Newsletter for September 29, 2017

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We extended our study of syllable types (closed syllable (cvc/vc) - short vowel sounds and VCe - long vowel sounds) to o vowels. I explicitly connected these two syllable patterns across a, i, and o vowels to show students how to apply what we are learning to reading (decoding) and writing (encoding). Students often fail to apply what we learn in isolation to context unless they have direct instruction making this connection.

I also introduced important foundational syllable rules.
- Every syllable has one vowel sound.
- The number of vowel sounds in a word equals the number of syllables.
- A one syllable word is never divided.
- A compound word is divided between the two words that make the compound word.
- When two or more consonants come between two vowels in a word, it is usually divided between the first two consonants (e.g., sis-ter, but-ter, hun-gry, etc.).
- When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, it is usually divided after the consonant if the vowel is short (e.g., lev-er, cab-in, hab-it).
- When a single consonant comes between two vowels in a word, it is usually divided before the consonant if the vowel is long.
- When two vowels come together in a word, and are sounded separately, divide the word between the two vowels (e.g., ra-di-o, di-et, i-de-a, etc.).
I do not expect students to have absorbed these yet. It will take a lot of practice to internalize these syllable breaking rules.

We began our study of plural nouns. We should know that we can simply add -s to most nouns to make them plural (e.g., book > books). However, if we add a syllable, we must add -es (e.g., lunch > lunches). I find this is easier for most students to grasp than remembering that we add -es to words ending in -ch, -sh, -s, and -x.

Reading Workshop
We are still working on main idea, but have raised the bar. Students are expected to use the question in the answer (The main idea is...) and include a who (subject) and a what (predicate). We are also improving our answers by using active voice, instead of passive voice, to be more clear and succinct in our writing.

Reading Homework: Please make sure your student is completing their reading logs. A new one will be sent home each Friday. Thank you.

I am sending home your students' DRA scores. Please look for these. We will discuss them in more detail during fall conferences.

Writing Workshop
Students finished drafts of their two paragraph pen pal letters, one "about me" and one "about my school." Students crafted topic sentences, added big ideas (e.g., hobbies, family, pets, etc.) and wrote a minimum of three supporting details for each. I was very pleased with student productivity. They generally wrote a lot! We have a lot of grammatical errors to correct, but we now have material to start revising and editing. Students will publish these next week in Google Docs and share them with me in Google Classroom. These are important software applications they will use for years to come, or  at least until Google replaces them with something new;) Technology will continue to be a moving target and I will encourage students to problem solve by "playing" with the software.

Math Workshop
We took our numeracy assessment. I view assessments as formative. Their purpose is to check in with students and drive my instruction. Summative tests will be administered at the end of grading periods and will be relied on to help determine student progress. Students brought these assessments home on Thursday. The primary reteaching focus will be multi-digit subtraction, especially borrowing across zeroes, and showing time using analog clocks.

Many students still subtract the smallest value from the largest value, rather than smallest number from the bottom number.

Example:      400
                    -277
                     277
Students are regrouping across numbers, rather than within. We will continue to work on this at school.

Here is a great video on automaticity. Gina Kling and Dr. Jennifer Bay Williams, two leaders in teaching young children math, share their thoughts. I really enjoyed this video. It reaffirmed much of what I hold true on this important topic, but it also challenged me to instruct in different ways.

Students played biggest number/smallest number to develop awareness of place and value.

Science
Students began their Tree Trek books using Book Creator. Feel free to use this app at home with your student. Thank you in advance to the families that have offered to volunteer for our October 20th field trip. Please let me know if you are able to help.

Important Dates & Reminders

I will highlight changes and new dates in red.

September 2017

29 Fall Family Fun Night  5:30-7:30 p.m. ~ I hope to see you there!

Click to learn more about the UAHS's IB service learning project.

