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