TEST

We have talked about Reading Workshop before…for the past couple months the kids have been working on individual goals, while they READ to SELF.  The teacher would then walk around and conference with each child to make sure he or she is understanding their new goal and achieving success. 

This time, we are working on a Strategy Goal with a group.  In this group, the kids will be Reading, Writing, Thinking and/or Researching to complete their Goal.  I am so excited to watch the kids participate in this!  THey will work with a teacher, as well as in the group to acheive their goal.

We are going to try out our First INQUIRY Circle of the year (Synthesizing), our First Literature Circle (applying Reading Strategies while reading a chapter book, Author’s Purpose), we will be working on some Fluency Goals, and using Read Naturally and finally one group will work hard on Retelling a Fiction Text!  

(Basically, I am integrating all the ideas from my favorite prof. books presented in them and trying to create my own ADvenTurE in learning!) In case you are a teacher reading this and you have not read any of these books…below check them out! I wish I could teach every day, all day sometimes so I could follow all of their amazing suggestions!) (I am obsessed with Debbie Miller & Stephanie Harvey’s reading strategies, I love Harvey Daniels take on Literature Circles, my new WOW book is Inquiry Circles by Harvey & Daniels and I love the “SISTERS” take on assessment and centers!”

Pics and vids we be posted so that you can see how this process works!  I am so excited to see all of the THINKING and Reading going on in ROOM 305!

I know it’s a little late… but I figured better late than never!

This picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

If you ask anyone in our sweet class if they enjoy Math right now!  The answer would be an EXTREMELY large YES!  They are having so much fun memorizing their Count By’s!  Mrs. Peterson and I are so proud of them!  They are doing so well!  I wanted to make sure and let you know that under the Math Page up top, under X Resources…I have started to add some vids of the kids practicing their Count By’s in a variety of ways.  Don’t forget to check it out!!!

REMEMBER: ALL COUNT BY’S MUST BE PASSED OFF BY JANUARY 31ST! 

Way to go CAN DO KIDS!  I just wanted to tell our FabULouS class how proud I am of each of them.  They have been working hard on their 1st Power Points in Computers!  THey are catching on really fast & I can see the light in their little eyes….it tells me they are learning, and that they can’t wait to work on another PPT after this one!  If you have PPT at home, I am sure your child would love to play around with it! 

HIGH FIVE!  Kids in room 305!  We are SOOOOOOOOOOOO proud of you! 

Our goal is to have them done by conferences!  Cross your fingers!

***thanks to all the parents who have sent in pics for the kids!

Students  please follow the link to take your test! http://www.quia.com/quiz/2918659.html

We are going to try out a new testing format to help us get ready for the Core Test.  Students will take part of their Vocabulary & Comprehension tests on the computer during class! Students: Click on the link to take the test http://www.quia.com/pages/kpeterson520/page1

HI, I have so much to say…so here is one more post!  Today-  We talked about another fantastic Reading Strategy!  I modeled the strategy with the class and had them participate in the lesson!  It went really well!  I can tell that they are sooo excited to use it!  They had time to create their own MY FILE… also!  But, next week they will have the opportunity to dive into a good INFORMATIONAL text and try it out on their own~!

Here is a sneak peak with info on what a MY FILE is!  More POSTS will be coming soon with footage from our 2010-2011 Can Do Kid class!  This was from a couple years ago!  I called these two students, my MY FILE GALS because they just loved it so much!!! 

http://mrsslaugh.com/myfile.htm

Maybe you know who these girls are 🙂 They still go to our Fabulous School!!!

The latest reading strategy that we have been using in class in called inferring!  Inferring actually has 2 meanings.  We can INFER what is going to happen next…how the problem is solved…it is basically a smart guess or like a prediction!!! The other way that we infer…is when we come to a word that we do not know the meaning of the word… This happens alot to us 3rd Graders…we are great readers, but we always come to a new word that we can pronounce just fine, but we really do not know what the word MEANS…so instead of just skipping the word…we STOP AND THINK!  and follow these steps…to help us infer what that word means to help us better understand the text we are reading! Look at the picture, Reread the Sentence and Use your SCHEMA!  We practiced both of these strategies with 2 amazing books!

Ask your children to explain what INFERRING really means or have them sing your our song!!! Happy Inferring!!!

Here is a link that provides more information on Inferring!!!

 http://www.mrsslaugh.com/inferring.htm

Your fabulous child is going to start working on their very first Power Point today in the lab!  Yeah!!! They are very very excited, as I am too!  Our goal is to complete this by conferences next month! 🙂 For their Presentation, it would be helpful if you would either email me or send a disk, with an individual photo of them, a family snapshot, some pics of them participating in their favorite activies…and whatever.  They will be learning how to insert pictures into their presentation!  Call or email me if you have any questions!  Thanks a bunch for all your support!

I need them by Thursday the 13th if possible!!!!