Addisyn End of Year Recap--3rd Grade

3rd grade was intense!  Addisyn had to work hard to stay on top of things this year.  Even with trying to use the the orange weekly calendar, there was a lot to keep track of.  She had homework daily--sometimes it was things she didn't finish in class, but she had the do-at-home regular assignments of word lists (spelling/vocab/editing) that took 3 days to finish, daily math worksheets, plus daily ST math on the computer, and occasional projects/reports or "word masters" (word webs and analogies).  I don't blame her for saying "I hate homework."

As mom with a teaching background, even I had a hard time with the structure of the 3rd grade curriculum.  I didn't know how to redirect Addisyn because often I didn't know the purpose (end outcome goal) of various assignments.  The focus this year was child responsibility, so as parent, I felt excluded; I am trying to come to terms with the fact that this is HER education, and even as parent, I'm not going to know everything that's going on.  It might be frustrating when my 8 year old doesn't know what to do when the HW says "study", but the good thing is she will start learning from her own experiences, and eventually that makes MY parenting job easier.

Addisyn's conceptual knowledge in MATH is good, she says "fractions are easy," yet she has yet to memorize all her mulitiplication table.  She can actually do a decent job on her multiplication when she practices--we did extra practice for a few weeks to catch her up, and she did well on the following test, but then when the extra stopped, she reverted back to empty spaces on the test problems.  I don't know if she is slow at recall, trying to do it all by adding, or if she flat doesn't know them because it's more that they are left blank, rather than a wrong answer.

Communicative Property

Distributive Property

Comparing Fractions

Geometry Flip book

Multiplication Speed Tests (various dates of the year)

Addisyn does better when she is feeling confident.  She wants to have solid knowledge before trying, so we are still working on reminding her that mistakes are normal and part of learning, and that it's better to try and at least have a chance at getting it right, rather than to not try and be guaranteed to get it marked off.

Addisyn's WRITING rubric scores are improving.  Her narratives are getting more details and I'm encouraging her to use more feeling words too.  Her handwriting is still generally messy unless she is specifically trying to be neat.

Writing sample from class notes in science (on organic farming):

Writing sample--story telling narrative (about a trip to Sea World):

Addisyn worked on publishing this book for a long time (she wanted to learn about dogs because she wanted us to get a pet):

In READING, Addisyn has good flow and comprehension.  She enjoyed reading Charlotte's Web with her class, and really got into the characters.  Like many kids, she likes to read for relaxation, but not when she has to hustle, and not the worksheets for reading.  Her favorite books for personal enjoyment are the Rainbow Magic Fairies series and read a lot of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Wilbur and Charlotte from Charlotte's Web

By the end of the year, her REPORT CARD looked good.  As parents, we were a bit concerned about her progress, especially after a notice sent home in January stating she was behind in math, but with some intense focus on homework time, she got caught up.  I fear she wants to rely on structure to keep her on track rather than be motivated by the value of knowledge.  On the other hand, we were pleased with the Raven's Test results.  This test is actually being phased out as their school is steering away from traditional GATE classifications, but it tests more abstract non-verbal reasoning as an IQ (intelligence) test, and she did really well on it.

Mid-year notice home (we had to call the teacher to find out what the comments meant)

Notice of Raven's Test results (we had to use Google to figure out what the test was)

Addisyn enjoyed having Mrs. Torre for a teacher.  "Mrs. Torre is really nice and gives us hints on our homework."  Mrs. Torre seemed to go over instructions and/or model an example on the assignments that go home so that was a big help.  She has many years of experience and her calm classroom demeanor was a good fit for Addisyn's personality.

ART is a favorite for Addisyn and enjoys showing us her creations.  "Everyone liked my sunflowers," she said, proudly holding up her canvas painting for us on open house night.

SOCIALLY, Addisyn is kind and gets along with many kids at school.  Introverted, I don't see her going out of her way to make friends, but loves being included by others.  She says she frequently sits by herself at recess so she can eat her snack, and at lunch, she will either sit by herself (to stay out of trouble -- tables have to stay quiet), but named Kali and Ella as examples of who she likes to sit with.

Overall, third grade is "so hard" and "next year's going to be even harder," Addisyn says, "There's going to be more homework."  "I hate HW"

Last Day of School -- ready for 4th grade