This week we have started our spelling program and I wanted to make sure parents and families know exactly what to expect since there was a big lack of homework turned in today. Yikes!
On Monday students are given a pre-test to decide which group of words they are going to be doing. If a students gets at least 90% of those words correct then they will be given the challenge words for the week. If not, the students will be given the standard words for the week. However, regardless of which list you are given, both follow the same pattern for the week. For example, no matter what list you are given this week, you will be having words that follow the long a pattern. After the pretest, students are given an intro to the pattern of the week to gain exposure to the words and start practicing recognizing patterns that occur in the words.
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday students are participating in homework AND in class practice with those words via games, SMARTboards, whiteboard practice and writing. This allows all students to practice the spelling pattern for the week, regardless of the level of words they are given individually. The homework is given out on Tuesday and students need to complete one activity to complete each night and return the next morning in class. Today only 6 students returned homework which concerns me that students are not practicing at home. All students NEED to practice those words both to learn the pattern and learn those words.
Friday we will have a short review time with the whole class and then students will take the spelling test for the week. On the spelling test there will be 20 words eventually. There will be the 10 that they have studied, 5 additional that follow the pattern but haven't been studied prior to see if students KNOW the pattern or are just memorizing words, and 5 high frequency words that the students doesn't know. Keeping in mind that this week there won't be any high frequency words because we haven't finished assessing those things, so there will only be 15 this week.
PLEASE feel free to contact me if there are any questions. Email is easiest for me (I actually have a school email now!) and it is lndunwoodie(at)seattleschools.org. I am free some after school times and before school some days to meet for any concerns or questions.
Your child got their list on Tuesday of this week and it is bright yellow! Keep an eye out for it and make sure it stays in the homework folder or in a safe place at home. In third grade we are working a lot on becoming more independent and responsible for ourselves so it's important that students start practicing not losing their work as soon as it leaves the classroom. :)
Great work today Room 15!
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