Parents of Third Graders

[JESW]

This gets a little long - my apologies!

My DS is 9 and in the 3rd grade. He was recently assigned a book report that is due this friday. I am curious if this report is similiar to something your child would get in the same grade.

The report is based on a realistic book - meaning that it could happen. The book needed to be approved by 1/13 and it is due on 2/13.

The report needs a cover sheet. It can be written or typed.

A reading chart needed to be done - the form was included with the packet. The student had to keep track of the dates they read, if it was silent or shared, their feelings about the book so far, and important events that happened in each chapter. (DS's book was 12 chapters.)

There were also 4 paragraphs that needed to be written:

1)Your introductory paragraph will give the reader a brief overview of what the book is about.

2) Tell who the main characters are and describe them. Also describe the setting (use detail).

3) Give a brief description of the problem/solution in the story. Tell about the problem/solution but don't give the ending away. We want to have some mystery to the story.

4) Did you like or dislike the book. Why or why not? Would you recommend the book? If so, to whom?

They also had to have 2 8" circles cut out of paper. The top circle had 1/4 of it removed. On that circle they needed the Title, Author, Illustrator, students name and an illustration.

The second circle was divided into 4 equal sections. In one section were the highlights of the book. In another section were the reasons you would recommend this book to others. The remaining two sections had illustrations. The top circle was attached to the bottom circle to create a report wheel.

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My DS has a lot of problems with writing so we had to break this up into LOTS of smaller pieces. It is due on friday and we are at the end where all we have to do is type it - which will be a project itself.

Is this the type of project your 3rd grader is getting? Are there any 3rd graders who could do ALL of this alone without a parents help? DH & I were with DS every step of the way except for the reading - he's a great reader.

Just looking for some opinions...

Jill

 

[princess lovers mom]

holy cow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nope don't have anything like that...they write little reports on little books...
is this a new teacher or one who has taught higher grades perhaps

GOOD LUCK with your homework

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would just have him write it out. You said it was not a requirement to type it? Unless of course he can type somewhat well but my dd couldn't type well enough to do a long report until middle school.
In fact the teachers here in our elementary school did NOT allow ANY report to be typed that way they knew the parents didn't do it.

Good Luck!!!!!

 

[ValerieK]

Wow, that is alot for third graders to do! I use to teach and when I gave projects that large they had loads of time in class to do it. I hope the teacher wen tover how to do all that with them. My son doesn't like to write and it is a challenge to get him to write a small paper. I hope you planned well and broke it down to small managable parts for him. With laage projects like that I had my son do a little every night so it would seem like a big deal. he is the wait until last minute type, like me though.

Good luck!

 

[BrerMom]

It doesn't sound that different from what my DS had last year. The check-off sheet is really helpful. The main difference that I saw was DS was to have a rough draft done, but all the typing was done at school by him during "computer lab."

Whenever I read comments that are similar to, "What was the teacher thinking????" I usually resist the urge to type, "Check the curriculum standards for your school. She/he might not have a choice."

 

[BedKnobbery2]

It sounds like something my son would've done last year (he's in 4th now). He did reading reports every week (required parental signature) and book reports fairly often, minus the art work. They'd do art work stuff for the reports if there was going to be an open house in his classroom or such.

 

[Melora]

We just went thorugh a book report for our 3rd grader. He had to choose any book as long as it was a chapter book. Then he had to do a rough draft then he had to make the whole thing into a news-type story. He had a lot of trouble getting it done by himself and Jeff had to help him a lot. He finally got it done but a lot of time was spent staring at the wall and twiddling his pencil.

 

[CBRorBust]

How long has he had to do the report? It souned like he had over a month since the book had to be approved by 1/13. If he was given 1 month to do it, I don't think it's a lot at all. He could have done a little bit at a time.

Either way, Good Luck!

 

[cascadecupcake]

It does sound quite similar to what my third grader is doing. They have one every month, and it's a little different each time. My daughter has no problem doing it, I just have to proofread because sometimes she has so much to say that she forgets all the grammar and spelling rules she has learned! She is very artsy so she loves these things. My son, however, is 6 and I am just DREADING having to have to do these with him! He HATES this type of detailed big project type stuff. We have to take countless breaks just going through the zoophonics alphabet!
Good luck, Jill! Sometimes homework seems like a punishment to parents, doesn't it! Heehee!

