Arnold

CoGat, ITBS, Pictures, Parent Conferences, Study Island, Performing Arts Form, etc

Thank you one and all who have sent in bread and butter for our morning toast, crackers, chips, cookies, etc for our daily snack. I deeply appreciate this and the students do so even more than me!

 

Cogat/ITBS testing for third grade begins next week on Wednesday, October

 5 - 14. Make sure your child comes in well rested, and they need some kind of light jacket or sweater they can put on the back of their chair incase they get cold. Encourage them to put in their best effort but not to stress about any of the tests. Tell them you want them to really try hard, and for me to be able to report that they were really working hard, and that is the most you can ask for as their parent. The first three days are the CoGat Test which is an ability test. This will test your child in three major areas, verbal, non verbal and quantitative (mathematical). This is shows where their innate natural abilities lie in the academic areas. Generally is shows what we see in class already but may explain why a child does better in language but has to work harder in math, etc.

 

The following week there will be academic tests each and every morning. If a child misses a test there will be make up tests later in the week or the following week. If a child arrives late to school and the testing session has already begun then they will have to wait in the library and take a make up test later on.

 

If you are willing and able to send in fruit, like grapes, bananas, easy to eat individual type snacks this is greatly appreciated by the students. Please do send in a water bottle each day with your child as keeping them well fed and hydrated also helps during testing. I like to have special snacks during this time to encourage the children: like the individual bags of chips, crackers (cheese only we have peanut allergies), pretzels, etc. Also in the afternoon each Friday I like to do microwave popcorn for the kids to encourage them to keeping working hard! Any help in this area is appreciated.

 

Once the Cogat begins I do not have the students do morning work but rather have the lights out and a movie on so they can relax and be ready and calm once we begin our tests right after the announcements. I usually have food out so they can eat and watch TV and just relax. I have found this very effective in my years of teaching third grade. It really helps those students who tend to have test anxiety to unwind and calm down. If you want to send in doughnuts or pop tarts I can add this to my toast and spray butter choices.

 

Your child has a Study Island log in, please have your child work on study island during this school year. It is a wonderful program and is set up with questions much like the real CRCT. This is a real privilege to be provided free of charge to you from Frey. Please take advantage of this as it really will help your student. Also please do not allow your child to change their password, even if it prompts you to do so. The students will also take Study Island Math and Reading Benchmark tests in the computer lab here at school and if they cannot remember their password this will complicate things. Every student has the same password. The way to log in was sent home but it is easy,

firstname.lastname@frey. and password student.

 

I am able to log on and see how  your child is doing, if they have logged any time at all, in what subject areas, etc. If you see from your child's papers that they are struggling in a math concept then have them use study island for more practice in that area, etc. It can be a huge help to your student in areas of weakness and fun in areas of strength.

 

Picture Day information went home yesterday. Please fill out the envelope and send it back with your order. Picture Day is this Friday.

 

Performing Arts Envelopes went home a few weeks ago and only a few have returned the envelopes. Even if you do not plan on paying the permission slip is the back of the envelope and needs to be returned completed if you want your child to attend any performing arts functions. If you have lost the form then please let me know. I must have it completed and signed for your child to be allowed to participate in these county provided in house and sometimes off campus field trips.

 

Parent/Teacher Conference Week is October 24-28th and once the staff gets together to co-ordinate sibling conference times you will be given proposed dates and times to meet. Please do your best to attend. I look forward to this time with you each year and am excited to talk about your child with you.

 

Report Cards will be given out at Conferences.

 

Rocks Test, Government Test, Map Concepts, MOCK Test Results: 9-22-11

We went over our graded papers today and they are stapled and in the binders.

 

I gave the Rocks Test today instead of tomorrow as many students asked for it, one student was going to be gone tomorrow, and plenty of notice had been given to study for it. Students should have been working on it long before "the night before cramming". The Quiz was graded and we went over that also at the end of the day. I still have a few students who have not mastered the concepts and I have told them that I will give yet another test on this but they will not know when.

 

mud pressed together, shale, sedimentary rock

sea shells broken and pressed, sedimentary rock, limestone

igneous rock, for countertops, granite,

and metamorphic rock for floors that used to be limestone is marble

 

Diamond is the hardest mineral on the Mohs Scale and talc is the softest

 

The ways to identify minerals are hardness, texture, and color

 

These questions still seem to confound a handful of students. When I gave the test back the students were instructed to find someone who had the correct answer and write it down next to what they missed in ink.

