The first week back from a long holiday break with anxious minds now calm as Christmas passed and sadness did not occur. Yet, the complete freedom of long days with Dad and no school expectations left me fearing the worst for Monday morning. I was pleasantly surprised when E willingly came to the table to begin CRA with me and was immediately entranced by the conceptual plan. I’ve discovered that using the conceptual plan as a bit of a love letter from me to him gives him a sense of connection and serves as a starting point that he seeks out.
Being that we were starting a new year, I explained to him in the plan how proud I was of his accomplishments so far this year…
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“The first half of 3rd grade, we worked together to figure out how you like to learn and to understand how best to owrk together. I showed you that you can always trust me to respect your needs and to help you feel comfortable when you need it. And, you have shown me that you respect that sometimes we have to learn things that may not be your favorites and that you will try even when it gets hard and also that you will ask for my help when you need it... for a hug, a lap to sit on, or a partner for an impossible problem to solve. You’ve covered so much in the first half of 3rd grade - you are more confident with spelling, you are a mental math master, you are enjoying writing again (even on lines!) and you are never afraid to try something new. It is a joy to spend these mornings with you. Thank you for letting me be your partner in learning for 3rd grade. I am excited for what 2022 will bring for us to do together... some will be fun, some will be an adventure, and some might even be challenging. But, we will do it together.” ”
Our wins this week:
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It snowed!! Definitely brought joy to our Tuesday as E tried to capture snowflakes with his new iPhone camera!
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We began each day with a math review/brain teaser. We did it as an activity together rather than E feeling he was being put on the spot. I intentionally showed that I get things wrong and mess up with math too. Each activity was a maximum of 5 questions, not repetitive, and they felt more like problem solving than computation. E and I enjoyed this time together and they naturally extended into more complex math discussions.
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We began a shift in our literary studies from novels to high quality picture books. E immediately engaged with this modality and felt more connected to the content. We discussed segregation through stories such as “The Other Side” and “Freedom on the Menu.”
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With the season of change upon us, we have also begun a unit study on Transformations. This week we looked at transformations through the story “After the Fall” as well as through a 3 minute snippet of of Disney’s Frozen. I was pleasantly surprised that E watched the movie and seemed enthralled rather than terrified. We will continue this weekly study next week.
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We reviewed two complex spelling rules - words that start with the ‘k’ sound and end with the ‘k’ sound to learn the rules of when to use c or k at the beginning of the word and k or ck at the end. This is a complicated rule but I could not stump E!
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We had a math breakthrough this week!! E chose to take school to the basement gym on Thursday and we spent the entire time learning mental math tricks. He now confident adds and subtracts 10, 9, or 8 to any number using that powerful brain of his! He was so excited at his new found ability that he ran around the room giggling and declaring that he “could not wait to show dad!”
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Also of great note, we began Michael Clay Thompson’s Grammar Island. E was immediately enthralled. He now comfortable recognizes: Nouns, Proper Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Articles, and Verbs!! He even diagrams sentences!
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Finally we did daily fine motor practice through hand strengthening work with a tennis ball, gross motor skills through the gym and trampoline, and visual motor skills through a series of assessments.
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