 

[SeaSpray]

When my DSs were in third grade they definitely had projects like that, usually one a month!! DH and I did oversee each project but they did all the work. We basically just kept them on schedule with everything. We were never so happy to see our DSs move up to middle school where they don't do quite as many projects as they did in elementary school.

 

[ZachnElli]

My ds is in third grade. They are writing 3 and 4 paragraphs right now. They are, however, teaching them. They have to include certain things, the thesis, idioms, similes, etc. In the instructions it tells them what to include. They are doing this once a week now and will have a big test on it the end of this month. They will get the instructions in class and the teacher cannot help them. But I assumed that the teaching of this was so that they can do the book report you described on their own next year or maybe even start them at the end of this year.

 

[suzannen]

It sounds an awful lot like an abbreviated version of the Newbury Medal Book Report. My DD had to do this year for her first month of 4th grade. I had never heard of it until then, but friends who are teachers were all familiar with it.

Hers could not be typed, but had to be written into stenciled cut-outs of the Newbury Medal, which is circular. She was given instructions and and question topics she had to cover. Part of this included drawing scenes to illustrate actions in the book. It ended up being 17 pages, took a month to do and she could never have followed along by herself.

Her class was given a list of the Newbury books they could choose from at least, so she selected a book she did enjoy, even though it was the longest book she had read by herself.

 

[Mishetta]

My DS is in the 2nd grade & he's already had so many projects that he's had to do that naturally requires our participation because otherwise, he'd never be able to do it on his own. School is getting more challenging is all I have to say. I wonder how I got through it when I didn't even have English speaking parents!! Hopefully with all this complicated work at such a young age, our children will really be ready for the real world once they step out there!

 

[aprincessmom]

My DD (2nd grade) just had to do a similar book report only they didn't have guidance on the type of book or a book theme. They could choose whatever they wished. She did Little House in the Big Woods. They had two weeks to read the book and then do the project...in addition to their regular nightly homework of spelling, writing, and math.

DD did it by herself. I just initialed her logs as required by the teacher (after asking her some questions about the book) and helped her save her document on the computer (she chose to type it). I reviewed it for spelling and punctuation at her request because they do get marked down for spelling and punctuation mistakes. I suggested she might want to choose an easier book or one that wasn't as long but she wasn't having any of it. Otherwise she did it on her own.

Her class has been doing this orally since the beginning of the year...this is the first written one they are submitting. Last year they did book reports -- having to capture the title, author, illustrator, names of major characters and the story line. They were asked whether they would recommend it and why. Each subject was put on a circle and the story line and recommendation had to be written in full sentences with proper punctuation.

Each child is different...there were some children in her class who had trouble with the assignment and needed lots of parental help; others had less trouble. If your son has trouble writing this would be a very hard assignment for him.

 

[disykat]

My 3rd grader is not a writer and would have a terrible time with that assignment. His teacher this year doesn't assign things like that and, while I'm relieved, I know 4th grade is going to be a killer.

My older son's 3rd grade teacher did do stuff like that. We had to give him a lot of guidence, but 4th grade was a breeze for him.

 

[Christine]

My son is in 3rd grade, and, no, he hasn't had to do this. His most recent and first "book report" was on a chapter book. He was then give a list of "75 Ways to Share a Book." He had to pick one of the "ways" and present it to the class. He chose to make a crossword puzzle using the the plot and parts of the story as words and clues.

My son is in the gifted program (mainly for math though) and he would struggle with the project your son was given.

 

[wilderness01]

Sounds very much like what our son did last year.

 

[JESW]

Thanks for all the replies...it has been intersting to hear what others have been through.

I forgot to add that DS also had to include the rough draft for the 4 paragraphs. I had to proof-read and sign it.

This report was on top of the 4 nights of homework he gets every week.

I was not sure if this was extreme or not. I certainly don't remember doing work like this when I was in 3rd grade, but that was back in the dark ages.

Jill

 

[disykat]

In general, I find all my kids work to be much harder than I ever experienced at their ages. Big projects are sort of the norm now and I didn't do anything like that until high school. My youngest did his first powerpoint presentation in 2nd grade. (that's why I'm enjoying his respite in 3rd grade this year!)

 

[snoopy]

Our 3rd grader has pretty time intensive projects, but nothing to this extreme.

I do wonder about some of the projects that are sent home, particularly those that require work that is above grade level -- heck, some of it is very clearly difficult for most adults! I mean, if the school is encouraging my child work on this with us, fine, but I wish they would just say so!