Newsletter for April 27, 2018

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We reviewed doubling consonants when adding suffixes -ed and -ing. We will continue this next week. Our rule is to double the final consonant after a short vowel sound (if the final syllable ends in a single consonant).

We continued our study of silent k and w words. Interestingly, these letters were actually pronounced in the Germanic languages. Over time, as these words were absorbed into Anglo Saxon languages, these letter sounds disappeared in spoken form, but the silent letters stayed in written form. We can use context to distinguish them as well and practice using them in sentences.

Reading Workshop
We are working in small groups with leveled chapter books for literature circles. Students will read aloud, which provides many opportunities to focus on expression, fluency and decoding, as well as authentic word study. They then do additional independent reading at their seats where they answer questions similar to the literature circle prompts students have been doing for homework.

We are reading the Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, ground zero for the modern fantasy genre. Many students have seen the movies, which supports their comprehension.

Writing Workshop
Students are enjoying writing an expository essay on "How to survive 3rd grade!" The best parts of these letters will be combined into a single letter that will be shared with next year's 3rd graders.

We also started an end of year writing project. Students are writing letters to their classmates about what they admire in each other.  Each student will take home 25 letters telling them just how awesome they are. Many of my former students still have their letters and I recommend students only read one at a time, saving them as pick-me-ups if they have a bad day.

Math Workshop
We reviewed for our state testing, which was really helpful for me as I can see areas to focus on for the remainder of the year. I will be introducing some games and creating stations to develop mastery of facts.

I will also be introducing some engaging enrichment problems for students to work on in small groups.

Science
We continued our study of air power and gliders. Some of the students are really getting this down! These "big mouth spinners" are the easiest to make and fly. We will try our hand at some more challenging gliders as well.

We started our month long STEM challenge with Mrs. McCormick's 5th grade class. This is always a fun and challenging engineering/reengineering project. Students will be broken up into teams, assigned different team roles, and challenged to create a marble run with specific design elements. Successful teams will get a special prize the last week of school, which all students will get to participate in.

Students had a little practice with the different roles this week with Keva Plank challenges.

Homework

There is no homework for the remainder of the year. However, if you have a student who will benefit from continuing homework or support at home, I will obviously support you and am more than willing to be the heavy. Just reach out to me and we will make a plan. I always hope students are reading for pleasure.

Autism - Nationwide Children's Hospital
In honor of National Autism month, we had some speakers come from Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Device Collection
Device collection officially begins on May 7th, but I would like to start collecting all materials now. Please send your student with their iPad, keyboard, case, and charger on Monday, April 30th.

Important Dates & Reminders

April 2018
30 - Send iPad, case, keyboard, charger

May 2018

April 30-May 4  Scholastic Book Fair

4 KidFest, 5-8 p.m. I apologize in advance, but I have a conflict and will likely not attend. It will be the first KidFest I've missed in 13 years. I will try to get there if I am able.

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

11 Science field trip to Livingston Elementary - no more chaperones needed
Students need comfortable walking shoes and sack lunches (all disposable).
Please apply sunscreen before students come to school.

18 Field trip to the Columbus Zoo - 6 chaperones needed
Students need comfortable walking shoes and sack lunches (all disposable).
Please apply sunscreen before students come to school.

21  Field Day
Please apply sunscreen before students come to school. I suggest sending LARGE water bottles as well.

28 No School Staff:  Memorial Day

30  Last Day for Students

30 End of third trimester

Newsletter for April 13, 2018

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We are studying silent k words and their homophones (e.g., knight & night).

Reading Workshop
We are studying different points of view.

Writing Workshop
We spent a lot of time this week creating in Google docs and using checklists to ensure we are including all the elements of our writing.

Math Workshop
We wrapped up our first look at fractions this week to allow time to introduce measurement. We will revisit fractions before the year ends. I introduced different kinds of measurement: time, length, mass/weight, and volume/capacity. Students are also learning personal references (e.g., 1 gram = 1 jumbo paperclip, 1 slice of bread = 1 ounce, etc.) to help them determine which units of measure are most appropriate to use in any situation (e.g., we would not use feet to measure the distance from school to home). We are also looking at interpreting data tables and revisiting area and perimeter.

