Homework:
Our #1 expectation for homework is nightly reading.
Research shows that regular reading is the single most powerful thing you can do to foster your child's intellectual growth and LOVE of learning.
Your student will change a great deal as a reader in third grade, it is an exciting time!
Our kids will learn to select texts that are "Just Right" for their development. Just like their baby clothes no longer fit them, the complexity and types of texts that attract and engage them will change quite a lot in third grade.
You can help them most by sitting beside them as they read aloud TO YOU. Please don't fix their mistakes for them. Making mistakes is a mechanism for learning. Let them read through their mistake and if they notice it and try to fix it themselves it is an opportunity to praise that effort! That is HUGE and powerful!!! "WOW! What a tricky word! How did you solve that one?!"
IF your young reader doesn't notice their mistake, be patient and quiet, wait until they have finished that sentence and if they don't go back to fix the mistake themselves, THEN interrupt them with a gentle prompt: "Hmm? Did that make sense to you? I don't think I understand. Can we go back and read that part again?"
We each have to build confidence overcoming challenges with determination in order to find mastery - that is the JOY of learning something new!
If the frustration level feels too high for nightly reading, investigate what can be changed to make it a bit more fun. We can all get into a rut and make nightly reading feel like a chore when it shouldn't be.
Consider these solutions:
Find a slightly easier text? Return to a favorite book and re-read it again? Take turns reading paragraphs or pages aloud to each other? When it is your turn to read to your child make up a silly mistake or goofy pronunciation and see if they are engaged enough to catch it - it'll make you both laugh and break some tension.
By all means, TALK with your student about what they are reading to you:
What did you think about what just happened in the story?
Did this remind you of anything in your life?
Who was your favorite character and why?
Can you imagine a different ending for this story? What would it be?
How would a different setting change the story?
Sometimes the solution is as simple as a slightly earlier bedtime too, at least it is at our houses... Try it out? School is HARD work after all!
Reading together can be richly rewarding and engaging family time, building bonds and communication that will serve and strengthen your relationship, it doesn't have to be painful to be effective. My hope is that this is FUN for your family. It is certainly powerful for your student.
If you ever need more ideas about how to make reading at home better please don't hesitate to reach out, I am always gathering more ideas to share and everyone of us learns differently...maybe we can brainstorm together.
Expectations for Third Grade:
Reading: 25-30 minutes every night. Your child will have a reading goal each month (minutes).
Math: (nearly daily) Mr. Maestas will share tasks that reflects what has been covered that day in class, the expectation is that students will practice and share what they are learning with their parents, you can keep it at home for reference.
Spelling: we will practice and test spelling regularly.
Additional homework and projects may be assigned throughout the year.
Research shows that regular reading is the single most powerful thing you can do to foster your child's intellectual growth and LOVE of learning.
Your student will change a great deal as a reader in third grade, it is an exciting time!
Our kids will learn to select texts that are "Just Right" for their development. Just like their baby clothes no longer fit them, the complexity and types of texts that attract and engage them will change quite a lot in third grade.
You can help them most by sitting beside them as they read aloud TO YOU. Please don't fix their mistakes for them. Making mistakes is a mechanism for learning. Let them read through their mistake and if they notice it and try to fix it themselves it is an opportunity to praise that effort! That is HUGE and powerful!!! "WOW! What a tricky word! How did you solve that one?!"
IF your young reader doesn't notice their mistake, be patient and quiet, wait until they have finished that sentence and if they don't go back to fix the mistake themselves, THEN interrupt them with a gentle prompt: "Hmm? Did that make sense to you? I don't think I understand. Can we go back and read that part again?"
We each have to build confidence overcoming challenges with determination in order to find mastery - that is the JOY of learning something new!
If the frustration level feels too high for nightly reading, investigate what can be changed to make it a bit more fun. We can all get into a rut and make nightly reading feel like a chore when it shouldn't be.
Consider these solutions:
Find a slightly easier text? Return to a favorite book and re-read it again? Take turns reading paragraphs or pages aloud to each other? When it is your turn to read to your child make up a silly mistake or goofy pronunciation and see if they are engaged enough to catch it - it'll make you both laugh and break some tension.
By all means, TALK with your student about what they are reading to you:
What did you think about what just happened in the story?
Did this remind you of anything in your life?
Who was your favorite character and why?
Can you imagine a different ending for this story? What would it be?
How would a different setting change the story?
Sometimes the solution is as simple as a slightly earlier bedtime too, at least it is at our houses... Try it out? School is HARD work after all!
Reading together can be richly rewarding and engaging family time, building bonds and communication that will serve and strengthen your relationship, it doesn't have to be painful to be effective. My hope is that this is FUN for your family. It is certainly powerful for your student.
If you ever need more ideas about how to make reading at home better please don't hesitate to reach out, I am always gathering more ideas to share and everyone of us learns differently...maybe we can brainstorm together.
Expectations for Third Grade:
Reading: 25-30 minutes every night. Your child will have a reading goal each month (minutes).
Math: (nearly daily) Mr. Maestas will share tasks that reflects what has been covered that day in class, the expectation is that students will practice and share what they are learning with their parents, you can keep it at home for reference.
