Newsletter for December 11, 2015

Dear Families,

This year is flying by! I can't believe we only have two weeks left in this grading period. I will be assessing students next week in reading and mathematics prior to break. Please let me know if your student will be leaving early for break.

I hope everyone has a relaxing and safe holiday. There will not be a newsletter next week.

What We Learned This Week

Word Study

We started learning our cursive. I will emphasize lower-case and reading, once we have gone through all of the lower-case letter forms. Students are encouraged to trace the shape (bottom-up), use a relaxed grip (many students grip the pencil too hard as they are concentrating and it hurts their hand and their handwriting also suffers), use a good posture with feet on the floor, tilt their paper to get a nice slant, circle their best cursive letter on each line (it's helpful to notice differences in letters), and attend to letter connections (how letters are built off of each other, e.g., the c shape is the basis for the a, d, g and q shapes).

In the spirit of the district's 1:1 plan for student devices, I handed out my very "expensive and fragile" laminated keyboards. Keyboarding is such an important skill that I am spending a few minutes each day familiarizing students with where the letters are on the keyboard and proper finger-key assignments.

We are concluding our noun study. Students are have learned the differences between proper and common nouns and singular and plural nouns. We know most singular nouns can simply add an -s to make them plural (e.g., key keys) and if we add a syllable, we need to add -es to make them plural (e.g., lunch lunches).

Reading Workshop

Students are developing their ability to use context clues to decode and, more importantly, comprehend unfamiliar words. We do this using short passages with missing or made up (ala Seuss) words.

Writing Workshop 

We are writing (and will publish next week) our pen pal letters. Students are telling a bit about themselves, what they plan to do over winter break and are recommending a book to their pen pals. We will email these to make sure our pen pals receive them before they go on break. We are spending a lot of time on planning, drafting and rereading. Students use simple rubrics to ensure they have all of the important parts of each paragraph and reread their work with partners. "Debates" make these authentic writings even more important to the students and they are giving great effort.

Science

Who knew dirt was so fun!? We started our classroom garden. We are going to try to grow carrots, spinach, pumpkins, catnip, chamomile and lavender.

I don't know if we will see any snow this year, but in anticipation of winter break, I wanted to go ahead and share my snow day homework. If we do have a snow day and students are asked to do homework, my plan is to have them log on to the following website, choose a science experiment, attempt it and send me a photo of them doing it. You may want to try some of these over break if you're looking for something to do or get cabin fever (if it ever gets cold). Have fun!

http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/

Math Workshop

I will assess students understanding of multiplication on Monday of next week. I will mark the assessments and return them so they can attempt to correct any operational errors. Students should be able to:
- Represent addition of same sized groups as multiplication: 3 + 3 + 3 + 3 = 4 x 3 (or 4 groups of 3)
- Represent multiplication as an array or area model (and vice versa)
- Rewrite one and two step story problems as equations and solve.
- Use rounding to estimate products.
- Solve equations using multiples of ten by recognizing the base facts.
- Apply the associative, commutative, and distributive properties to multiplication statements.
- Fill in the blanks in a multiplication chart (number of groups, amount in each group, total).
- Identify the number of ones, tens and hundreds in a three digit number.

Not many students seem to have jumped on the Front Row Math website. If you would like to try a different one, you can try out the much lauded Khan Academy. To make an account and get started, log in to https://www.khanacademy.org/

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

Please visit the holiday party sign-up. Thank you room parents for all of your hard work!
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa9af2ea02-3rdgrade

December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for December 4, 2015

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
I assessed and sent home this week's word study assessment over long and short o patterns and contractions. Students expanded their long o patterns to include VCC patterns. This can be very confusing. Up till now, all VC/VCC patterns have represented closed syllables and produced short vowel sounds (e.g., clock, mop). Students are now learning long o VCC words (e.g., ghost, post).

Reading Workshop
Students took the Ohio 3rd Grade English Language Arts Assessment (AIR) this week.

Students are meeting with me one-to-one for reading conferences where I am assessing their ability to choose appropriately leveled texts, introducing them to new genres, observing and modeling decoding skills (e.g., sounding out, applying word study patterns, using context clues), and discussing their reading for comprehension (including basic 5 W's and higher level connections, predictions, inferring, etc.).

Writing Workshop
We received our pen pal letters with much excitement. These letters provided rich material for discussion and learning. We are expanding our introductions and conclusions beyond a single sentence. We will be sharing what we plan to do over winter holiday, recommending favorite books and responding to pen pals' letters.

Math
As most of the class has mastered the partial products algorithm, we are moving on to the traditional algorithm (the way most adults learned multi-digit multiplication). With a strong understanding of partial products, we can explain the traditional algorithm, rather than just memorizing steps to solving a problem without any understanding of what we are doing.

