students. Examples of level two volunteers include a parent who works with small groups of students outside the classroom or someone who may escort students from one location to another within the school or during a field trip.
Additional information on volunteering and the background check process is available online at www.uaschools.org/volunteer. For additional questions, please contact me at 487.5060 or the district’s central office at (614) 487-5000.
Thank you for your understanding and willingness to keep our boys and girls safe. Most sincerely,

Student safety is a top priority! Beginning second semester of the 2014-2015 school year, UA Schools will begin requiring

background checks for volunteers in certain roles. There is no charge to the volunteer, and the background checks are usually

completed within a week. For more information or to begin the background check process, please

visit www.uaschools.org/volunte 

Important 2nd Quarter Dates & Reminders

January 16, 2015 - End of second quarter
January 19, 2015 - No School Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 20, 2015 - No school, teacher grading day

Important 3rd Quarter Dates & Reminders

January 27, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
January 29, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Conferences at 11am

February 2 through 13, 2015 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 4, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
February 9 through 13, 2015 - Collection days for Box Tops for Education
February 16, 2015 - No School Presidents' Day
February 17, 2015 - Math State PBA
February 23, 2015 - English Language Arts State PBA
February 23, 2015 - AASCD

March 9 through 13, 2015 - PTO Book Sale
March 17, 2015 - 3rd Grade Musical
March 20 through 27, 2015 - No School Spring Break

April 2, 2015 - End of third quarter
April 3, 2015 - No School
April 6, 2015 - No School, teacher grading day

Important 4th Quarter Dates & Reminders

April 8, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
April 9, 2015 - Spring Picture Day
April 13 through May 22, 2015 - District Writing Diagnostic Testing
April 14, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
April 21 through 22, 2015 - English Language Arts State EOY
April 22, 2015 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment
April 24, 2015 - Kid Fest
April 28 through 29, 2015 - Math State EOY

May 1 through 29, 2015 - STAR Reading and Math Diagnostic Testing
May 9, 2015 - Wish Run
May 25, 2015 - No School Memorial Day

June 1, 2015 - Field Day
June 3, 2015 - End of fourth quarter/Last day for students, Classroom parties 12:05 till 1:05pm

June 9, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home 

Newsletter for December 5, 2014

What We Learned This Week

Word Study

We continue to focus on spelling patterns. Sound and visual patterns are our guides.

When encoding (spelling) an unfamiliar word (one in our spoken vocabulary, but not in our writing) we listen for the vowel sounds first and then we consider our possible long vowel sound patterns (VCe, VVC, CV) and short vowel patterns (VC). Often, encouraging a student to make three different attempts at spelling the word. Considering which looks right will often lead them to the correct spelling. Even beginning spellers possess tremendous visual memories which support this seemingly easy strategy. Developing the willingness to take this simple step is often the bigger challenge.

When decoding an unfamiliar word, we focus on sight first, identifying the vowels or vowel teams as they suggest the number of syllables, where we can break the word up into chunks, and will direct us to apply long or short vowel sounds when we do so.

We are focusing on pattern sorts for the "within word stage." This stage represents about half of the class' instructional level and is good reinforcement for students who are in the next developmental stage, "syllable juncture."

We reviewed long and short a sounds and patterns and introduced long and short u sounds and patterns. I will send students' word study assessments home next week. Please make sure to practice vocabulary at home by writing sentences. You can build this practice into car and meal conversations.

We also continued our study of plural nouns. Students learned we typically add s to a singular noun to make it plural (e.g., book = books). However, if we hear an additional syllable, we add es (e.g, lunch = lunches).

Reading Workshop

Small groups are meeting with me to read leveled texts that are appropriate for their reading level. During these conferences, students are learning a variety of skills, from fluency to comprehension. Groups are directed to text features particular to their text and genre, e.g., book jackets, tables of contents, glossaries, indexes, text boxes, graphs, maps, charts, bold and italicized text, etc. Students are learning to identify cause and effect and lessons learned in fiction texts. The are also learning to identify the main idea of non-fiction/informational (I prefer the term "informational," but use both terms equally, often in conjunction.) texts and to support them with details from individual paragraphs. Students are moving from using teacher provided graphic organizers to creating their own.

