Monday, September 24, 2012

Newsletter 9/24 - 9/28

SEP's are quickly approaching. Please watch for your child's appointment which will be scheduled for one of the days next week.  Please look the date and time over and send back the bottom half of the sheet letting me know whether or not you can make it.  I really look forward to meeting with you and your child!

Leveled Library- The leveled library has been sending books home for a couple of weeks now.  Some of you may be concerned that your child is not receiving a take home book.  If your child is reading above an independent level "S", it has been thought that the content of the books are a bit mature for the third grade developmental level.  If you are needing access to books and would still like to have your child participate, let us know and we can send home a book with the take home library.  The book selected will probably be on a level lower than what your child is reading on, but it will still benefit them on their higher reading level.  Also, you have the option to come into the reading center and choose higher level books that you approve of.  We can discuss this further at SEP's.

Field Trip-  Our field trip is still scheduled for Thursday, Sep. 27th.  We will be leaving the school by 9:00 and returning in time for students that ride buses.  Please accept our apologies to those who wanted to join us as volunteers.  Since we will only be taking one bus, space is very limited.  Thank you though for your willingness to help us out!

Math Groups-  The differentiated math groups have seemed to cause anxiety for some folks.  As of today, we will no longer switch the students into math groups.  Our new chapter this week is on subtraction.  Today we spent our math time making up subtraction stories and compiling a class book.   During this week, we will discuss subtracting on a hundreds chart.  I will also make sure each child has mastered the "borrowing" concept.  Any extra practice at home is much appreciated!

Times Tables-  We will be passing 11's off this week.  Next will be 12's.  Thanks for all of your work at home.  The students are progressing quicker than ever!

Daily 5- Business as usual.  We have talked about how to pick a "good fit" book.  The students should be choosing more appropriate books when attending the library.

Have a great week!!



Monday, September 17, 2012

Newsletter 8/17 - 8/21

Hello!

This week will be pretty calm in regard to extra activities.  The Back-to-School bash was a big hit and I really appreciate the effort the PTA offers in behalf of the students and teachers!  Thank you to everyone who came to support this event.

This week:

Times Tables- Hopefully you received a note indicating what times tables your child has passed off so far.  If your child is missing some, they can just let me know when they're ready to pass them off.  This week, we will be passing off 10's.  Please run through these with your child a couple of times a night.
Thank You!

Math Groups- We will be ending chapter 2 on Wednesday, and starting new groups on Friday after the pre-test.  The new chapter is on subtracting.

Unit Study- We will continue talking about Iron County up until the Field trip on the 27th.  Please watch for a permission slip that will be coming home.  It is necessary to have a signed slip from each student.  After the field trip, we will be working on our first "Four Square Writing" assignment.

Daily 5- Read-to-Self, Writing, Word Work and Listening- we will also be working on Mountain language and fluency binders along with Daily 5.  (By the way, nice job on practicing the spelling words last week.  Every child got either 28/30 or 30/30!!  Thank You!!)

Cursive- Cont. lower case

Have a great week!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Newsletter 9/10 - 9/14

I'm so glad to be back with my awesome students!  Thank you for being so patient and kind while I was away.  Mrs. Boggess said she had a great time and that the class was well-behaved.

Here is an update of things to come this week:

Math Groups- New math groups were formed while I was gone.  The new chapter is "Adding Whole Numbers"

Times Tables- We are almost finished with passing off 2's and will be moving onto 5's this week.

Reading/Language Arts- Daily 5 will continue.  The students will learn about picking "Good Fit" books.  They will also continue read-to-self and word work.  The students will soon be starting their Four Square persuasive writing on Iron County.  We also will be working on Mountain Language and studying a different part of speech each week.

Cursive Writing- continuing lower case

Unit Study-  Tomorrow will be our last rotation for Iron County.  We are planning our Parowan fieldtrip for Sep. 27th.  More info. to follow in the newsletter next week.
*On September 27, we will be taking the students on a field trip to Parowan.  We will be visiting the Old Rock Church, the Cemetery, Heritage Park, the Jesse N. Smith Home and the Priddy Meeks home.  Space is very limited on the bus, therefore there will not be room for extra volunteers. Sorry! :(
The plan is to have all students eat a school sack lunch that day.  If this is a problem, please let me know.


Thank You!