October 2017

4  Walking Wednesday

11 Walking Wednesday

9-13 Collection Days for “Box Tops for Education”

16 No School for Students:  Work Day/Parent-Teacher Conference Day

16  Parent-Teacher Conferences 12:20 - 7pm

18 Walking Wednesday

19 Parent-Teacher Conferences 3:20 - 7pm

20 Fall Picture Retakes
20 Field Trip 9am-11am Thompson Park Tree Trek. Please email if you can chaperone.

24 & 25 3rd Grade State of Ohio Reading Assessment
25 Walking Wednesday

26 Early Dismissal at 11:05

27 Halloween Parties & School Wide Parade starting at 1:30 pm

31 Trick-or-Treat 5:30-8 p.m. in UA

November 2017

1 Walking Wednesday

6 End of First Trimester

7 No School for Students:  Faculty In-service Day

8 Walking Wednesday

15 Walking Wednesday

21  Progress Reports go Home

21 Scarlet and Gray School Spirit Day

22-24 Thanksgiving Holiday

December 2017

21 Holiday Parties 2:00 pm

December 22-January 4 Winter Break

January 2018

5 No School for Students:  Teacher Workday/PD Day

8 School Resumes

15 No School for Staff or Students:  Martin Luther King’s Birthday

18 PT Conferences grade 1-5 (students are dismissed at 11:05)

February 2018

5  State of the Schools at UAHS 5-8 p.m.

5-9 Collection Days for “Box Tops for Education”
8 Third Grade Musical
11-14 Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
14 Ohio Wildlife Center

19 No School Staff or Students:  Presidents’ Day

28 Early Release 1:00 (NO LIFT)

March 2018

5 Spring Pictures

9 End of Second Trimester
9 Invention Convention 10-10:30am in the Multipurpose Room/Cafeteria

12-16  Spring Break

19 No School for Students:  Teacher Grading Day

27 Progress Reports go Home

30  Good Friday:  No School for Students or Staff

April 2018

4  Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at Windermere 11-12 in lounge

May 2018

April 30-May 4  Scholastic Book Fair

4 KidFest, 5-8 p.m.

8  NO School for students or certified staff - Ohio Primary Elections

21  Field Day

28 No School Staff:  Memorial Day

30  Last Day for Students

30 End of third trimester

Newsletter for September 22, 2017

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We are continuing to study closed and VCe syllable types as these represent so many syllables in the English language. We are specifically studying these syllable types with the vowel i, but students should be able to apply these rules to all common vowels. I began this study modeling decoding (reading) and encoding (writing) words with the short i sound (e.g., pig) and long i sound (e.g., kite).
Students sort words into groups, first visually and then look for confirmation using auditory cues. For example, the word give has a visual pattern of VCe, but the short i sound shows it is an exception (an "oddball" or "trick word") that must be memorized.

For encoding, we will eventually try out different syllable types for long vowel sounds (e.g., feet could be spelled feet with a vowel team or fete as a VCe syllable type). However, I won't introduce this until students are far more secure in their phonological awareness.

We are continuing to practice keyboarding for a few minutes most days. We don't spend much time on this, but daily practice is beneficial with a goal of becoming familiar with the location of all keys. We will eventually begin typing short sentences for practical practice.

We are also studying proper nouns and the importance of capitalizing them. Most third graders make a tremendous number of convention errors in their writing. This is very common and I encourage them to get their ideas down first. I do not want to interrupt their flow of ideas and use of great vocabulary. We go back to our writing and edit specifically for indenting, capitals, punctuation, etc. See if your student can distinguish between common and proper nouns. I think we are finally getting this concept.

Reading Workshop
We are still working on identifying the main idea and supporting details. We are also studying this in our writing (see below).

I assessed students using the Developmental Reading Assessments (DRA). I will share these results with you soon, along with the STAR Reading results, to help you support your student with selecting independent reading levels.

Writing Workshop
We are writing to our pen pals, two introductory paragraphs, one about ourselves and one about our school. The class is excited to begin this exchange. We are focusing on creating strong topic sentences that stand alone and adding supporting details. Many students include a supporting detail in their topic sentence or start sentences with because. We will work to correct these errors.

In honor of Tremont Elementary's Centennial, we are responding to the question, "What will school be like in one-hundred years?" Students' responses run the gamut from the whimsical, "I hope we hae robots for teachers," to the incredibly insightful, "In 100 years, students will be placed in grades by readiness, instead of age." (That one blew me away!!!) We were asked to respond to this question by the Upper Arlington Public Library who will feature some student responses in their magazine. I'll be getting a copy and will share if your student is published.

Math Workshop
We are making progress with numeracy. We made flash cards for all facts except the zero more, one more and two more. We will use these systematically to develop fact fluency daily.

I will assess students early next week and will share these results with you as soon as possible. While I always feel the pressure to jump right into third grade math standards, building a strong numeracy foundation is invaluable.

Science
We learned how to use Book Creator, an app on student iPads. We will use it to document what we observed on our recent field trip to Thompson Park. Please email if you are able to volunteer for the October trip. Thank you!  

