Eileen and I will be representing Silver Lake Elementary by participating in the Polar Plunge this weekend. If you are not busy and want to come support us, we will be at Lake Shawnee at 12:00 noon! I have been blessed to work with many students who utilize the services given by the Special Olympics! I am dedicating my plunge to those students who have touched my life forever!
If you would like to show support for programs the Special Olympics offers, then please let me know. Monetary donations can be given via the First Giving website. I have set up an account, http://www.firstgiving.com/abroxterman. All donations will be given to Special Olympics of Kansas.
This week we have been focusing on Money and Time. Time is usually pretty simple as long as students can tell the difference in between the hour hand and the minute hand. There are a few questions with time that usually trips the kids up. These questions are often stated with how many minutes is it till the hour. I'll give an example of one of these down below. With money, students will often be given pictures of coins and dollars and be asked to tell how much money is there all together. They will also have students compare between people. Who has more money, Suzie or Bill?
We have also been working a little on probability. I hope to expand on this more a little later. In reading, we still have been hitting the prefixes and the suffixes hard. I think we are close to having everyone know these! Thanks for helping at home! I know a couple of students have mentioned working with the flashcards at home. I sure am glad they are being utilized!!! Thanks! One of the hardest things the kids have trouble with on their reading is being able to choose the main idea of a passage and being able to pick a good retell for that passage. There are 3 things the kids need to remember with retells for the state assessment. They are: 1.) Pick the key ideas from the passage. 2.) There should be a beginning, middle, and an end. 3.) The ideas should be listed in order from the beginning of the passage to the end.
Ex.
1.) The time is 7:38.
A. It is 11 minutes till 8:00.
B. It is 32 minutes till 8:00.
C. It is 22 minutes till 8:00.
D. It is 38 minutes till 8:00.
2.) The time is 12:15.
A.) It is half past 12.
B.) It is 15 minutes past 12:00
C.) It is half past 1.
D.) It is a quarter after 3.
3.) Suzie has the following amount in her bank account. What is the TOTAL money Suzie has? (The number listed next to the amount is how many of those dollar bills or coins she has.)
$20 - 2
$10 - 1
$ 5 - 1
$ 1 - 13
Q - 7
D - 9
N - 3
P - 45
4.) Bill has the following amount in his bank account. What is the TOTAL money Bill has?
One of the key items on the reading assessment is prefixes and suffixes. Students have to be able to take a word and figure out what it means based off of the meaning of the prefix or suffix. I have attached some prefix/suffix flashcards that you can print. Click on Prefix/Suffix Flashcards under the Third Grade Files section to access them. Here are all of the Prefixes and Suffixes and their meanings your child will need to know and a few examples of questions you might see that would follow this topic.
Prefixes
pre - before
re - again
mis - wrongly or badly
un - not
pro - for or in favor of....(we have yet to see this one appear on an assessment, however they are still required to know this one)
Suffixes
ed - did
y - full of
er - more, someone who
est - most
ing - now
ly - in a _________ way
Examples:
1.) Knowing the meaning of the suffix -er will help a reader know that the word shopper means:
a.) did shop
b.) to shop wrongly
c.) someone who shops
d.) to shop before
2.) Knowing the meaning of the prefix mis- will help a reader know that the word mispronounce means:
a.) pronouncing now
b.) to pronounce again
c.) to pronounce the most
d.) to pronounce wrongly
I'm going on a blogging streak tonight I think, there really is a lot to tell! So I'm going to give you some clean-up things/things to put on your calendar...
*Ask your child about pencils to make sure they have plenty. Most of the kids still have quite a few I do believe, but please check.
*Colored pencils also need to be replenished for some kids. The pencil sharpener has decided to be finicky this year and has ate several of the colored pencils.
*Multiplication- We have started learning the final basic multiplication facts as well as starting in learning some harder extended facts. This also is the time of year we will begin Times Town. Every other day, we will be taking timed tests. Students will get the chance to "drive" around Times Town after each timed test they pass.
*Jan. 29th we will get the chance to participate in the Sheffel Theatre program for 3rd grade. Students get the chance to learn about theatre and the many aspects that go along with it! The whole day is very interactive and fun! Lunch will be provided by McDonalds. It usually consists of a single patty hamburger, chips (?), and an apple pie.
Ah, I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but if I do, I will update again later! I can't believe we are halfway through the school year already!!!
Well, I'm excited to be back in session! I was seriously starting to get some cabin fever! Of course I didn't get nearly what I wanted to get done over break done, but I did get a chance to read My Sister's Keeper! AWESOME book!
As you all know, state assessments are around the corner. We have begun to start practicing and learning how to take the assessments. There are many topics students will need to know for their assessments. I have uploaded the checklist we use as teachers to make sure we have covered everything we need to cover. It is labeled as Third Grade Standards under the Third Grade Files section on my blog. You may also simply click Third Grade Standards and be brought to the Google Docs page. It would be very helpful if you spend some time with your child at home helping make sure they know these standards! I will try to upload some examples of these topics as we cover them or recover them. (Recover - means to cover again) Sorry, at this time the third grade teachers and myself tend to talk in state assessment practice talk! We take random words from our daily language and figure out what the word means by using the prefix/suffix clues. *ahem* Sorry, I think I lost you there, or I may have lost myself. :) Stay tuned to the blog, as I truly do hope to get some examples uploaded!
