Think Tank in Third
Weekly Update- September 30, 2016
Our Week at a Glance
Math- We have been continuing with addition and subtraction with regrouping. Students seem to be doing well with addition, but we are still struggling a bit with subtraction. We will continue working on this skill. We will plan to have a post test on this unit on October 11th.
Genius Hour- This week we worked on generating thick questions to begin our research. We also gathered books on our topics and will begin researching next week. Students seem really excited about their projects thus far. If you're interested in volunteering to help with Genius Hour, you can view the link here.
Writing- This week we started talking about a personal narrative and we will continue to generate ideas for a personal narrative your child would like to write. The plan is to have students write several personal narratives, and choose which one they'd like to publish at the end of the unit.
Click here to view the homework menu for the week.
Spelling Programs
Think Tank Tip of the Week
How can I help my child increase their vocabulary?
- Use new and interesting words in natural conversation. Try this at mealtimes. Visuals also help children learn new words. Studies have shown that students who are exposed to more "rare words" at home, have a higher vocabulary.
- Read to them- research shows kids learn new words from books!
- Encourage children to look up new, unknown words when they come to them in reading.
- Relate new words to known words- use of synonyms (words with the same meaning). Example: frustrated is related to the word mad.
- Expose children to words multiple times!
Click here to read an article on increasing student vocabulary.
Online Learning Resourses
Just to reiterate from last week:
Aleks: I know many of you have been anxious to get started with Aleks. We will be taking the pretest next week and students will have their login information after October 3rd. Mrs. Callahan and I want to wait until we are trained in Aleks to let students begin using this resource. Aleks will not be a required resource to use as it is in some grades, but all students will have access.
MobyMax: This is an awesome resource for math and reading. Students can earn game time as they work through lessons. All lessons are tailored to meet your child's individual needs based on a pretest they took. Students earn classroom money when they earn a badge. THE SCHOOL CODE IS OH2407 you can go to www.mobymax.com/oh2407 To log in: Students' usernames will be the same as their google account. For example, mine is pratt.3. The password for all students is eagles3!