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!

Welcome Back to School!

I'm getting so excited to see my new 3rd Graders! Please watch for letters coming to give you all the information you need to get ready for the school year. See you soon!

If you have any questions before hand, please email me:  marie.holmes@ironmail.org

Newsletter 2/24- 3/7

Here is the plan for the next 2 weeks:

Next week is SEP week. Hopefully you received a note with a time and a date. If you haven't received the appointment time, please let me know. School will be getting out everyday (including Wednesday) at 2:30 p.m. I look forward to meeting with you all!

Unit Study- Our unit study has been placed on hold in order to finish keyboarding. I am planning to pick up our "Moon Unit" by the end of this week. With our new testing outline, the students will now be required to type at least a paragraph on the writing portion of the test. This will require that our students practice extra hard on keyboarding. Thank you for being so patient with the keyboarding homework. After today, the students only have 3 more left! After the 20 lessons are complete, we will still practice keyboarding with our in-class writing assignments.

Daily 5- As usual. Our Daily 5 writing will be focused on opinion writing for the next several weeks. We are also working on vocabulary and dictionary skills during this designated time.

Spelling Bee- Our class representatives are Kirstin, Boston & Damien as the alternate. Congratulations!

Math- The students did an excellent job on our division chapters. Fractions will be our next area of focus.
Times Tables- We are working to pass the remaining times tables off. I will let you know next week where your child is at.

Have a great week!

Valentines Party

Next week we will be making Valentine packets for the students to collect their classmates' valentines. If you would like to send Valentines with your student, please have them bring them in on Friday the 14th. On that day, we will have our "Mini Mall" and pizza party in the afternoon.

Here is our class list:

27 students

Luke
Jacob
Mia
Xander
MiMi
J.J.
Kirstin
Kasia
Annika
Kooper
Melbourne
Jake
Noah
Boston
Parker
Garron
Lelia
Heidi
Damien
Avery
Owen
Daxton
Dylan
Isaac
Catie
Keisha
Michelle

Newsletter 1/24- 2/7

Here are the news items for the next couple of weeks:

Keyboarding- We've finally got our computer issue figured out. We started our keyboarding lessons this week. You can expect keyboarding homework next week. I'm sorry this has been so crazy! On the reading chart, just mark off the days your child did their keyboarding homework. Disregard the nights that there is no keyboarding homework.

Math- We're just finishing up Chapter 6 and will begin Chapter 7. Both chapters are dealing with division. Thank you so much for helping your child complete this homework. It allows each student to get the one-on-one at home that I can't always give at school.
Times Tables- We've covered all of the times tables in class. We will just continue working towards pass-offs for each child. I will be sending a report in the next week or two to show what has been passed off. You will also be receiving information on your child's current reading level.

Reading/Language Arts- We will begin our persuasive essays shortly. In the meantime, we are continuing all of our other Daily 5 strategies. We are also always working on sentence structure, phonics, vocabulary, dictionary skills and comprehension skills. Also a reminder for those of you that would like to have your child participate in the Spelling Bee; the date will be February 28th. The list is found on the South Website.

Homework: Please remind your student to put his/her name on their papers. We are getting a collection of those with no names.

Valentines Party: Thank you to those of you donating to our pizza party. If you'd like to donate, you may send it in to me or Erin Gregerson. She has volunteered to get the pizza for us on that day.

Thanks for your great support at home! I'm very happy with the progress each child is making!

Newsletter 1/6 - 1/17

Welcome Back! I hope your holiday was as nice and relaxing as mine was! I'm so excited to be back with my students. Here is the plan for the next couple of weeks:

Reading Volunteers- We will start up our volunteers this week. I may have some of you pass the children off on their times tables instead of the regular reading. Thank you for your service!

Math- We are beginning Chapter 6- "Understanding Division". We will also be working on our Mountain Math board which contains concepts included in the core curriculum. Please continue working on times tables at home.

Writing- We just finished up our narratives before the break and will take some time on writing a correct letter.

