Reader's Workshop in Room 40

This Monday we will begin Reader's Workshop! Our approach to reading in third grade will be quite a bit different than in the younger grades. Rather than focusing on figuring out individual words, our attention will be much more focused on comprehension strategies for understanding what we're reading.

Each week, we will spend our time with a different reading comprehension strategy, including predicting, inferring, cause and effect, fantasy and realism, author's purpose, and many others. However, instead of just reading short, low-interest stories out of a textbook, we'll instead be spending our time with highly interesting and exciting stories.

I've selected a large variety of different kinds of stories for us to read this year - funny stories, scary stories, mystery stories, sad stories, fantasy stories, historical stories, biographies, and even poetry.

Our first novel that we'll be reading together is Judy Bloom's classic - "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing".

On Monday, I'll introduce the book to the kids and we'll take a look at some of the vocabulary in the first two chapters of the book. I'll also introduce the strategy for the week:

Cause and Effect

On Tuesday, we'll read the first chapter together to further understand the strategy. On Wednesday and Thursday, students will read the second chapter in pairs. Then, on Friday, students will take a SHORT test on the skill of Cause and Effect. This is generally how our reading time will be spent throughout the year, though with different skills and different stories.

Test Tomorrow!

Students will have their first GRADED test tomorrow morning! This is a simple test of memorization of their important information. The items that students need to have memorized are:

Full Name
Full Street Address (with correct spelling)
Home Phone Number
Parents' Full Names
Parents' Cell Phone Numbers
Parents' E-Mail Addresses
Student Identification Number
School Computer Login
School Computer Password

Happy Birthday, Ivan!

Ivan celebrated his ninth birthday today! I hope you had a great one, Ivan!





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Meet the New Batch of SOFFERIN'S SUPERSTARS!!

We've had a great first two days of school. And now that most of the start of the year "stuff" is out of the way, we can finally start the real work of learning. Tomorrow, we have a full day of math, reading, science, social studies, and writing! We have a lot of work to do this year, and I've never been more eager to get started!



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Ready for the New School Year!

It was great getting to meet so many of you today at orientation, and I look forward to meeting the rest of you on Monday!

Welcoming a New Set of Superstars!

Welcome to third grade!
If you've found your way to my blog, that means you probably received a letter in the mail letting you know that you'll be a SUPERSTAR this year!

I'm more excited than ever before to start this new school year! I absolutely LOVE my new classroom. And after getting my list of new students, it looks like we're already off to a great start!

Check it out! These are the third graders you'll be spending the year with in room 40! Sorry, but I don't post last names of students, so you'll just have to guess at the last names for now!

Sofferin's Superstars
Class of 2011

Axel
Rebekah
Aniya
Marita
Klea
Deadrien
Chloe
Justice
Leonardo
Nicholas
Hudson
Darius
Ivan
Amber
Alexis
Elysha
Abdullah

Recognize any names? If not, don't worry - after just a day or so next week, you'll have a whole new set of friends!

I hope to see EVERYONE at orientation this Friday afternoon. If you can't make it then have a good last week off and I'll see you on Monday!

EDIT: Mrs. Beaver pointed out to me that I made a mistake in the letter that I sent out and said somewhere that your child was going into fifth grade. Just to clarify, that was an error! Your child isn't skipping two grades! In other news, Mrs. Beaver has volunteered to be my personal editor! :D

Have a Great Sixth Grade Year!

Former Sofferin Superstars - You'll be starting middle school in just over a week! I bet you're bubbling over with excitement - right? RIGHT? I won't be foolish enough to wish you "good luck". Just remember everything you learned at Beauclerc and in my class -

Be Nice
Work Hard
Think for Yourself

Do these three things and you don't need any "luck" - You'll do phenomenally in middle school! Don't forget to come visit Beauclerc when you can! I'll be down the hall in Ms. Stokes's old room.

Here are the rest of the pictures from our end of the year luncheon! Enjoy!

Also, this is the last call if you want copies of all the pictures I took throughout the year, including our beautiful class pictures that Mrs. Laymon took for us! You have until next Thursday (August 19th) to get the pictures. After that, I'll need the space for new stuff. Send me an e-mail ASAP to get the link for the pictures!