During this gift giving time, I want to thank you. It is truly to teach this group of children. It is a privilege and a pleasure working with them each day. They are smart, funny, inquisitive, strong, caring, fun and so much more! Thank you so much for sharing them with us.
Happy New Year!
:o)Melanie
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Writing Workshop
In Writing Workshop, we are working to take all that we learned from our first units and automatically incorporate it into what we're writing today. We're hoping to constantly lift the level of our writing by planning how we'll make it better.
Yesterday, the children made careful plans. They wrote in a box in their writer's notebook that they would: use specific details, add more dialogue, stay focused on a small moment, and more... When I asked the children about their plans, they were able to articulate them. In addition, they were able to show me evidence of their goal in the text! I was so impressed!
Although this unit of writing again focuses on personal narrative, our content is changing somewhat. This unit we are trying to make our writing more powerful. Powerful writing often comes from strong feelings. Children have spent time brainstorming turning points in their lives - first times and last times that are significant to them. They are also remembering times when they felt very strongly. They may have felt sad, embarassed, worried or hopeful.
You can help at home. Talk to your child about the most meaningful times in their lives. Reminisce together. Encourage them to fill the pages of their writers notebooks with these memories. (I promise we'll send them home so you can read them.)
Yesterday, the children made careful plans. They wrote in a box in their writer's notebook that they would: use specific details, add more dialogue, stay focused on a small moment, and more... When I asked the children about their plans, they were able to articulate them. In addition, they were able to show me evidence of their goal in the text! I was so impressed!
Although this unit of writing again focuses on personal narrative, our content is changing somewhat. This unit we are trying to make our writing more powerful. Powerful writing often comes from strong feelings. Children have spent time brainstorming turning points in their lives - first times and last times that are significant to them. They are also remembering times when they felt very strongly. They may have felt sad, embarassed, worried or hopeful.
You can help at home. Talk to your child about the most meaningful times in their lives. Reminisce together. Encourage them to fill the pages of their writers notebooks with these memories. (I promise we'll send them home so you can read them.)
Telling Time
Do you have digital clocks all over your house so your third grader will know what time it is? You don't have to anymore! The children are becoming time experts. Right now most children can tell time to 15 minutes. We are practicing telling time to the minute.
Here are some tricky parts you can practice together:
1. When it is half past the hour (30 minutes past), the hour hand is half way to the next hour. (Often children will see that it's 3:30 when the hour hand hasn't reached the 3 yet.)
2. The kids are really good at saying it's 9:45, or 10:50. But when I ask how many minutes until _______. It get's trickier. We are learning that it's 10 minutes before 11:00 when it's 10:50. You can practice counting how many minutes until ________ at home.
After break, we'll practice elapsed time!
Here are some tricky parts you can practice together:
1. When it is half past the hour (30 minutes past), the hour hand is half way to the next hour. (Often children will see that it's 3:30 when the hour hand hasn't reached the 3 yet.)
2. The kids are really good at saying it's 9:45, or 10:50. But when I ask how many minutes until _______. It get's trickier. We are learning that it's 10 minutes before 11:00 when it's 10:50. You can practice counting how many minutes until ________ at home.
After break, we'll practice elapsed time!
Inferring
Do you remember being asked to make inferences when you were in third grade reading groups? I do. And although I was considered a strong reader, I had no idea idea what an inference was.
We've been working hard to take the mystery out of inferences, because we make them every day. To make an inference you use your schema (background knowledge - the stuff that's already inside your head) plus the clues that you see (or hear) around you. For example, if I hear my dog scratching at the door, I can infer that he wants to go out.
Readers do the same thing with texts. They use their schema plus clues from the text or the illustrations. We learned that readers can infer in three different ways:
1. Infer the meaning of an unknown word
2. Infer to make a prediction
3. Infer to deepen our understanding of what's happening in the text
Share the inferences you make as you read with your third grader!
We've been working hard to take the mystery out of inferences, because we make them every day. To make an inference you use your schema (background knowledge - the stuff that's already inside your head) plus the clues that you see (or hear) around you. For example, if I hear my dog scratching at the door, I can infer that he wants to go out.
Readers do the same thing with texts. They use their schema plus clues from the text or the illustrations. We learned that readers can infer in three different ways:
1. Infer the meaning of an unknown word
2. Infer to make a prediction
3. Infer to deepen our understanding of what's happening in the text
Share the inferences you make as you read with your third grader!
Yikes! I've been slacking off!
Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I honestly don't know where the time goes... Is there anyone else putting TIME on their holiday wish list??????????
I'm going to try to catch you up the best I can. In case anyone wants to chat about school over vacation! :o)
I'm going to try to catch you up the best I can. In case anyone wants to chat about school over vacation! :o)
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Symphony of Powerful Writing
Today we created a beautiful symphony. You may be surprised to hear however, that there was no musical instruments. We created a symphony of powerful words.
