Reading week

Great photos from today's event and also from this week's reading week.

Don't forget to bring in your reading minutes sheets on Monday so that we can add the last few days' information.

Have a look for the "Where's Wally?" photo.

Reading minutes challenge - Day 1

Our reading minutes challenge started yesterday and today we have collected in the minutes.


Well done to Bubblegush group (what an amazing group name too!) for reading the magnificent total of 208 minutes yesterday. All 4 members (Melanie, Toby, Joe and Annabel) of the group:

• read
• wrote down their reading minutes
• brought their sheet to school

Not far behind is The Beast Children with 175 minutes.

Ahead so far in the individual challenge is Seb on the page turning total of 101 minutes!

Have a look here for the scores.

How many minutes did 3W read altogether on Monday?

Parents, please remind your child to bring in the reading minutes sheet every day this week, with minutes written down and a signature from you (if possible) to "certify" the minutes.

Thanks.

Reading minutes

I gave out the reading minutes record sheets today and will start to add the information to the class spreadsheet tomorrow.

Remember:

You must record your reading on the record sheet.
You must bring the record sheet to class every day so that reading minutes can be added to the class spreadsheet.
When reading at home, try to get an adult to sign for the minutes you read.

You will need to have a reading book in class - either a school book or a home book - so that you can Drop Everything And Read.

Today was great, with lovely, silent, enjoyable reading going on in class.

Keep it up at home!

Sharing books with K2T

During book week we will be having

• Character Day on Friday 11th June (come dressed up if possible and bring 100 Baht for the Y3 charity)
• DEAR time in class (Drop Everything And Read) - so bring a favourite book to keep on your desk so that you can read it whenever you hear the signal...
• Book sharing with K2T (Miss Tracey) on Thursday at 10:10 in our Library time
• Story read by Mr Tilke on Thursday afternoon from 1:10 - 1:30
• Reading Minutes challenge for Homework - who will be the winning team and winning individual reader for the week?

Do you have any square pants?

For Y3 book day on 11th June, you could come as Spongebob Square Pants...if you have some square pants!



Come dressed as your favourite book character.

If you want to come with a few simple props, then that's fine.

If you want to make a fancy costume, that's fine too.

You could come as Charlie from the books of Roald Dahl...

You could come as Wally and dress in red and white striped clothes.

There will also be an individual and a team reading minutes challenge...details to come soon.

Video Book reviews

Have a look at these video book reviews.

I think you can vote on your favourite...I haven't voted yet, but if you find out how to do it please let me know.

Some of them take quite a while to load so...be patient.

Please let me know which ones you really like and we can then look at them in class together.

Not everything on the internet is correct...Carroll diagrams

Yesterday we tried using the Carroll diagram generator.

As you can see, several of us found that it was incorrect sometimes!
You have to think carefully about what you read. This is called critical thinking.


What should we do?

Should we take the program from our blog?
Should we try and find the maker of the program and ask for advice?
Should we leave the program on the blog BUT put a large warning next to it?

Please vote on the poll on the sidebar.

This week's homework is to use a Carroll diagram program and become an expert.
See these extra links to other Carroll diagrams:
Crickweb polygon sort (2D shapes)
Number sort - from earlier this week...see warning here

Then make your own.
You could draw one using paper and pencil, you could make one using word or publisher, you could make several as a powerpoint!

Ideas for parents to help with making Carroll diagrams on paper or on a big floor:
Tape marked on floor
Printable worksheets and problems
Blank Carroll diagrams to print and use


Then hand in as homework. Due in on Monday after half term.
Sensible option: hand in on Friday before the Half term break

Reading

Reading is probably the most important homework your child should be doing at the moment.
20 minutes each night is the time I would recommend.

I will keep a closer look at what you are reading at home.  I will look at your reading records every Friday and give them back before the end of the day.

You will need to write about your reading.  Get your parents to sign your Reading Record entry.

The easiest way
You might want to simply record brief comments. 
I will then know that you are reading and your parents know about your reading.

