2. Reading Logs: We had almost a 100% turn in for our first reading log due date! Thank you for your support in developing this habit at home. This week, I encourage you to focus on filling in the form completely and the quality of kids' reading responses. A great way to get started is to have kids use a different sentence starter each night. If they are feeling stuck, try having them talk out their response orally first!
3. Curriculum Focus: I'm looking forward to a deeper conversation about our curriculum at Curriculum Night on the 27th, but for now, here is a snapshot of our studies!
Social/Emotional Learning: We are building community through a classroom meeting format. We have worked on forming our classroom meeting circle, establishing classroom expectations and giving compliments to eachother.
Reading: We are in the midst of a unit called "Building a Reading Live." We have set goals, are developing a reading routine, and talking about core reading strategies. I am about halfway done with reading assessments to assign kids a general reading level to help them find "Just Right Books."
Writing: We have been working on our Writer's Notebook routine and using a variety of prompt formats to encourage writing stamina. Today, we started talking about our first writing project-writing a personal narrative! These stories will be published at the end of the unit.
Math: Washington is moving towards a full adoption of the Common Core Standards in 2014! I will talk much more about this at Curriculum Night, but it is an exciting adoption as the Common Core Standards encourage a deeper and more focus study of math at the third grade level. We have started a math program that uses our current math curriculum to teach Common Core Standards. It re-orders units in a very sequential format and allows for kids to be assessed frequently for understanding of each standard! We are currently studying rounding to the nearest ten and hundred. Ask kids about our "Rodeo!"
Social Studies and Project Based Learning: We have begun our first project! Our theme is community and our essential question is "How can a third grader contribute to their community?" Mr. Elliott as asked our kids to develop videos teaching the rules to different areas of our school. Kids are working in teams to develop rules and plan to write, shoot, and edit their films! We look forward to inviting you all to view our finished products later on :)