Raz Kids is Ready to Go!

Raz Kids account access is ready to go. In your child's agenda you will find your child's username and password. Your child's reading level on Raz Kids reflects what their current reading level is or what their level was at the end of Grade 2. As I complete further reading assessments I may alter the level on your child's Raz Kids account over the next while.
Raz Kids is easily accessible through the Student Portal. Students can also download the app on any iOS device or simply click on the Raz Login Page. My username is: mrsmciampa

Remember: if students are reading on Raz Kids for homework, please limit their reading or comprehension practice to no more than 30 minutes a day!

Happy Reading :-)

Raz Kids Ready to Go!

Raz Kids account access is ready to go. In your child's agenda you will find your child's username and password. Your child's reading level on Raz Kids reflects what their current reading level is or what their level was at the end of Grade 2. As I complete further reading assessments I may alter the level on your child's Raz Kids account over the next while.
Raz Kids is easily accessible through the Student Portal. Students can also download the app on any iOS device or simply click on the Raz Login Page. My username is: mrsmciampa

Remember: if students are reading on Raz Kids for homework, please limit their reading or comprehension practice to no more than 30 minutes a day!

Happy Reading :-)

Raz Kids!

Great News! Just in time for the Thanksgiving long weekend, a note about Raz Kids login information is in your child's agenda! Raz Kids is an online reading program where you can access leveled books at your child's just right reading level. Students have been practising how to login to Raz Kids using their password for the past few weeks. Please keep the letter for your files as is contains your child's password information. Without the password, they will not be able to access their Raz Kids account. 

Once logged in, students can select their Assignment and read a selection of books at their just right reading level. Students are encouraged to read ONE book (by clicking on the eye) AND completing the comprehension quiz each night. Students may use Raz Kids books to write an entry in their homework books. Once students have read 12 books and written a comment about their book they will receive a prize from our prize box!

Here is the link to our Raz Kids account: 

http://www.raz-kids.com/main/Login

Enter the teacher username: mciampa

Enter your child's password and GO!

Happy Reading!

http://www.raz-kids.com/main/Login

Decoding Strategies

One of our big focuses in grade 3 so far has been on decoding strategies. Through a variety of activities over the past few weeks students have recalled decoding strategies that help them to sound out words when reading or writing. Students are being encouraged to use these strategies when reading unfamiliar words as well when writing independently. 

When students use decoding strategies, they are working to become more independent. The goal is to have students decode words without assistance. There are many strategies that we've learned in class that can help students decode words they are unfamiliar with. These strategies help us to make sense of what we read, while giving us confidence in our own abilities. These strategies also help us in our writing by guiding us to rely on learned strategies first before seeking assistance. Students are very familiar with these strategies and continue to use them each day. Ask your child how they use the strategies when reading our writing in class!

Our Raz Kids accounts are almost ready to go. This week some students had the opportunity to sign in and recall how to use the program to read books at their just-right level. Raz Kids is great as it provides students with an online library of books at the students just-right reading level.  Password information and parent-access will be sent home soon!

Landscapes and Reading Fluency

In Art today we started working on landscapes. We are thinking about winter pictures and winter landscapes. We sang a song about landscapes and talked about what background, middleground and foreground mean. 

Today we started with the  back part of our landscapes. We used white, dark blue and light blue to create the back part of our landscape photos. 

Next time we will focus on creating the background, middleground and foreground using winter pictures. Ask your child to explain what those art terms means!

Using the AudioBoo iPad app to self-assess our reading fluency.

One strategy we are working on in class is to self-assess our reading fluency. We are trying this with our partners in our literacy centers when we read with someone. We also work on this when reading by ourselves during literacy centers time. We used the AudioBoo app to record ourselves while we read. We listen to the recording and follow the text to see if we read too fast or too slow, to see how we can read unfamiliar words and also to recognize if we've missed any words when reading. Students enjoy this strategy. It is teaching them how to self-assess their own reading while working on their Raz reading. 

AO: https://audioboo.fm/boos/1841110-ao-reading-on-raz

FF: https://audioboo.fm/boos/1841127-ff-reading-on-raz

Raz Kids and Newsletter

The December newsletter was sent home in your child agenda. Please read all about our fun learning in December. Please note that next Friday our class along with the grade 3's will be planning the 2nd week of Advent mass.  It will be at 9:30 in our gym. We hope you can make it!

Raz Kids information was sent home too. Login information is attached in your child's agenda along with a note.  You can access leveled books at your child's just right level.  There is important information in the letter so please have a read. Login and password information!!! 

Students got the chance to practice all week during our literacy centers. It is important to click on the eye and not the ear when reading a book. Students can practice reading on their own and then complete a reading comprehension quiz. Students may also write about their raz book in their book worm homework book!

Happy reading!

New Learning

We are working on some new learning goals in our classroom. In Math we are starting to talk about patterns in numbers. We are looking at different patterns and trying to determine what the pattern rule, the pattern core and the changing attributes for each problem. We created a chart to show what we know. We also added some different types of attributes. We learned a grade 3 math word: Orientation. Ask your child what orientation is another word for. And ask your child to name some of the other attributes we learned about today!

In Language we worked in our new literacy center groups. Students are working in small groups on some descriptive writing activities. We also started to talk about a new online reading program called Raz Kids. I am in the process of setting up login information and passwords for each student. Parent letters will be going home soon! In the mean time, we will continue to practice using Raz Kids during our literacy centers in class. Ask your child what kind of learning they participated in during our literacy centers today!