Word Study
Students reviewed the short u, closed syllable pattern (VC/VCC) in words like truck and mud. Introduced a new sound, oo (e.g., moo), and we studied two common spelling patterns: ew (e.g., drew) and ue (e.g., clue). We had several good oddballs this week. Sew is an oddball because its ew pattern makes a long o sound instead of the oo sound; do is an oddball because it makes the oo sound, yet is spelled with only an o; and truth, a closed syllable, is an oddball because it should make a short u sound, but makes the oo sound.
Students sort using anchor words. The first strategy is to use sight (look for VC closed syllable words, CVV ew and ue words. The second strategy is to say and "stretch" each word to listen for oddballs, syllables that do not follow the rules and generalizations we are focusing on.
Finally, students spent time looking for ew and ue words in their reading.
Students practiced their cursive letters based on the lower-case i shape: i, u, w, t, j, p, r, and s.
I'm pleased with the students' keyboarding familiarity. We spend less than five minutes on this daily and add one letter per day. Students are getting comfortable with the home row and correct finger assignments. This should be a very useful skill as they are required to compose more on the computer, especially next year with our device roll-out.
Students learned how to make nouns possessive. They should know that if the noun ends in s they simply add an apostrophe, but if it does not end in s they should add an apostrophe s. We reviewed common, proper, singular and plural nouns as well.
Reading
We focused on making predictions based on evidence. Students also started the challenging process of summarizing non-fiction/informational texts. This is an important step in developing research skills. Students are directed to pay close attention to non-fiction/informational text features (table of contents, glossary, index, text boxes, graphs, charts, maps, etc.). Students should know to read the text first and then support their understanding using text features. Students are recording the main idea and supporting details on index cards in their own words. The next step will be to organize the cards into paragraphs and write a summary. I will use this experience to model researching biographies.
Writing
Students received their pen pal letters from England this week. Many of our pen pals wrote in cursive, which was great practice for applying our cursive knowledge. We also composed our Friday Thank You's. Most of this week's writing was modeled while summarizing non-fiction/informational texts.
Math
I reviewed multi-digit multiplication using the partial products and traditional regrouping algorithms. Students should be able to multiply and divide within 100 (know their basic facts). Basic fact fluency is a key skill that must be mastered this year. Progress reports will reflects which students need to practice these facts nightly.
I introduced fractions and applying them to story problems. Students should know the denominator is their starting point in any fraction problem. I call the denominator their "best friend" as it is so important to solving fractions. Students should know the denominator represents the number of equal groups/shares, but is not the number of unites/pieces/parts in the whole. The numerator is the number of equal groups/shares we are considering out of our total/whole. We are solving complex problems using either groups or fact fluency. Here is an example problem.
I have 24 cookies. 3/8 of my cookies are snickerdoodles. 2/6 of my cookies are peanut butter. The rest are samoas. How many samoas do I have?
Groups: D
- Draw 8 circles/groups of snickerdoodles to represent the denominator.
- Fill in each group with 3 to represent the units.
- Circle 3 of the groups to represent the numerator.
- Sum the 3 groups circled to find that 9 cookies are snickerdoodles.
- Draw 6 circles/groups of peanut butter cookies to represent the denominator.
- Fill in each group with 4 to represent the units.
- Circle 2 of the groups to represent the numerator.
- Sum the 2 groups circled to find that 8 cookies are peanut butter cookies.
- Sum the snickerdoodles and peanut butter cookies (9 + 8 = 17).
- Find the difference between the non-samoas and the total cookies (24 - 17 = 7 samoas).
Not too shabby for 3rd grade!
Schoology
To register for Schoology as a Parent: 1. Go to www.schoology.com/register and click on the “Parent” button. 2. Enter your access code. 3. Fill out the form with your information. 4. Click “Enter” to submit your information and complete your registration. 5. To associate additional students to your account, click the “Add Child” button in your Schoology account. 6. Log out of Schoology and then log back in. Your user name will be your email address. Your password will be what you set it to. Please note - parents will login to Schoology at schoology.com. Students will login at uaschools.schoology.com. 7. In the upper right hand corner of the screen you should see "All Children." This is a drop down menu that will allow you to toggle between your children's accounts. If you have questions please contact: familytechhelp@uaschools.org
Music
Eric "The Fish" Paton brought his Brazilian percussion expertise to Windermere as our artist in residence this week. I hope your student enjoyed learning and playing percussion.
Important Dates and Reminders
Apparently, there is a football game this weekend:)
I will highlight new and changed dates on subsequent posts in red.
January 11 - No School Teacher Grading Day
January 18 - No School Martin Luther King Day
January 19 - Progress reports sent home
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
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