Thursday, October 15, 2015

3rd Grade News

nburg@crestonstmalachy.org

10-15-15

This past Monday I attended a training about incorporating a computer science curriculum into the classroom. On Mondays from 10:20-11:00 AM, third grade students will begin Code Studio.  Each course experience is a blend of "unplugged" activities as well as online learning. The skills students will be working on include creativity, collaboration, communication, persistence, and problem solving.  Skills the students will learning also correlate with common core standards.

SCIENCE

This week students have learned traits about amphibians, fish, and reptiles to add to what was previously learned about mammals and birds.  We are comparing the traits of each group.

READING/LANGUAGE ARTS

The informational text read this week entitled "What Illustrators Do?" presented facts about the job of an illustrator.  The comprehension skill covered text and graphic features.  The vocabulary strategy focused on synonyms.  The phonics skill covered three letter clusters (scr, str, str, and thr).  Students worked on verb tense (present, past, and future) for the grammar skill.

In this week's take home folder are the results of the Unit 1 Benchmark test and the Lesson 6 weekly test.  The benchmark assessments are more difficult than the weekly tests. Students have to read passage and answer questions pertaining to what was read. The purpose of the benchmark tests is to see if students are applying skills learned in class over the previous lessons.  The Benchmark Tests are divided into four subtests.  For this first time, I only had the students complete one of the tests.  This was was the Reading and Analyzing section. This test assesses vocabulary and comprehension. Specific vocabulary skills covered include antonyms, word families, context clues, dictionary, and prefixes. The comprehensions skills include story structure, compare/contrast, story message, conclusions, literal/non literal meanings, cause/effect, analyze illustrations, understand characters, and author's word choice.  These are skills that will be covered again in the year.  The hope is students get 25 or more correct on this section. The hope is the scores improve on future tests.  The Unit 2 Benchmark test will be in November after conferences. These results are yours to keep.

MATH

Students took the chapter 1 math test covering addition and subtraction strategies today.  After checking the tests, students will do corrections then tests will be sent home.  

Chapter 2 will focus on reading and analyzing graphs. 

BOOK ORDER  

A book order was sent home in last week's take home folder.  Book orders are due on Friday, October 16th. Please send the order form and cash/check back to school or submit the order online at www.scholastic.com.

IMPORTANT DATES
Friday, October 16th-Book Orders Due
Wednesday, October 21st-1 Hour Early Dismissal
Friday, October 23rd-Spirit Day
Wednesday, October 28th-1 Hour Early Dismissal
Friday, October 30th-Halloween Activities and Parade
Wednesday, November 4th-1 Hour Early Dismissal
Thursday, November 5th-Dismiss at 11:50 AM
Thursday, November 5th-Parent/Teacher Conferences 1:00-9:30 PM
Friday, November 6th-NO SCHOOL