Aug: Week 1 *We will spend time learning and reviewing procedures and rules for both the classroom and school. *Students will interview new friends and complete a Venn Diagram in which they compare and contrast their own personal information with a new classmates. *Diagnostic/placement activities in spelling, reading, and math will be administered.
* We practiced different ways to record/ express numbers (standard form, expanded form, word form, base ten blocks and two ways to write place value form) We will compare numbers (greater than, less than) and order numbers next week.
Week 2 * Reading- We worked on making connections, predicting outcomes and reading silently to gain meaning from text. Next week we will add cause/ effect or problem/ solutions as strategies to comprehend leveled literature. *Spelling- Sort 1 words were sent home. The pattern was long vowel+ consonant+ silent E. A few words had consonant blends or soft c and soft g. Look for assessments on the Thursday folders. *Math-Students have practiced comparing numbers and listing them greatest to least or least to greatest.We are working with 4 digit numbers. Next week I will be introducing rounding numbers to the nearest 10, then nearest 100. *Social Studies/ Geography-We have spent a week looking for and "singing" about four geographical features. The Equator, The Prime Meridian, and lines of latitude and longitude. Students need to know where they are on a map, that the first two are at 0 degrees and that lines of latitude show how far north or south one has traveled, while lines of longitude tell us how far east or west to travel. I will assess these terms for understanding soon. Week 3 Reading-We are using cause/ effect or problem/ solutions strategies to comprehend leveled literature this week. Ask your child about cause/ effect or problems and solutions attempted in their books toward the end of the week. The first SRI will be taken this week. It is a computer generated comprehension assessment which measures the independent reading comprehension level of our students. I challenge my Megastars to grow by 50 points each quarter. I will share scores/ levels in the Thursday folder.
Spelling- Sort 2 (part 1) I divide the second sort into 2 parts because they (WTW) covered 6 vowel spelling patterns. I feel this too many for one week. All words have two vowels clusters. We will practice/ learn ee, ea, & oa words this week. Help your child practice using, "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking". They will need to visualize second silent letter combos. (Look for words on Monday.)
Math-I will be introducing rounding numbers to the nearest 10, then nearest 100. A rap/ poem to help students visualize the steps will be placed in the math section of the binder/notebook. This skill frequently proves to be challenging for 3rd graders. Please review homework and work sent home to provide support should your child need it.
Social Studies/Geography- I will assess last weeks terms, Equator, Prime Meridian, and lines of latitude and longitude. Students will need to locate them on a map and explain how they are used to find locations on a map. We will "travel" back in time to ancient Greece. Students will learn about the birthplace of the Olympics, and a democratic government. Students will learn to identify 3 types of columns. Comparisons to our present government, architecture and Olympics will be noted.
Week 4/5 Math: We are "rounding" up the week reviewing our unit on place values and rounding numbers to the closest ten's place or hundred's place. Rounding numbers can be very confusing for 3rd graders. We will continue to review this skill as we begin adding 3-4 digit numbers and rounding to check for reasonableness. Next week I will introduce properties,& strategies for adding larger numbers.
Spelling: We worked on long A spelled "ai" and long U spelled either "ui" or "oo". Week 5 words will have long I spelling patterns "y" and "igh". I have loaded 10 activities on Spelling City which provide good practice with our words. Students are asked to complete a minimum a of 3 activities. They have access to computers in the classroom if they are not able to do so at home.
Soc. Studies/ Science:We are finishing up our unit on democracy and ancient Greece. Students will be tested 8/30. We are starting a new unit on rocks and minerals. Students were given a project on 8/26 to complete by 8/31, they are to list observations about a rock they find and add a face to a pet rock and bring the rock(s) and both forms back to school. Several small mini-books, helpful hand-outs, songs, and a study guide will come home over the next 1-2 weeks. Have your child read them as part of the 20 min. reading assigned each evening.
Week 6-7 Reading: We have continued to work on cause/ effect, problems/ solutions, and predicting outcomes when reading fictional text. We have practiced using text features when reading nonfiction texts and locating the important information to remember. With both genre we focus on providing text evidence to support our answers and identifying the authors purpose. Spelling:Week 6 spelling pattern was long vowel sounds spelled with -ow, -ay, and vowel digraph -ew. Week 7 will be R-controlled vowels -or,-ar, -ur, & -ir. I have loaded 10 activities on Spelling City which provide practice with our words. Students are asked to complete a minimum a of 3 activities. They have access to computers in the classroom if they are not able to do so at home. Math: A variety of strategies have been introduced and practiced over the the last week and will be practiced and evaluated in the week to come. Students have used mental math to add +1, +10, +100, or +1,000 to a given number. This requires a firm understanding of place value. Adding 3 digit numbers was introduced with using expanded form, adding/subtracting and equal amount from each addend to reach an even ten, drawing model of base ten blocks to make regrouping trades and finally using the regrouping algorithm. I'll try to leave an example of each below.
metal math add/subtract: 269 + 217 +1 -1 270 + 216 =486
Base ten- 234 (Draw hundred flats, ten rods and ones cubes or X's then add to + 325 together for total.) 559
1 algorithm- 269 +217 486
Science:We have continued to learn about rocks and minerals. This week we focused on the 3 types of rocks and how they were formed along with the rock cycle. Your child should have 5 -7 mini-books (according to when you check) covering important information along with several hand-outs. This coming week we will learn about types of soil and weathering and erosion. Students will be assessed on this large unit Fri. 9/16. Homework has consisted of asking students to read and reread the mini-books and hand-outs.
TESTING... We will be testing Tues. 9/13-Wed. 9/21. Please ensure that your child goes to bed on time, eats a good breakfast (at home or school), and is in a good frame of mind.