I've noticed an improvement in personal narratives. Having introduced dialogue, there was an over use which seems to be balancing out to a more appropriate level.

Our class began discussing holiday reading. We are going to create reading contracts that list the titles we plan to read over break and how many pages we will need to read daily to achieve our goals. We will share our successes when we return.

We started a new read aloud after baling on another one. The other book was a little too complex for many students and it provided a good example of the importance of comprehension in choosing a just right book. Our current book, Book One - Fablehaven, is one of my favorite fantasy series for young readers because it is set in our time and world, rather than a fantasy world. I feel this makes the book and genre much more accessible to students who might otherwise struggle with a foreign world and made-up names. It is also part of a series. Students who enjoy this book can dig into the series. Lastly, it has a strong female lead which can be inspiring to our young readers. 

Writing Workshop

Our writing is VERY challenging, but I am encouraged by students' progress. We are sharing student work daily as it provides with many great examples and opportunities to improve. Sometimes, mistakes provide far better learning opportunities. We are constructing persuasive essays in response to reading passages. This is a significant change in the Common Core and I am enjoying teaching this standard across writing purposes and in response to fiction and non-fiction texts. For persuasive essays, I am looking for a strong topic sentence and supporting details that explicitly reference the text.

Math

We are still working on multiplication and division. We will likely conclude this unit prior to winter break.

One of the challenges in working on multiplication and division is simultaneously learning our facts for the operations we are doing. I provide students with a multiplication/division chart for seat work and display one at the front of the room during carpet instruction. I am sending home fact triangles for at home practice. Students should make a "know" and "don't know" pile and then practice their "don't know" facts daily. Spending a few minutes each day between now and January will improve every one's knowledge of their facts. Mastery of these facts is essential to multi-digit operations, authentic story problems and fractions. I modeled how to use these cards at school and how quickly it can be done each day.

Students are working on solving problems when they are presented in atypical ways. Most students, with the support of a multiplication/division chart are successful when they are presented with:

               factor x factor = unknown product
                   3    x     5     =      ?     (I would read this a 3 groups of 5 equals ?)

However, when the product is presented first (? = 3 x 5) or as division (15 / 3 = ? or 3 = ? / 5), it can be VERY confusing. We are developing strategies based on identifying the product and using fact triangles to help us solve these problems.

Science

I hope your student shared our science experiments this week on matter and density. These are easy to replicate at home and are very dramatic to young scientists.

In our first experiment students identified water in three stages: ice, water, steam. They then determined their density (and weight) from ice to hot water: heaviest, middle, and lightest. We placed blue ice cubes, dyed with food coloring, and steaming red hot water, also dyed with food coloring,  carefully into a tank of room temperature water. While everything consisted of the same matter, water, their different densities made three layers of different densities.The dye made it very easy to see.

We also created carbon-dioxide with baking soda and vinegar. Our gas was invisible, but its density was apparent when we poured the CO2 from a pitcher onto a candle to extinguish it.

Service Learning and Community Support

A former student of mine and current Windermere 5th grader, Max Gillum, has created a website to raise funds for veterans. You can learn more about his actives by clicking on the following link. 

GoFundMe 

It's hard to believe the holidays are right around the corner! With the holidays approaching, it has come to our attention that we have several Windermere families in need of some help this year. If you are interested in helping, please take a look at the link below.  You can sign up for a gift, drop it off at the main office and we will deliver it to the family!  We thought that, with sales going on now, you may see something for a great deal!

Holiday Support 

The 3rd grade party will celebrate the holidays by creating care packages for young people. You can learn more about supporting our holiday party by visiting the following link.

