Humming along...

Routines have been established and students are adjusting to the third grade way and life seems to be "humming along"... Meeting with small groups has become the norm and children are being more productive during independent work time...one example from today...

During reading, while I met with individual students and with small groups, the students needed to meet in their small groups to take their "practice buddy check", then each group had a reading assignment and then the children could work on unfinished work or anchor activities.

Well, the room was buzzing quite loudly in the beginning...I thought to myself that if the students were truly on task, that the room would naturally quiet down as groups completed their buddy checks and moved onto their reading assignments...and that is exactly what happened. One by one, the groups finished their buddy checks and the room quieted down as students settled into various places (their desks, the book corner, the closet, etc.) to read their assigned texts. It really was nice to be able to work with students while the rest of the class was being productive.

OK...I guess you might be wondering what was happening academically, huh? In math, the students created BAR GRAPHS using the data table that they used to construct their pictographs. While the students were working on their graphs, Mrs. Starkey and I met with small groups focusing on identifying numeric patterns and rounding three digit numbers to the nearest ten.

We began reading by identifying verbs in the morning message...

Then I met with students individually and in small groups while the other students did their practice buddy checks and read their assigned text selections. The JGB group reread The Fisherman and his Wife, placing sticky notes labeled with an F in places they thought the Fisherman was being unkind to his wife and placing an A in places they thought his wife was unkind to him. The FLASH group reread A Sticky Problem, practiced their flashcards worked on word chains and began a new book. The ROY group had met with me yesterday afternoon to reread chapter 2 and discuss it. So, today they did a first reading of chapters 3 and 4. Tonight, for homework, each group is expected to do a reread of their assigned selections for at least 15 minutes.

Word chains...using a white board we begin with a word. Then the students write a new word below the first word by changing just one word or sound...I should have taken a picture of this, huh? Anyway, an example would be: hop, hot, hat, hit, hip, ship, etc.

This afternoon, we went to the computer lab and the students spent time exploring the Paint software package. Next week I plan to create pictures using Paint and teach the children how to save a document (the picture they create) in their own documents folder.

After the computer lab, Mrs. Howard, along with helpers from Sallie Mae, will prepare the children for the Homeless Walk which will take place in school next Tuesday during recess.