Biographies and More!

While the beginning of the week is off to a slow start with yet another surprise snow day and more bad weather pending , we have plenty to keep us busy once we arrive back at school. We have completed our study of the Mystery genre. We will begin our next genre study, Biographies this week. This is an exciting unit that has something for everyone! Whatever a student's interests are, there is a biography for him/her to read.
For our mentor text, (A text that we read, discuss, analyze then constantly refer back to throughout the unit.) I have chosen Milton Hershey's biography. I've chosen this biography for many reasons. First, I'm sure you've heard of my love of chocolate! (I said there was a biography for every interest! haha!) Seriously, Milton Hershey was born into a farm family. He wanted something different for his life. The biography tells about this man's ability to hang in and steadily move toward his goals while overcoming adversity. His steadfast approach is inspirational. Additionally, he truly believed in "paying-it-forward" which teaches a valuable lesson in and of its self.
After our initial reading, students will begin biography groups, while our whole class lessons will focus on a four book comparison over the next several weeks. The subject is George Washington. One text is his full life biography and the other three focus on an area of his life such as George Washington the farmer and scientist, George Washington's blunder ridden inauguration and finally, a book mixing poetry and cartoon artwork discussing George Washington's dental problems. (Wow! isn't that the odd combination.....poetry and bad teeth????)
Stay tuned for biography anchor charts. As we progress through the unit, I will post my classroom anchor charts discussing "What Good Biography Readers Do" as they read. Hopefully, this is one more way to promote conversation about what your child is currently reading.
In math, we are reviewing and advancing our thinking about addition and subtraction with regrouping in thousand place numbers. Students have had whole class lessons, have broken into groups to utilize video lessons on the iPad with follow up practice and have used our SMARTboard technology for practice with subtraction across zeros and checking the answer with addition. Technology is a great way to help keep what could be repetitive practice a bit more interesting!
Finally, last week all third grade students completed the first official English Language Arts practice for the SBAC testing. We still have Math Practice, a practice ELA Performance Assessment and a practice Math Performance Assessment yet to work through. Scores are not reported on the practice assessments, but the practice helps to raise the students confidence and give experience with managing the demands of a computerized assessment. Third graders will take the real SBAC assessment in May.
Just think........May!