Holiday Party Sign 

Important Dates and Reminders

Background checks

The Upper Arlington School District recognizes that volunteers play an extremely valuable role in the education of our students.  At the same time, the district is committed to ensuring safe and secure learning environments.  To that end, the district will require background checks for volunteers serving in certain roles beginning second semester (January 21, 2015).   

Level one volunteers will not require background checks.  Volunteers in this category do not have unsupervised contact with students.  Examples of level one volunteer positions include book fair workers and classroom visitors for presentations or celebrations.

Level two volunteers will require background checks.  Volunteers in this category take part in activities that may involve unsupervised contact with students.  Examples of level two volunteers include a parent who works with small groups of students outside the classroom or someone who may escort students from one location to another within the school or during a field trip.

If you think you will be serving in a level two volunteer position, please visit www.uaschools.org/volunteer to initiate the background check process at your earliest convenience.  There is no charge to the volunteer for the background check.  You will be notified via email once the background check is processed, and at that point, you will be asked come to the district’s central office, 1950 North Mallway Drive, to receive your official volunteer identification badge and sign the volunteer form.  Background checks and badges must be renewed every three school years.

Additional information on volunteering and the background check process is available online at www.uaschools.org/volunteer.  For additional questions, please contact your building principal or the district’s central office at (614) 487-5000. Thank you for your cooperation with this safety initiative and for the time and expertise you donate to Upper Arlington's students!

Important 2nd Quarter Dates & Reminders

December 19, 2014 - Holiday parties 2pm
December 22 through January 2, 2015 - No School Winter Break 

January 16, 2015 - End of second quarter
January 19, 2015 - No School Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 20, 2015 - No school, teacher grading day

Important 3rd Quarter Dates & Reminders

January 27, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
January 29, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Conferences at 11am

February 2 through 13, 2015 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 4, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
February 9 through 13, 2015 - Collection days for Box Tops for Education
February 16, 2015 - No School Presidents' Day
February 17, 2015 - Math State PBA
February 23, 2015 - English Language Arts State PBA
February 23, 2015 - AASCD

March 9 through 13, 2015 - PTO Book Sale
March 17, 2015 - 3rd Grade Musical
March 20 through 27, 2015 - No School Spring Break

April 2, 2015 - End of third quarter
April 3, 2015 - No School
April 6, 2015 - No School, teacher grading day

Important 4th Quarter Dates & Reminders

April 8, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
April 9, 2015 - Spring Picture Day
April 13 through May 22, 2015 - District Writing Diagnostic Testing
April 14, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
April 21 through 22, 2015 - English Language Arts State EOY
April 22, 2015 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment
April 24, 2015 - Kid Fest
April 28 through 29, 2015 - Math State EOY

May 1 through 29, 2015 - STAR Reading and Math Diagnostic Testing
May 9, 2015 - Wish Run
May 25, 2015 - No School Memorial Day

June 1, 2015 - Field Day
June 3, 2015 - End of fourth quarter/Last day for students, Classroom parties 12:05 till 1:05pm

June 9, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home 

Newsletter for November 21, 2014

What We Learned This Week

Word Study

We continue to work on singular and plural nouns, word sorts by sound and pattern, and vocabulary. Word sorts first listen for the long or short vowel sound in a word and then further classify by spelling patterns. I am proceeding through a, e, i, o, and u vowel sounds with long vowel sounds (VCe or VVC) and short vowel sounds (closed syllables, VC or VCC).

I did not administer a word study assessment this week as we had InView and TerraNova assessments this week.

Reading

Students are developing fluency and comprehension of non-fiction/informational texts in small groups with me. I am introducing CLOSE reading (not to be confused with CLOZE reading). CLOSE reading is the intentional and purposeful rereading of a text, each time for a different explicit purpose to develop comprehension.

