FCAT Practice

Parents,

As you know, FCAT time is inching closer and closer for our third graders. We have been working diligently in our reading class to make sure we are preparing for our big "Show What You Know" test. You have probably noticed more FCAT Practice papers coming home with your children over the past few weeks. Please be sure you are going over these with your children as much as you can.

FCAT Practice, before the winter holiday, was being taken as a classwork grade. We were doing these together in class, or together in centers. Beginning this nine weeks, that is no longer the case. We are now treating these as tests. This will allow us to get a clear picture of what skills the students need to work on before the big test gets here. We want all of our students to be ready to "Rock the FCAT!"

Here are some things you can expect to look for on your child's FCAT Practice:

• Underlining/highlighting in the story: Right now I am allowing the students to highlight where they find their answers. As time progresses, we will be moving to strictly underlining where answers are found, as students are not allowed to use highlighters on the actual FCAT. If your child is not underlining or highlighting, please make sure you talk with them about this. It is so important for them to get in this habit, as it is proven to improve test scores!
• Circling key words in the questions: Please be sure you are talking with your children about the differences between who, what, when, where, why, and how questions.
• Crossing out answers that are not possible: We have been talking a lot about using the process of elimination to help us determine which answer could be the best choice.
• Making sure all questions are answered: If you see your child has skipped questions, please be sure to remind them to check over their work before submitting it to the teacher. Remind them the FCAT graders from the State of Florida, are not going to come hunt them down so they can complete their tests! :)

Thanks for your help! Be sure to check out the FCAT Tab on the blog, as well. Having your child get on FCAT Explorer is a great (and fun) way to help them prepare as well.

Catching Up!

I hope everybody is enjoying their break. It's been a while since I have had a chance to post to the blog, so I wanted to catch you all up on our school happenings before we left for break.

The last story we read in our reading classes was "The Go-Around Dollar." In this story, we learned all about how money is made and ways the government keeps people from counterfeiting. (Ask your child what that word means. He/She should be able to answer you right away!)

We added a little science to our reading lesson regarding the dollar, and shredded a dollar bill in a blender. Using a super strong earth magnet, we were able to extract some of the iron from the ink in the dollar bill. We learned a dollar bill is made from special paper and special ink, and iron is just one little special element they add to the ink. Our story said if you send a destroyed dollar to the Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing, they would replace your dollar bill. We wrote a letter and packed up the shredded dollar, and will see what happens!

We had two very exciting homeroom days before we left for the holidays. Breakfast in PJ's was fun (Thank you Angela's mom and Cyrell's mom for volunteering) and then we made candy cane cards and ornaments our last day in school.

Check out the slideshow to see all of the fun we have had in the month of December!

Create a digital slideshow

Stuff the Stocking

We will "Stuff the Stocking" at our holiday party on Tuesday, Dec. 20th. Please have your child bring in a stocking by this Friday to decorate the classroom. At our holiday party, we will fill the stockings with treats!

Please bring in 20 small items for your child to put in each classmate's stocking. These items do not need to cost a lot of money. It can be candy canes, pencils, inexpensive ornaments you can buy in bulk, stickers, etc. All items are due to school on Monday Dec. 19th (the day before our party.)

Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season so far! 

Happy Turkey Day!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

Safe travels if you are on the road this week/weekend!

Couldn't Resist This Photo Op.

Our students have been studying bicycle safety in P.E. For sanitary reasons, they all wear shower caps under their bicycle helmets. Needless to say, I love P.E. days!

Food Chains and Food Webs

Our Imagine It unit has focused on Animals and Their Habitats. A couple of weeks ago, we read a story titled Wolf Island. In the story, a family of wolves move away and it causes problems with the food chain on the island. To go along with our story, we learned about food chains interactively, and then made our own food web. We learned how animals are interdependent on one another, and how the disappearance of one species can have a horrible effect on the food web. Here are a few pictures.

 Interactive food chain

 Morning class makes their food web

 The afternoon class makes their food web

 Devean had some problems...

Devean still having problems! :) 

Nobody is quite sure how he got tangled up in the food web, but

we were all very entertained by it.

Good news: Devean managed to get free!

Homograph or Homophone?

We have been busy learning about homographs and homophones over the past two weeks. This can be a very confusing concept! Here are some ways to remember the difference between the two:

• A homoPHONE: We talk on a phone. When we talk on the phone we HEAR SOUND. So we can remember a homophone sounds the same, but is spelled different and has a different meaning!
• A homoGRAPH: When we use a graph we have to LOOK at it. So we can remember a homograph looks the same (meaning it is spelled the same), but has a different meaning and can sometimes (but not always) sound different.

Still confused? Watch this video for some examples!