Testing has gone well. Most of the class has really put forth a lot of effort to do a good job. The items are challenging and I have told them to show what they know, but to, "not get stressed-out", about anything not yet taught. Thank you for getting them here on time and giving them the "pep talks".
I also want to give a BIG shout-out to our room parents for providing us with snacks each day to make testing more fun. The children look forward to seeing what the snack will be and what little message is attached. THANKS MOMS!!!! Week 8 Testing has taken up most of our instructional time but...
Math: We have continued to add and subtract 3-4 digit numbers. We will be working on multiplication when we return from our fall break. Science: Rocks, Minerals, Soils, Weathering and Erosion unit has been completed. Testing on that unit took place this week. We will begin discussing fossils after the fall break. Social Studies: The students enjoyed learning more about the Constitution of The United States and listened to School House Rocks singing of the Preamble multiple times. Spelling:No spelling was assigned the week of 9/19 due to testing. Reading: All reading was done in science content activities.
TEST RESULTS November Update
The Following Information will help you interpret the test scores being sent home soon. Please contact me, or administrators, if you would like to review them together. Purpose of Assessment The Iowa Assessments (Iowa) were administered to all third, fifth, and seventh grade students. The purpose of the Iowa is to obtain informaton about how the performance of Cobb students compares with that of other students across the nation. Results of these tests will also be used by schools to help improve instruction. What is Tested? The fall administration of the Iowa took place during a four day window. Students took specific sections of the test on each day. DAY 1 Reading—Part 1 Reading—Part 2 Vocabulary DAY 2 Written Expression Spelling Capitalization Punctuation DAY 3 Math—Part 1 Math—Part 2 Computation DAY 4 Science Social Studies
Reading the Score Report Parents should focus on a few key areas within the score report to help understand how the student performed on this assessment. Key Areas NPR (National Percentile Rank) ‐ The NPR is found in the Scores section of the report. This number explains how well the student did when compared to other students in the same grade level across the nation. For example,if a student scored 76 NPR for reading vocabulary, he/she did as well as, or better than, 76% of all the students in the same grade level who took that test across the nation. The national average for NPR is 50. NS (National Stanine) ‐ Stanines are found in the Scores section of the report. Stanines group percentiles into three categories: below average, average, and above average. Stanines are grouped as follows: 7,8,9 = considered above average 4,5,6 = considered average 1,2,3 = considered below average Skills Section ‐ The skills section is located in the bottom half of the score report. This section shows the skills assessed within each subtest and can help you identify a student’s strengths and weaknesses. Parents should focus most of their attention in this area.
Skills Section ‐ There are four important scores in the skills section. Those scores are: 1) Total Items ‐ The number of questions asked for each skill. 2) No. Att. (number attempted) ‐ Shows how many questions your child attempted to answer out of the Total Items possible. 3) % C Stu. (Percentage of Correct Answers for the Student) ‐ Shows the percentage of questions the student answered correctly for each skill assessed. 4) % C Nat. (Average Percent Correct for the National Sample) ‐ Shows the average percentage of questions the national sample of students answered correctly for each skill assessed. To interpret the skills section, first notice the % C Stu. The higher the percentage, the better the student performed. If the percentage is high, it may indicate the skill is a strength for the student. If the percentage is low, that skill may be a weakness. When finding a low percentage, always check to make sure the student attempted all the questions. Also compare the student percent correct with that of the nation. It is possible that the national sample did poorly in that skill area. Finally, consider whether this information is similar to what is seen in the daily work of the student.
3rd Quarter Welcome back! Happy New Year to everyone. Reading:Students will continue to, "ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text", will"refer explicitly to text, and include evidence in written responses." Students will also continue to use text features and search tools to gather information. 3rd qtr. standards will broaden to ask students to use text evidence to evaluate a character's traits, motivations, and feelings and explain how the character's actions contribute to events. Students will distinguish the meaning between literal and nonliteral language. Students will recognize the point of view of an author and compare it to their own point of view. Students will continue to compare and contrast two separate text pieces. To be on grade level, students will read on DRA level 34/O with 96%+ accuracy, at 80+ wpm. Math:I have noticed that many of my students still do not have much fluency with multiplication facts and even less with division. By the end of the year your child should have memorized all products of one digit X one digit numbers. I took a baseline score in early January which will help you evaluate how much practice your child needs.(sent home 1/19/17) Students will determine the unknown number when multiplying and dividing by using the inverse operation. (opposite operation) We will continue to work on two-step word problems using all four operations. This is a challenging skill/standard and your child needs to practice this often. Use real life problems to help your child practice. ex: " I bought 2 T-shirts for $6 each and 3 pair of jeans for $10 each. How much did we spend on new spring/summer clothes?" (2x6)+(3x10)=n "I bought a box of 25 plastic cups. We used 5 last night. How many more times can we plan on having cups if 5 people use a cup each meal?" 25-5= m, m divided by 5 = a
We will be learning about fractions during both 3rd and 4th qtrs. We will use fractions on a number line to measure and to plot data.
Social Studies: Students will learn about the accomplishments,contributions and challenges faced by FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary Mc. Bethune. Students must identify the 3 branches of government, 3 levels of government, and provide a responsibility for all nine.
Science:Students will ID the regions of GA, the habitats within each region and be able to name a plant and animal from each region/habitat. Students should be able to ID a feature which allows that plant or animal to survive in that habitat. Students should be able to explain the effects of pollution on plants and animals.
This is a very busy, full qtr. Please ensure your child is at school whenever possible. Check agendas, and folders often so you know what is being introduced and how your child is progressing with new skills. Thank you for your support.