This week was full of community building and establishing routines. We started each morning with special areas, which makes things a bit challenging, but the class adapted quickly and was off and running.
Word Study
I administered two word study assessments, the Qualitative Spelling Inventory (QSI), which is the assessment component of our word study program, Words Their Way, and the Developmental Spelling Assessment (DSA), which comes from the landmark word study text, Word Journeys.
The QSI provides quick direction for grouping and the DSA provides a deeper dive into students' phonological awareness.
Both of these assessments look at word features, such as short vowel sounds (e.g., cat), vowel-consonant-silent e (e.g., tape), blends (two or three letters that you still hear, but they glide together, e.g., frog), and digraphs (two letters that make a single sound, e.g., watch).
I will grade these to identify students' needs. You will note we will not talk about spelling in third grade, but will instead learn "word study," with an emphasis on generalization, instead of memorization.
Reading Workshop
I read Sam and Dave Dig A Hole, by Mac Barnett, to introduce reading for the author's message. The author's message was to persevere, an important trait in learning, which we examined through Noodlers later in the day.
Students received reading logs which will record their books, genres and how much they read on a daily basis. I will use these reading logs to ensure students are reading appropriately leveled independent texts and a broad range of genres of informational and fiction texts, including poetry. We discussed the importance of reading "just right texts" to develop comprehension beyond the text, fluency, (phrasing and expression) and vocabulary. Many students are tempted to read books that are too far above their reading level and do not benefit them.
Writing Workshop
We will focus on personal narratives initially as they are far easier to develop students' writing with than fiction. Students will work on single paragraphs to develop their craft. We will take this in small bites to develop an understanding of all the elements of a paragraph: topic sentence, supporting details, conclusion, rich language, and convention. Students will also learn the importance of revision, rather than "being done."
Math Workshop
I sent home two math fact fluency assessments on Friday. Students should be getting 25 out of 36 math facts to demonstrate mastery. This is a significant need for most students and we will begin to learn math fact strategies: zero more (3+0), one more (4+1), two more (7+2), doubles (6+6), near doubles (3+4), sums to ten (6+4), make ten (7's, 8's, 9's) (7+5=10+2=12). Fact fluency is an essential tool for all mathematicians, especially for mental math, which represents the majority of authentic math most adults use on any given day.
We also looked at place and value. We will look at numbers to the one hundred thousands place to take advantage of the repeating places of ones, tens, and hundreds. Students will need to understand that any give place can only have one of ten values (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9) and that these values can be named two ways. For example, the 5 in 350 is either "fifty" or "five tens."
Important Dates and Reminders
I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.
August 27 - Parent Information Night from 7-8pm in the art room (parents only please). Grade 3 will be presenting together.
September 2 - New Parent Breakfast in the Multipurpose Room at 9am
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
To further build community, our class discussed choosing a theme for our annual Halloween parade. Ideas ranged from Adventure Time and Harry Potter to a classroom full of mummies or zombies. In the end, Star Wars won. I've encouraged all of the students to choose a character from Star Wars to dress as for Halloween. However, students who are not interested in Star Wars, should not feel ANY pressure to do this. It is simply a fun way to build community. There are many fun DIY costumes available on the web as well, which could provide some family fun.
October 26 - Early Dismissal Professional Development 1pm
NOTE: The district changed the fall conference schedule to prevent conflicts with Halloween festivities. If you have already scheduled a conference, please visit the new link below to choose a new date and time. I'm very sorry for any inconvenience. I know it is hard to work around schedules. I have added later evening times to hopefully accommodate more families.
You can sign up for Fall Conferences by clicking on this link:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0a4fa5ac2ea64-fall3
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 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
May 27 - Last Day of School for Students
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