Dear Parents and Guardians,

We are working very hard to improve our skills in reading and math to prepare for the upcoming ISAT Assessment to be administered the first week of March. We have been taking practice ISAT test and have completed some for homework. Test taking behavior is very important to the success of our students. Test taking behavior includes the ability for the students to remain on task for at least an hour at a time.  Students must be able to follow directions, stay focused and remember to raise their hand if they have any questions. I can only answer only basic questions, I cannot answer questions related to the understanding of the text such as "Can you explain what this word means?" We have learned to use various sto figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words. Thinking about how unfamiliar words relate to the text or how the word is used in the context of the sentence or paragraph, is a strategy that supports comprehension. Students must above everything have the attititude they will do their best!  We are practicing these procedures as we take the practice test. This is not only effective learning behavior for the ISAT,  but for optimal learning everyday.

The Student Council has started to collect money for the people of Haiti. We are asking that each student bring in any loose change they find in their pants or sofas to contribute to such a humanitiarian cause.

I have started to send home the behavior charts I discussed last week. These charts are pretty easy to follow. If your child receives one please return it with your signature the next day. I am hoping that this chart will help the children to think about the importance of staying focused during class learning time.

This week we will be working on the following:

LANGUAGE ARTS:

We will continue to take practice <em>ISAT</em> test. We will also focus on identifying the main idea  and supporting details in our reading. This reading skill is as important in writing cohensive paragraphs as it is to comprehending text. When your child is reading at home, please take a moment to read a few paragraphs and then ask your child to identify the main idea, (topic sentence) in the paragraph, and then to tell you the sentences that support the main idea. This is also important when helping your child focus on the main idea of a story. I will send another copy of the kinds of questions that illicit thought provoking answers, (thick questions), or higher order thinking questions,  as opposed to answers that can be answered with little thought, (thin questions), or lower order questions.

We will begin reading "<em>The Boy Who Didn't Believe In Spring"</em>in our OpenCourt readers.  This realistic fiction story tells the story of one little boy  living in the city that doesn't believe in spring. The focus will be on identifying the main idea in the story as well as in paragraphs and identifying the supporting details.

WRITING:

We will complete an expository paper that descibes the thing we know the most about and can explain in detail to someone how to do this favorite thing.

We will also practice writing extend response answers. Extended response answers are answers in which the student reads a selected text and then responds to a prompt which requires them to extract information from the text to support their answer. An example of an extended response question could be, "<em>Explain how Pee Wee Reese proved he was willing to stand up for Jackie Robinson.  Use information from the story to support your answer."  </em>What is important is that the children understand they must restate the question in their answer, give supporting details to support their answer and refer to information in the text to support their answer. A tall plate for third graders, however they can do it. We will continue to work on extended response answers as well as expository writing.

SPELLING:

We will learn how to spell some of the most frequently mispelled words.

<strong>because, before, could, would, though, should, brought, about, began, behind, where, when, what, while, what</strong>

There will be a test on these words on Friday

MATH:

We will complete Unit Four, Multiplication and Division.  We will review the unit on Thursday and take the unit test on Friday if nothing interfers with our schedule. I have been sending copies of the multiplication facts for homework. I hope you have had a chance to xerox copies for your child. We have been practicing the basic multiplication facts for a month now. Most of the children are proficient however I still have some that require more practice. The acquistion of  basic math facts can only be achieved with practice, practice, practice. Please use flash cards, computer activities, rote learning, competitive games and anything that supports your child's learning of the basic multiplication facts. Division will be an impossible task to master if multiplication facts aren't mastered.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

We are learning the location and names of our  fifty states, ten states at a time. We will have a test on Thursday on the mid-western states. I have given the children maps to complete to help them learn where the states are located. They should know the correct spelling of the states.

We will have a test on Thursday that addresses how we can live in many places at one time. We learned this in Lesson Five of <em>Map Essentials</em>. The test will expect the children to know the difference between a neighborhood, a community, a state, a country, a continient.

SCIENCE:

We are learning about earth materials. We are examining "mock" rocks. We will observe what materials our mock rocks are made of, i.e. sand, gravel, salt, clay, etc.

<em>HAVE                           A                          GREAT                           WEEK</em>!

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