 

Map study guides are in binders, these are concepts we will cover off and on all year long. Identifying the 7 continents, where is Greece on a world map, knowing our Cardinal Directions from a compass rose, and some terms we just barely introduced today and will revisit in more detail later on: Prime Meridian, Hemisphere, Northern, Southern, NE, NW, SE, SW. Equator which is in the middle of the earth and the closer to the equator the warmer and the closer to North or South Pole, it gets cooler.

 

Italy is a peninsula that sticks out into the Mediterranean Sea, and looks like a ladies high heel boot. It sits to the west of Greece and Greece is to its east. Africa is below Greece, and Europe is above it with Asia off to its right, or east.

 

We will be discussing later latitude and longitude and those are also in the study guide. These are just for your child to look over and from time to time pull them out and ask them questions about the maps. Conversations are the best way to keep academic concepts current in their young minds.

 

In math we are working on estimating numbers to the nearest 10 and 100.

 

The class took our MOCK reading test this week and in my ten years of teaching third grade I have never had a class where every student scored 60% or above. We have found this test to be a good indicator of how a student will more than likely do on the real CRCT in April. We have also found through the years that students who are able to score 60% and above should be able to pass the real test. This is my first year where on the first MOCK test every student scored above that minimal range.

 

Now, like on any test, on any given day, it ultimately depends on focus, desire, putting test taking techniques into practice, using UNRAVEL, paying attention to details, playing trash and treasure, being well rested, etc. Any person can have a poor test day, but this test indicates to me that every child in my room has the ability to pass the real CRCT in third grade. This is exciting news for us all! Encourage your child to keep learning, to improve upon their UNRAVEL practices, to play trash and treasure on multiple choice tests, to read carefully directions and circle key or important words, and brag on them when you see these things on their graded papers. Remember to use the graded papers as a conversation with your child about their work, what went well, what went wrong, why?, and what they have planned for improvement.

 

Social Studies Study guide came home today for government. We have completed part one of government and I will revisit this later to focus on our US three branches of government. Your child should read over this study guide every day, and you can drill them on the concepts and if they know the guide they will do well on the test. The test will be on October 7th. This gives 2 full weeks to prepare. Studying does not have to be time intensive if you do it a little each evening instead. Teach your child good study habits now, good time management now, and you will find you have it easier than many parents in middle school. Your child will gradually and naturally begin to do these things on their own and their grades will improve by learning to do things well and right.

 

 

7 Continents with Graphics: Your student can do "touch" map skills

Download 7 continents

Map Skiils, Greece, 7 Continents, Cardinal Directions and AR information

Greece is located between Europe and Africa and sticks out into the Mediterranean Sea, near the peninsula of Italy, which is shaped like a high heel boot. Greece is also a peninsula but it is more rounded than Italy and sits to the east of Italy.

 

Today we worked on navigating our US Map with Rivers and our world map using the compass rose directions as well as the intermediate directions. We talked about how we live on the East Coast, and California is on the West Coast. We discussed how the time zones in America change as we move across our country towards California. We noticed that we are nearer the Pacific Ocean and California is nearer to the Atlantic Ocean. We saw how Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi, with Texas border the Gulf of Mexico.

 

On the blog you can see how we are using our touch map skills to learn the names of and the locations of our 7 continents which in turn helps us locate Greece on the world map.

 

In writing we had a lesson on strong and weak verbs. The students were very excited about going back to some of their early pieces to edit and change them to make them more interesting. I was excited to see how they dove into this difficult task with excitement.

 

In math we worked on subtracting across 0s with our "box in" method. Ask your child what this means and see if they can explain it. If they attend Mrs. Nolen's math class they may not have covered this yet.

 

We also began to put our heads into the "clouds" with beginning lessons in estimation. In your child's agenda you will see this example that we will be working with this week and next in math. Estimation or rounding is very hard for many third grade students.

 

In the "clouds" means we first find our range. We underline the digit that we are to be rounding or estimating to, and then put a dot on his neighbor to the right which is our bossy number who decides how we will round. We have two choices, to stay the same or to move it up. Over this week and next it should become more clear and easier. Today was just a preview lesson as Target students were not in the room with us today.

 

Tomorrow and Wednesday we are going to do a MOCK CRCT Reading Test, Part 1 tomorrow and Part 2 on Wednesday. This is the first year that we do not read the questions or anything but directions to them. They also this year have to transfer their answers to a bubble in key. We have found over the years that students who score between 60%- 100% generally are able to pass the real CRCT. Please speak to your child about truly trying their best on this test. I will be going over the data for this at  our parent-teacher conferences in October.

