We've got a busy week ahead!  On Tuesday, we will be taking the fall OAA reading test.  It is a 2 1/2 hour reading comprehension test.  Students that score Advanced do not have to take it again in the spring, (when everyone will also take the Math OAA).  We have been using test-taking strategies and are calm, but excited to show what we know!  I plan on letting Mr. Thornsberry know which students remembered these strategies, and I think he has a little reward planned for them!

Conferences are scheduled for Thursday after school.  I need to meet with 1/2 of the class now and the other 1/2 in November.  If you did not get a conference form, you are still welcome to come in with your child from 3:30-4:00 and let your child show you their Leadership notebook.  Conferences this year are going to be student-led, which means your child will be explaining his/her progress to you using their Leadership notebooks.  I will be there to answer any questions that you have.  We have been practicing...can't wait to show you our progress!
We are continuing to work on main idea and supporting details.  This is such an important concept. We work on it quite a bit.  Math has us starting to round numbers, and in science we will be continuing our exploration of life sciences.  We will get more in depth in social studies by starting our text, Communities, and learning the continents and oceans.

I wanted to let you know that we do a LOT of our graded work in our math and reading/language arts notebooks.  It helps us review our progress, and especially saves on printing all those copies!  If you'd ever like to see them, just have your child ask to bring them home!  We use them everyday, so just be sure to kindly return them the next day.

Exciting news! 

Third grade is going on a field trip!  Thursday, September 27, 2012 we will be walking to the high school to watch a performance by jazz musician Arnett Howard.  The performance starts at 10:30.  We plan on having lunch in the park.  After lunch, we will be cleaning up a section of the park, which ties into the life sciences standards we cover as well as contributing to our Learn and Serve project.  We also will be doing some crayon rubbings of the historical timeline, which works in with our Social Studies standards.

Please let us know if your child will be packing his or her own lunch, or will be needing a sack lunch from the cafeteria.  If you are packing a lunch, please make sure everything is disposable. Dress for walking to the high school and for spending the day outside!

One of my big rocks this year(talk to your kiddos about what a big rock is!)is to update and inform parents of how our learning is progressing.  Hopefully, this blog will be one tool that will help me reach my personal goal!

I've had lots of questions about spelling...we do it a little differently this year!  Basically here's how it works:  On Wednesdays we get a spelling contract.  Each child can chose up to (and beyond) 4 activities to practice our weekly words.  They are differentiated, so there is something for all abilities.  Four activities, completed neatly and correctly, will earn an A, three activities a B, and so on.  We have practiced choosing wisely, and each child has a quick conference with me to make sure their choices are doable!  Each morning, we have about 15 minutes or so to work on the contract. I reminded them each day to work on it, but soon they won't need the reminder!  Most kiddos like to start on it as soon as they get here in the morning.  We keep the contract in our purple homework folders...1. so we know where it is and hopefully won't lose it and 2. if we chose to work on it at home, we can!  I find that this approach gives the kids numerous benefits... accountability, time management skills, empowerment in choice, not having lots of Friday tests, and not all pencil/paper/worksheets!
The contract is due on Tuesday of the following week, so the kids have an entire week to work on it.  We test on Tuesdays...hopefully that is written in our student agenda books each week.  Whew!