There are a lot of errors and opportunities to improve our narrative writing. However, the specific purpose of this writing is to help students engage in their reading so I do prioritize content over convention in these specific daily exercises. I reviewed expectations for reading homework and modeled the personal narrative response this week. Some families have inquired as to how much help to provide with this. I suggest letting the student attempt their narrative independently, but please feel free to direct them to:
1. Reread their work aloud for awkward or incomplete sentences.
2. Reread for capitals.
3. Reread for punctuation.
4. Reread to make sure all relevant 5 W's are included.

I am looking for more complete writing. I hesitate to provide length guidelines, as quality writing can often be very succinct and should be judged by its content and craft rather than volume. However, I am looking for something in the neighborhood of 100 words. Please know I realize not all students are producing this much writing and take this simply as a guideline. Student writing will vary from day to day based on interest and energy.

Many families have started emailing their students' reading homework. I am happy to receive your student's homework via email. However, I receive a lot of email daily. To help ensure I am able to prioritize what I read prior to the start of our day, please put "homework" in the subject line of your email.

Writing

Students worked on personal narratives this week with a lens on revision.

Math

I am trying to make the link between multiplication and division very explicit. Students are transforming addition of same sized groups, arrays, and division statements into multiplication equations. Likewise they are turning multiplication equations into story problems and division problems. Students are even acting out their story problems to drive home the concept of equal sized groups. When supporting students, please encourage them to use the language of "n groups of m," rather than "n times m." I hope to conclude our study of multiplication (not fact fluency as that will continue for some time) by winter break. I will then begin our most challenging unit: fractions. Students who are fluent in multiplication and division will be infinitely more prepared for fractions as they will be able to mentally calculate equivalent fractions.

Science

This week we learned more about states of matter. Students reviewed matter is what all things are composed of and states are different forms (solids, liquids, gases or a transition from one to another). This week we focused on density, roughly defined as weight in third grade. They will develop a deeper understanding of density as they progress through the science curriculum. I present density in terms of how closely packed molecules are. We compared density of oxygen, helium and carbon dioxide. We looked at oxygen (or room air for our experiments) as our standard or norm. Students should understand gases are less dense than solids and liquids and take on the shape of their container. We looked at compressing oxygen by forcing it into a balloon, which increases its density. We added energy, accelerating molecules and increasing the space between them, via motion (a fan) and heat (a hairdryer), both of which reduce its density.

Here is an example of using the hairdryer to heat the air in a dryer bag balloon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xX2WTLv7W4

Here is an example of a solar powered balloon, based on the same principle of heating the air molecules and lowering their density: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr3OSfdMg9Q

This principle is why hot air balloons will rise. The air inside the balloon has lower density. You can demonstrate this at home using a tea bag rocket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ghn4lEtdusQ

Here is a nice visual of warm water (in place of air) rising and cool water sinking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN7E6FCuMbY

Helium has the lowest density which makes it lighter than air, which is why helium rises. This is similar to an inflated ball sitting on the surface of water. As long as the air (or water in our pool example) being displaced by our helium balloon (or ball) is more dense (heavier) than our balloon, the balloon will float.

Carbon dioxide is more dense than air and therefore sinks. Here is a good video demonstrating CO2's higher density: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kycY6iA_cF0

Important Dates and Reminders

New dates and information are indicated in red. 

Important 2nd Quarter Dates & Reminders

November 25, 2014 - Scarlet and Gray Day
November 26 through 28, 2014 - No School Thanksgiving

December 1 through January 9, 2015 - STAR Reading and Math Diagnostic Testing
December 3, 2014 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
December 19, 2014 - Holiday parties 2pm
December 22 through January 2, 2015 - No School Winter Break

January 16, 2015 - End of second quarter
January 19, 2015 - No School Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 20, 2015 - No school, teacher grading day

Important 3rd Quarter Dates & Reminders

January 27, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
January 29, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Conferences at 11am

February 2 through 13, 2015 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 4, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
February 9 through 13, 2015 - Collection days for Box Tops for Education
February 16, 2015 - No School Presidents' Day
February 17, 2015 - Math State PBA
February 23, 2015 - English Language Arts State PBA
February 23, 2015 - AASCD