Reading/Literacy- We continue to use the Daily 5 method to address our reading skills. The students will be heavily involved in read-to-self, reading with others, small group reading, listening and word work. We also will be revisiting the parts of speech. Vocabulary is addressed all throughout the school day, everyday. For the second half of the year, the students will be keeping track of their newly learned words in a vocabulary journal. I also recommend having your child read out loud to you for at least 10 minutes each night. Please stop and discuss any unknown words.
P.S.- Reading records for December are now due.

Keyboarding- Our social studies and science will be put on hold for a few weeks while we complete our keyboarding lessons. Starting next week, you will see some typing homework come home most nights. This homework is only meant to take 10 minutes. If your child does not complete the whole sheet, don't worry. We would just like 10 solid minutes of practicing correct technique.  Also, please just sign the homework. There is no need to print it out.

Art/Music/P.E- Continue as usual.

Mini-Mall- Your child has possibly mentioned our class "Mini-Mall". This is a fun experience for students to make and sell items to class members . It also goes along well with our unit on economy. Your child can bring items from home, or get small items from the store. Please be aware that bringing items is optional. If your child chooses not to sell items, that is fine. He/She will still be involved and can shop at the mall. We will plan to combine the mini-mall with our Valentines Party on February 14th in the afternoon. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Valentines Party:
Since we will be combining our mini-mall with the party, I'm going to change up the regular party sign-ups. If you'd be willing to donate to the purchase of pizza, please message me. Thank you!

Newsletter 12/2- 12/20

What a beautiful time of year! I'm so excited to get our social studies "Customs Around the World" unit started! We will be studying customs from South Africa, Germany, Italy, Japan and many others!
We are lucky enough to have our own Mrs. Karmeli make a presentation to the students about the country of Japan! If anybody else has firsthand knowledge of a different culture, please let me know. We love to have parents share with the students!

Math- We are just starting Chapter 5, which is continuing on with multiplication skills. We plan to finish this chapter up before we break for the holiday.  When we return, our math study will concentrate on division.
Times Tables- We have taken a little break from our times tables pass-offs. We will resume pass-offs and pick up on our 10's, 11's & 12's. As always, please run through these whenever possible.

Daily 5-
Read-To-Self- We usually do about 10-15 minutes of this daily.
Word Work/Spelling- We will have spelling packets/tests through the next 3 weeks before we break.
Listening- Our class read-aloud is currently "The Candy Shop Wars II" Our next class book will be "The BFG".
Writing- Hurray! I'm so happy about the writing that the students have been producing. They have been writing an informative writing piece about their perfect Thanksgiving. Next will be a narrative written about a day spent at Santa's workshop.  Their writing skills have been improving every day!
Read-to-Someone- We will begin this strategy in the next week or so.

Keyboarding- After the break, we will begin working in the computer lab. The students will have 20 keyboarding lessons. Each lesson will have a half-page of typing homework (starting on lesson 3).

Science- Also after the break, we will be learning about the moon and simple machines.

Music/Art: We will proceed with regular Art and Music classes which complement our studies in the regular classroom.

Volunteers: We will only have volunteers through this week because of our crazy schedule. Thank you for all you do!

Holiday Sing-around-the-tree/Assembly Schedule:

December 17th- 11:10 am- CHS Madrigal Singers
December 17th- 2:30 pm- Sing-Around-the-Tree
December 18th- 10:00 am- Sing
December 19th- 1:45 pm- Sing
December 20th- 1:30 pm- Sing

On Friday, December 20th at 2:30 p.m. will be our Christmas Party.
We have quite a few items that are not covered so far. If you are willing to bring anything, please let me know. Thank you so much for helping with these parties! The students have a great time!
Here is the list:

One dozen cookies: Sherry Bistline
One dozen cookies: Katie Murray
One dozen cookies: Amy Barrick
One dozen cookies: Lisa Deming
One dozen cookies: Jodi Williams
Boxed drinks: Jamie Dennison
Boxed drinks: Michelle Orton
Boxed drinks: Nina Barnes
Napkins: Juli Martin
Holiday Candies: Rachel Bishop
Holiday Candies: Jennifer Davis

Thank you again for everything! Have a wonderful holiday season!