At the end of your book

You might decide to write at the end of your book.

A daily record

You might decide to write a few sentences every day about your book.

Whatever you do:

1. Try to read every day for at least 20 minutes.
2. Write something down in your reading record book every week and give it to me on FRIDAYS.

Want to be an excellent reader?  Try to:

1. Make CONNECTIONS...to other books, to your life, to films/movies
2. Write original interesting comments about what you thought about the book...not just about what happened.
3. Illustrate your writing sometimes.

Use the google search bar at the top of the blog to look for more blog posts in 3w
 about READING.

So why is reading important?

William Kamkwamba built a windmill near his home in Malawi.  See the video here.

He found out by getting a book out from his library.

If he couldn't read, he wouldn't have been able to do that.

Happy reading.

Learning Conferences,Reading and Local Area Trip

It was great to see so many parents and children at the conferences during the past few days.


One of the common areas I talked about was reading. I want to make it clearer that 20 minutes reading every night is a homework expectation.  

How should I read?

• If you are a very fluent reader and you understand most of what you read, then an adult can help you by asking questions about your reading.  
• If you are becoming fluent then you should read aloud for some of the reading time.
• If you need help with quite a lot of help with words, then read aloud to an adult.
  

I would like you now to start recording what you are reading in your blue reading record.

What should I write in my reading record? 

• Write the date and the title (if you are continuing with the same title from the day before, then you can write "same as yesterday" to save time). 
• When your parents hear you read or ask you questions about your reading, please ask them to sign your reading record.
• I will ask some children to do a more detailed reading target.  This will mean they need to read 4 books from a list, write about them and post blog comments ALL WITHIN A MONTH...wait for more information. 

 
Here are some photos, hot off the press, from our trip around our local area.  There are some pictures from the wall which celebrate the King of Thailand.

Which special day is coming up soon in Thailand? 

 

Book previews

Here is an extract of an ebook.

You can only read part of the book.

Let me know what you think of ebooks.

Competition

Go to Reading Zone for book news and competitions.

Also here you can publish your reviews to a really wide audience. Please let me know if you manage to get your review published and I will add a hyperlink to your review on this blog. (You could send in a review you have already written)

Like short stories? Think you could write a story using only 247 words? Look here for further information. Again, let me know what you think of the stories and the website.

Kidnapped!

Two 3w guided reading (GR) groups have been reading the challenging Robert Louis Stevenson book, Kidnapped. This story was written in 1886 and is set in Scotland. We read the version which was adapted by Margaret McAllister.

It has old fashioned Scottish words and is a very challenging book for 7 and 8 year olds.

Have a look outside the classroom at their story pathway.

A great piece of collaboration.

Reading target

Well done to Yuqing!
She was the first to send me her reading target sheet for April.
Click here for Yuqing's reviews.

For a good powerpoint story by Luc, follow this link. We'll learn more about powerpoint this term I think.

Book Reviews for April

Follow this link to get the word document to record your book reviews for April.

I want you all to write at least 2 good book reviews and post them to the school library system.

Complete the sheet to show which books you have written about.

Start reading now and make notes as you read, if you like.
There are some links on the document which take you to helpful book review sites.

Daniel's review

Title: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

Author: Roald Dahl

Illustrated By: Quentin Blake

This book continues the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The main settings in this book are the Mr Wonka’s Chocolate Factory and Outer Space! The Bucket family went into space in the Great Glass Elevator after it went out of control. The main characters in this book are Mr. Wonka, Charlie and Charlie’s Grandparents who apart from Grandpa Joe behaves just like the children in the first book. Whilst I did not like this book as much as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory I would recommend it for 8 to 10 year old girls and boys.

The Reading Bug by Paul Jennings

This book, by successful children's author Paul Jennings, is about what we can do as parents to help children find the right book. I just finished reading it and was really impressed with the uncomplicated language and the brilliant cartoons. Here's a review from amazon. There are some great reading lists at the back too.