Welcome to Third Grade!

1. Welcome to Third Grade!

2. Contact Information Phone: (860) 561-2200 Email: kim_maloney@whps.org Ashley_radis@whps.org Brian_petronio@whps.org

3. Agenda • Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) • Reading • Writing/Spelling • Math • Science and Social Studies • Homework • Assessments • Classroom policies

4. PBIS • A program to foster positive behavior • Based on research that shows that acknowledgment for positive behaviors increases their frequency • Students receive tickets, classes receive paw prints • School wide behavior is tracked for data purposes in effort to promote accountability (consistent throughout school) • Sept. 20 PTB meeting devoted to this topic. • Please visit the café tonight for additional information

5. Literacy • Storytown Anthology: Researched based reading program that provides explicit phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency instruction • Supplemental materials

8. Reading Comprehension • Forming a General Understanding • Which statement BEST tells what the story or article is about? • Developing an Interpretation • What type of person do you think ________ was? Use details from the passage to support your answer.

9. Making Reader/ Text Connections • Which part of the story was most interesting or surprising? Use information from the story to support your answer. • Examining the Content and Structure • - If the author had added another paragraph to the end of the story, it would most likely have described _________.

10. What Does Writer’s Workshop Look Like? • Mini-Lesson (i. e. grammar, punctuation, word choice, story structure) • Writer’s Notebook • Genres (personal narrative, fictional narrative) • Independent Writing • Conference Time • Publishing • Sharing

11. The Writing Process • Prewriting • Drafting • Revising • Editing • Publishing

12. Third Grade Writing Rubric

13. Spelling • Individualized weekly test-12 total • Includes West Hartford Core Words (4), spelling patterns (Storytown) (5), content words (2), and a challenge word (1)

14. Date: _______________________________________ • Highlighted Core Words/ • Words Missed on Last Week’s Spelling Test • _________________________________________ • _________________________________________ • _________________________________________ • _________________________________________ • Pattern Words • _________________________________________ • _________________________________________ • _________________________________________ • _________________________________________ • _________________________________________ • Content Words • __________________________________________ • __________________________________________ • Challenge Word • 12. __________________________________________

15. Second and Third Grade Core Words

16. Math • Trailblazers • Problem Solver • District Created Pre/Post Assessments • Other resources

17. What are the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)? K-12 national academic standards in mathematicsand English language arts/literacy adopted by CT State Board of Education in 2010 • Establish what Connecticut students should know, be able to do and understand as they progress through grades K-12 • Will be fully implemented in grades K-5 over the next two years

18. The Common Core State Standards: • Are clear, consistent, and high-level based on research and evidence • Align with college and career expectations • Include rigorous content and application of knowledge through higher order thinking skills • Build upon strengths and lessons of current state standards • Are informed by other top-performing countries so that all students are prepared to succeed in our global economy and society

19. How will the Common Core impact our work at each grade level?

20. How will the Common Core Standards impact what your child is learning this year? Grades 1, 3, 5: Math • Our revised curriculum provides students with a solid foundation in: • Whole numbers (grades 1, 3, 5) • Addition/subtraction (grades 1, 3, 5) • Multiplication/division (grades 3 & 5) • Fractions (grade 5) • Decimals (grade 5) • Focus is placed on understanding and fluency with concepts • Students have experiences with varied mathematical “ways of thinking” which they apply to more and more complex problems

21. Will your child take the Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT)? • Students in Grades 3-5 will take the CMT in spring 2013 and 2014 • National assessments based on Common Core Standards are in design/pilot stage for implementation in 2014-2015

22. Where can you find out more about the Common Core State Standards? • Curriculum in an Nutshell documents at each grade level highlight curriculum revisions • Link via West Hartford Public Schools website www.whps.org (right column) • www.corestandards.org

23. Math Facts “The goal of the math facts strand in Math Trailblazers is for students to learn the basic facts efficiently, gain fluency with their use, and retain that fluency over time."   "a large body of research supports an approach in which students develop strategies for figuring out the facts rather than relying on rote memorization."  "too much drill before conceptual understanding may interfere with a child's ability to understand concepts at a later date."  Opportunities include class assignments and relevant homework to reinforce concepts. There are NO specific benchmarks (i.e. must master 100 facts in 5 minutes), but the goal is FLUENCY

24. Problem Solving Strategies • Act out or use objects • Make a picture or diagram • Use or make a table • Make an organized list • Guess and check • Use or look for a pattern • Work backwards • Use logical reasoning

25. Steps to Problem Solving • Find Out • Choose a Strategy • Solve It • Look Back

26. Science Switch Groups • Properties of Matter (Mr. Petronio) • Life Science: Adaptations (Mrs. Radis) • Forces and Motion: Pushes and Pulls (Mrs. Maloney)

27. Health • Nutrition: food labeling • Safe and Unsafe Touch/Substance Abuse: Officer Grant • Substance Abuse Prevention • Healthy relationships: Respectful and responsible behaviors

28. Social Studies • Geography • Native Americans • West Indies (Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic) • Citizenship

29. Third Grade Homework • To review, refine, and reinforce skills presented in class • To promote responsibility and organization of time. Homework should be completed independently. • Homework should take 10-30 minutes per night, not including daily reading for 20-30 minutes. • Weekly Reading Log due Fridays • Monday assignments due Wednesday • Wednesday assignments due Friday

31. Assessments in Third Grade • Baseline Assessments Administered in the fall • AIMSWeb Reading: September 10-14 • AIMSWeb Math: 18-28 • Reading Comprehension: October 16-18 • Used as a benchmark to help guide our instruction • It is not unusual to hear feedback from students who are experiencing this for the first time.

32. AIMSWeb Reading and Math • Universal assessments given three times (September, January, May) • R-CBM (Oral Reading Fluency) and the MAZE (Cloze activity) • Students who perform below or well below average are progress monitored every two weeks

33. Reading Assessment • Fiction and non-fiction passages with multiple choice and open-ended questions

34. Connecticut Mastery Test (CMT) • Two weeks in March (7 sessions) • Reading • Writing • Math

35. Field Trips • Westmoor Park (October 30th) • Native American Museum, Washington Depot, CT (spring)

36. Birthday Celebrations • Birthday celebrations include non-food items.

37. Green Cleaning ProductsCT Public Act 09-81 “No parent, guardian, teacher, or staff member may bring into the school facility any consumer products which is intended to clean, deodorize, sanitize, or disinfect.” Soap and water are the BEST way to prevent germs Earth Sense brand cleaners to be used Dye and fragrance free NO—bleach, phenols, ammonia that are found in over-the-counter general purpose cleaners (THIS INCLUDES HAND SANITIZERS!)

38. Communication • Please send in a note when your child’s dismissal plans for the day change. • If you forget to send a note, please call the main office at 561-2200 • Please sign up for the school listserv from the school’s main webpage. This will ensure that you will receive the Sunflower newsletter and routine communication from the school.

39. Overwhelmed?? • Thank you for all that you do for your child! • Our goal is to help make your child a life-long learner! • Personally, we think third grade is the best!