Happy Fall, Y’all! We are nearing the end of first quarter and that means fall conferences are right around the corner. Thank you to the parents who have already signed-up via www.signupgenius.com. If you haven’t signed-up yet, there is still time. If none of the times posted work for you, Mrs. Childers and I would be happy to meet with you during our planning period at 2:10-2:55 or before school at 7:30 am. At conferences, you will start with your homeroom teacher and then move to your buddy class teacher for a total of 20 minutes. Just a reminder, the fall conference is just for parents. In the spring, students will be present to share their accomplishments at our Spring Showcase. Meet Miss Reynolds! Hello! My name is Brooke Reynolds and I am student teaching in Mrs. Endres’ room this semester. I met many of you on Back to School Night, but I thought I would properly introduce myself. I went to school in Bolivar from K-12. In fact, I even had Mrs. Endres as my third grade teacher! I graduated in 2016 and I am at SBU getting my teaching degree. I have loved getting to know your students and working with them. Right now, I have been teaching phonics lessons. I started teaching the Mystery Unit in reading today and will begin writing in the middle of October. If you ever have a question for me, my school email is [email protected]. Your students are fantastic and I am looking forward to the rest of the semester! Reading Logs Hats off to both students and parents for the meaningful reading that took place in September! The reading logs were filled out perfectly with reading records that showed students were completing entire books. This is one of the monthly goals—reading with grit. Several students read 3-4 books this month at home. Reading an entire chapter book builds reading stamina and strengthens episodic memory. Just a quick reminder about the nightly reading homework: students are asked to read four times a week for a minimum of 25 minutes each day to make 100 minutes of reading a week. I know that many students read much longer than that and even more than four days. The purpose of recording the reading is to serve as a record of books read and it helps in setting reading goals. Together students and I review how many books were completed, the genres that were chosen, and how many pages they can complete in a 25 minutes period of time. Reading researchers suggest that if the book is at the reading level of the student, he/she should be able to read 20 pages in a 30 minutes time period. Also, parents, please don’t feel that you need to fill in the reading log. Students are fully capable to fill out their own log. We have a reading log at school which they fill out every day. They are quite proficient. If you ever need a second reading log, students know where to find them in our classroom. This is a very responsible group of third graders! Quick reminder: Parents, you are allowed to read with or to your child. If some nights you want to read aloud the entire 25 minutes from a chapter book that you are sharing together, please do. Talk about the text when you are finished: What is happening in this chapter? Summarize what has happened to this point. What predictions can you make for the next chapter? Can you use your schema to make any connections? How is the setting affecting the character? Is there a problem? How are the characters attempting to solve the problem? How would you solve the problem? Are there any words that the author used that strike you as interesting? Why do you think the author chose that word? Alternating between students reading independently and students reading with someone are both beneficial to building episodic memory. Learning to enjoy reading is a lifetime gift you are giving your child. Reading Range We have completed the September DRA (Diagnostic Reading Assessment). This score is a jumping off point to help me choose books for partner reading (buddy books) and help guide students to self-select books for independent reading. To help with book selection, we teach students to read “with-in reach” books. These are books where they can read most words on the page easily and experience comprehension. “Vacation” books are books that are below their reading range that are great for fluency practice (reading smoothly with expression). “Challenging” books are books above their reading level where students have to apply reading decoding skills often and read slower (or reread to clarify) in order to comprehend. All three book levels are valuable. Students understand that a challenging book today may become a “just right” book in a few weeks or months. You might ask, “Does my child have to read a book in his/her reading range?” No. Freedom to choose is the greatest motivator. You will have to decide if the book is age appropriate for your child. Just because a third grader can read above his grade level does not mean the child is interested in more mature themes. Suggestion: Have your child read the “classics.” Books that you read at age eight and nine. Newberry Award winners. Show Me Award winners. Authors that you know are not going to push the limit on appropriate word choice or content. Also, encourage your child to read a variety of genres. Just like food, too much of one thing is not always the best. My philosophy on choosing books: Students should be allowed to read what interests them. Can you imagine an adult being told he/she must read books in their reading level based on a one-time test? The DRA and iReady assessments are pieces of a larger puzzle when looking at how your child reads. The DRA breaks down how a child reads into his fluency rate and comprehension. When looking at comprehension, I evaluate the responses they make. When reading, I am looking at your child’s word attack skills. What strategies does this child utilize when presented with a challenging word? Does he/she chunk it? Sound it out letter by letter? When a word is said incorrectly, is it a visual problem, structure problem, or meaning problem? Where did the error occur? Beginning, middle, or end? Is there a pattern