3rd-Grade Mathematicians
Hi, third-grade families! I hope you have seen that big packet of math work that came home yesterday. If you haven't, please ask your child to show it to you. When we finished our first unit of work, we gathered all of our independent work, our group work, and our homework. Once all their papers were organized, your child looked through what they had done and reflected on what they have learned and how they have grown. They wrote you a guide for things that they wanted you to notice in their work. Please take a look through their work and feel free to ask them questions. You may keep this work at home, but please send back the bottom portion with your signature. Thanks!
We are starting our next unit, called "Surveys and Line Plots: Data Analysis." Please look for a parent letter coming home today explaining the kind of work that we will be doing.
Posted at 6:31 AM| Permalink
Writing Workshop
Na Pueo (our new name) authors have been hard at work writing. Our authors are in the first stage of writing workshop, which I call "collecting." This first month was their time to try different pieces of writing. As we end this collection period, I am asking the children to choose a piece that they would like to work on more and go through the writing process with. With the pieces that Na Pueo chose, they will type, conference, revise, and edit until these pieces are ready to be published in a book that the children make. Here is a copy of the checklist that your child will follow.writing workshop checklis.pdf
Because publishing requires numerous steps and is time-consuming, we set benchmark due dates along the way. At the beginning of the month we decided that some time around now would be a reasonable amount of time for everyone to finish with their drafts. I decided on Tuesday, 9/24/07, as our due date for first drafts. Some students have chosen their piece to publish, but aren’t quite finished with their draft. Students are always welcome to work on their writing at home, but for this week, I am requiring some students to work on finishing their 1st draft at home, as they are due on Tuesday. I will make a note on your child’s homework checklist if they should be working on their draft at home.
If your child brings their writing home to work on, please do not help them with editing. If they ask you for ideas on the content of their story, please feel free to give them suggestions, but do not correct their spelling, punctuation, or grammar. Of course, if they ask you how to spell a word, please help how you normally would, but don’t correct their piece for them, however tempting it may be. Especially with this first piece, it is very important that our authors are able to experience every step in the publishing process.
Once your child is finished with their first draft, they will need to type up their piece. If your child’s writing piece is long, they may want to work on typing at home. If you would like your child to type at home, you may send in a flash-drive, but please make sure your child knows what kind of word processing program you have so we know how to save it. I can also e mail their piece to you. Again, if they bring their piece home to type, please resist the urge to correct it.
Posted at 6:55 AM| Permalink
Spelling
I have made some minor changes to our spelling routine now that we’ve actually tried it. Here is what spelling will look like:
Monday: I will give the students a pre-test on a list of words. This list of words will be created by me with the lists centering around a spelling pattern or rule. There will be one third-grade list and one fourth-grade list. For now, we will stick to just a third- and fourth-grade list. We will correct these pre-tests together.
Tuesday: We will do our regular spelling workshop which I described in my last entry. We will also create our spelling list for the week. If students got any words wrong on their pre-test, those words will be on their spelling list for the week. The rest of the words for the week will come from their spelling workshop (words from their own writing). This way students are only studying words that they don’t already know. For example, if a student got all their words right, Ms. Byrne didn’t pick a very good list, and all their words will come from their spelling workshop. If a student got three of their words right, they will round out their list with three words from their spelling workshop. Students will make two copies of their spelling lists, one for their Language Arts folder and another one for home that you can post on the fridge or keep in the car or wherever your child will practice their spelling. Spelling homework will include studying these words by doing Look, Say, Cover, Visualize, Write, Check, Rewrite, putting each word in their Personal Spelling Dictionary, and however else you find works for your child.
The spelling test will be the following Tuesday.
***I put the reading summary instruction sheet in our homework section.
Posted at 6:58 AM| Permalink
Things I forgot to tell you...
Hi, all! Thank you for a great Open House! If you have any remaining questions, please let me know.- We will start with our first spelling list on Tuesday. The children will get their spelling list on Tuesday and be tested the following Tuesday.
- If you would like to celebrate your child's birthday at school, I encourage you to participate in our Birthday Book Program. Though I have been accommodating (enthusiastic, even) about birthday snacks in the past, it is our school policy to not bring in treats. I ask for your cooperation in sticking to that this year. Thank you!
- Vocabulary sheets, recording sheets, and vocabulary stories should be kept in your child's Language Arts folders. When I return them, your child will file those sheets in their folders. They should be taking them home, so if you would like to see their returned work, take a look in their Language Arts Folders. Math work will be kept in your child's Math folder until we have completed a unit. At that time, your child will reflect on their work and take it home to share with you.
- Here is the have-a-go sheet I promised: have a go.pdf
Posted at 2:53 PM| Permalink