Thursday Night's Practice Page #13

Need a little help or clarification with tonight's Practice Page? Have a look at this quick video!

The "Talk"

It was a very important day today! 
We had a BIG talk.  I explained to the boys and girls that in late May, early June, along with all of the other Grade Three children in Ontario, we’ll complete a set of booklets that ask us to demonstrate what they've learned so far.  
The students understand that this is not a test, but a set of tasks that all children in Grade Three complete. It covers reading, writing and math. We don't really study for EQAO in the traditional sense because by learning the curriculum and learning to apply the skills, we will indeed be very well prepared when the writing days roll around. 
  
As a matter of fact, we've already been preparing for EQAO since the first days of school. Our Morning Message is a major player in this. Now that the kids know what's coming, we'll start to integrate the EQAO language and activities even more fully in our day-to-day routines so that come May/June, everyone will feel confident and well-prepared. 

In addition to our Morning Message, we have started preparing for EQAO since the first days of school by: 

• learning how to write an effective letter
• learning about the parts of speech, grammar, text features and other aspects of writing and language through our Poem of the Week and recently, Non-Fiction Article of the Week
• learning how to answer Reading Response questions  
• explaining our thinking in Math using the appropriate and related vocabulary
• speaking and writing in complete sentences
• solving higher level thinking problems in Math

Pretty soon we'll start focusing more on adding more evidence from the text to our answers, which is not only expected on EQAO, but an important skill to develop for future grades. 

I refer to EQAO not as a test, but as a set of booklets to be completed. I'd really appreciate your support with this messaging too.  This has proven to be very effective in minimizing anxiety for those students who are test-sensitive. An example of a phrase I'll use in class would be, "When completing your booklets, you'll want to make sure your printing looks smart and your work sounds smart."  

Today's talk was the first of many. The boys and girls had a lot of questions and we'll continue our discussion on Wednesday and beyond. I always feel relieved after this talk. I like to have it early on so that it takes away some of the stress and confusion my students might be experiencing, which is a win for everyone! 

Report Card Reflection

For homework this weekend, the boys and girls are asked to complete their Report Card Reflection.  This is a super-quick, zero-frills explanation of this task. 

If you're a teacher visiting my blog or you need another copy of the reflection, you can download one here. 

Practice Page #11 Need some help?

Here's the video we made during class today to help the boys and girls with Tuesday night's Practice Page! At the 2:27 mark, I should have said, "When you leave your name OFF the page..."  😉

What's your angle?

In Math on Monday, I introduced the three types of angles to the boys and girls. This was our first lesson of our Geometry unit.  
We'll spend a few days on this, but here are some photos that kids can use for home review.  Sadly, I no longer have the poster pictured below, but here's a video I made after school on Monday. It's a review of the lesson I taught. Both items will help support what the boys and girls have learned in class. 

  

You're only a few letters away from getting this all wrong. 

The Right Angle is the most smug of all the angles.
 He thinks he's so perfect.  

The Aww-cute angle is just that, he's tiny and adorable. 

The Obtuse angle doesn't do well in quiet places. He's has a big mouth.
 On the other hand, he's fun at football games.  

Fun with a purpose!

Last week's Fun Friday activity was all about math! After their Trader Tag time, the boys and girls broke off into small groups and rotated from one math game to another. 

Each game was designed to reinforce concepts we've covered or are currently working on.  We had a game that helped with identifying even and odd numbers, one with subtraction, one with two-digit addition, one that helped students construct three dimensional shapes and lastly, one that helped students memorize their doubles facts!  

I love using Math games as our Fun Friday activity because not only are the kids able to work together and have some fun, I can create activities that help support areas where extra practice is required.  

We're "pudding" our skills to work!

How much fun was today!!! 
We're starting our first really big writing task of the year and I wanted to kick things off in a special way.  We've done lots and lots of writing about our reading and along the way, learning about what good writers do, but now it's time to really put those skills to work! 

The boys and girls are asked to write a recount.  This means I'm asking them to recall a special day (today) and write all about it, including the essential details and the juicy ones!  

And what a great day it was to write about!  We made "Dirt Pudding" today!  

Our Milk Manager, Tatiana was on the job and ready to distribute the milk to make the pudding!

It all started this morning when I urged the kids to get their morning chores taken care of so that we could get to the fun stuff.  When I told them what we were doing, they were just tickled pink! 

In preparing for this big group task, we talked about how to be an effective group member and specifically, how to compromise. Our Text of the Week (pictured below) proved to be very helpful in that regard because just yesterday, we talked all about that word and how the characters in the story could be much happier if only they tried to compromise.  