Students working in Book Creator.

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight changes and new dates in red.

STAR Assessments and Parent Access

Parents, you can access your child’s score via the Parent STAR Access website. If you had an account last school year, your account will still be active this year. If you do not have an account, you can request access. The process to request access can be found in the How Parents Request Access to Renaissance Place document. You can go to this webpage for reference documents, sample score reports, and FAQs around STAR Assessments.

September 2017

20 Walking Wednesday

21 Fall School Pictures

25 Book Fair Week

27 Early Release 1:00

27 Walking Wednesday

29 Fall Family Fun Night  5:30-7:30 p.m.

October 2017

TBD Third Grade Reading AIR Testing

4  Walking Wednesday

11 Walking Wednesday

9-13 Collection Days for “Box Tops for Education”

16 No School for Students:  Work Day/PT Conference Day

16  Parent Teacher Conferences 12:20 - 7pm

18 Walking Wednesday

19 Parent Teacher Conferences 3:20 - 7pm

20 Fall Picture Retake

20 Field Trip 9am-11am Thompson Park Tree Trek. Please email if you can chaperone.

24 & 25 3rd Grade State of Ohio Reading Assessment
25 Walking Wednesday

26 Early Dismissal at 11:05

27 Halloween Parties & School wide Parade starting at 1:30 pm

31 Beggar’s Night 5:30-8 p.m. in UA

November 2017

1 Walking Wednesday

6 End of First Trimester

7 No School for Students:  Faculty In-service Day

8 Walking Wednesday

15 Walking Wednesday

21  Progress Reports go Home

21 Scarlet and Gray School Spirit Day

22-24 Thanksgiving Holiday

December 2017

21 Holiday Parties 2:00 pm

December 22-January 4 Winter Break

January 2018

5 No School for Students:  Teacher Workday/PD Day

8 School Resumes

15 No School for Staff or Students:  Martin Luther King’s Birthday

18 PT Conferences grade 1-5 (students are dismissed at 11:05)

February 2018

5  State of the Schools at UAHS 5-8 p.m.

5-9 Collection Days for “Box Tops for Education”
8 Third Grade Musical
11-14 Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
14 Ohio Wildlife Center

19 No School Staff or Students:  Presidents’ Day

28 Early Release 1:00 (NO LIFT)

March 2018

5 Spring Pictures

9 End of Second Trimester
9 Invention Convention 10-10:30am in the Multipurpose Room/Cafeteria

12-16  Spring Break

19 No School for Students:  Teacher Grading Day

27 Progress Reports go Home

30  Good Friday:  No School for Students or Staff

April 2018

4  Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at Windermere 11-12 in lounge

May 2018

April 30-May 4  Scholastic Book Fair

4 KidFest, 5-8 p.m.

8  NO School for students or certified staff - Ohio Primary Elections

21  Field Day

28 No School Staff:  Memorial Day

30  Last Day for Students

30 End of third trimester

From Ms. O'Keefe - School Counselor

Outreach Fund 
If your child would like to participate in After School Enrichment classes or Fall Family Night but this is a financial hardship, you can confidentially contact our school counselor, Katie O'Keefe (kokeefe@uaschools.org) for assistance. Information for both can be found at: www.uawindermerepto.org.

Extended Deadline/Last Call for September/October Groups

If you are interested in having your child participate in groups provided by our school counselor or our Syntero counselor, please complete the Small group offerings form and return to Ms. O'Keefe's mailbox by September 25th. November and December group reminders will also be sent out in October. More groups will be added as we move through our year. 

Click to enlarge and print.

Continued ~ Click to enlarge and print.

Newsletter for September 15, 2017

What We Learned This Week

Word Study

We are continuing to review our most basic syllable types: closed syllables (vowel closed by a consonant produces a short vowel sound, e.g., hiccup ) and VCe (vowel followed by a consonant and a silent e produces a long vowel sound, e.g., ice). We look for a visual pattern and listen for auditory confirmation of the syllable type. This attention to syllable types and the importance of vowels will help us to decode and encode. Here is a short video (with a few grammatical errors) that demonstrates how we mark words. The following chart is also helpful in demonstrating how we identify and mark syllable types. 

I also introduced keyboarding. My goal is to ensure students are familiar with the location of all keys and can improved their rate and production when they compose on their devices, as they are typically much slower and produce much less than when they write. I do ask them to use the correct finger for each letter. 

