Parent Teacher Conferences.....Coming Soon!

I am excited that parent teacher conferences are coming up soon.  I checked the schedule and see that many of you have already signed up.  Remember that you must sign up online.  If you are having difficulty logging in to sign up, feel free to call Linda at 547-2300 and she will help you get set up.

Conferences are held next Tuesday, November 2nd, and Thursday, November 4th, from 2:30-8:00.  Conferences each run 15 minutes long.  We have lots to cover so I will be going through a variety of information in a short amount of time.  Please be sure to be prompt and not late for your conferences as that will delay all conferences behind you.

Because I have 27 students, if any parents or guardians would like to schedule conferences on a different day either before school, after school, or at lunch, that is fine.  Just contact me and we can set something up.

I am excited to share all the great learning happening the first quarter of school.  As one of my students said the other day, "We are SO busy in 3B...the day just FLIES by".  It was precious.....and true!!!

Picture Retakes...This Tuesday!

Just a reminder that picture retakes are this Tuesday, October 27th.  If anyone wants to have their school picture retaken, they need to bring back the picture taken originally in order to get new ones taken.

Inferencing....Reading Between the Lines

Last week we worked on a new reading strategy...inferencing.  It is a tougher strategy that students sometimes struggle with.   I am feeling like the students have a pretty good grasp on inferencing in videos and list of words so this week we will move onto inferring in reading.  

I wanted to show everyone a great video we used last week to talk about inferencing.  It is called "The One Man Band" and students did a great job inferring what was happening as well as the feelings of the characters.

What inferences can you make during this short video?

Quick Summary of What Has Been Happening and What is Coming in 3B

As usual, we are very busy in 3B.  I am so pleased with the routine the students have gotten into as well as how hard they are working.  Along with having some fun,  3B is doing wonderful!

Below is a quick summary of the activities, strategies, and events that have been happening in 3B or are coming up:

1.  Reminder that this coming week is Character Counts Week.  Students should have brought home a letter last week stating the activities for each day focusing on different pillars.  The information is also below in the picture.

2.  Our literacy focus on the strategies of determining important information and main ideas are wrapping up (for now) as we move on to inferencing this week.  Everyone worked hard on building their understanding of main idea and supporting details by working with a group to match supporting details with a main idea before working on the same idea individually with ice cream.  We then moved into reading passages to determine the main idea before checking our understanding through an assessment on Friday.   These assessments will be shared at conferences.

Everyone did an excellent job building a better understanding as well of author's purpose.  We used the following visual to remind us of the three main reasons author's write:  PIE.  P-persuade, I-inform, and E-entertain.

This coming week we will be moving into reviewing prefixes and the strategy of inferencing.

3.  Addition and subtraction of 2-3 digit numbers, along with estimating, problem solving, and fact extensions have been the focus of unit 2.  Students will be taking an assessment over these concepts this coming Friday.  I will not be sending home a review packet for students for this unit but will be working with them reviewing concepts and problem solving this week in preparation for the upcoming assessment.  Students can be working on addition and subtraction of 2-3 digit numbers, with and without regrouping, at home with parents as practice.

4.  Everyone is ready to apply the concepts to what they learned about plant and animal populations to their final unit assessment.  This is a project based assessment.  This week I will be introducing students to their project of making a video that focuses on a selected animal and highlights/demonstrates the understanding of the key concepts and vocabulary we have focused on during this unit.  

5.  Writing will continue to work on applying the writing process towards publication of a piece of writing that will be shared at conferences.  (see previous post below)

Word Works...What is It?

I am sure many of you have heard about Word Works?  It is a part of the Daily 5 routine that focuses on what many people call "spelling".  I like the name of "Word Works" because you are really focusing on the way words are created, how they work.

The process of Word Works in 3rd grade is similar to what the students told me they used to do in 2nd grade, with some changes.  Let me highlight some of those changes by explaining the five day routine.