March 9 through 13, 2015 - PTO Book Sale
March 17, 2015 - 3rd Grade Musical
March 20 through 27, 2015 - No School Spring Break

April 2, 2015 - End of third quarter
April 3, 2015 - No School
April 6, 2015 - No School, teacher grading day

Important 4th Quarter Dates & Reminders

April 8, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
April 9, 2015 - Spring Picture Day
April 13 through May 22, 2015 - District Writing Diagnostic Testing
April 14, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
April 21 through 22, 2015 - English Language Arts State EOY
April 22, 2015 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment
April 24, 2015 - Kid Fest
April 28 through 29, 2015 - Math State EOY

May 1 through 29, 2015 - STAR Reading and Math Diagnostic Testing
May 9, 2015 - Wish Run
May 25, 2015 - No School Memorial Day

June 1, 2015 - Field Day
June 3, 2015 - End of fourth quarter/Last day for students, Classroom parties 12:05 till 1:05pm

June 9, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home 

Newsletter for November 7, 2014

Dear Families,

Please see important dates and reminders below. Many thanks to all of our brave and chilly volunteers for making our Thompson Park Tree Trek a success!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone during next week's conferences.

Important Dates and Reminders

New dates and information are indicated in red. 

Important 2nd Quarter Dates & Reminders

November 10 through 13, 2014 - Fall conferences
November 17 through 21, 2014 - District Gifted Screening 
November 25, 2014 - Scarlet and Gray Day
November 26 through 28, 2014 - No School Thanksgiving

December 1 through January 9, 2015 - STAR Reading and Math Diagnostic Testing
December 3, 2014 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
December 19, 2014 - Holiday parties 2pm
December 22 through January 2, 2015 - No School Winter Break

January 16, 2015 - End of second quarter
January 19, 2015 - No School Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 20, 2015 - No school, teacher grading day

Important 3rd Quarter Dates & Reminders

January 27, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
January 29, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Conferences at 11am

February 2 through 13, 2015 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 4, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
February 9 through 13, 2015 - Collection days for Box Tops for Education
February 16, 2015 - No School Presidents' Day
February 17, 2015 - Math State PBA
February 23, 2015 - English Language Arts State PBA
February 23, 2015 - AASCD

March 9 through 13, 2015 - PTO Book Sale
March 17, 2015 - 3rd Grade Musical
March 20 through 27, 2015 - No School Spring Break

April 2, 2015 - End of third quarter
April 3, 2015 - No School
April 6, 2015 - No School, teacher grading day

Important 4th Quarter Dates & Reminders

April 8, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
April 9, 2015 - Spring Picture Day
April 13 through May 22, 2015 - District Writing Diagnostic Testing
April 14, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
April 21 through 22, 2015 - English Language Arts State EOY
April 22, 2015 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment
April 24, 2015 - Kid Fest
April 28 through 29, 2015 - Math State EOY

May 1 through 29, 2015 - STAR Reading and Math Diagnostic Testing
May 9, 2015 - Wish Run
May 25, 2015 - No School Memorial Day

June 1, 2015 - Field Day
June 3, 2015 - End of fourth quarter/Last day for students, Classroom parties 12:05 till 1:05pm
June 9, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home 

Newsletter for October 31, 2014

Happy November!

What We Learned This Week

Word Study

We studied the vowel-consonant-silent e pattern (e.g., ice) this week and compared it to previously studied syllable types: closed and open syllables.

We made vocabulary more challenging by having students write their own sentences and identify each word as a part of speech: noun, verb, or adjective.

Reading & Writing

Reading and writing were merged this week as we read through a multiple paragraph essay on recycling. Students had to identify the main idea of each sentence, often the topic sentence, but not always. Students then began to co-write our own single paragraph essays. Students brainstormed topic sentences that gave direction and shared the topic without getting into specific or supporting details. We will continue to craft these essays next week as we work towards more independent writing. This is very challenging as students are researching and writing a persuasive/opinion essay simultaneously. Writing in response to text is far more complex than our previous focus on personal narratives and is an important change introduced to 3rd grade by the Common Core.