Partial Products example

                 452
               x    5
                   10  5 x 2 = 10
                 250  5 x 50 = 250
               2000  5 x 400 = 2000
               2260

Note that students are asked to write each partial products equation to the right of the products and underline the basic (single digit) fact in each. Students' understanding of expanded form and the distributive property are relied on heavily.

Traditional Algorithm example

                 2 1
                 452
               x    5
               2260

Note the ten and two hundred from the above partial products are "carried" to their respective place value columns.

Science
We are concluding our life science unit with the game Into The Forest. This award winning card game teaches students the importance of the different roles in an ecosystem (decomposers, producers, consumers) and how they are interdependent. I also enjoy games because they develop problem solving and strategic thinking.

 

Upper Arlington Rotary Visit

Windermere parent and Upper Arlington Rotary president, Mr. Bill Cloyd, visited our class to inspire and educate. Students learned about the challenges young students in Guatemala have overcome and how the Rotary has assisted them. We are hoping to partner with the UA Rotary to develop a service learning project.

 

 

 

Paul O. Zelinsky Visit

Caldecott winning author-illustrator, Paul O. Zelinsky, visited on Friday to talk about his craft.

 

 



Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

November 30 - December 10 - Student Council - Coat Drive. 

December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for November 20, 2015

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We continued our long and short o patterns: VVC (oa), CVV (ow), VCe, and VC/VCC. Students began working on contractions by constructing and deconstructing them. When constructing them we circle the letter(s) the apostrophe replaces in the original two words. Students know in most cases, we keep the entire first word. The apostrophe becomes a place holder for the missing letter(s).

Reading & Writing Workshop

Students are highlighting and taking notes on multiple articles and preparing to write an opinion piece that pulls supporting evidence from both of them. This is very rigorous and challenging, but I've been pleased with student work. I am modeling, but I am also using a lot of students' work. I want them to understand that highlighting, taking notes, and making a plan is individualized. No two will (or should) look the same. However, we can learn a lot from different models. We also discuss "Do you want to be finished or do you want to do your best?"

Students are getting much better at inferring, using evidence to support their answers.

We are getting deeper into our read aloud, Out of My Mind, and it is providing, like Wonder, many great opportunities for discussion.

Our pen pals received our letters finally and were thrilled. Apparently the British post is a little slower than what we are accustomed to. We should receive letters back prior to winter break.

Students were treated to a visit from author, and Windermere grandmother, Mrs. Constance McGeorge. She shared her writing process, the importance and reality of multiple drafts, and the importance of a story's perspective.

Mrs. McGeorge and her granddaughter, Maddy, 

presented an autographed copy of Waltz of the Scarecrows, 

from the author (and illustrator, Mrs. Mary Whyte).

Math

Students began learning partial products for multiplication. While many can utilize the traditional algorithm for multi-digit multiplication, we introduce the partial products algorithm to support their understanding.

Science 

Students developed their understanding of the interdependence of ecosystem's food webs by taking on the role of a producer, consumer or decomposer and making a literal web.

We had a great field trip, many thanks to our volunteers. You helped make it a great success and the weather cooperated this time. If you haven't been to Thompson Park in a while, there are some great, but unfortunate, examples of the emerald ash borer's impact on the ash trees in the swamp area.

Nearly 20 trees are marked to be cut down in the swamp area due to the ash borer. 

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

November 25 through 27 - Thanksgiving Break

November 30 - December 10 - Student Council - Coat Drive. Please see the video link for more information. https://youtu.be/rWlwymYtQF0

December 1 through 2 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for November 13, 2015

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We continued our study of short and long o sounds and patterns.
Long o patterns are VCe (e.g., home), VVC (oa - e.g., coat), CVV (ow - e.g., glow). Students should recognize that oa words produce a long o sound in the middle of the syllable and ow words produce a long o at the end of the syllable.
Short o patterns are VC and VCC (e.g. sock).
Oddballs follow the VCe pattern, but make a short u sound (none and love).

Reading Workshop
We are continuing to develop our ability to infer, relying on evidence from the story. Students are also working on identifying the lesson of a fable or folk tale, an important third grade genre which we will revisit in writing later in the year.

We wrapped up our read aloud, Wonder. It is hard to follow up such an inspiring read aloud. We will will continue this theme with Out Of My Mind by Sharon Draper.

We also read, Waltz of the Scarecrows, by Constance McGregor in preparation for her visit next week. She will support our "Show - Don't Tell" work and we are excited to have her join us. Mrs. McGregor visited us last year and, in addition to being a talented author, is a Windermere grandparent.