I reminded the boys and girls that as part of their recount, they would not necessarily be giving the instructions for how to make the pudding, but rather, recounting the day for the reader.  It was important to make this distinction because the last time we cooked (applesauce) we were indeed talking about procedural writing.

We had four groups of kids each making a batch of pudding and everyone worked very well together! 

Then we combined the pudding into one large pan and put it in the fridge to set.  Along the way, the boys and girls learned about millilitres and litres and strategies for what to do when the recipe calls for 500 mL of milk, but your measuring cup only goes up to 250 mL.  

While the pudding was setting, we carried on with our day.  Finally, the time came to eat the pudding around 1:20 and it was so much fun!  Everyone was so polite and helpful around distributing, waiting turns and dealing with their dirty dishes.  

As you can see by the photos lovely Miss Sofia took, it was a super-terrific day and the treat was enjoyed by all!  Thank you to Sofia for her great photography skills! 

I can't wait to read this recounts! We had a few funny moments throughout the day that I hope the boys and girls will include!  

Wonder by RJ Palacio

I began reading this novel to the boys and girls last week at Evening Meeting.  I like to read my students books that have powerful messages that will stay with them long after we've turned the last page and those are hard to come by.

Wonder by RJ Palacio is an incredible book. It's a novel written for children in Grades 5 and up, so when I read, I modify. I leave out words that don't work for me as a teacher and skip over any material that my students aren't ready for.  

This book is so good though, it needs to be shared. Students of all ages can appreciate Palacio's message.   

It's about ten-year old August.  He was born with some pretty big special needs and has never attended public school.  The story is told from a number of different perspectives and it grabs you from page one and doesn't let go.  

We're only a chapter or two in and I think it's had the same effect on my students as it did on me when I first picked it up. 

When that bell rang for dismissal last Friday afternoon, many students groaned and asked me to keep reading. If you have an older student in your family who is looking for a great read with an inspiring character that overcomes the challenges he faces in life, they'll certainly enjoy this novel.  

I've told my students that I'll read it to them this year, and then when they're in Grade 5, they can read it all over again on their own. 

A "note" about Monday's music quiz

See what I did there → "note" about the music quiz! 
The boys and girls have their quiz quiz Ms. Marcijus on Tuesday morning. She has forwarded me this information to help them prepare.  Please also be sure to visit this link for a helpful activity →  Music Games

What's a plus? What's a comment?

Lately, we've been talking about how good writers add things like pluses and comments to their writing.  There's a difference between the two and my hope is that by now, students can articulate those.  

A comment can be something as simple as "I think that's really exciting" or "I'd like to try that someday", but a plus is a bit more.  A plus has a bit more muscle than a comment. 

These are the slides from our Morning Message where the concept of a plus was introduced last week. 

A Math test follow-up

Students are bringing home their Math test today. Instead of a Practice Page, they are asked to do their test corrections.  
We went over the test together this afternoon and reviewed some key items that I think are important to share here so that parents can also be in on the discussion, so to speak.  

Some items pertain directly to Math and strategies, others are more general in term of how they relate to test-taking and academic success overall. 

This was a great opportunity to talk about what we do well and where we want to go. While this test won't be significant in terms of their overall academic career, my hope is that the conversations we have and the skills my students learn about how to prepare for them will make a life-long difference.  

Here's what we covered today: 

• students themselves should be visiting the blog everyday so they can revisit what we've learned and share it with their families
• students should always do the practice test to help them prepare for Math tests 
• the study-guides are super-useful; they are designed to help students prepare for the test and identify areas where they may need extra practice 
• doing our nightly reading can really help us to understand word problems, so we want to make sure that our reading skills are in tip-top shape 
• there can be absolutely no talking between students during a test 
• words from the question and our No-Excuse List must be spelled correctly 
• our Math songs are a big help, let's continue to use them to help us in our work 
• we need to work on identifying the clue words that tell us to add or subtract (printable copy of a chart here) 
• we cannot use "I solved it in my head" as an appropriate explanation for how we arrived at an answer. We must use Math language and think back to samples we have done in class.  
• we must always show our work (a level 4 cannot be given if the work/strategies are not demonstrated) 
• our printing must be neat and easy to read, especially our numbers (e.g. "Does my 4 look like a 9?") 
• we must remember the "rules" for writing, even when responding to Math questions (e.g. capitals, periods, full sentences) 
• we must remember to do the test-checklist to help us be successful 
• if we have to add extra lines to an answer, we must use a ruler to do so 
• let's continue to use tools such as our hundreds chart, tallies and counters to help us to problem solve
• we make great use of our class time and let's continue to work hard while being mindful of the clock
• we are fantastic at using our whisper-phones to proofread our work and let's continue to do that, especially on tests