Math

My end of quarter fact fluency assessment revealed that many students have not yet mastered the addition and subtraction facts. This second grade standard must be mastered or it will significantly interfere with multi-step and multi-digit problems. I will go over resources and strategies to help your student master addition and subtraction facts during conferences.

I introduced our first three strategies for multiplication: zeroes, ones and doubles. I use the specific math vocabulary of x groups of y (e.g., 3 x 5 = three groups of five). This language will support students understanding of multiplication as efficient addition of same sized groups. 

We interpreted addition equations as group statements and multiplication equations (e.g.,  2 + 2 + 2 = three groups of two = 3 x 2); multiplication equations (e.g., 2 x 4 = 8) as arrays; and arrays as multiplication statements.

Science

We started our matter unit in science where I introduced matter and its states. In the spirit of Halloween, we made spooky lava lamps using two liquids (oil and water), a solid (sodium bicarbonate) and a gas (carbon dioxide). We discussed the densities of each and made predictions, which we compared to our observations as we added oil, food coloring (which is just colored water with a little pigment), and Alkaseltzer to our water.

See if your student can identify the states and densities of the different components.

Visitors

The Tri-Village Rotary visited us on Friday to pass out dictionaries. Thank you!

Halloween Party

This was a blast. I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. 

I'd love more photos if you have them. 

Important Dates and Reminders

New dates and information are indicated in red. 

Important 2nd Quarter Dates & Reminders

November 4, 2014 - No School for Students, Teacher Development Day
November 5, 2014 - Progress Reports sent home
November 6, 2014 - Early Dismissal at 11am
November 7, 2014 - Thompson Park Tree Trek Field Trip 
November 10 through 13, 2014 - Fall conferences
November 17 through 21, 2014 - District Gifted Screening 
November 25, 2014 - Scarlet and Gray Day
November 26 through 28, 2014 - No School Thanksgiving

December 1 through January 9, 2015 - STAR Reading and Math Diagnostic Testing
December 3, 2014 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
December 19, 2014 - Holiday parties 2pm
December 22 through January 2, 2015 - No School Winter Break

January 16, 2015 - End of second quarter
January 19, 2015 - No School Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 20, 2015 - No school, teacher grading day

Important 3rd Quarter Dates & Reminders

January 27, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
January 29, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Conferences at 11am

February 2 through 13, 2015 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 4, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
February 9 through 13, 2015 - Collection days for Box Tops for Education
February 16, 2015 - No School Presidents' Day
February 17, 2015 - Math State PBA
February 23, 2015 - English Language Arts State PBA
February 23, 2015 - AASCD

March 9 through 13, 2015 - PTO Book Sale
March 17, 2015 - 3rd Grade Musical
March 20 through 27, 2015 - No School Spring Break

April 2, 2015 - End of third quarter
April 3, 2015 - No School
April 6, 2015 - No School, teacher grading day

Important 4th Quarter Dates & Reminders

April 8, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
April 9, 2015 - Spring Picture Day
April 13 through May 22, 2015 - District Writing Diagnostic Testing
April 14, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
April 21 through 22, 2015 - English Language Arts State EOY
April 22, 2015 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment
April 24, 2015 - Kid Fest
April 28 through 29, 2015 - Math State EOY

May 1 through 29, 2015 - STAR Reading and Math Diagnostic Testing
May 9, 2015 - Wish Run
May 25, 2015 - No School Memorial Day

June 1, 2015 - Field Day
June 3, 2015 - End of fourth quarter/Last day for students, Classroom parties 12:05 till 1:05pm
June 9, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home 

Newsletter for October 17, 2014

What We Learned This Week

Next week is the end of the first quarter. I will be assessing students on what they have learned this first quarter. I will be administering and analyzing the following assessments for student growth:

1. Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) - fluency and comprehension performance levels, text or Lexile levels and instructional strategies
2. Fiction and Non-fiction comprehension assessments - literal and figurative performance levels for fiction and informational texts
3. Reading Curriculum-Based Measurement (RCBM) - fluency and error rate
4. STAR Reading Assessment - nationally normed screener, comprehension and end of year performance predictor as well as instructional strategies
5. Developmental Spelling Assessment (DSA) spelling - detailed phonics assessment and instructional levels
6. Vocabulary assessment of vocabulary learned this quarter.
7. Personal narrative writing - narratives, production, convention, grammar, spelling of high frequency and multi-syllabic words
8. End of quarter math assessment - comprehensive overview of first quarter's math content
9. Fact fluency addition and subtraction facts - addition and subtraction fact fluency

I will share the results of these assessments and their associated instructional strategies at your student's conference.


Word Study
There is no new vocabulary next week due to assessments. We studied vowel-consonant teams which create a long i sound, instead of the more prevalent closed syllable short i sound when followed by a consonant(s). Patterns include -ild (e.g., wild), -ind (e.g., kind), and -igh(t) (e.g., night). We also introduced vowel-consonant-silent e pattern which also creates a long i sound (e.g., ice). We continue to study parts of speech.

Reading
We are connecting main ideas and topic sentences in our reading to our writing and are comparing and contrasting topics using Venn diagrams. Students are working with me in small groups on choosing just-right-books, fluency, decoding using a combination of sounding out strategies and context clues and building stamina and engagement. We have a broad range of readers and it is my highest priority to meet each of them where they are and determine how to maximize their growth.

Mr. Morlock answers questions about his life

Learning how to write in Braille

We are continuing our read aloud, Wonder. While this book is great for many reasons, including author's craft, point of view, "showing, not telling," and figurative language, I love it most for its messages of not limiting our definitions of people with disabilities by simply focusing on their disability and that everyone goes through difficulties, often unknown and unseen by others and sometimes just as challenging as outwardly visible challenges. In support of the first message, a community member that many of our classroom's students know, Mr. Morlock, visited to tell us about his life beyond blindness. While students were very curious about Mr. Morlock's blindness, they also learned about his childhood, growing up on a rural farm in northern Ohio, his education and how life has changed in his 86 years. Mr. Morlock taught students how to write in Braille and demonstrated reading in Braille. We hope Mr. Morlock will return soon to read with us. This was an all too rare opportunity to invite a community into our school and share our learning with them. I feel we enrich each others' lives through these exchanges.

Writing
We have continued to explore personal narratives this quarter. We will expand our writing to include research, persuasive, and expository writing. However, personal narratives create opportunities for rich, descriptive language that is harder to develop through the other forms of writing we study. Students are connecting to their reading by focusing on their topic sentences and are trying to hook the reader. With many options of what to read, writers must compete for a reader's attention and a strong topic sentence is a great way to start.

Math
Students reviewed all of the math we have studied this quarter. We also intensely reviewed place and value by looking at how many ones, tens and hundreds are in a three digit number. Many students struggle to realize there are more than 5 tens in the number 256 because they initially only think of tens as being in the tens place. We also investigated telling and showing time on analog clocks to quarter-past, half-past, quarter-till and o'clock times.

Science
We concluded our natural resources unit by comparing and contrasting renewable and non-renewable resources and studying how a non-renewable resource (oil) can pollute a renewable resource (water). Students created an oil spill by pouring a small amount of cooking oil into their "ocean." They then tried to remove the oil using pipettes, cotton balls and detergent. Students learned it takes an enormous amount of resources to clean an oil spill and it is very challenging. We also introduced density, which we will review when we study matter under physical science.

Students realized they were extracting more water than oil when they used cotton balls.