Day 1:  Students work together as a class to create a class list that contains words focusing on a sound or family.  For our practice week/introductory week, we just did the short vowel sounds of /a/, /i/, and /u/.   I wanted the students to become familiar with the routine and rationale of Word Works before starting them on challenging words.  So the students create a class list with me on Day 1.  After we have a solid list of varying difficulties in words, students then select a given amount of words from the class list that becomes their "individualized list".  Just like we all read at different levels, students do not all spell at the same level.  Do you think they should have the same word lists?  I don't think so.  We discuss how it is important each student select words that are "just right" for them, not those that are too "easy cheesy" or "too challenging".  After students have selected their list and I approve it, they they record their words on the app titled "A+ Spelling".  This app allows for students to put in their individual list, record the words, and practice them in various ways once the words are put into the app.

Day 2:  Day 2 involves focusing on the sound or family of the week, not necessarily the words selected by students.  It is more important that students work on the sound/family than memorize a list of words.  Therefore, students work with the sound/family of the week using the app of "Spelling City".  I have put lists on this site in which students have words of varying difficulty in which to manipulate in different ways.  They love this site and there is so much to do!

Day 3:  I think this is their favorite day as here is where we get a little competitive.  Students get with their "Word Works" partner and play a little game called "Knights and Dragons".  Basically if they spell their word correctly, they get to make a line on a game mat with the goal of closing the box and winning over the "square" as the knight or dragon.  It is an awesome way to practice words selected for the week.

Knights and Dragons

Day 4:  Another favorite is this day as it focuses on manipulating the words selected through various kinesthetic modes.  Students can select which activity they would like to use to work on their words.  These activities include letter tiles, magnetic letters, wiki stix, rainbow writing, blue consonant red vowel, and others that will be introduced in the upcoming weeks.  When students manipulate the letters and words in one of these types of modes, their chances of remember the sound/family increases.  Here are a few pictures of some of the activities.

Magnetic letters

Triangle Spelling

Blue Consonant/Red Vowel and vice versa

Day 5:  The test.  Students once again get with their word works partner and give each other their individualized test over their words for the week.

The goal is to make this a process that occurs Monday thru Friday, but with crazy schedules, many times the process is off.  So we just call it by numbers, Day 1, Day 2, etc. instead of Monday, Tuesday. ....

I should also comment that students do not bring home their word lists to study during the week.  Again, the goal is not for them to memorize a list of words.  The goal is for them to work with the words and sounds/family to build a better understanding of how words work.  By working on the words/sounds daily in a five day process, the students should be successful at building and recognizing the sounds that make their words selected that week.  You will see their 'tests' from Day 5 come home.

Writing is Like Art!

The writing process is a big part of 3rd grade writing instruction.  That being said, it is a process that

many people, even adults, struggle with.  The best way to relay the writing process to 3rd grade minds was to connect it to something they know about....art.  Art is a process as well.  Starting with a vision, the artist creates something, takes pieces out, adds pieces, changes things, possibly starts over, ask opinions, and then presents his/her masterpiece for others to see and enjoy.  This is just like writing.

So to help my 3B students see the process they would begin working through with writing, I had them apply the same process an artist would to play dough.  Students started out with some play dough.  Their first direction stated that they had 8-10 minutes to create something, whatever they wanted.  After that time period, they were told they had 2-3 minutes to take something out.  Following that, students were told they had 2-3 minutes to add something.  Finally students were then told they had 2-3 minutes to change something.  All of these things are what artists do.  Then students titled their creations and classmates went around sharing compliments and thoughts on post-it notes for the artists to celebrate and read.

Connect this to writing.  Writers create something, edit by taking things out, adding things, changing things, starting over.  They also share their piece with someone else through peer editing and publishing, giving their piece a title.

My hope is that students will see how the writing process is similar to what an artist would do to create a masterpiece.  When a writer publishes a piece....isn't that a masterpiece as well?  It is to me and should be to them!