on how the errors are made? Does the child omit words or add words when reading? Does the child remember to stop at end punctuation? Does the child read in long phrases or short choppy ones? Does the child read with expression or in a mechanical way? Does the child notice when an error is made and then go back and retry the word again? Does the child recognize that what he read did not make sense? Does the child have visual problems tracking from left to right and then moving down a line? Lots to think about. Of priority along with the ability to read is the ENJOYMENT factor. Does your child enjoy reading? My goal is to make reading interesting by providing students with various genres and topics to read about. I want to spark an interest in reading to KNOW and reading to ENJOY. I will be supporting, encouraging, and celebrating their reading endeavors! Phonics Instruction We have completed Unit 9 of Fundations and are working our way through Unit 10. Papers with trick words (sight words) to study at home were in a study packet that was sent home on Monday. Fundation instruction includes spelling practice—looking at various spelling patterns and letters that represent those sounds. Our phonics instruction for 30 minutes a day supports our reading curriculum and complies with the dyslexia mandate. Miss Reynolds, our student teacher, did an awesome job teaching Unit 9! Our class scored first place out of the eight third grade classrooms on the Unit 9 assessment. We were pretty excited with our performance! Mystery Unit We kicked off our Mystery Unit by dressing like detectives--mustaches and all! We are currently in the first bend: “Understanding the Mystery.” We are learning to draw all we know about solving mysteries to read mysteries. Our goal is to solve the mystery before the crime solver in our book does. We are focused on making predictions. With mysteries our predictions involve suspects, motives and opportunities. We will see in upcoming lessons that mysteries follow common patterns. There’s a crime solver, detective helpers, clues, suspects, alibis, and red herrings. Plots have twists and turns which keep us thinking. Our mystery unit will help us apply our comprehension work from this type of fiction to other types of fiction reading. Students will be reading and discussing with partners many, many mysteries. Writer’s Workshop We have another week in our Crafting True Stories unit. We are working on our second personal narrative. Students have learned to be the captain of their own writing. They are able to take their moment in time story through the writing process—idea, draft, revision, edit, and final copy. Students have practiced various leads, paragraphing, transition words, sensory details, figurative language, external and internal dialogue, and effective endings. They’ve learned to storytell—letting their voice shine through as they tell the story bit by bit. We will celebrate our writing at the end of this unit. Our next unit will move towards nonfiction writing. I have several students ready to load up on informational text! Character Word Student of the Month for September Our Character Word of the Month for September was Responsibility. We have several students in our classroom who show responsibility every day in the way they conduct themselves in the classroom, hallway, lunchroom, at specials and recess. This month our student spotlight is on Elijah Cooper. Elijah exemplifies responsibility in our classroom community. He takes care of our pencil trays morning and afternoons, sorts lunch sticks, and generally picks-up around the room. He was never asked to do these tasks but from the beginning of the year, he took it upon himself to look for jobs that help our community run smoothly. Elijah never asks for recognition, but he deserves it! He does these tasks to be helpful and he does them consistently. I want to give a big shout out to Elijah, for modeling what it looks like to see a need and do it to the best of his ability. Thank you, Eli! Three snaps--Snap, Snap, Snap!! A note from Mrs. Endres… Thank you to the parents who sent in candy and soda pop for the Care to Learn Fall Festival. Thank you to all parents for doing an awesome job parenting. You have wonderful children who are interesting, fun, and easy to work with. This class enjoys being together. We had the best time playing games at our reading celebration last week. I am looking forward to indoor recess! I am a board game player and so are these kids. I hope you get the chance to go out and enjoy this fall weather—I hear it is coming. Thank you for your continued support. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks! If you need anything, please let me know. Joyfully, Mrs. Endres Important Dates: October 4: Homecoming Parade, 2:35 (We will watch from BIS.) October 7: NO SCHOOL October 8: Title Family Night, 5:30-6:30 (Mrs. Francisco’s students) October 9: Walk to School Event 7:30 a.m. (More details to come later) October 9: Skype Author Visit for 3rd Grade October 11: End of 1st Quarter October 17-24: Scholastic Book Fair in the BIS Library (NO class book club order this month so we can support the Book Fair.) October 21: Happy Birthday, Lincoln and Happy Birthday, Melody!! October 21-24: Red Ribbon Week (These are dress-up days.) October 21-24 Parent-Teacher Conferences October 22: School Picture Retakes October 25: No School October 28: No School SECOND QUARTER STANDARDS (BEGINS OCTOBER 14) Unit 2 Reading: Nonfiction
Unit 3 Writing: Information Units of Study (Up the Ladder)/The Art of Information Writing (Book 2) **Note: Up the Ladder Bends 1-2 only.
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AuthorHello! My name is Heidi…I love my family, the Lord, and chai tea lattes! I’m a wife to an amazing husband, mama to four wonderful kids, new Grammy to a cute baby boy, and a chubby 3rd grade teacher. (I've eaten too many birthday cupcakes!) I love people, learning, and creating. Thanks for stopping by! May you be blessed today as you bless others. Archives
March 2020
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