Students visited Highbanks Metropark on Friday to study earth and life science. During their time with the naturalist, students focused on earth science, discussing the many types and uses of minerals, minerals specific to Ohio and their uses from prehistory to the current day, observed erosion and shale formations, and explored the creek bed looking for fossils and discussing the rock cycle in Ohio. As always, many thanks to our wonderful volunteers. Thanks for chaperoning.

creeking

Ohio slate

fossil hunters

Students later explored life science, which we have already started through our study of trees in Thompson Park. Students explored the leaf litter for living and non-living elements, focusing on decomposers such as fungi, molds, and arthropods. We even found some small amphibians that live on decomposers. The amount of biodiversity in the leaf litter is equal to the Great Reef and it's all out our feet. Rake up some leaves and start looking for decomposers, an integral part of any food web.

sifting through leaf litter

stink bug

worm

millipede

Mr. Kerstetter sharing a gall

larva inside the gall

mushrooms

praying mantis

mushroom

Guidance

Mrs. O'Keefe visited us this week for guidance. Students learned about communication and self advocacy.

Important Dates and Reminders

New dates and information are indicated in red. 

Please visit the following link to sign up to help with our upcoming Halloween party. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa9af2fa02-halloween1

Important 1st Quarter Dates & Reminders

October 20, 21, and 22, 2014 - UA Parent Math Nights (refer to previous email)
October 20 - 24, 2014 - End of the quarter assessments. Please try to avoid absences.
October 23, 2014 - Fall picture retakes
October 24, 2014 - End of the first quarter
October 27, 2014 - No school for students, teacher grading day

Important 2nd Quarter Dates & Reminders

October 30, 2014 - UA Trick or Treating from 5:30 till 8pm
October 31, 2014 - Halloween party

November 4, 2014 - No School for Students, Teacher Development Day
November 5, 2014 - Progress Reports sent home
November 6, 2014 - Early Dismissal at 11am
November 7, 2014 - Thompson Park Tree Trek Field Trip (Please email to chaperon.)
November 10 through 13, 2014 - Fall conferences
November 17 through 21, 2014 - District Gifted Screening 
November 25, 2014 - Scarlet and Gray Day
November 26 through 28, 2014 - No School Thanksgiving

December 1 through January 9, 2015 - STAR Reading and Math Diagnostic Testing
December 3, 2014 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
December 19, 2014 - Holiday parties 2pm
December 22 through January 2, 2015 - No School Winter Break

January 16, 2015 - End of second quarter
January 19, 2015 - No School Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
January 20, 2015 - No school, teacher grading day

Important 3rd Quarter Dates & Reminders

January 27, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
January 29, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Conferences at 11am

February 2 through 13, 2015 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 4, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
February 9 through 13, 2015 - Collection days for Box Tops for Education
February 16, 2015 - No School Presidents' Day
February 17, 2015 - Math State PBA
February 23, 2015 - English Language Arts State PBA
February 23, 2015 - AASCD

March 9 through 13, 2015 - PTO Book Sale
March 17, 2015 - 3rd Grade Musical
March 20 through 27, 2015 - No School Spring Break

April 2, 2015 - End of third quarter
April 3, 2015 - No School
April 6, 2015 - No School, teacher grading day

Important 4th Quarter Dates & Reminders

April 8, 2015 - Early Dismissal/Teacher Development at 1pm
April 9, 2015 - Spring Picture Day
April 13 through May 22, 2015 - District Writing Diagnostic Testing
April 14, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home
April 21 through 22, 2015 - English Language Arts State EOY
April 22, 2015 - Ohio Reading Achievement Assessment
April 24, 2015 - Kid Fest
April 28 through 29, 2015 - Math State EOY

May 1 through 29, 2015 - STAR Reading and Math Diagnostic Testing
May 9, 2015 - Wish Run
May 25, 2015 - No School Memorial Day

June 1, 2015 - Field Day
June 3, 2015 - End of fourth quarter/Last day for students, Classroom parties 12:05 till 1:05pm
June 9, 2015 - Progress Reports sent home