 

Be sure to go back to the blog and reread the Shurley English method of identifying SN, V, CS, CP, and type of sentence. We are working hard on this and your child will be given sentences to identify in this way later this week on a test.

 

Be sure to review all graded papers with your child as they come home. Also ask your child how they are doing in AR. In order to EARN a reward, none are given, all rewards are earned or not received!, you must pass from 7 to more tests with 70% to 100% comprehension scores. I, at this time have 2 students whose comprehension is below 70% and they have until the end of the month to pull this up, and also only 2 students who have not yet read and passed the minimum requirement of 7 books. For this month I count August and September together, but after this they only have one month, even with breaks to meet the goal. This is very possible if they check out their two books a week, read them well at home, test at school and then read and test on one to two a week from my books that are in tubs. If they do not make the goal then they need to know it is simply that they did not work hard enough. I have 10 students who have passed more than 25 tests this month(s). That shows what is possible if you really read at school and at home and work hard. 7 is a very low number to read and pass in one whole month, even in just two weeks.

 

I have 3 main clubs:

Small Candy Bar Club: 7-15 Tests with 70%- 100% comprehension

Large Candy Bar Club: 16-25

Large Candy and Juice Box or drink or ice cream at lunch: 26 and more

 

I also will acknowledge on grade level and above grade level readers. I do not block tests and want students to learn over time to adjust their independent reading level to what is comfortable for them. They need to learn how to gauge this over time. My desire is to have all students reading on or above grade level by January and definitely by the year's end. I also want every child to make the club every month. Sometimes I bring them in the room during lunch to eat and watch a video, and if they did not make the club then those students will eat in the lunchroom at that time. Encourage them to work hard in reading and to share with you where they are. I do print off the list daily for them.

 

B Arnold

Way to Remember and Navigate on a Map the 7 Continents

There once was a man named North America

He met and fell in love with a lady named South

They got married!

They became Mr. and Mrs. North and South America!

They went on a honeymoon to Europe

They had four children whose names all started with the letter A

Africa, Asia, Australia, and Antarctica!

Graded papers, Greek Government, Estimation, etc September 16, 2011

I gave out another batch of graded papers today and we went over them in class. Remember to ask questions like, Why did you get this incorrect? Do you understand now? What can you do to improve next time? Are you Unraveling for key or clue words? Are you playing trash and treasure? etc. Use the papers

 

Government: How did the ancient Greeks influence our lives and government?

1. Architecture, the art and science of building, especially in our use of columns

(next week we will learn to recognize three kinds of columns: Ionic, Corinthian, and Doric, if you want help your child google picture of these and talk about their features)

2. Democracy: the Greeks had a direct democracy: every citizen voted and every vote counted: Citizens were men who owned property. No women or slaves were allowed to vote. There were about 300,000 people living in Greece but only 20,000 of these were "citizens" and could vote.

America has a representative democracy. We vote someone into office who in turns votes for us. They are supposed to represent us in decisions. Citizens are people born here, and those who are 18 or older can vote, or you can be a naturalized citizen by taking and passing a test.

3. Our Olympic Games and Sports: some of their early Olympic games are still in practice today in our own World Olympics

 

 

Greece is comprised of a large peninsula (land surrounded on three sides by water) and also smaller islands. The soil is very rocky and much of it was formed by volcanoes and is not good soil for crops. One of the main crops are olives, and they make great olive oil from this to export or trade.

 

Math: Subtraction with Regrouping and Addition with Regrouping and next week we are "in the clouds" with estimation. This is a strategy we will use to help us round numbers.

 

Reading: Understanding how to find the definition of bolded words in a non fiction text. (linking verbs: am, is, are, was, and were, or in between parantheses ( ) , or between commas ,  ,   or in the sentences above or below the bolded word)

Unravel, how finding key or clue words can help us make better grades and build our background understanding before reading a passage.

 

How can we evaluate and improve our writing? That was discussed today.

 

Next week: Greek Government continues, 5 Major Rivers also continues as a SS warmup.

Math: Estimation

Reading: same things but added next week are Tuesday and Wednesday a MOCK CRCT type reading assessment will be given.

Writing: Learning to use strong verbs to improve our writing

 

Spelling Pretest Given and Science Pop Song Quiz Given and Graded today

Spelling Pretest given for words for this Friday's test. Highlighted words need to be learned before the test.

Target Students were not in the room for Pretest, so you will need to do this for them at home if you so choose.

 

Science Rock Songs were sung and reviewed. I went over how to formulate answers in complete sentences. I even gave outright total answers verbally before the test was given out. I also gave examples of what incomplete answers would sound like. Directions were also written on the quiz itself.