Reading Workshop

We are continuing to focus on summarizing the main idea of a short passage or reading selection. This has proven to be fairly challenging. The main idea may contain any of the 5 W's (who, what, where, when, and why) but must have a who (noun, subject) and a what (verb, predicate). Students are also differentiating between main ideas and supporting details. 

Writing Workshop

We began our first paragraphs to our pen pals in Oman. Students also started working with partners to revise their writing. Here is a link to our pen pals' school AGS Muscat if you'd like to learn more about them. It looks like a nice place to visit:) 

Math Workshop

We added doubles and near-doubles. I will introduce our hardest, but most beneficial strategy, (7's, 8's, & 9's) next week. 

I postponed this week's math assessment. We are reviewing second grade numeracy. There are several challenging standards: fact fluency, time, subtraction with borrowing across zeroes, rounding to estimate and multistep story problems. I am working to ensure students are not blindly applying algorithms to numbers. I may give them three regrouping problems and then present one that does not require regrouping to make sure they are really understanding as some will go ahead and apply the borrowing across zeroes algorithm. This takes time, but it creates a solid foundation for problem solving. The story problems require students to do two operations, but they typically stop after the first operation. Example: Ananta spent $25 on a concert ticket. She bought a second ticket the day of the concert for $15 more than she spent on the first ticket. How much did she spend? Most students stop at solving for the price of the second ticket ($40), and do not add the cost of the first and second ticket together. We will get there through practice.

Science

We took our field trip to Thompson Park to begin documenting change over time. I was very impressed with students' observations and look forward to our next field trip in October. Please email if you are able to chaperone. Thank you to yesterday's volunteers. I know how busy you are. Your students are always thrilled to have you join us at school. 

Guidance

Ms. O'Keefe taught a lesson on perseverance and grit. 

Working together to build a pipe cleaner tower.

From Ms. O'Keefe...

This week I was in your child’s classroom. I focused on an aspect of Growth Mindsets for this first lesson, based on feedback I received from teachers, students, and parents (if you haven’t taken my Fall Parent Survey, please take a minute to do so!). Find more parent resources on the Facebook Page.

In 3rd grade, we focused on Perseverance, Grit and Determination. Students took a self- assessment about how “gritty” they are. This gave some insight into what “grit” means and why it’s important. We talked about how our brain grows as we learn from our mistakes and from new experiences.

We then did the Pipcleaner Challenge. Students worked together in teams of 4 to build the highest structure using only pipe cleaners. They encountered obstacles/challenges along the way.

Some questions you can ask your child about this week’s guidance lesson:

• What did you learn about how your brain grows? (making mistakes, new experiences, etc.)
• What did the groups need to do in order to be successful at this challenge?
• What was the best part of the challenge: trying to win or the challenge of the activity?
• How does this relate to school?

Library

Mrs. Hemmelgarn celebrated 101 years with Roald Dahl. She read from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, Witches, James and the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox and George's Marvelous Medicine. 

Sam's Marvelous Medicine :) 

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight changes and new dates in red.

September 2017

20 Walking Wednesday

21 Fall School Pictures

25 Book Fair Week

27 Early Release 1:00

27 Walking Wednesday

29 Fall Family Fun Night  5:30-7:30 p.m.

October 2017

TBD Third Grade Reading AIR Testing

4  Walking Wednesday

11 Walking Wednesday

9-13 Collection Days for “Box Tops for Education”

16 No School for Students:  Work Day/PT Conference Day

16  Parent Teacher Conferences 12:20 - 7pm

18 Walking Wednesday

19 Parent Teacher Conferences 3:20 - 7pm

20 Fall Picture Retake

20 Field Trip 9am-11am Thompson Park Tree Trek. Please email if you can chaperone.

24 & 25 3rd Grade State of Ohio Reading Assessment
25 Walking Wednesday

26 Early Dismissal at 11:05

27 Halloween Parties & School wide Parade starting at 1:30 pm

31 Beggar’s Night 5:30-8 p.m. in UA

November 2017

1 Walking Wednesday

6 End of First Trimester

7 No School for Students:  Faculty In-service Day

8 Walking Wednesday

15 Walking Wednesday

21  Progress Reports go Home

21 Scarlet and Gray School Spirit Day

22-24 Thanksgiving Holiday

December 2017

21 Holiday Parties 2:00 pm

December 22-January 4 Winter Break

January 2018

5 No School for Students:  Teacher Workday/PD Day

8 School Resumes

15 No School for Staff or Students:  Martin Luther King’s Birthday

18 PT Conferences grade 1-5 (students are dismissed at 11:05)

February 2018

5  State of the Schools at UAHS 5-8 p.m.

5-9 Collection Days for “Box Tops for Education”
8 Third Grade Musical
11-14 Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
14 Ohio Wildlife Center

