This week we are working on Day 3-5 of "Supermarket" and Day 1 of our last Unit 1 story "My Rows and Piles of Coins". Both of these stories lend themselves very well to at home activities.
For ALL stories, it is helpful to familiarize yourself with the vocabulary words that we are learning for each lesson. Think "Pee Wee's Playhouse Word of the Day". Any time you see the words in context, use the words yourself, or hear your child use the vocabulary words, it's awesome if you make a big stink about them. Showing the kids that these words are actually used in our language is what it's all about! (By the way, I tried to find a video on YouTube of Pee Wee's Playhouse word of the day....none of them were child friendly unfortunately)
The vocabulary this week deals with buying things at a store and making choices. Have your child browse for bargains. Talk to them about the variety of choices in different sections in the store. Ask your children to find a compromise when they disagree.
You use imperative (command) sentences with your children all the time. Have them practice using them as well. Even more of a challenge, have them think of imperative statements that are positive "Smile at your sister." Forexclamatory statements, have your children point out when something you say should use an exclamation point for punctuation. You can alternate between commands and exclamations to see if they can tell you which is which. This can be done orally on the car ride home! (<---exclamatory sentence!)
Compare and Contrast is easy to do every day. We have been working on a Venn Diagram (the two circles) to compare and contrast. Have your children compare and contrast two things. We have been tying this into our PYP by comparing and contrasting two choices and deciding which one is the most efficient.
INQUIRY UNIT
To connect our inquiry unit to the IB Learner Profile, we have been discussing each of the learner profiles by reading picture books and working on creative expressions of our understandings. We talked specifically about being open-minded and creative, being balanced, being a risk-taker, and being an inquirer this week. Have your child share their understandings with you. Also, I will try to have examples of their work on the website by next week. Most of these activities will be in their portfolios, so they won't come home right away.
I told the kids that I would also encourage them to help do theirlaundry this weekend. We made the connection of organizing for success, and our vocabulary word laundry. When some of the kids told me that they had no part in this household chore, I challenged them to find one part of the laundry process that they could help with.
Whenever you have time, it would be awesome to discuss the steps that are involved in doing the laundry at your house. Have your child come up with the steps they think they could do independently, and those which might help you. It is also great to explain the steps that are easier for you to do without their help (using efficiency as the reasoning behind this choice). For example, it may be more efficient for you to fold their clothes or to put them away, but they could separate the clothes, check the pockets for things, and put them in the washing machine.
Who knows what other wonderful duties you can relieve yourself of with your 3rd grader's help? They are pretty amazing independent thinkers! If laundry is taken care of, try dishes, pet care, making lunch, etc. It's awesome when the kids start realizing how much goes into creating an efficient plan.
This week we are working with long vowel digraphs. Vowel digraphs are a combination of two letters (one of which is a vowel). This combination of letters creates one sound with the two letters. The sound they create is a long vowel sound (when the vowel "says its name"). Remember to have your child notice the PATTERN of the words.
Many children have heard the rhyme "If two vowels go a walking the first one does the talking" This means that when there are two vowels together, the first one "says its name". I use little rhymes to remember the combination. These rhymes come from our sound spelling cards which have a photograph of these items with the digraph below.:
ee- "E double E says eeeeeeee like bee" ea- "E-A like easel" ai- "A-I like snail" ay- "A-Y like hay" oa- "O-A like boat" ow- "O-W like snow"
As you are having your children practice the words, have them identify the vowel digraph in the word. If they want to go the extra mile (or if these spelling words are easy for them), have them identify this same pattern in other words they see.