LANGUAGE ARTS: For more information on Guided Reading, please use the following link: http://dukes.stark.k12.oh.us/lex/curriculum/guidrdg.html

We are still in Guided Reading groups and I am seeing improvement in the students. I am also taking time in the day to pull each student aside and have them read to me one at a time so that I may gauge exactly how well they've improved.

We are working on reading non-fiction pieces of work. Our National Geographic magazines for third grade work perfectly for this. We are working on coming up with our own questions based on non-fiction text. I am having the students cover the 5 "W's" plus "how".

In English, we are working on prefixes and suffixes. The students are doing well with this and seem to understand how adding the prefixes and/or suffixes will change the meaning of a word.

We are learning how to write an effective paragraph. Thinking of topic and conclusion sentences seems difficult, but over time, and with lots of practice, I am seeing improvement from the children. We will soon move onto multi-paragraph assignments. Our special project (see "Technology" below) will entail a lot of multi-paragraph work.

TECHNOLOGY: Our class is working on a special project and we are currently using a program called "Inspiration 8". The children are creating their own graphic organizers (webs) and then they will take the information and put it into an outline which will help them type their information into paragraph format.

We are also beginning to learn and use digital photography. Mrs. Strader, Mrs. Weingart and I took the students outside the beginning of January to teach them how to take a proper picture. This included lighting, zooming in and zooming out and what makes an interesting picture.

I have also been in contact with a school in Texas where the students in another 3rd grade class will be our pen pals. We will be connecting to them using a piece of equipment called a PolyCom Unit, my projector and my laptop. We can then see, hear and talk to them "in person". It works for them the same way with their equipment. We are looking into doing a literature unit between our two classes using the book "Stone Fox".
I am very excited about this "journey" we will take.

**SPECIAL NEWS**
I have taken down the "Weekly Assignments" page from my site. The assignment sheets for third grade are so different from the weekly sheets we had for the students in second grade. Our assignments can change throughout the day and it was getting difficult to keep up with my "Assignments" page. So, you will find the assignments/homework for the students on my blog. Please check the blog each evening if you have questions about what your child should be doing for homework or for any upcoming large assignments.

Please make sure that you are sending a written excuse to school with your child when they return from being absent. It is state law that we have these excuse notes.