Writing Workshop
Students began to share their opinion pieces through "debates" where each of our three tables shares their essays. They are awarded points for the following:
- Strong topic sentence
- Evidence from the text
- Strong conclusion
- Referencing the text (e.g., "In the story, Pioneer Days, the author...")
- Including the other argument's perspective (e.g., "Even though life was hard, the text shows the Wilder family was happy.")

Math
We continue to study multiplication. Students should be fluent with any basic fact that includes a 0, 1, 2, 5 or 9 and should understand that multiplication is efficient addition of same sized groups. We are relying on the distributive property to help us with other factors (3, 4, 6, 7, and 8).

Example:
7 x 8 = (5 x 8) + (2 x 8)

I will eventually want students to master all of the basic multiplication facts, but find the distributive property is invaluable for their mental math, as well as being an important standard. It will also support their understanding of division.

I introduced multiplication story problems with an emphasis on identifying the groups and how big they are. Students represent the story problem with a picture of the number of groups and the size of each group labeled inside the groups. They then write the multiplication number sentence. Have your student explain this process to you.

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

November 19 - Thompson Park Tree Trek 
November 25 through 27 - Thanksgiving Break

December 1 through 2 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for November 6, 2015

I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet with you this week and sincerely appreciate your partnership. We are so fortunate to work with such supportive and invested parents.

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We continued our study of short and long o sounds and patterns:
VC/VCC (e.g., clock), VCe (e.g., vote), VVC (e.g., boat), and oddballs (e.g., love which has the VCe feature but makes a short u sound, instead of a long o sound). I have modeled and directed students to sort by letter patterns first (visual strategy) and then to check for oddballs using sound (auditory strategy).

Reading Workshop
Students continued to develop their ability to make inferences based on evidence. We also continued our ability to identify the lesson or moral in a fable. We are concentrating on Aesop's Fables. Students are learning there are more ways than one to say the lesson. They are transitioning from applying common precepts (e.g., Treat others as you would like to be treated.) to precepts that relate to the actual story. We are also developing our understanding that the moral is not literal. For example, the tale of the Tortoise and the Hare is not about turtles and rabbits, but rather the animals represent different dominant character traits of arrogance and perseverance.

Writing Workshop
Students concluded our initial "show - don't tell" with a descriptive writing for "It was a dark and stormy night..." These are in the hallway and have impressed the other 3rd grade classes (and their teachers). I had hoped to have these up in time for conferences, but did not want to rush them. Please stop by and read some when you have the chance.

Students are learning a key 3rd grade focus, responding to text. I am modeling planning and writing opinion pieces that are fully supported by evidence from a short text. I'm very pleased with the students' progress with this important and challenging merging of reading and writing. I am holding students accountable for editing of convention (indenting, capitals and punctuation) and am requiring them to check their work for these essentials.

We continued our Friday "Thank You" cards. I hope your student finds these meaningful to receive and to create. I ask students to wait till they get home to read them.

Math
Students worked on their 9's multiplication and division fact strategies.  Students should find the non-9 factor in any single digit multiplication problem, reduce it by one and put it in the tens place of the product. Then they put the difference between the numeral in the tens place and 9 in the ones place. If this sounds confusing, take a look at the example below and challenge your student to explain it to you.

7 x 9 = ?
One less than 7 is 6. 6 goes in the tens place of the factor.
7 x 9 = 6?
The difference between 9 and 6 is 3. This goes in the ones place.
7 x 9 = 63

Division can be represented in many different ways so it is important to me that I present division problems in several ways to develop familiarity and comfort.

Any problem with a divisor of 9 can be solved using the following strategy.
45 / 9 = ?
The tens place of the dividend (45) is 4. One more than 4 is 5. So the answer (the quotient) is 5.

See if your student can show you these two reliable tricks for 9's. Ask them to show you our magic trick. More importantly, can they explain it.

I have also signed your student up for Front Row Math. This is a free online math program that I learned about during this week's professional development. Your student can access it by going to
https://student.frontrowed.com
They will be prompted to enter their first and last name and our class code. The code is 5vmnke. Students will take a short diagnostic assessment and then they will begin a personalized instructional program. This will offer students at all levels additional learning opportunities. I'm interested to hear your feedback and see if students are engaged in this. Please let me know if you are unable to log in and I'll check on my end. If your student goes by a nickname, I have probably used it.

Lastly, I introduced the commutative property. My favorite question regarding this property was, "Why do we need to know this?" This is always my favorite question and if I can't answer it, I need to figure it out! We learn the commutative property to understand which operations can occur in a particular order and why. We can use the commutative property for addition and multiplication, but not for subtraction or division. We also find that the commutative property can simplify math for us. For example: 2 x 8 (two groups of eight) is easier to think of for many students than 8 x 2 (eight groups of two). 6 + 1 (six and one more) is easier to do than 1 + 6 (one and six more). Here are some real life questions you can use to engage your student in their understanding and appreciation of the commutative property: Which of the operations below are commutative and which are not (and always important, why?)?
- To put on your coat and to pick up your boots.
- To wash your clothes and to dry them.
- To put on your left shoe and to put on your right shoe.
- To hand up the phone and to say goodbye.