Spelling: we will practice and test spelling regularly.
Additional homework and projects may be assigned throughout the year.
7 Reasons Why Reading Aloud to Our Kids is Beneficial at ALL Ages
an article by Katherine Stone via Babble.com
Reading to your kids is about so much more than simply teaching them to read in kindergarten or first grade. Here are seven great reasons why you should be obsessed with reading aloud daily to your children, no matter their age:
1. It’s time spent together. Reading time is time when you’re focusing on no one else and nothing else but them. It’s impossible to read to your kid and look at your smartphone or watch TV at the same time. I read to each of my children separately before bed. This lets me spend quality time with them individually. It makes for a longer bedtime ritual, but I don’t care because I love it.
2. It’s a conversation starter. Books always give us a reason to talk with each other, even if we don’t feel like we have anything to talk about. It keeps communication open.
3. It’s a great way to talk about emotional health. We talk about the things that happen in the stories, how we would feel if they happened to us, and how we might deal with such events the same or differently. Books have helped me broach topics that I might not have thought to raise if it weren’t for the subject matter in the story.
4. It’s a great way to honor the individuality in your children. I read different things to my daughter than I do to my son. We go to the bookstore and they pick out books about topics about which they are interested. Through paying attention to what they want to read, I can learn more about what their likes and dislikes are, including what they might want to be when they grow up.
5. You can open up new worlds for your kids. Reading allows you to introduce your kids to things that their school curriculum just doesn’t have the time or perhaps even the interest to cover. My 6th grader has recently expressed an interest in industrial design, so I’m on a hunt for cool books about the design of cars and about architecture. Dear publishers: Please publish more books for young readers about these things!! We don’t just need stories about zombies and vampires.
6. You get a wealth of information on where your children might need help. Through reading aloud to my children I’ve been able to teach them the meaning of words they still didn’t understand. They have better vocabularies. They have better comprehension skills and understanding of abstract concepts. And reading allows them to excel not just in language arts, but in all of their subjects. I’ve been able to see when my daughter was ready to read on her own — she started pushing me out of the way and reading the words herself — and also to see if and when she needs help.
7. It can lead to a lifelong love of reading in your kids. If you do it right, by reading like you mean it — which means getting into the story, changing your voice to reflect what is happening and not droning on like you hate what you’re reading — your children will learn to love reading on their own. My 11-year-old has now read more than 25,000 pages in his lifetime. How do I know this? For fun, together we created an Excel spreadsheet (OCD, anyone?) where we record the books he has read and how many pages were in them. He loves that little sheet, because it gives him a sense of accomplishment and he can look back on all that he has read and remember his favorites.
an article by Katherine Stone via Babble.com
Reading to your kids is about so much more than simply teaching them to read in kindergarten or first grade. Here are seven great reasons why you should be obsessed with reading aloud daily to your children, no matter their age:
1. It’s time spent together. Reading time is time when you’re focusing on no one else and nothing else but them. It’s impossible to read to your kid and look at your smartphone or watch TV at the same time. I read to each of my children separately before bed. This lets me spend quality time with them individually. It makes for a longer bedtime ritual, but I don’t care because I love it.
2. It’s a conversation starter. Books always give us a reason to talk with each other, even if we don’t feel like we have anything to talk about. It keeps communication open.
3. It’s a great way to talk about emotional health. We talk about the things that happen in the stories, how we would feel if they happened to us, and how we might deal with such events the same or differently. Books have helped me broach topics that I might not have thought to raise if it weren’t for the subject matter in the story.
4. It’s a great way to honor the individuality in your children. I read different things to my daughter than I do to my son. We go to the bookstore and they pick out books about topics about which they are interested. Through paying attention to what they want to read, I can learn more about what their likes and dislikes are, including what they might want to be when they grow up.
5. You can open up new worlds for your kids. Reading allows you to introduce your kids to things that their school curriculum just doesn’t have the time or perhaps even the interest to cover. My 6th grader has recently expressed an interest in industrial design, so I’m on a hunt for cool books about the design of cars and about architecture. Dear publishers: Please publish more books for young readers about these things!! We don’t just need stories about zombies and vampires.
6. You get a wealth of information on where your children might need help. Through reading aloud to my children I’ve been able to teach them the meaning of words they still didn’t understand. They have better vocabularies. They have better comprehension skills and understanding of abstract concepts. And reading allows them to excel not just in language arts, but in all of their subjects. I’ve been able to see when my daughter was ready to read on her own — she started pushing me out of the way and reading the words herself — and also to see if and when she needs help.
7. It can lead to a lifelong love of reading in your kids. If you do it right, by reading like you mean it — which means getting into the story, changing your voice to reflect what is happening and not droning on like you hate what you’re reading — your children will learn to love reading on their own. My 11-year-old has now read more than 25,000 pages in his lifetime. How do I know this? For fun, together we created an Excel spreadsheet (OCD, anyone?) where we record the books he has read and how many pages were in them. He loves that little sheet, because it gives him a sense of accomplishment and he can look back on all that he has read and remember his favorites.