Mark your Calendars!

The official FCAT schedule has been released and is DIFFERENT than the originally scheduled dates. FCAT for 3rd grade will be as follows:

Monday, April 14th- Reading, Session 1
Tuesday, April 15th- Reading, Session 2
Wednesday, April 16th- Math, Session 1
Thursday, April 17th- Math, Session 2

CGA 3 (Curriculum Guide Assessments) will start on March 10th.

Yankee Candle Fundraising:
TURN IN the single sheet showing # of orders (so far) by tomorrow, Friday, February 28th.
The actual orders are due March 10th.

Spring Break is March 17th-21st. A math packet will come home prior to Spring Break and will be due upon returning after Spring Break. An information sheet will be sent with the packet. No reading packet will be given, however, students are expected to continue reading every day and log the following in their agendas: title, author, exact pages read, and minutes read. Students are expected to keep the green bookmark up-to-date for every book they read, including books from home or elsewhere.

Please be sure all nightly reading is logged in the student agenda nightly, including weekends.

Thank you!
Mrs. Coleman & Mrs. Jeter

Reading: Summarizing

This week, we are learning and practicing how to summarize what we have read. There are many ways to think about summarizing, but this week we are learning "somebody, wanted, but, so, (and)". Here are some examples from chapter 1 and chapter 12 of Charlotte's Web. This shows all the parts of "somebody, wanted, but, so, (and)" and it shows that there are different ways to summarize the same chapter.

Each night, have your child read 20 minutes or more, then try telling you the summary of what they read (just that chapter) by using "somebody, wanted, but, so, (and)". Have your child try telling it a different way. Which way do they think tells what that chapter was mostly about in the BEST way?

PARENTS: Worried? Your child hasn't mastered this skill yet? No worries! We have only begun to practice the skill of summarizing. It takes a lot of practice. See the student note below for an idea to support their practice of summarizing. They can practice an oral summary every day after they read a new chapter, too.

Remember STUDENTS: Summarizing is NOT a long retelling of all the details in a story/chapter. We are working on 1 sentence summaries that tell what the story/chapter was MOSTLY about. Try writing 1 sentence at the end of each chapter on a post-it. Use the "SWBS(and)" strategy.

Happy summarizing!
~Mrs. Coleman

Reading: Prefixes, Suffixes, & Base Words

Click the picture above to hear a fun rap about Prefixes and Suffixes.

We will continue working on the following affixes, including their meanings, how they change a word, and what the new word means.

Prefixes: pre-, un-, in-, re-, dis-, mis-, non-

Suffixes: -er, -est, -ful, -less, -able, -ly, -or, -ness

Sample test item:

On page 51 (Charlotte's Web), we read "I dont want to die!" screamed Wilbur, throwing himself to the ground. "You shall not die," said Charlotte, briskly.

If brisk means quick, what does briskly mean?

a. Charlotte spoke quick again.
b. Charlotte spoke without being quick.
c. Charlotte spoke in a way that was quick.
d. Charlotte spoke more quick than before.

Answer: C.

Reading: Author's Purpose

This week, we are diving into Author's Purpose! That is, we are diving into "why" authors write different text. Below, you will find our class poster which shows three main reasons author's write text, a definition for what each reason really means, and some typical types of text where you can find examples of persuasive text, informational text, and entertaining text.

Students: Why did the author write YOUR independent reading book? How do you know? Remember, find details in the text as evidence to support your thinking.

Happy Reading!
~Mrs. Coleman

Book Reports: Character in a Can

Our first book report will be a "Character in a Can" and includes a descriptive paragraph about a main character from a book that students read independently. The book can be one they have already logged on their reading book log (the log we keep in our ELA Binder, in class) OR it can be a book the student is currently reading and close to completing. It must be a chapter book or biography.

Today, students recieved their directions, rubric, paper for a rough draft, and paper for final draft. Below are some examples of 3-D characters in a can from last year. These are to give you some examples of a homemade 3-D character in a can.

Helen Keller (Biography)

Jo March from Little Women

Leonardo from Monday with a Mad Genius

Marvin, the Beetle, from Masterpiece

Geronimo Stilton from Geronimo Stilton

Amelia Earhart (biography)

Once you have read the directions and rubric with your child, please feel free to email me at colemana1@duvalschools.org or call me during the week at 260-5860, etx. 2115 if you have questions.

This assignment is DUE on or before Friday, October 18th. Also, this will be graded and is counted as a Unit Test/Project. Unit Tests and Projects account for a large percentage of the overall language arts grade on report cards.

Happy Creating!

~Mrs. Coleman

Reading Wrap-Up: Character Traits, Context Clues, & Text Features

What have we been working on? Character traits, context clues, including synonyms & antonyms, and using text features to support our thinking. Here is more information about what students should be able to do with their own texts during independent reading.

Context Clues: Students should be able to figure out the meaning of unknown words by using other information the author has given (context clues). Sometimes the author gives a direct definition, a synonym, an antonym, examples, or an explanation of what is happening in the story.

Context Clues Example: On page 40 of Charlotte's Web, Goose thinks that Wilbur is "a very INNOCENT little pig". We can determine that innocent must mean not knowing about things that go on in life because the author writes "Wilbur doesn't know about life... doesn't know what's going to happen to him... has no idea".