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

November 9 through 13 - Terra Nova3/InView
Next Week's special area schedule is changed due to our TerraNova and InView assessments. 
Monday - Art
Tuesday - Music
Wednesday - PE
Thursday - Music

Friday - PE

November 19 - Thompson Park Tree Trek Please let me know if you can chaperon. 
November 25 through 27 - Thanksgiving Break

December 1 through 2 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for October 23, 2015

What We Learned This Week

Word Study

We reviewed and assessed our a sounds and patterns: VCe and vowel team (ai) and VC. I'll send these home on Monday. I also introduced nouns. Students should be able to distinguish between common and proper nouns.

Reading Workshop

I introduced fables and folktales. Students worked to identify the moral or lesson in the story. We will continue this and eventually construct our own fables.

I also started our study of inference. Students know they have to cite evidence to support their inferences.

Writing Workshop

Students planned and wrote short first person narratives. We will use these for revision next week where I will encourage students to "show, don't tell," by adding details that create a mental picture for the audience.

Students demonstrating the parts of a friendly letter kinesthetic.

We are anxiously awaiting our pen pals responses! 

Math

Students began their multiplication and division fact fluency with the following strategies: zeroes (zero groups of n), ones (one group of n), and doubles (two group of n). I define multiplication as "efficient addition of same sized groups." I will never say 8 x 3 as "eight times three," but will instead call it "eight groups of three." This subtle difference is very helpful in developing understanding of multiplication.

Students should be able to represent a multiplication fact as a number statement, addition, groups, and arrays. They should be able to represent number statements, addition of same sized groups, groups, and arrays as a multiplication statement.

Science

I showed a short video of the famous Apollo 13 space mission and its "Houston, we have a problem" situation to stress the importance of being able to communicate clearly.

Apollo 13 Clip

To practice this, students took turns designing shapes behind blinds and talking their partners through the design process using only words. The results were interesting.

 

These first two were close, but you can see the miscommunication.

This example and the next show great communication.

It is also interesting to observe students' complexity of shapes they choose to build.

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

October 26 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
October 29 - UA Trick or Treat Night
October 29 - Progress Reports Sent Home
October 30 - Halloween Party and Parade (Thank you room parents!)

November 2 - Early Dismissal at 11:05 NO LUNCH SERVICE
November 2 through 4 - Fall Conferences 
You can sign up for Fall Conferences by clicking on this link:http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa5ac2ea64-fall3
November 3 - No School Election Day/Professional Development
November 5 - Picture Retakes
November 9 through 13 - Terra Nova3/InView
November 19 - Thompson Park Tree Trek (Please let me know if you can chaperon.) 
November 25 through 27 - Thanksgiving Break

December 1 through 2 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for October 16, 2015

What We Learned This Week

We concluded the first quarter! Students were challenged to come up with specific goals for each key subject area. I will share these with you during conferences. Students were encouraged to write down achievable and specific goals.

I am very pleased with the class' progress in general. However, the class needs to develop focus, perseverance, and engagement. These are great words for home discussion. The majority of questions missed on this week's end of quarter assessments were the result of not reading questions carefully or rushing, rather than not knowing the content.

Word Study
I conducted the Developmental Spelling Assessment, which I will share with you during our upcoming fall conferences. This detailed assessment identifies specific spelling features such as r-controlled vowels, long vowels (VCe), and doubling.

Reading Workshop
We continued to study character change over time and providing evidence. I assessed students' ability to correctly identify the main idea of a short passage and to differentiate between the main idea and supporting details. I also conducted the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) on all students who were below or close to our first quarter benchmark to look for growth. I am very pleased with students' progress.

Writing Workshop
Students learned the parts of a friendly letter: heading, greeting, opening, closing, and signature. See if your student can demonstrate this for you. Many students are struggling with convention (primarily indenting, capitalizing the first word in a sentence and proper nouns, and ending punctuation). Their content is generally very good. Students published their pen pal letters and we mailed them to London today.

Math Workshop
I reviewed and assessed fact fluency (addition and subtraction) and all of the numeracy and operations and algebraic equations content we have learned thus far this year.

