Classroom Update: September 5, 2014

We have now completed our first week of third grade and I feel so excited to be working with such a wonderful group of students! We began the week with some getting-to-know-you activities, including creating “All About Me” books. We also spent time getting familiar with where things are located in the classroom. One feature of our classroom is an “I Can” board that lists what we are working on in each academic subject area, as well as organizational and behavioral goals:

As shown above, we began to establish routines in readers’ workshop. We learned three ways to read a book (reading the pictures, reading the words, and retelling a story we have read). We also discussed a strategy for selecting just right books called “P.I.C.K.” When selecting just right books, we consider Purpose, Interest, Comprehension, and if we Know most of the words in the text. We compared books to shoes when discussing the PICK strategy. Different pairs of shoes suit specific purposes, just as we read for a variety of purposes. In addition, a pair of shoes that fits me “just right” may not be just right for someone else. The same goes for books.

We also reviewed the “Five Finger Rule” for selecting books, a strategy that many students learned in earlier grades (see below).

Students applied the “Five Finger Rule” and P.I.C.K. strategy to select books for independent reading. We have been working on building stamina in our independent reading. We have defined stamina as the amount of time we can last reading silently while staying in one spot. We are recording our progress in building stamina on a bar graph.

We have also been working on building stamina in writing. We launched daily quick writes, to be completed at the beginning writers’ workshop. Students are given five minutes to respond to a quick write prompt. The goal of the quick writes is to increase students’ written fluency and production in an abbreviated amount of time. We also began a narrative writing unit by brainstorming about people who are important to us. I have asked that students collect some small items (photographs, pictures printed from the computer, stickers, magazine cut-outs, etc) to decorate the covers of their writers’ notebooks. In the past, students have brought in post-cards, copies of family photographs, pictures of favorite animals, stickers of favorite sports, and magazine cut-outs of a favorite location. In addition to personalizing the notebooks, the purpose of the decorations is to give students ideas for their writing. I have asked students to try to bring these items in on Monday (I have some extra materials if necessary!).

In Social Studies, we have begun a unit on mapping. We have identified map features, such as a title, compass rose, key, scale, and labels. We played “Four Corners” to practice the cardinal directions. Students also made maps of their imaginary towns to practice using map features.

In math, we have a unit on addition and subtraction. Students practiced addition strategies that they had learned last year by playing two math games—“Capture 5” and “Close to 100.” We also began practicing a daily routine of a math “Do Now.” Students should have brought home this week’s math “Do Now” in their homework folders today.

Another classroom routine we have begun is “Rainbow Roundup.” When students notice a classmate doing a good deed (i.e. being helpful to the classroom, school community, or another person), they write the deed on a slip of a paper and place it in the Rainbow Roundup jar. At the end of the day, we read the slips from the jar and post them to a bulletin board. Once we have filled up the entire board, the class will earn a celebration.

As a final note, I would like to call your attention to some of the notices sent home this week. Please return recorder forms and health forms if you have not done so already. In addition, a form was sent home today for picture day, to be held on September 23.

We will begin assigning nightly homework on Monday, September 8. A homework calendar will be sent home on Monday listing that week's assignments. Part of this homework includes four nights of sustained independent reading, for thirty minutes each night. There is a parent/guardian sign-off at the bottom of the homework calendar to confirm that students have done the required amount of reading. This sign-off will be due on the following Monday, September 15.

Thank you, and have a great weekend!