Newsletter 8/18 - 8/29

We made it to our first full week of school! The students are doing so well! I will probably end up composing a newsletter every two weeks and updates on an as-needed basis.

This is what we're doing in each subject area:

Bell work: Each morning the students have half page of editing and a half page of review math questions that we check in class. Today was our first day and it went very well.

Reading/Literacy- The students just completed the Dibels testing this morning. They will soon be benchmarked to find their current reading levels. In the meantime, we are gearing up for Daily 5. Daily 5 consists of reading independently, reading to others, listening, writing and word work. For listening, we are reading "Candy Shop Wars" aloud. If your child has a copy of this book, they may bring it to follow along. Word work will take place with our spelling unit each week. We will start spelling next Monday. Your child will receive list #1, which they should review daily. Daily journal writing is just one of the many ways the students will be engaged in writing. Throughout the next month, the writing lessons will be geared toward the "Framing Your Thoughts" curriculum. After that, we will start our first "big" writing assignment. Cursive writing is also taking place everyday. We have worked on lower case "i", "t" & "u".

Math- Before we jump into our "GoMath" program, we will review place value. The third grade teachers have found that this extra study will help the students immensely in their rounding unit.
We have worked on times tables 0, 1, & 2's. I would like to get these passed off by the end of the week if possible.  Next we will work on 5's, 10's, & 11's.

Social Studies & Science: We will be alternating these two subjects throughout the year. Our first unit will be focused on force and motion. Our science will include all four of the "STEM" areas. (Science, technology, engineering and math). I have almost completed my first session of training in STEM education through Dixie State. I'm confident the students will have fun while learning about each concept.

P.E.- Our P.E. class will be on Mondays @ 12:30 p.m. throughout the year.
Music- Mrs. Savage is our new music teacher. We will sure miss Mrs. Leavitt, but are grateful to have such a good replacement! Our class attends music on Tuesdays @ 10:30 a.m. & Wednesdays @ 10:00 a.m.

Reading Volunteers- We will begin reading volunteers on Tuesday, October 28th & Thursday, October 30th. I will send a reminder as this approaches.

The PTA would like me to remind you about signing up for the alerts that they spoke about on Back-to-School Night. They won't be sending the regular fliers home and instead will send alerts on their new system. Here are the instructions:

3 options to sign up for PTA alerts:

1. APP:  download "Remind101" app and enter code: @southel

2. TEXT:  send a text to (435) 238-4868 with the message: @southel

3.  EMAIL:  send a blank message to southel@mail.remind.com

Have a wonderful week and let me know if you have any questions or concerns!