We started multiplication and division fact fluency on Thursday. I am sending home students' addition and subtraction fact fluency assessments today. If your student correctly answered fewer than 23 in the time allowed, they have not mastered their facts and should practice them nightly. I will offer study strategies during fall conferences. Prior to meeting, students should be using the following strategies, which allow them to focus on an "anchor" number that will support their recall:
- zero more
- one more
- two more
- doubles
- near doubles
- sums to ten
- 7s, 8s, and 9s/build tens

Science
We continued to study biotic and abiotic factors as well as plant and animal interdependence. Students should know that plants produce oxygen and food for animals and animals produce carbon dioxide and nutrients for plants.

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

October 19 - No School Teacher Grading Day
October 26 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
October 29 - UA Trick or Treat Night
October 30 - Halloween Party and Parade

November 2 - Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
November 2 through 4 - Fall Conferences 
You can sign up for Fall Conferences by clicking on this link:http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa5ac2ea64-fall3
November 3 - No School Election Day/Professional Development
November 5 - Picture Retakes
November 9 through 13 - Terra Nova3/InView
November 19 - Thompson Park Tree Trek (Please let me know if you can chaperon.) 
November 25 through 27 - Thanksgiving Break

December 1 through 2 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for October 9, 2015

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We reviewed and assessed our two most common patterns of closed syllables (short vowel sound - VC/VCC) and long vowel sound - VCe. The assessment contained a, i, o, and u vowel syllables. I introduced our new long a pattern ai (e.g., paint). I encourage students to write both patterns of they aren't sure and assure them that often one will "look right." For example, if a student uses the word "snail" in their oral vocabulary, but isn't confident in their spelling they can try out both of our long a patterns (paint versus pante). Most students will recognize "paint" as the correct spelling.

Reading Workshop
I employed picture books to study how characters change throughout a story and how to support our observations with evidence.

Writing Workshop
Students began drafts of their multi-paragraph pen pal letters. I focus on the concept of a paragraph consisting of a single topic, a challenging concept for many young writers who tend to jump from one theme to the next. Common paragraph topics include family, hobbies and interests, school, and Halloween. I am very pleased with students' content and productivity. We will work on revision and editing next week with a goal of mailing them to Middlesex next Friday.

Math Workshop
Challenging concepts of numeracy and operations were wrapped up and reviewed this week. Identifying missing addends, rewriting number stories as story problems and identifying the number of ones, tens and hundreds in numbers within one-thousand are key concepts that support students' ability to handle more complex multi-step problems. Students are beginning to work on solving two step problems.

Science
I introduced ecosystems, biotic (living) and abiotic (non-living) factors, the energy pyramid and how interdependent biotic and abiotic factors are in an ecosystem.

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

There were a lot of great scarecrows, but I have to admit I'm a little partial to this one:) I hope to see you tonight!

October 9 - Fall Family Night 
October 16 - End of First Quarter
October 19 - No School Teacher Grading Day
October 25 - Scarecrow Display Contest
October 26 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
October 29 - UA Trick or Treat Night
October 30 - Halloween Party and Parade

November 2 - Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE

November 2 through 4 - Fall Conferences 
You can sign up for Fall Conferences by clicking on this link:http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa5ac2ea64-fall3

November 3 - No School Election Day/Professional Development
November 5 - Picture Retakes
November 9 through 13 - Terra Nova3/InView
November 25 through 27 - Thanksgiving Break

December 1 through 2 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for September 25, 2015

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
This week's word study assessment is coming home today. I introduced our new sort, long and short u sounds that follow our previous patterns of VCe and VC respectively. Students sort, alphabetize, and copy their words daily. We also generate words we think will follow our two patterns. This is a great exercise as it exposes misunderstandings and gives us lots of "oddballs," words that follow a sound, but not a pattern or vice-versa.

Reading Workshop
Reading conferences have focused on helping students learn how to select appropriate independent level texts. Many students are still choosing books that are too hard (e.g., the miss too many words, or decode so slowly that it interferes with comprehension; they decode too slowly to read with expression; the can decode words, but don't understand them; they can read most words, but cannot comprehend what they're reading). This is a significant hurdle as reading too challenging a text, does little to develop the key reading skills of fluency, comprehension, acquisition of vocabulary, and expression.

Students are still developing the skill of identifying the main idea. They are learning they must have a who (the subject or noun: a person, place, idea, etc.) and a what (the predicate, verb or action).

I reviewed reading homework and answering questions with complete sentences. Students are also learning the answer to a "why" question should always include what happened followed by a "because." We will study cause and effect more explicitly later in the year.

We are also comparing and contrasting using Venn diagrams.

We continue to read Wonder. It is great for discussions on developing empathy and the writer's craft as the perspective changes throughout the chapters.

Writing Workshop
We continued with quick writes this week, drawing inspiration from opinion pieces and personal narratives. I tried to introduce figurative language, but backed off as it became the focus and negatively impacted student production.

