Below is a description of the RACER strategy.
RACER |
Third grade is the first year of EOGs. To help prepare students, the third grade teachers at Mills Park Elementary teach their students a reading strategy called RACER. Below is a description of the RACER strategy.
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I enjoyed meeting everyone who made it out to Meet the Teacher last week and looking forward to meeting everyone else soon. I KNOW this is going to be a great year.
E-mail is the best way to contact me, so feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] whenever you have a question or a concern. Look for more information about our classroom this week. Can't wait to work with you this year, Michelle Reichel Field Day is here!
Friday, April 20, 2011 1:15-3:15 PM The long awaited field day is here! We will have plenty of centers for the students to rotate through. There will running, jumping, and water play. It is sure to be a fun day. Students MUST wear sneakers or closed toe shoes! It is difficult and DANGEROUS to have open-toed shoes. Students will be running and jumping. Students may wear swimsuits under their clothing. If they wear a swimsuit, PLEASE make sure they bring a change of clothes. Swimsuits are optional, but they will all be wet by the end of the day!!! It is your choice if you’d like them to wear their swimsuits. If students wear swimsuits, please have them wear shorts and a t-shirt over it for girls and a t-shirt for boys. Please put sunscreen on in the morning and send your child with a water bottle clearly labeled with their name and teacher. Please pack a change of clothes for students, including dry socks and underwear. If you want to volunteer to help out, please just show up. If you have any questions, please contact me. Thanks, Michelle Reichel [email protected] Field Day Checklist Before Field Day ð Sunscreen ð Hat (suggested) ð Tennis shoes or closed-toed shoes ð Water bottle labeled with student name and teacher name ð Swimsuit (suggested) ð T-shirt ð Shorts ð Good sportsmanship After Field Day ð Towel Dry socks ð Dry underwear ð Dry Tennis shoes or closed-toed shoes (optional) ð Dry T-shirt ð Dry Shorts Plastic bag to put wet clothes in I came across this website and wanted to share. It has songs, books, and activities for learning. You can subscribe to it, but they have a fair amount of free resources.
Enjoy! http://www.mightybook.com/ In our recent Home/School Connection survey, there were some questions about the memorization of multiplication facts. We have just started our first unit on multiplication and division. Although fact memorization is helpful because it supports students in solving more challenging problems and ultimately increases the speed in which they solve problems, it should not come first in a study of multiplication.
I believe that understanding should come before memorization. Students should develop a foundation of skills and strategies associated with multiplication before memorizing facts. I remember being in third grade and memorizing my facts because that was the expectation. I cannot tell you when I truly understood that multiplication represented repeated groups. I work with students to understand multiplication by first relating it to skip counting (1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s) and then repeated addition. These are helpful strategies for solving multiplication. We then move to understanding concrete representations of multiplication as repeated groups by using hands-on materials. After using these concrete representations, we move to more abstract models by drawing pictures and using symbols. Soon, we begin to develop an understanding of multiplication. We move to looking at how multiplication and division are related. So, what can you do at home to help foster an understanding of multiplication? Involve your child in helping out around the house. For example, if you are setting the table for dinner, ask your child if there are 8 people attending dinner and each person will have 2 pieces of silverware, how many pieces of silverware will be on the table? Or, use money to help. I have 6 dimes. How much money do I have? I like to tie real life problems back to the equation it represents. Six dimes would be represented by 6 x 10 = 60 cents. Tying in these real life scenarios helps students see the real-life usefulness of multiplication and helps them develop a deeper understanding. Rote memorization can start once students are able to explain what a multiplication equation represents. For example, 2 x 5 means 2 groups of 5 or 5 + 5 or 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 +2 or 5 groups of 2. Below are some great resources for building fact fluency. http://childparenting.about.com/od/schoollearning/a/learning-multiplication-memorization-or-tricks.htm http://www.multiplication.com http://www.52pickup.net/card-games/math-facts/ Please let me know if you use one of these resources at home and find them useful. Also, let me know if you want even more information. Have fun, Mrs. R. Here is the latest blog assignment (the first of 2012):
For this blog assignment, you need to read the directions very carefully. 1. Tell us the text you are reading and why you chose it. 2. Write a short summary of the text without giving away the ending. Remember, a summary is different from a retelling because it is only looking for the most important who, what, when, where, and why. 3. Make a text recommendation. What type of person would also like to read this book? 4. Rate your text on a scale from 1 to 5. A 1 means you really didn’t like it. A 5 means you thought the text was great. Don’t forget to tell us the because, because, because! Remember, you can start your blog now and add comments to it later. This could end up being one or more blog posts. I encourage you to blog about what comes to your mind as you read. Check my blog regularly, so you can see how I am completing this assignment. Stay tuned to read about the book I’m reading this week. (I’ll make sure to read a book I can recommend to you this week.) Happy Reading & Blogging, Mrs. R. Please don't forget to complete the survey at the link below. Thanks, Michelle https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&pli=1&formkey=dHg4MHR6WUFFelE2ZldjSkxRbGlTTXc6MQ#gid=0 Our big concepts this week will be:
Cause/Effect Publishing Patterns Pollination Bees People changing over time Check out more on the "This Week" tab. All homework and assessments are posted for the week. Study Island and blog assignments will be posted this evening. Here's a look at what we will be doing this week:
Couple of Reminders and Important Tidbits:
*Please return the National Boards permission form for me. I will try to scan one and post it on the website in case your child's has gone missing. *We will have a practice spelling bee on Tuesday. All students will participate in the practice. *We will have our official bee on Wednesday. I will take pictures of participants, finalists, and the winner and share them with parents since our bee will be closed to visitors. Thanks for understanding! |
Parent Information
This blog is where you can find important parent information. Feel free to comment if you have questions or concerns. If they are more specific to your child, please e-mail Mrs. R. at [email protected]. Archives
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