Today, I am welcoming a new group of families to our classroom blog. Thanks for joining us! We'll have an exciting and learning filled year together! I have about 14 families signed up. It would be great to have a full roster. Please let others families from room 21 know about this opportunity to get classroom news in a timely and paperless way!
Valerie
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Friday, September 11, 2015
September. 11, 2015
Dear Families,
Whew! Eleven days of school under our belts. Students are on their way to a great year third grade.
Our focus the first couple weeks has been centered around our learning community. We have been establishing routines, building stamina and assessing strengths and areas for growth. Your students show a willingness to attend, to learn and to share. It is a great group of kids.
In the Reading Workshop we are engaged in a “Storyline” around the book, Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary. Students are closely reading the text for character traits, the setting and problems and solutions that come up in every chapter. Now we are creating “Friends of Henry”. Each student has created a character that lives in Henry’s neighborhood. As we progress through the storyline, we’ll ask questions about the decisions Ms. Cleary made in her writing, we’ll write a couple opinion pieces drawing from actions within the story and we’ll begin the habit of citing evidence within the text to support our ideas. Big stuff for eight and nine year olds! Our storyline will culminate with a walking field trip to the Hollywood neighborhood, to Beverly Cleary’s childhood home and Klickitat Street.
In the Math Workshop we are building a “toolbox” of strategies for subtraction. We are estimating and measuring in inches and we are graphing data. Kids will be routinely assessed on their basic facts knowledge. This is a timed quiz with 30 facts. The expectation is that third graders can finish 30 facts in a minute and a half. Meeting the benchmark is a 25/30 score. I have stressed to students that this is one part of a bigger picture and not to put too much pressure on themselves. At the same time, these facts are the cornerstone of math to come. They need to be practiced. I showed them a website through our curriculum that they can access at home:http://www.mathlearningcenter.org/resources/families You scroll down to third grade then scroll down to Math Magician. They drill kids on 20 facts in one minute. Kids get to pick the level they need to work on. We’ve tried it out in the classroom, try it at home. I’m sending home the first addition fluency checkup. The kids finish all they can in 90 seconds with a regular lead pencil, then get another 90 to finish up with a colored pencil. That gives the kids that can’t finish in a minute-thirty a little more time and a little more confidence. Timed testing can be stressful for some kids and we try to be as supportive and encouraging as we can.
Kids have been thinking about their reasons for reading and are using them to decorate their book boxes. They’ve added quotes about reading and favorite first lines from books. It’s fun to see how they balance the need to read for information with the pleasure of a fun read.
That is a taste of life in Room 21. I look forward to meeting and visiting with all of you at Back to School Night on the 24th. That is the time to get the total lowdown and to sign up for conferences.
Thanks for all your support,
Valerie McKenzie
vmckenzie@pps.net
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