Math Workshop
We worked really hard and strategically in math this week. I assessed students today on a whole host of numeracy (numbers and operation in base ten) concepts. This will come home on Monday.

Science
We watched a Bill Nye movie on forests to broaden students' understanding of trees and life science. Students also took notes while watching the film. This is an important skill. I scaffold it by giving them most of the content and ask them to fill in key words.

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

September 29 - Thompson Park Tree Trek Field Trip
Please let me know if you are able to volunteer! 
Chaperons should arrive in Mr. Hudson's room at 9am. Thank you in advance!

October 9 - Fall Family Night
October 16 - End of First Quarter
October 19 - No School Teacher Grading Day
October 25 - Scarecrow Display Contest
October 26 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
October 29 - UA Trick or Treat Night
October 30 - Halloween Party and Parade

November 2 - Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE

November 2 through 4 - Fall Conferences 
You can sign up for Fall Conferences by clicking on this link:http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa5ac2ea64-fall3

November 3 - No School Election Day/Professional Development
November 5 - Picture Retakes
November 9 through 13 - Terra Nova3/InView
November 25 through 27 - Thanksgiving Break

December 1 through 2 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for September 18, 2015

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We continued our focus on vowels by studying short and long i sounds and their corresponding patterns of VC/VCC and VCe. I assessed students on Thursday and introduced a new sort on short and long o sounds and patterns. Repeating these patterns for each common vowel reinforces student learning and application.

Reading Workshop
We continued our study of main idea and writing answers in complete sentences. I also introduced using Venn diagrams to compare and contrast, which research supports as a leading comprehension strategy. We also read Zen Tales by Jon Muth, a story which contains three well known Zen stories, to develop our understanding of the author's message.

Writing Workshop
Our focus this week was on quick writes. While students have learned the writing process of planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing, the single greatest need for most students at the beginning of the year is to get them to produce. I presented students with choices ranging from the silly, Would you rather be able to fly or breathe under water?, to the more authentic, Which two specials would you keep if you had to eliminate one? I was VERY pleased with student progress. We will continue this and then begin to develop our paragraphs as we look forward to crafting pen pal letters next month.

Math
We are continuing to develop mastery of rounding to the nearest ten and hundred using empty number lines and by looking at the ones and tens place respectively. Students are developing their understanding of multiples of tens by writing expanded form in terms of place. Typically, expanded form would appear as: 735 = 700 + 30 + 5. We are writing it as (7 x 100) + (3 x 10) + (5 x 1). You may also hear your student use the language of "three groups of ten" rather than "three times ten," which I feel is helpful in developing their understanding of multiplication. Fact fluency strategies we should have mastered include 0 more, 1 more, 2 more, doubles, and near doubles.

Science
We started our science, social studies and technology rotation this week and I kicked off our life science study on plants as we prepare for our upcoming field trip. Students explored our campus and began using decision trees to identify trees as coniferous (needles or scales) or deciduous (simple or compound). We also looked at and described bark. Finally students were encouraged to observe the trees (e.g., seeds and fruits, sap, nests, soil under the tree, etc.). Your student should have brought their decision tree packet home to look at trees in your yard and neighborhood.

Constitution Day
We celebrated Constitution Day this week. Students learned about the process of writing this fundamental document.

Elise brought in her copy of the Constitution!

Guidance

Ms. O'Keefe visited us this week to talk about her job and how she can support students. She also led us in the Windermere Way pledge, "As  a Windermere Hawk, I promise to practice the Windermere Way. I am respectful, responsible, and ready to learn."

Bella celebrated Rosh Hashanah with us by bringing a book as well as the traditional apples and honey as we hope for a sweet new year:)

I am still in need of volunteers for our upcoming field trip. Please let me know if you are able to volunteer.

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

September 23 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
September 24 - Picture Day
September 29 - Thompson Park Tree Trek Field Trip

October 9 - Fall Family Night
October 16 - End of First Quarter
October 19 - No School Teacher Grading Day
October 25 - Scarecrow Display Contest
October 26 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
October 29 - UA Trick or Treat Night

November 2 - Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE

November 2 through 4 - Fall Conferences 
You can sign up for Fall Conferences by clicking on this link:http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa5ac2ea64-fall3

November 3 - No School Election Day/Professional Development
November 5 - Picture Retakes
November 9 through 13 - Terra Nova3/InView
November 25 through 27 - Thanksgiving Break

December 1 through 2 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for September 11, 2015

What We Learned This Week

Word Study

The class took their first word study assessment from the Words Their Way program. They were tested on several words they had practiced in their sorts, but also some new words that shared the same generalizations. Most of the class did really well spelling and identifying the sounds and patterns in this unit's words. I met with those few who struggled with one or more of these elements. Please look for their word study assessment and discuss it with your student. They should be signed and returned at your convenience (no hurry).