The Week in a Glance

I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weekend outside as the weather was perfect for October!!  I had a wonderful weekend and want to enjoy every last minute so this blog post will be short and sweet.  Here is a quick glimpse of what has been happening in 3B:

Literacy:  We have been focusing on the skills and strategies of main idea, author's purpose, and building on our Word Works.  Word Works runs on a 5 day rotation.  I will explain it more in a future post when students have gone through the whole process.  We have also started CADET time groups that focus on decoding, fluency, and/or comprehension.  These groups were determined by analyzing data from FAST assessments and MAPs. This week we will continue to work on main idea as well as move into prefixes and inferencing.

Mrs. VerMeer introducing Main Idea - what do these objects have in common?

Besides having a fire drill last week, students were encouraged to walk a mile as part of the state initiative to stay healthy.  It was a perfect day to go for a walk around the track.

In writing, we moved into another ideas lesson on pattern books.  Students had the option to work with a partner or alone to create their own pattern book based on a read aloud titled Fortunately....Unfortunately.  I can't wait to hear the finished products!  We will be moving into the writing process this coming week.

We are wrapping up our science unit on plants and animals this coming week.  Last week we worked on our categorizing and comparison of animals and what we learned about them through an app on our iPads.  Although it was challenging for some, students learned to compare and contrast plants and animals and use clues given to categorize plants and animals.  This week we will start working on our unit assessment, a project based assessment.  Stay tuned for more information about that soon.

In math we reviewed ball park estimates and moved into addition of large numbers.  We practiced different ways to solve addition problems and students need to find the method that makes most sense to them to understand the process, not just get the answer.  This week we will continue with addition and move into multi digit subtraction.

Homecoming 2015

The students really got into the school spirit last week for Homecoming Dress Up days!  So much fun!  It was wonderful to see so many of my 3B students at the football game Friday night as well!  Too bad we did not get the win, but we are still proud to be a Cadet!

Tuesday:  Future Career Day.  Can you find the scientist?  The SWAT member?  How about the rock star or the babysitter?  The Model and the football coach?  The teachers or game designers?

Wednesday:  Crazy Hat and Crazy Sock Day

Thursday:  Neon Day

Friday:  Cadet Day with Pep Assembly

Just Because We Need To Celebrate Progress

Sometimes I find myself wanting to post something on my blog page "just because"....no special reason or explanation....just because.  This is one of those "just because" post.  It may be a little "cheesy" but I don't care.

My  27 3B students are wonderful and keep me on my toes.   We work hard, we laugh, we cry (yes we have already with some sad read alouds, mainly the teacher), we cheer each other on, we support one another, and we recognize when we have weaknesses or challenges.   Every day is not perfect...far from it.  We have our ups and downs just like everyone else.  But Friday, for a brief moment in the morning, I felt like it was a "perfect" moment in the world of education.

We had a busy week last week, lots of Skype sessions, lots of new learning in math, started guided reading groups, finishing up MAPs assessments, and so much more.  I don't ever expect a perfectly quiet classroom all day.  That is not what I want.  I want interaction and engagement, but I also want respect for one another as well.  We had taken a break from writing and worked on some language skills all week during our writing time.  I could see by Friday, the students were missing their time to just write.  Now this would be shocker to anyone who came in my room the beginning of the year and half my class disliked writing.  Thus....a moment of "we are making progress" instantly noted in my brain.

What happened next will only be appreciated by those of us who work with kids on a daily basis and know that things don't always go as smoothly as we work and new learning doesn't always show up right away in our students.  It takes time.  But all our lessons on where writers get ideas, writing together, and building our stamina showed the benefits last Friday.  My students got their notebooks and everyone, yes EVERYONE, wrote for 20 minutes.....nonstop....and they did not want to stop when I said we need to wrap it up and I asked for volunteers to share.  They even asked for more time!  Everyone of them!!!  My heart almost jumped out of my chest!

Yes it is the little things.....and we are making progress.....focus on the positive and celebrate!  Building the passion and "want to" is half the battle.....and we won this battle!  We are ALL writers!!

Genius Hour is Here! Students Have Begun Finding their Inner Genius!

In a previous post I mentioned that students were gearing up and learning about what Genius Hour was.  I found a wonderful video for those that are not familiar with Genius Hour as it does a great job explaining the basis for this change in education.  



