An EXCITING change!

Happy Friday everyone! Wondering why we didn’t have a spelling test this week? We’re heading in a NEW direction and have decided to make some exciting changes in our word work program in 3^rd grade!  We had noticed that while the students are really good at memorizing the 20 words on our spelling lists for a weekly test, they struggled with applying these rules and patterns to other words, and/or had trouble spelling these words correctly in their writing.  In order to be responsive to these struggles, we are changing our word study work so that it focuses on applying rules to as many words as possible and also focuses on spelling words correctly in our daily writing.  We’ve been trying out these changes in the classroom and I am thrilled with what I’m seeing!

  

Here are some key points to our new word work routine:

• A few days a week we will be using sound cards with the students—you may remember these from 2^nd grade.  We will be adding to the deck of cards all year so that the students will be continually reviewing rules and patterns from this year and previous years so that we can retain these skills.

• The first two days of the week will focus on learning new patterns and applying them to many words at varying levels of difficulty.  For example, when we learned the ‘oi’ pattern during the first week, some students brainstormed words like coin and boil while others got to disappointment and moisture--students are so excited when they apply these patterns to more challenging words.

• On our third day we will do dictated sentences where we can apply this week’s patterns along with reviewing previous weeks’ patterns.  This will also give us time for some grammar review.

• ·Thursday and Friday are spent writing stories where we focus on applying all of the spelling (and grammar) rules to our writing—first with a partner and then independently.

Students will no longer be bringing home a list of 20 words to memorize for a Friday test.  They will get a new rule, pattern, and/or word part that will be the focus for the week’s word study work.  There will be an at-home activity that will take the place of the old spelling contract that will need to be completed at some point during the week.  The formal assessment for the report card will be done in the same way as it has always been assessed since the standard is for spelling correctly in daily writing; however, students will be a little better prepared for this since our focus is being switched to spelling in our writing.  Informal assessments will be taken by teachers viewing the word lists, dictated sentences, and writing—not for grades, but so that we can see what we are doing well and what we need to work on more.  We see so much potential for this change to improve students’ spelling where it counts—in their daily writing.  We are very excited about how the rest of this year will go!

Our Leadership Binders came home today and we couldn't be more EXCITED! The students have been working extremely hard on putting these together. We thought it would be fun to showcase each page of our binder! Please read each caption to learn a little more about what is included.

Check out our FANCY covers!

A letter from Mrs. Hreno explaining our Leadership Binders

1st Quarter Reflection- The class rated themselves on their classroom behavior and work ethic at home. Talk through this with your child. They did such a nice job of being honest with themselves! We know EXACTLY what we need to work on next quarter!

We wrote an academic goal and a plan that will help us achieve the goal. Ask your child what their academic goal is!

Spelling and Math Graphs-We track our scores each time we get a test back. This motivates students to score higher the next time around!

7 Habits Poster! We've  learned about the habits and now we'll dive a little deeper into each habit to learn more about it!

7 Habits Goal- Students chose 1 new habit to work on this quarter. If they forget what their habit means, they can refer to their poster. Ask your child what habit they are working on!

Our *Peek* Goals we wrote at the beginning of the year. Some students have already marked some of these goals off--WAY TO GO!!!!

 

Please spend some time having your child share their binder with you this weekend. It's a wonderful way to have them share what's going on in the classroom! Binders should be returned by Tuesday with ALL materials in the same order they came home in. We will refer to different pages of our binder frequently throughout the quarter. I really feel like the binders have motivated the kids to work hard and stick to their goals. I can't wait to see the progress we make throughout the year! =)

Happy Friday 3rd Grade Families--

This post is a little a longer than most because it's packed with important info., a few reminders, and a lot of fun learning that went on this week!

• Wednesday, October 7th-Walk to School day
• Students are encouraged to walk or ride their bike to school! This is a perfect way to Sharpen the Saw--the final habit we'll be learning next week.

• Thursday, October 8th-Picture Day!
• Friday, October 23rd- Donuts with Dad and Book Fair
• Students can bring their dad or special man in their life to enjoy a yummy breakfast and browse for books after!

• Today-NWEA scores will be available for you to view. This is the literacy and math test students took on the computer at the beginning of year. A couple things to keep in mind as you are  viewing this report:
•  This is only one snapshot of your child's academic progress/growth. On the third grade test, students are expected to read passages/items on their own--this is different from last years test where it was read aloud to them.
• Students are always encouraged to try their best and TAKE THEIR TIME. Sometimes third graders have the tendency to be click-happy, and finish rather quickly.
• Although this test is very important, it is not the only tool I use to measure each student's academic progress. This test, along with other classroom observations and data, allows me to figure out each child's strengths and weaknesses.

Now on to the FUN stuff!!!

The classroom store was open for business today and the kids were so EXCITED! It's always fun to see who the spenders, savers, and shopaholics ( I think that's me!) are. All of their hard work is definitely paying off! Take a look at some of my shoppers and the fun things they could buy!

Mrs. Borlik's second graders joined us for math today and it was a blast! Third graders had the opportunity to teach them every step of the problem solving process that we've learned so far. They paired up around the room and got to work! Each group synergized to find the right answer!  Here are the steps we've learned so far:

1. Read the problem until you understand it.
2. Cover the problem and retell the most important parts. If you can't retell, reread the problem.
3. Circle the question the problem is asking.
4. Identify key words and numbers in the problem.
5. Decide which skills you'll need to solve the problem-Ask yourself, should I add, subtract, multiply, or divide?!
6. Pick the best strategy that will help you solve the problem.

This week students also:

• continued their mineral field tests just as a geologist does! They discovered the luster, hardness, and magnetism of their minerals.
• identified the difference between literal and non-literal language during reading.
• looked for and wrote FANCY words in their writing instead of us words that may put our readers to sleep!
• learned about Habit 6- Synergize-Together is better! 

Enjoy this BEAUTIFUL, FALL weather and have a great weekend!
Mrs. Hreno