Science
We looked at multiple models of how we generate, store and consume electricity. Students understand they are a model of this when they scuff their feet to create static electricity, store it not unlike a battery and then release it when they touch someone, just as a power plant releases energy to a home, school, business, hospital, etc. We also do this when we eat food, store the energy and then release it to exercise. I used a hairdryer and dry cleaning bag to demonstrate heat energy, mimicking a hot air balloon's ascent. I also used the heat from a candle to make a cut spiral of paper spin as the heat rose. Finally, we looked at steam moving a pinwheel. I'm looking forward to next week's lessons on wind power, which will also include force and motion.

Important Dates & Reminders

It's Kid Fest Raffle Basket time again. Please click on this link for the 3rd Grade Star Wars sign up genius. You can donate items or money through April 18th.

April 2018

17 & 18 Spring 3rd Grade State of Ohio Reading Assessment (AIR)

24 & 25 Spring 3rd Grade State of Ohio Math Assessment - Students need headphones.
30 Device collection

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

11 Science field trip to Livingston Elementary - 2 chaperones needed

18 Field trip to the Columbus Zoo - 6 chaperones needed
21  Field Day

28 No School Staff:  Memorial Day

30  Last Day for Students

30 End of third trimester

Newsletter for April 6, 2018

What We Learned This Week

Word Study
We worked on hard /k/ sounds produced with closed syllables/short vowel sounds (e.g., kick), vowel-consonant e syllables/long vowel sounds (e.g., bike) and vowel teams/irregular vowel sounds (e.g., book). Students are encouraged to share what they see first (syllable type) and then what they hear (short, long, irregular vowel sound). I'm working to draw more connections from their word study to their applied reading and writing (e.g., Find one of each visual pattern in your reading and record it on a post-it note; Use one of each syllable type in your writing today.).

Reading Workshop
We are continuing to work on summaries and they are really improving. We are also going over a few practice tests to talk about test taking strategies (e.g., reading the multiple choice answers as part of the question to help us know what we are being asked to do and what to look for in the text) and to familiarize students with what kinds of questions and content will be on the test.

Writing Workshop
We are focusing on creating multi-paragraph informational writing pieces in Google docs on our iPads. Keyboarding is a real challenge for most, but I have most students typing with two fingers pretty adequately. I'm pleased with the class' writing. I'm looking for a specific title that indicates what they are writing about, a strong topic sentence, evidence from the text in their own words, and explicit explanations of why that evidence fits the prompt. Your student is welcome to share their writing with you, but I ask that you not make any changes.

Math
We are solving fraction story problems and learning how to simplify fractions by dividing by 1 represented as a fraction (e.g., 2/2, 3/3, etc.).

Science
We had a lot of fun in science this week. I used an apple to represent the small proportion of the Earth that is available for growing natural resources (e.g., crops, livestock, trees, etc.). This dovetailed nicely with our fraction study. See if your student can remember how we arrived at our usable land fraction.

We also used pinto beans (coal) and great northern beans (solar) to demonstrate the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy.

Finally, I used a leaf blower to model how powerful wind energy can be. We will continue with our natural resources study for the remainder of the quarter.

Important Dates & Reminders

It's Kid Fest Raffle Basket time again. Please click on this link for the 3rd Grade Star Wars sign up genius. You can donate items or money through April 18th.

Homework

Beginning next year, students K-3 will keep their devices at school. As excited as I was about the potential of online individualized homework, I also understand and support the reasons this decision was made. However, rather than investing a lot of time on my end learning about online homework options that I cannot use in the future, I am going to go back to paper based homework. Your student is welcome to continue to use Khan Academy until device collection in late spring, but I will not require it or check it. I hope your student has enjoyed it and may use it as a resource next year in 4th grade. 

April 2018

17 & 18 Spring 3rd Grade State of Ohio Reading Assessment (AIR)

24 & 25 Spring 3rd Grade State of Ohio Math Assessment - Students need headphones.

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

11 Science field trip to Livingston Elementary - chaperones needed

18 Field trip to the Columbus Zoo - chaperones needed
21  Field Day

28 No School Staff:  Memorial Day

30  Last Day for Students

30 End of third trimester