Reading Updates & Important Dates

WOW!  It's hard to believe that October is already here and moving along quickly!  We're so proud of how hard our 3rd graders are working.  They have become a great community of learners.

Reading Workshop
We continue to work on reading and writing narrative stories.  In reading workshop, we're currently reading the book Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner as our class read aloud.  Ask your child to tell you about it thus far.  This book is a key anchor text in regard to our work within the "Narrative Reading Learning Progression" for 3rd graders. (A copy of the complete progression is in the booklet we gave out and/or sent home at parent night).  We are currently focused on three parts of the progression-envisioning/predicting, checking comprehension and fluency. These goals are great to review with your child as you read together at home. Here are the goals for third graders in regard to their development in each area.
(Courtesy  © 2015 by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project from Units of Study for Teaching Reading (Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH)

Envisioning and Predicting
I make a mental movie as I read. I imagine the setting, the characters, the events, and characters’ reactions to them. I predict what the main character will do, say, and think (and how the character will react to things) based on earlier parts of the text. I can explain the reasons for my predictions.

Checking Comprehension~Monitoring for Sense
I expect the story to make sense, and when it does not, I use fix-up strategies such as rereading and asking questions, including the 5 Ws. To regain my grip on the storyline, I recall the sequence of events, often trying to sort through what the main character really wants, the problems he or she confronts, and ways the character rises to those challenges.
(The 5 Ws-Who? What? Where? When? Why?)

Fluency
I can read in my head and aloud in ways that help my listeners and me understand the story (e.g., changing my voice to show dialogue or a character’s feelings). The new work I’m doing now is that I can do this even when I’m reading longer sentences.

In regard to reading at home, we hope that you are encouraging your child to read daily for sustained periods of time.  Reading with and to your child is also terrific! Students have developed excellent reading habits at school and are ready to read many texts for extended periods of time.  This is truly how they will grow as readers!  We welcome students to borrow books to bring home from our extensive classroom library.  We have a simple system for signing the books out.  We are also always happy to help out with book selections. We've been doing some class "Book Buzzing" when we talk about great books that we think other students might enjoy reading.

Important Dates

• Friday, October 7 is a WCSU Teacher Inservice Day~No School for students.
• Monday, October 10 we are all off for the Columbus Day Holiday
• Monday, October 10-Scholastic Book Orders are due.  Online-search for Mrs. Christy's class, the code is DXCXK.
• Wednesday, October 19~Trip to the Barre Opera House-all permission slips are in!  We will be back in time for lunch.
• Thursday, October 20  EMES Open House for students and their families~6:00 p.m.