Synonyms & Antonyms: Students should be able to understand what an author means when using a specific word by thinking of other words that would fit in the same context. Sometimes the author will even give synonyms in another sentence to help the reader understand.

Synonym Example: On page 40 in Charlotte's Web, the author writes that "He knew Templeton was getting soaked out there in the pouring rain, but even that didn't comfort him." Another word or phrase for soaked could be "very wet" or "drenched". Both of these would fit in place of soaked and I know that you can get very wet when it is "pouring rain".

Text Features: Students should use text features to help them understand what the author means. While there are many types of text features, some that we have worked on in the last few weeks are: illustrations, table of contents, chapter titles, and bold or italicized words.

Text Features Example: We can better understand what Charlotte means when she says, "Next, I wrap him up" because the illustration on page 38 shows Charlotte completely covering a fly with her "tiny, silken thread". Here is the illustration:

Character Traits: Students should be able to use a character's actions, thoughts, feelings, and words to describe that character using character traits.

Character Traits Example: In the third chapter of Charlotte's Web, we can describe Goose as "bossy". We can say she is bossy because she tells Wilbur to break out of his pen by saying "One of the boards is loose. Push on it... and come on out". Once Wilbur is out, Goose tells Wilber all the places he should go. Goose also tells Wilbur what to do when he is being chased by the dog and Lurvey. Goose yells things like "run-run-run downhill, make for the woods" and "turn and twist...dodge about...skip around". When Wilbur is lured back into the pen, Goose continues to be bossy by trying to yell at Wilbur to keep his freedom and not be fooled by the slops he is being lured with. (Pages 17-23)

Students can practice these same skills when reading their independent texts at school and at home!

Happy Reading!
~Mrs. Coleman

Reading Wrap-Up: Evidence

We are really enjoying our first novel study with Charlotte's Web! Many students have read this book before or have had the book read to them. But, when we use it to learn our 3rd grade standards, it is different! We have been diving into the following topics: questioning, character feelings versus characer traits, how the main character's life has changed from chapters 1-2 to chapter 3, plot structure, using text features to increase comprehension, and showing evidence or citing text.

Here is an example from class that your child can use as a model for answering a question about their text, in paragraph form (complete sentences), restating a question to begin an answer, making an inference, giving supporting evidence from the text (with page numbers), and directly quoting (citing) the text.

This is a great example of what you should see your child doing when discussing text and writing about text.

Happy citing!
Mrs. Coleman

Reading Wrap-Up: Questioning

Yes! We are well on our way to learning a new reading strategy: questioning. Use these posters to practice questioning when reading independently at home.

REMEMBER: Ask questions BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER reading a text.

Happy Questioning!
~Mrs. Coleman

Reading Wrap-Up: Inferring

As we wrap-up our study of the reading strategy inferring, you can practice inferring while reading your independent chapter book at home. Here are the same posters and activities we use in class to practice inferring. No wild guesses here! Remember, our schema PLUS evidence from the text makes a good inference.

What is inferring?

Here's how I can start my inference:

Here is an example of how we used schema PLUS evidence to infer:

Happy Inferring!!

~Mrs. Coleman

Reading Wrap-Up: Schema

As we "wrap-up" our introduction to SCHEMA, here are some helpful posters you can use to practice using schema and making connections when you read at home.

Use these Thinking Stems for Schema to start your connections...

REMEMBER! You still have to end your thought with evidence from the text that you are connecting to.

Here are some examples of how we practiced this in class:

We listened to and read the lyrics for "Rachel Delevoryas" by Randy Stonehill

Some connections were:

 "This song reminds me of the book we read called Don't Laugh At Me because in that book, people were made fun of because of things like wearing glasses and it hurt their feelings. In the song, Rachel was made fun of because of her thick glasses and dowdy hair and it hurt her feelings." (Text-to-Text connection)

"I'm remembering when I was sad and cried because my feelings were hurt, just like Rachel cried because her feelings were hurt when they called her ugly." (Text-to-Self Connection)

Use the Schema thinking stems to help you make connections AND tell how that connection helped you understand what you read better. (If it doesn't help, it might be a weak connection...make STRONG connections that MATTER to your comprehension!)

Happy Connecting!

Mrs. Coleman

Reading Wrap-Up: Metacognition

What a successful first week we had! Here are some of the fun and important learning experiences we had this week while developing rituals and routines.

We learned about METACOGNITION!

These Thinking Stems help us discuss metacognition.

We even had a guest reader come to help us with our Thought Bubble.

It helped us think about our thinking.

Mrs. Manucy was a super parent volunteer last year and is a Veterinarian!

That made our book Animals Asleep even more exciting!

Students practiced using the Thinking Stems and sharing their thinking about Animals Asleep.



What can your child do at home? Use our metacognition thinking stems when they read! Every student should read a minimum of 20 minutes each day at home. That reading is logged on the RAH (Read At Home) Log every day and turned in each Friday. Students also use their class bookmark to record the exact pages read each time they read.

Happy Reading!

Mrs. Coleman