It was nice to see many of you last night for our presentation. Yet again - I felt like we could have spent another hour describing the year ahead but hopefully you got the gist!

We took a formative assessment in math this morning that included all the on-grade place value content in unit one. We reviewed the questions together and sent it home for review. Friday's quiz will include some of these items, but will include a number of 4th grade items related to place value, too. In addition, we have spent some time discussing how to compose a written explanation using math terminology. Last week's quiz included a written response question that was worth two points. Often times, students don't include enough information using math language, thus, resulting in a 1/2. However, occasionally we get answers that simply say "I used my head" or "I thought really hard." Clearly, these earn a score of 0/2. These explanations aren't new for 3rd graders - just difficult to put their thoughts into words. We'll get there!

Mrs. Rose continued working on our author study in the media center today. We will have two more sessions with her next Monday and Wednesday to complete our study of Cynthia Rylant. The students seem to really enjoy this!

As for LA, we continued discussing sensory details and practiced revising our written work while looking to "paint a better picture" in the reader's mind. In addition, I met with 3 groups today and reviewed/discussed comprehension as it relates to their reading response journals (RRJ). The big difference is that 3rd grade comprehension is more than simply retelling details from the story. We are working more towards understanding the more implicit ideas ( reading between the lines) to construct a deeper meaning...we have a ways to go with this but with practice and clarification it shouldn't be long...

Lastly, we had our first Stop and Think lesson with Mrs. Howard today. She introduced this month's skill - Listening - to the class. By the sound of the lesson, we need LOTS of practice. Please ask your child about the steps to demonstrating this skill.

Back to School Night

Hope to see everyone tonight as Mrs. Holman and I present a snapshot of the third grade year in my room.

In math we continued working on estimation, 3-digit addition, and some problem solving opportunities. Tonight for homework, everyone should complete p.48 (11-46 all). We spent most of the class working on this today...

In reading I met with three groups to discuss last night's homework in the Reading Response journals (RRJ). Our whole group lesson was how authors use sensory details to "paint pictures in the reader/listener's mind."

We took the MAP-R today which is a computerized, self-adjusting reading assessment that is used to support our instructional programs. This is administered three times a year. I will likely reference and explain this at conferences.

Happy Monday!

Should be a happier Monday for my Redskin readers - happier than next week at least...

We began our author study with Mrs. Rose, the media specialist today. We will be visiting the media center on Monday and Wednesday afternoons for the next two weeks to learn about Cynthia Rylant.

In reading we discussed how characters change throughout a story and explored how character behaviors can often predict how they may react to a similar situation later in the story. I met with every group today so look for homework tonight to support this lesson. In their writing journals they were asked to answer the question, "How did the main character change from the beginning of the story to the end?" Reading journal entries are graded on a weekly basis so please look for feedback/grades as they come home.

In math we reviewed how to compose a written explanation tied to place value as you likely noticed from last week's quiz. In addition, we continued working with estimation of addition/subtraction problems in story problems.

Math Homework:

p. 43 odd (most students)
Subtraction worksheet with estimation in the last column (small group follow-up)

In writing, we began writing a personal narrative using a specific memory of their choice. We will share these in class later in the week.

Hopefully I will see many of you at Back to School night tomorrow!