After many weeks of preparing and gaining a better understanding of what Genius Hour is, students launched their own Genius Hour time last Friday.  It was amazing to see how engaged and eager they each were to learning about something they were interested in.  As with all Genius Hour projects, the students began with a question of something they wanted to learn more about.  After reviewing internet safety, they were off to explore their own topics and learning.  You could have heard a pin drop as they were so into their new learning.  Many comments were, "This is awesome!", "I don't want to stop!", "Can we do this every day?".  Music to my ears!!!  It was wonderful.

We still have some work to do on research skills and when do I have "enough" information?  They are 3rd graders after all and need guidance.  But I can tell this is going to be a powerful time in our day every Friday as it has been in the past.

I can't wait to hear what they are learning about and share it with you!  Some of their topics are wind turbine, race cars, lava lamps, video making, speed boats, light bulbs....just to name a few.

Field Trip to Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee!!!

Elephant teeth as big as human head

While the students wished we could have actually gone to the zoo in Knoxville, TN, we actually did the next best thing.....Skyped with the zoologist named Jason!  It was awesome!

Jason is a great presenter and really got the students engaged in discussions and learning through Skype.  His focus was on adaptations and food chains, as that is what we were studying in science (another global connection).  He also wanted to talk about some animals that he has in Tennessee that we do not have common in Iowa.  This is the second year I have had my students Skyped with Jason and he always amazes me with his energy and eagerness to engage the students and share information with them.  I know the students loved it just as much.  We invited the other two sections of 3rd grade to join us as well.

Meet Jason from Knoxville Zoo

Some of the things the students learned about were:
* Food chain between a rat (not sure what kind it was) and a constrictor snake
* Elephants teeth are bigger than a human's head
* Adaptations such as the stripes of a zebra are used to help them blend in.
* Predators usually go after their prey that are weak and sick as they are easier to catch
* Hissing cockroaches have many adaptations as well
* Snakes put spit on their tongues to smell the air and sense vibrations (he had the students try, which was funny)
* All food chains begin with the sun
* Even speed is an adaptation for many animals
* Siberian Tigers use their large canine teeth to kill and their smaller front teeth to rip meat off the bones.

Those were just a few of the many opics he covered.  Students also had a little time to ask Jason questions about the zoo and his profession.  I have never been to the Knoxville Zoo in Tennessee but it sounds like an amazing place to visit.  I might have to encourage my family to stop there next summer on our way to the beach in South Carolina as I love visiting a great zoo!  Maybe some of you could visit sometime as well!

Siberian tiger skull and teeth

The students are currently blogging about what they learned from Jason.  Check those out soon as they will be done this week. We will also be emailing him more questions we have as we ran out of time on Friday.

Thanks so much Jason and the Knoxville Zoo for Skyping with us and teaching us more about animals.  It was great!

constrictor snake

WANTED....Internet Safety

There are a lot of scary things in the world.  Using the internet can also be scary to students in schools as sometimes, you never know what you are going to get when doing research.  This is why it is very important to teach students as much about internet safety as possible.  It is important to also do it in a way in which students will understand.

Before my students get into independent research projects, I wanted to make sure they understood how to be aware of everything posted on the internet.  I used the following "Wanted" characters to get the ideas and message across.   Students really grasped on to the ideas and I hope they are always on the look out for these "Wanted" characters when on the internet at home or school.

We will continue to review and add more elements to our discussion and learning on internet safety throughout the year.  Beware....

Insect Inquiry!

Besides all of our great Skype conversations, we had a special guest last week come to the classroom to teach us more about insects. Did you know how many insects their are in the world?  Angela does.  Angela is one of the Howard County Conservationist and she came to the classroom to do a presentation titled "Insect Inquiry".  She reviewed information that have learned through our studies is science on plants and animals as well as shared more cool information that the students (and teacher)  did not know about.

I was very pleased with how much the students retained and learned before Angela's presentation.  They could answer a lot of her questions, which was awesome!  Great job 3B! They were also very respectful during her presentation, which made me very proud.  

Thanks Angela for taking time to visit our classroom and teach us more about insects!  We loved it!