 

During the singing we stopped and discussed how singing the songs would give us the answers we needed. How the rocks were formed (I gave them the answers each time in a complete verbal sentence) and also examples of each kind or type of rock.

 

The test was then distributed with instructions given out verbally again and emphasized.

 

Look over this graded work that is in your child's take home box this afternoon. I will take them to the Target Students also to pack up.

 

Science Test: Retest: Thursday, September 15th, this week!

B Arnold

Parent Questions that came to me today: September 12. 2011

Question: Homework is due on Friday, correct?

Answer: Homework and new spelling words go home each Friday and are due the following Friday unless you are informed otherwise.

When I can I am giving a pretest on spelling words on Monday, but this may not happen every Monday.

Question: Spelling tests are given on which day?

Answer: Spelling pretest are given on Mondays when I can work it in, otherwise you can do this at home.

The graded spelling test is always given the Friday after the new words went home on the previous Friday. You have one whole week to prepare for the graded test and the students write an honor statement on it each week: I did study. I did not study. I studied a little bit. I studied a lot.

  

  Question: Timed Math Tests are given on which day?

Answer: They are given sometime during the week, no certain day, and when depends on the day, the schedule and when they are graded from last test and I have time to get them all back with their next test.

Question: Science Test is on the 15th, correct?

Answer: Yes, the retest is on Thursday, the 15th. We had a review and a pop quiz today in class also.

 

Question: My child brought home a map of the 5 Major Rivers, will there be a test that she needs to study for and when will the test be?

Answer: This was just introduced and over time we will work on this. You will have plenty of notice before a test. At times in class we may have a pop quiz on this and that will show you when graded what your child does or does not know.

 

 

Change of date for Fall Pictures

Fall pictures have been changed to September 30th. 

September 9, 2011 All Subject Areas: Government, Math, Reading Skills, Grammar

For math I am teaching the modeled part of the lesson and then when they do their independent work I have them come up with one row of problems at a time completed so I can help them troubleshoot to find errors if there are any, and I send them back to try and incorrect problems again. This helps them to find their errors quickly and address them which is much more effective than simply giving out a bunch of problems and returning them later with a grade. The most important thing all year is to learn from and improve upon our skills with time and practice and repetition. For students who finish early they are working on a multiplication sheet which can also be colored after it is solved. This helps them to improve upon their multiplication practice and fluency and keeps them working on math concepts at their own pace. 

 

Don't forget to put our classroom blog under your favorites to check from time to time or to refresh your memory on items and information sent in the past.

 

Math: subtracting and addition with regrouping, including with decimals and money problems, and word problem solving

 

Reading: General Skills, Unravel, Non Fiction Conventions: How can we determine the meaning of bolded and important words in a non fiction text?

1. Definitions are often given with linking verbs: am, is, are, was and were

2. In the sentences before or just after a bolded word

3. In between parentheses (_______ ) or between brackets, or between commas ,________  ,

 

We worked both in our Social Studies lesson and in our reading lesson on using good non fiction skills. Looking at and paying attention to bolded words, titles and subtitles, reading captions and paying attention to pictures. We will work today on map skills and general comprehension skills.

 

Grammar: Began using Shurley grammar skills to find the subject, verb, and complete subject and predicate in a sentence and also identify the sentence types.

 

For example:

 

The four tall boys ran quickly home.

Who ran quickly home?

boy-subject noun

What is being said about boys?

boys ran- verb

Complete subject

The four tall boys

Complete predicate

ran quickly home

Type of sentence

period declarative D

 

Your child is actually saying all of this with a large number of sentences to find and identity these beginning parts of speech.

 

Greek Government: How did the ancient Greeks influence our lives and US government?

1. Through our architecture: the art and science of building: columns like in the Parthenon and our White House and Supreme Court Buildings etc.

2. Olympic games and sports

3. Democracy: rights and freedoms

 

Next week we will discuss how the Greeks had a direct democracy, every citizen could vote and every vote counted equally, and our government is a representative democracy where we elect people to represent us and vote on our behalf. This compare and contrast is not always easy for these young minds so you may need to help them at home with this too.

 

Students will work on touch map skills today identifying five major rivers on a US map. Colorado, Rio Grande, Mississippi, Ohio, Hudson and we use a little saying to help with this:

Charile Rides Motorcycles Over Hills, going from left to right touching the rivers as we go. Students will work with large laminated maps and also glue maps into their SS journals.

 

Hope this helps you know what we are doing and also help you to be amazed at how hard your child is working!