We began our new unit in Writing Workshop learning that writers can learn from other writers. We have been studying powerful stories, so we can try to do the powerful things that these authors do.
This morning, the children reread these texts and highlighted a sentence or phrase that was their favorite. The children practiced reading their phrases so that it sounded like powerful text. I conducted by pointing to each child. As I pointed, the child read the line of text. It was quite beautiful.
You can help your child read like a writer at home. When you're reading together, notice what the author does. Perhaps they include tiny details to help the reader experience the action. Perhaps they include the internal story (the feelings or thoughts) of a character. Perhaps writers show strong feelings by describing a characters actions. The possibilities are endless.
Happy reading!
We began our new unit in Writing Workshop learning that writers can learn from other writers. We have been studying powerful stories, so we can try to do the powerful things that these authors do.
This morning, the children reread these texts and highlighted a sentence or phrase that was their favorite. The children practiced reading their phrases so that it sounded like powerful text. I conducted by pointing to each child. As I pointed, the child read the line of text. It was quite beautiful.
You can help your child read like a writer at home. When you're reading together, notice what the author does. Perhaps they include tiny details to help the reader experience the action. Perhaps they include the internal story (the feelings or thoughts) of a character. Perhaps writers show strong feelings by describing a characters actions. The possibilities are endless.
Happy reading!
Word Study
In Unit 4, we will continue to practice our cursive writing with new letters. We will also review the exceptions to the vowel-consonant-e syllable and learn a new spelling rule.
The review Concepts for Unit 4 are:
• exception to the silent e rule: “ ive”. “ive” is pronounced with a short i sound. The “e” is added because words in English language do not end with the letter “v”.
ex-- give, olive
• “ive” can also be a suffix. ex-- inventive, active
The new concepts for Unit 4 are:
• spelling rule: When adding a consonant suffix to a word that ends in a silent e simply add the suffix ---ex safe+ly= safely. If the suffix begins with a vowel, drop the e and add the suffix. ex-- confuse + ing= confusing, brave + est = bravest
• cursive letters: d, g, q (• 2 o’clock cursive letters: These all start on the grass line and move up to the plane line to the 2 o’clock position.
• Homophones (Sound alike words):
week 1: mail male
plane plain
week 2: mind mined
find fined
***You can support your child by holding them accountable for the rules when they're spelling at home. Please don't correct all they do, but you can challenge them to find 3 words that are misspelled in their homework or writing. If you know that they've learned to drop the -e before adding a vowel suffix, you can suggest they try that. Happy spelling! :o)
The review Concepts for Unit 4 are:
• exception to the silent e rule: “ ive”. “ive” is pronounced with a short i sound. The “e” is added because words in English language do not end with the letter “v”.
ex-- give, olive
• “ive” can also be a suffix. ex-- inventive, active
The new concepts for Unit 4 are:
• spelling rule: When adding a consonant suffix to a word that ends in a silent e simply add the suffix ---ex safe+ly= safely. If the suffix begins with a vowel, drop the e and add the suffix. ex-- confuse + ing= confusing, brave + est = bravest
• cursive letters: d, g, q (• 2 o’clock cursive letters: These all start on the grass line and move up to the plane line to the 2 o’clock position.
• Homophones (Sound alike words):
week 1: mail male
plane plain
week 2: mind mined
find fined
***You can support your child by holding them accountable for the rules when they're spelling at home. Please don't correct all they do, but you can challenge them to find 3 words that are misspelled in their homework or writing. If you know that they've learned to drop the -e before adding a vowel suffix, you can suggest they try that. Happy spelling! :o)
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Ordered Pairs
We have been working with coordinate grids. A coordinate grid can help us find information, usually on a map. In my map book, there is a coordinate grid that tells me where I can find a street on a map of a particular town. Coordinate grids are labeled with numbers on the x and y axis. The first number in an ordered pair tells you how many to go over (on the grid). The second number tells you how many to go up.
I made a coordinate grid on the floor in the pod. The children had a great time playing Twister! Ms. Barry called out left hand, left foot (etc...) and an ordered pair. The children had to figure out how to get their body part to the right coordinate. You can make a coordinate grid and play at home.
Our latest discovery is that our ceiling looks just like a coordinate grid. I've accepted the challenge to label each axis (on the ceiling) so each child can find the coordinates (ordered pair) for the location of their desk. Does anyone like to hang out on ladders??????? :o)
I made a coordinate grid on the floor in the pod. The children had a great time playing Twister! Ms. Barry called out left hand, left foot (etc...) and an ordered pair. The children had to figure out how to get their body part to the right coordinate. You can make a coordinate grid and play at home.
Our latest discovery is that our ceiling looks just like a coordinate grid. I've accepted the challenge to label each axis (on the ceiling) so each child can find the coordinates (ordered pair) for the location of their desk. Does anyone like to hang out on ladders??????? :o)
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