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