We are using sight to recognize our vowel-consonant/vowel-consonant-consonant (VC/VCC) and vowel-consonant-e (VCE) patterns and our ears to listen for the short a and long a sounds, which correspond with the visual patterns. Our anchor words are cat and cake, both of which exemplify the sight and sound patterns we studied. Students also practiced looking for words that share these oral and auditory patterns. There is still some confusion. For example, a student volunteered the word call as a VCC and short a word, but it is an "oddball" because, while it follows the VCC pattern, the vowel makes an "aw" sound instead of a short a sound. This is also a great opportunity to simply focus on words and start to build vocabulary. We had a real range of words, from at to granite.

Students started day one of their new generalization of short and long i and further supported their visual patterns of VC/VCC and VCE. After sorting students alphabetized their words and looked for a short i word in their reading. I always include a few oddballs that test the students' understanding. Today's oddball was give, which follows the VCE pattern, but presents a short i sound. See if your student can give you short and long i words that follow these visual patterns at the dinner table. Listen for oddballs. I used to play "word tennis" with my own kids where we had to give each other words that followed a pattern. It may seem silly, but volleying back and forth words can be a lot of fun.

Reading Workshop

We continued to focus on main idea. Students read longer, multi-paragraph passages and highlighted the topic sentence. They are starting to recognize that the topic sentence is the same thing as the main idea or central theme. Please remind your student to highlight or underline the topic sentence in each of their reading homework paragraphs. Occasionally, there may not be a topic sentence, which provides great learning and gives your student an opportunity to create one.

I also introduced figurative language (sayings and idioms). "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," came up in our read aloud and launched a great discussion on literal (main idea/central theme) versus figurative language. We will explore some of the most commonly used idioms and their origins.

Writing Workshop

Students rewrote their opinion pieces on why they should be elected to student council. There was a lot of surprise that they had to rewrite their pieces after modeling how they could improve them. I've shared with the class that we will redo much of our writing. The initial draft gives us something to work with, but in 3rd grade we will learn a lot for revising and reworking.

I was really pleased with the students' presentation skills as all of the students running for student council, which was most of the class, read their papers.

Math

I assessed students this week on numeracy (place & value; standard, expanded and written form; comparing numbers; patterns; comparing numbers and fact fluency). I will send these home next week. After this initial assessment, I will create specific standards based assessments.

There is some noticeable anxiety surrounding math fact fluency. Please practice with your student at home! A few minutes nightly will pay off quickly.
Science

We had fun with soda geysers and discussed physical change. If you repeat this at home, I suggest diet soda. It won't bring bees:) Different sodas have different carbonation levels, which you can observe in the varying heights of the soda geysers.

We will begin our science, social studies, health and technology rotation next week!

Our first field trip will take place on Tuesday, September 29th. We will walk to Thompson Park to photo document the Thompson Park Tree Trek. Here is a link to last year's work.
http://thompsonparktreetrek.blogspot.com/

Field Trip permission slips were sent home today. Please email me if you would like to chaperon this great field trip. We will meet in our room at 9am for a brief overview of the morning and will return by 11. Background checks must be up to date prior to helping on the field trip. Thank you in advance for your support. We do know it can be very hard to take time away from work.

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

September 23 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
September 29 - Thompson Park Tree Trek Field Trip

October 9 - Fall Family Night
October 16 - End of First Quarter
October 19 - No School Teacher Grading Day
October 25 - Scarecrow Display Contest
October 26 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
October 29 - UA Trick or Treat Night

November 2 - Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE

November 2 through 4 - Fall Conferences 
You can sign up for Fall Conferences by clicking on this link:http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa5ac2ea64-fall3

November 3 - No School Election Day/Professional Development
November 9 through 13 - Terra Nova3/InView
November 25 through 27 - Thanksgiving Break

December 1 through 2 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students

Newsletter for September 4, 2015

What We Learned This Week

Word Study

Students will begin individualized word study groups soon. However, I started everyone this week on the same lesson to teach the process. The cycle will typically be a five day rotation as follows:

Day One: I introduce the word feature sort on Smart Board (e.g., this week's sort was short and long a with VC and VCE patterns); students cut and sort words by pattern; they alphabetize their sorts and finally copy them into their word study journal. I also make sure the students know the meaning of all the words. The first few times we do this will take a lot of time, but I have experienced students begin to be able to do this much faster and more efficiently. I circulate and look for common errors (e.g., this week, many students struggled to hear the long a in whale and the short a in hand. I emphasize the vowel sound by having students "stretch" the word aloud and isolate the vowel sound.) Students keep their words in a baggie in their desk.

