With the Fourth Grade ready to do research on their Science Fair topics, and Third Graders researching famous Americans, we had The Discussion: “How do we make this safe for our students?”

1. We have our own Library Search engines, and that helps immensely.
2. If the kids want to use Google, we require them to put a space then “k12″ after what they’re searching for (For example, “How bananas ripen k12″). This makes school websites percolate to the top of the search results.
3. We also talked about Google defaulting to http://4me.sweetsearch.com/ because every Web site in SweetSearch has been evaluated by dedicated research experts.

Our goals are safe curiosity, preventing kids from becoming overwhelmed or misdirected, and keeping that joy of independent learning going straight ahead!

Name __________________________

1. I learn best when I am in __________

2. The more I do my work, __________

3. The Specials I do best in are _______________

4. The Special I have the most trouble with is _______________

5. Reading is easiest if you __________I am good at ____________

6. When I’m learning, I’d like it best if there is __________

7. If you want me to concentrate, I need to __________

8. I learn best when I have _______

9. Reading is easier if I _______

10. What helps me the most to spell a new word is if ____________

11. When I have to do work papers I _________

12. I like doing ___________

13. I listen best if _____________

14. It’s harder to __________

15. To learn best I still need to use my _________

16. If you want me to concentrate, then give me __________

17. I know the most about ___________

18. I could be worried about_________

19. I’m less nervous when I’m ________

20. I remember better if __________

21. When I have to do work papers I _________

22. I enjoy learning the most when I’m _____________

23. If you teach the way I learn, I ____________

I have some boys who are pronouncing /th/ as /f/ at the ends of words: “bofe” for both, “wiff” for with, and so on. I went to www.onelook.com to get all common words ending in th (just put *th in the search box). Here is the list I’ll be using, and reinforcing:

1. with

2. path

3. bath

4. both

5. cloth

6. tenth

7. teeth

8. tooth

9. booth

10. fifth

11. sixth

12. tenth

13. math

14. moth

15. north

16. youth

Our Grade 3 kids are about to begin Logic Puzzles. Anita Harnadek’s Mind Benders are what I’ve used for decades, but here’s an alternative:

http://www.eduplace.com/kids/mhm/brain/gr3/

These don’t have graphic organizers, but they’re pretty good maybe for the kids at that stage who can make their own graphic organizer.

I just did a great game with Avery. Here’s how you play:

Materials: 4 poker chips or similar (1 a different color), dictionary, calculator

Setup: Put “100+10″ on the calculator, and then press “=”. From now on, every time the student presses the “=” sign, they will get 10 points.

Procedure:

• T: “I want you to open this dictionary to any page. I am going to find the HARDEST word on that page.” Student does so. Scan page for a 3-syllable word and say it.
• T: “telegraph. How many syllables?”
• S: “three”.
• Drop three poker chips including the different-color one on the table. Line them up as they fell. Let’s say the different-colored chip is at the end.
• T: (point to the different-colored chip) What sound does this syllable make?
• S: “graph”.
• T: “Right! Press the “=” sign the number of syllables it was. (S presses the “=” sign 3 times)
• T: “What is your score? Read the number on the calculator.”
• S: “540.”
• T: “Right! Press the “=” sign once. (S presses the “=” sign 1 time)
• T: “Is it time to go? How many more minutes do we have to play?”
• (S looks at clock and says 8 minutes or whatever)
• If time is not up, repeat the above steps until time is up. This integrates phonological awareness supported by visual props, segmenting, identifying number of syllables, counting by 10s, reading 3-digit numbers, and reading a clock with time remaining!

What does a working memory difficulty look like through the grades?

Working Memory Through The Grades

Identifying weaknesses in working memory

An individual may be constrained by their working memory capacity if he/she:

1. Is easily distracted when working on or doing something that is not highly interesting.
2. Has trouble waiting his/her turn, for example in a conversation or when waiting in line to get help.
3. Struggles with reading comprehension and has to read through texts repeatedly to understand.
4. Struggles with problem solving that require holding information in mind, for example mental math calculations.
5. Is inconsistent in remembering math facts.
6. Struggles with completing tasks, especially multiple step tasks.
7. Has difficulty remembering long instruction given in several steps, for example following recipes, directions or school/work assignments.
8. Struggles to understand the context in a story or a conversation.
9. Has difficulties when planning and organizing something that needs to be done in separate steps.
10. Has difficulty staying focused during cognitive demanding tasks but attends well when cognitively demands are minimal.
11. Has difficulty integrating new information with prior knowledge.
12. When called on, forgets what he/she was planning to say.
13. Has difficulty taking notes and listening at the same time.

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/subtraction/snowballFightSub.swf

This site lets you pelt snowballs, but only if you answer the subtraction question correctly! You can specify the difficulty of the problem (“Do all threes”, or “Do 7′s through 9′s”), then you begin. I like that it gives adequate time for answers before it splats you with a snowball!

Megan showed me a set of Lisa Mattes’s “Reading Strategy Animals” I really liked. I had it made into a poster for her room and am sharing the PDF with you. Any time you can make an idea into a lovable character, do it. It helps scaffold the ideas into your kids’ heads!

Rdg Strategy Animals - PDF file

To make it into a poster, see if your printer settings has “Poster” as a choice. You want 34 x 22 poster, which is the default setting for nice-sized posters. Portrait makes the poster 2 papers high and 4 papers wide, which I recommend. Overlap is set very narrow (.005) for minimal waste when you tape the 8 pages together. Laminate it for a good look.

I’ve found a new website, done by a teacher, for reading comprehension. It’s Mr. Nussbaum!

http://mrnussbaum.com/readingpassageindex/

It lets the kids read the graded passage, and see only one question at a time (so as not to be visually overloading), or all the questions all at once. Kids can refer back to the article, which stays onscreen either way.