What We Learned This Week

LITERACY- We practiced using CER as we analyzed characters in stories. CER stands for claim, evidence, and reason. We made a claim about a character's traits. We searched for and recorded evidence from the text to support our claim. Then we explained why we thought the evidence was relevant. The most challenging aspect of this was the last part, reasoning. We knew the evidence supported our claims. We just struggled with putting into words why we felt this to be true.

We also took our second STARS reading test of the year. The STARS test is a computer adaptive test that helps measure growth. You can help your children to show growth on the STARS tests by encouraging them to read books at their "Just Right" level every night for a minimum of 20 minutes.

How you can help- Make an attempt to use CER at home. When you and your child discuss books, or even television shows or movies, ask open ended questions that require more than a yes or no response. Follow up with, "What happened in the story to make you think that?"  Dig a little a deeper by asking, "Why do you think your example supports your thinking?" 

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events

MATH- We finished up our first unit on multiplication. Students reviewed unit material and then took one of two unit tests. This week, we will be applying all that we learned about multiplication as we take on the challenge of math performance tasks. In this case, I like to think of math performance tasks as multi-step word problems that require students to apply their knowledge of multiplication in context.

How you can help- Continue to work on memorizing multiplication facts at home.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.OA.A.1-CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.OA.A.9

SOCIAL STUDIES- We took our first Social Studies test of the year. We demonstrated our knowledge of hemispheres, continents, countries, states, and cities. We showed that we could located our own community of Bellevue within all these different places.

MISC- Thank you to all you parents who gave up a Saturday to conference about your child. I know many more of you volunteered as well, but alas, there are only so many hours in a day. For those of you still waiting to conference, be checking your email for invitations and times coming up in the next few weeks.

You may have a noticed an addition to the blog i.e. the inclusion of Common Core State Standards to our week in review. Many of you have been asking about the Smarter Balance Test that third graders will be taking this spring. The test is based on Common Core Standards. One way we prepare students for this exam is to align our instruction to these standards. I decided to include the standards in my weekly review so you can see how lessons this week are preparing your child to be successful on this important standardized test.

Our wonderful room mom emailed information about our Halloween party. The party is set to take place the last hour of school on Friday. Volunteers are welcome to help set up at 2PM while students are at recess. Students are invited to dress up for the party only, no costumes during the rest of the school day. Remember, costumes should be school-appropriate. Nothing too scary, or bloody, and no toy weapons per district policy. Please let me know if your child does not celebrate Halloween so we can make alternative arrangements.

FOR ONE DOJO POINT-Students, the class as a whole decided, or made the claim, that the ending of the book Matilda by Roald Dahl was bittersweet. What happened in the story to make us claim that? Explain your reasoning.