Day Two: We physically sort the words and copy them again. We also brainstorm additional words that follow the same pattern. This is a great step towards generalizing.

Day Three: We sort the words again and then look for words in our reading that share the sorting features. We will use this to build vocabulary as well.

Day Four: We sort our words a fourth time and then do one of many possible word study activities: draw and label, use in sentences, blind sorts, speed sorts, vocabulary builders, etc.

Day Five: We sort our words one final time and then recycle them. Students take a word study assessment including many words from the five day cycle's sort as well as new words that share the feature to help us ensure students are generalizing instead of just memorizing.

Reading Workshop

Students continue to identify the main idea in a passage. We will do this with our homework passages as well at school. Students will quickly begin to identify the topic sentence and see how it supports their recognition of the main idea/central theme of a passage/selection. This provides a helpful connection to our writing as we begin our narratives and opinion pieces with strong topic sentences using a variety of strategies.

We also looked for the author's message in picture books. This is challenging, especially for "right answer" oriented students. We will look for evidence to support a variety of answers.

We are well into our read aloud, Wonder, and it is providing many opportunities for great classroom discussion on kindness.

Writing Workshop

Students began their first opinion pieces, writing why they would make a great student council representative. Students must write a reason and then support it with an example, e.g., "I am a good speaker. I once had to give a speech at my aunt's wedding." While not everyone wants to run for student council, everyone is doing this exercise. This writing also provides an opportunity for students to recognize their strengths and areas for growth.

Math Workshop

We had a very busy week in math! Students are:
- Writing numbers in standard (e.g., 563), written (e.g., five hundred sixty-three), and expanded notation (e.g., 500 + 60 + 3)
- Rounding to the nearest ten using empty number lines (e.g., 70   73       80  >  73 is 3 away from 70 and 7 away from 80, so it is closer to 70. Students also recognize that the sum of the two distances is always ten) and recognizing we round down if the one's place is 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 and we round up if the one's place is 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9.
- Naming numbers by place and value (e.g., the 7 in 472 is called 70, seventy, 7 tens, and 70 ones).
- Identifying the biggest or smallest number possible from a set of numerals (e.g., the biggest number that can be made from 7, 4, 0, and 9 is 9,740. This is typically very easy, but the "next biggest" number of 9,704 is usually very hard. Most students will write 7,940. Try this one with a three or four digit number at home.).
- Recognizing and continuing patterns by looking at which place (ones, tens, hundreds, thousands) is changing.

I have noticed many students (and this is typical of the beginning of third grade) are struggling to read an analog clock. I will review this at school, but you may want to look for opportunities to do this at home. A gift of an analog watch is often very motivating. I point out that the word hour is shorter than the word minute and their lengths correspond with their arms' lengths on a clock. 

Homework

The class practiced an entire night's homework together. I shared explicit strategies and modeled them. Nearly everyone finished their reading in 20 minutes and their math in 15. We also discussed creating the right environment for homework without distractions. I hope this is helpful at home.

Odds and Ends

You will receive a letter about Schoology next week. Schoology is a secure site in which students, teachers and parents can communicate about class experiences. You can see more about it here: http://upperarlington.finalsite.com/page.cfm?p=650

We had a great time celebrating Windermere Sportsmanship Day participating in team building activities. We finished the day with a speaker who focused on the importance of quality relationships. This was a great introduction to our Windermere Way: Responsible, Respectful and Ready to Learn. Here are a few photos from our activities.

See below for important dates.

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.

September 7 - No School Labor Day
September 23 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

October 9 - Fall Family Night
October 16 - End of First Quarter
October 19 - No School Teacher Grading Day
October 25 - Scarecrow Display Contest
October 26 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
You can sign up for Fall Conferences by clicking on this link:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa5ac2ea64-fall3
October 29 - UA Trick or Treat Night

November 2 - Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
November 2 through 4 - Fall Conferences 
November 3 - No School Election Day/Professional Development
November 9 through 13 - Terra Nova3/InView
November 25 through 27 - Thanksgiving Break

December 1 through 2 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
December 21 through January 1 - Winter Break

January 8 - End of Second Quarter
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18  - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 21 - Conferences, Early Dismissal at 11:05, NO LUNCH SERVICE
January 27 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm

February 1 through 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
February 15 - No School Presidents' Day
February 16 - Ohio Wildlife Center Visit

March 2 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
March 18 - End of Third Quarter
March 21 through 25 - No School Spring Break
March 28 - No School Teacher Grading Day

April 6 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
April 12 and 13 - Ohio English Language Arts Assessment
April 20 and 21 - Ohio Mathematics Assessment

May 27 - Last Day of School for Students