Mrs. Katchen's Class 2018-19

This week in 3rd we have worked hard to grow our reading lives by learning how to retell important parts of the books we read. This will build comprehension and love of reading. Many kids who do not enjoy reading are struggling to connect with books because they are not yet using reading is thinking skills. We practiced retelling our read aloud, Thank You, Mr. Faulker, by using the story mountain/plot diagram to pull out important parts of the story. This comprehension strategy is important as students continue to read longer books. This is a difficult but valuable activity. Ask your child about the story by Patricia Polacco, Thank You, Mr. Faulker. They all enjoyed it and realized that the more they think about the story the more connected they become. Then later in the week, each student did a retelling of the individual book that they just finished.  Jarrett Payton came to Hough to talk to our school about the importance of helping others. He talked about his life with hi...

The Importance of Nightly Reading   Every day we ask all 3rd graders to read for 30 minutes at home. We are working on developing a love of reading through student book choice and consistent practice. We have the students log their minutes, pages read, and books so that they can reflect on their home reading life. Reading at home is imperative to growing a lifelong reader. Here is a great article about the importance of reading and how to make that 30 minutes count. Please read for some great tips and ideas about reading for homework.  The Importance of Nightly Reading-What Should I be Doing?

We had a busy week! We are working hard in reading to build and develop our reading lives at school and home. Please be sure the help your child work to improve a home reading life. Having a choice of books is such a big part of reading for joy! We are working hard in our mental math unit to learn strategies and develop number sense that will help us grow our thinking about numbers and our flexibility while working with numbers. Please look back at my blog post about Mental Math to learn more. In writing we are writing narrative stories and learning how to write leads, using strong words and phrases, using show not tell to revise with purpose. We are excited to start our Book Trailers later this week. In science, we are learning more about seeds and plants. We went on our Smart Farm field trip which was amazing! Ask your child more about the trip. Here is a link to the SmartFarm website.  SmartFarm Barrington  - consider volunteering some time there!  Our Top Chef's ...