It was great to see so many of you. I tried to cover a lot of material quickly. Please let me know if you need clarification on anything.
Nightly spelling activities consist of "See it, Say it and Spell it" at least three times for each word plus one additional word study strategy to support word pattern generalizations. I suggest limiting practice to five to ten minutes.
- Word sort by patterns.
- Write more words you can think of with the same pattern.
- Rewrite words in alphabetical order.
- Word ladders (start with a spelling word and change it to a new word by adding, deleting letters, e.g. take one letter away from drag to make a synonym for old cloth "rag"). Continue up the ladder.
- Use words in sentences.
- Identify word as a noun, verb or adjective.
- Practice words you have missed on earlier tests.
- Practice common lists (e.g., days of the week, months, states, holidays, etc.).
- Practice common homonyms (e.g., there, their, they're; it's, its; hour, our, are; etc.)
Word Ladder
I utilize a combination of best practices across the curriculum. I'm posting the Literacy CAFE menu for your use at home when reading with your student. The top four in each are the most commonly used.
The CAFE strategies can be used at home to support your student's classroom reading strategies.
We will use the same graphic organizer for all of our writing this year (single and multiple paragraphs, personal narratives, friendly letters, research, expository texts, persuasive arguments, fiction, etc.)
Our writing graphic organizer can be used for single or multiple paragraph writing.
Every Day Math provides wonderful animations of the algorithms we will utilize this year. Please visit
the following link to see short video clips of algorithms used in 3rd grade.
Your student will have four full weeks of daily Type To Learn computer based instruction to develop their keyboarding skills. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to reserve our computer lab with any consistency. Therefore, I utilize our four classroom computers during DEAR for this skill on a rotating basis. Your student may not begin typing at school until the spring. I encourage you to follow the installation instructions sent home with your student so they can practice typing at home to maximize their learning. Unfortunately, due to the broad range of home computer filters and security systems, I am unable to assist with downloading. I have successfully loaded Type To Learn on my home computer, but I have had some families that have struggled to download it.
If you did not sign up for conferences, please send me an e-mail and I will give you the remaining time slots to choose from.I recommend visiting the Ohio Department of Education for practice math and reading standardized assessments. You can click on the link below or search "Ohio Department of Education practice tests."
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspxpage=3&TopicRelationID=240&ContentID=4348&Content=108226
http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspxpage=3&TopicRelationID=240&ContentID=4348&Content=108226
Homework tips:
- Name, date, underlined and numbered reading evidence for credit.
- Limit to between 30 and 40 minutes. Please write me a note if your student attempted everything, but was overwhelmed and I can support them at school with strategies.
- I do not grade homework as many families support their student's work. I do check to see if it is completed.
- Establish a quiet place and consistent routine for homework.