19 No School Staff or Students:  Presidents’ Day

28 Early Release 1:00 (NO LIFT)

March 2018

5 Spring Pictures

9 End of Second Trimester
9 Invention Convention 10-10:30am in the Multipurpose Room/Cafeteria

12-16  Spring Break

19 No School for Students:  Teacher Grading Day

27 Progress Reports go Home

30  Good Friday:  No School for Students or Staff

April 2018

4  Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at Windermere 11-12 in lounge

May 2018

April 30-May 4  Scholastic Book Fair

4 KidFest, 5-8 p.m.

8  NO School for students or certified staff - Ohio Primary Elections

21  Field Day

28 No School Staff:  Memorial Day

30  Last Day for Students

30 End of third trimester

Newsletter for September 8, 2017

What We Learned This Week

Math Fact Strategies

Mrs. Savage, our Deaf & Hard of Hearing educator, recorded a few math lessons covering how we develop math fact fluency. While it is always very humbling to watch myself, I hope these videos will give you an understanding of how you can support your student. You can click on the following links to watch these lessons. They are not perfect, but no day is:) 

Math Fact Practice

Buzz

Fact Fluency Baseball

Diversity and Cultural Competency

I was honored to be part of our Windermere team that went through three days of training in diversity and cultural competency. I am excited to bring this important work back to our building to ensure every member of our community is respected, included and supported. 

Important Dates and Reminders

I will highlight changes and new dates in red.

September 2017

13  PTO General Mtg at 7:00 pm in the lounge

13 Walking Wednesday

14 Field Trip 9am-11am Thompson Park Tree Trek. Please email if you can chaperone.

20 Walking Wednesday

21 Fall School Pictures

25 Book Fair Week

27 Early Release 1:00

27 Walking Wednesday

29 Fall Family Fun Night  5:30-7:30 p.m.

October 2017

TBD Third Grade Reading AIR Testing

4  Walking Wednesday

11 Walking Wednesday

9-13 Collection Days for “Box Tops for Education”

16 No School for Students:  Work Day/PT Conference Day

16  Parent Teacher Conferences 12:20 - 7pm

18 Walking Wednesday

19 Parent Teacher Conferences 3:20 - 7pm

20 Fall Picture Retake

20 Field Trip 9am-11am Thompson Park Tree Trek. Please email if you can chaperone.

24 & 25 3rd Grade State of Ohio Reading Assessment
25 Walking Wednesday

26 Early Dismissal at 11:05

27 Halloween Parties & School wide Parade starting at 1:30 pm

31 Beggar’s Night 5:30-8 p.m. in UA

November 2017

1 Walking Wednesday

6 End of First Trimester

7 No School for Students:  Faculty In-service Day

8 Walking Wednesday

15 Walking Wednesday

21  Progress Reports go Home

21 Scarlet and Gray School Spirit Day

22-24 Thanksgiving Holiday

December 2017

21 Holiday Parties 2:00 pm

December 22-January 4 Winter Break

January 2018

5 No School for Students:  Teacher Workday/PD Day

8 School Resumes

15 No School for Staff or Students:  Martin Luther King’s Birthday

18 PT Conferences grade 1-5 (students are dismissed at 11:05)

February 2018

5  State of the Schools at UAHS 5-8 p.m.

5-9 Collection Days for “Box Tops for Education”
8 Third Grade Musical
11-14 Ohio Wildlife Center donation drive
14 Ohio Wildlife Center

19 No School Staff or Students:  Presidents’ Day

28 Early Release 1:00 (NO LIFT)

March 2018

5 Spring Pictures

9 End of Second Trimester
9 Invention Convention 10-10:30am in the Multipurpose Room/Cafeteria

12-16  Spring Break

19 No School for Students:  Teacher Grading Day

27 Progress Reports go Home

30  Good Friday:  No School for Students or Staff

April 2018

4  Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon at Windermere 11-12 in lounge

May 2018

April 30-May 4  Scholastic Book Fair

4 KidFest, 5-8 p.m.

8  NO School for students or certified staff - Ohio Primary Elections

21  Field Day

28 No School Staff:  Memorial Day

30  Last Day for Students

30 End of third trimester