Third Grade Week 7

Important information about math homework at the end of this blog post.

This week was fun.  We had a 15 minute competition during science to see who could build the tallest structure using toothpicks, clay and in 15 minutes.  Below are some of my favorite structures.

We are having a bit of a problem with not putting names on the work that is being turned in.  This is an image of my no-name wall and this is almost double stacked with papers that were turned in without names on them.  So if your student is missing some homework, please have them check this wall.  My procedure before students turn in work is to say, "Make sure, right now, that your name is on your paper, before turning it in."  I say that every time I collect papers, so I am not sure what is going on here.

I took the opportunity this week to have students clean both inside and outside of their desks.  Much of the homework that was turned in were papers that I collect days if not weeks ago.  They haven't been putting their papers in their work folders,  We will be working on that this week.

We had a great week.  Our fire drill went well and students knew exactly where to go and what to do.  I love it when a plan comes together.

INFORMATION on MATH HOMEWORK:

So the rumors are true about students having a choice to do homework online.  Now I do know that some parents don't let a 9 year old on the internet yet, and that is OK.  Some of you might not have the traditional computer to do this online home work and that's OK as well. They can still complete the normal math assignments from the Saxon workbook.  A parent recently demonstrated a program that students for the most part were already familiar with, called IXL.  I haven't ever heard about it.  After playing with it myself for a couple of hours, I have decided that IXL would be a great alternative to the paper version of homework.  The reason behind this move is that the IXL is targeted homework, which means that if a student does poorly on one of the DFA's, District Formative Assessment (AKA weekly quiz), I can use IXL to target a student's deficiency in a specific area.  For example, if after looking at the Multiplication DMS, Daily Math Skills, score on FamilyLink, you decide that your child's score is low, you can have them go to IXL practice the multiplication.  I have played with it and find the drills very worthy and equal to difficulty in homework as well as a little more fun and way less paper.  

The RULE:  In order to receive credit for a math homework assignment, students need to click the IXL link on the menu of my website, http://3rdgrade.xyz/IXL, and then choose a skill from the list that is found there.  This list will grow over time as we add more skills.  In order to receive the grade an entire "Skill" , or 20 minutes of "Active Practice", or 100 questions must be earned in a week and this will make up one of the two homework papers that a student would have taken home.  If a student completes two skills, or 40 minutes of active practice, or 200 questions a week, that student will have met the criteria for earning credit for their math homework in that week. 

The cool thing about IXL is that I as a teacher can actually see this quite easily.  Here is an example of a student that is on IXL at this very moment while writing this blog.  You can see that what this student has completed.  She is almost done, but wait??? there is a problem with counting it as homework.  Some of skills learned are in the 2nd grade area and were not from the list found on the IXL link on 3rdGrade.xyz.  I would be OK giving credit, by the way to any student who has completed math skills that were not on this list until Monday when I talk to them in class.  So this student has done well.  I am OK with students working and reinforcing any skill and encourage it, but I am looking for skills that will help them in their current grade level.

In two week at parent teacher conference I hope to visit with you to get your feedback on IXL as well as how I do my grading.  I will be sending out more information coming up.

This upcoming week we will be practicing skills that we have learned over the last 7 weeks getting ready for our Benchmark testing that is given every nine weeks to see how we as teachers and students are doing.  In fact we will be using IXL in class this week to reinforce some of the skills we might be struggling with on our DFAs.

Thanks again for all you do for your kids.  They are a great bunch of students and I am having way more fun in the 3rd grade than I did at the high school.