September 21st, 2007

CLASSROOM INFORMATION NIGHT
Thanks to those who made it to Classroom Information Night. It was a great turn out on a rainy night! The first group got quite rushed, so please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or would like more information. Third grade can be a hard transition in any school. It is truly the bridge between primary and intermediate, with one foot in each area. It is often described as the year when students move from learning to read to reading to learn. You can imagine the extra effort required by our students who are trying to make that transition in two languages! We’ll try hard to keep you up to date on what we are covering and what the expectations are. Please be in touch if you have questions so we can make this as smooth and positive a year as possible.

WORD STUDY
www.prenhall.com/bear
We want to make sure we get off to a good start and that everyone feels comfortable with this new system. It’s a change from the way you’ve probably done spelling in the past; however we know it’s going to help our kids become better spellers. We are posting the weekly routine so you get a sense for the kind of word exploration they are doing in class. Be the end of the week, they will really know the pattern and be able to apply it independently. One “nuts and bolts” detail you may want is the test procedure. On Wednesday, students will take their test in a small group. We will help them self-correct so they will know right away how they did. They will be tested on 15 of the words from their list. We will reassess after many kids have worked through short and long vowels, as this concept is particularly hard for our immersion learners.

GUIDED AND INDEPENDENT READING
We have cause for celebration; they are amazing individuals and students with open ears, watchful eyes and warm hearts. In addition to the fantastic job the students did with the new routines of word study, we also started our guided reading routines. Guided Reading is a time when we teach to small groups at their instructional level. Our Houghton Mifflin series gives us many materials to reach almost any stage in the developmental reading continuum. We have slowly started our independent reading routines as well. This involves choosing the “just right” books we talked about at classroom information night. Next week we will be firming up our routines and procedures for this process. You are more than welcome to start the 15-20 minutes of independent reading at home each night. Again, we’re looking for smooth, fluent reading. This means, students aren’t stuck on words and have 5 or fewer that are hard on a page. It is really important that they read at this level to make progress in reading, as fluency is tied to comprehension, and reading for meaning is the goal. If they love an author series that is too hard to fit that “fluent” category now, please share those books as a read-aloud or in addition to independent reading time. You can certainly read a story to your child and then have him/her read it back to you to boost fluency. Rereading old favorites also work well for building fluency patterns.

ASSESSMENTS
We have started developmental reading assessments with all children, but have very few completed. It is a long, one-on-one process. We will be in touch if we see anything of concern.

ANTHOLOGY READING
THE READING LINK www.eduplace.com/kids CONNECTING YOU & THE CLASSROOM
Theme 1.2 The Ballad of Mulan by Song Nan Zhang

Next week we will read a Chinese legend about a girl who disguises herself as a male warrior and goes into battle in place of her aged father. Below are some easy ways you can help your child practice reading skills.

QUICK TAKES: 10 Minutes Each

READ ALOUD
One definition of ballad is “a song that tells a story.” With your child, find the words to a song that tell a story, and read them together. (Folk and camp songs often tell stories.) If you wish, learn the melody and sing the song together.

TALK ABOUT IT
Ask your child what qualities he or she thinks a person would need to be a good soldier. What qualities would a general need?

INTERNET CONNECTIONS

Post a Review
What did your child like about The Ballad of Mulan? Ask him or her to write a review and post it on this link: http://eduplace.com/kids/hmr06/?grade=3

Vocabulary (eWord)
If your child could use some vocabulary building games, click on the story on the Education Place website.
http://eduplace.com/kids/hmr06/?grade=3

How about a challenge? Click on the link below and select “Fake Out.”
http://eduplace.com/kids/games.jsp

BOOK LINKS
If your child likes The Ballad of Mulan, check out these books:

The Drums of Noto Hanto
by J. Alison James

The Adventures of Sparrowboy
by Brian Pinkney

Need help finding other good books? http://www.eduplace.com/tacklereading/index.html

FUN FACT
Did you know that The Ballad of Mulan was composed as a popular song in China over 1,500 years ago? Since then the story has been retold in Chinese poems, essays, operas, paintings, animated films, and even comic books. Mulan means “magnolia.”

This information is adapted from Home/Community Connection Houghton Mifflin Reading 2005©. Permission for adaptation and use in classroom communication including posting to teacher web pages granted from Houghton Mifflin to the Edina Public Schools 2006.

THANK YOU
We are so amazed at the generosity of parents and families. Thanks to Lydia Reiner for bringing in the plants! They are a great addition to the room. Thanks also to the Makredes family for the electric pencil sharpeners. We really appreciate moving that pencil sharpening line along! It is such a pleasure to work in a school where we are so supported! Thank you!