Sept.29, 2015 Newsletter

Interims are coming home in this week’s Tuesday Folder. There will also be an mClass summary for you to go over explaining your student’s results following the beginning of year assessments.  Please sign and return the interim. I will be scheduling conferences for Oct. 26 using  Signup Genius.

Reading:

Character study is a very important part of comprehension. Students will be working on group posters this week displaying character traits focusing on four categories; physical, social, emotional and intellectual. They are encouraged to use evidence from the text to support their conclusions.We will have a gallery walk at the end of the week to look at our character posters from The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Students will be learning and using common prefixes along with root word knowledge to help decode and understand words.

Language/Writing:

The class has been working on revising and editing their personal narratives. We are beginning to think of topics for our next personal narratives. Students are generating ideas by thinking of “turning points” in their lives, strong feeling moments, and stories families tell over and over.

This week students will be taking a closer look at common nouns and proper nouns. They will also discuss rules of plural nouns.

Math: Students are continuing to work on the geometry unit. They are learning about shapes and their attributes. We have begun Team Time for 30 minutes each day. This is an opportunity where the students are able to be provided enrichment, or reteaching of concepts learned. Students are divided up between the four third grade classrooms during this time.

Science: Students will begin their Science unit on the Human Body with Mrs. Croy. They will be studying the skeletal system and muscular system.

Field trip permission forms and money are due for the Science Fun for Everyone in house field trip. Please send in as soon as possible or pay online.

Important Dates:

Oct.6-8 - Cognitive Abilities Test 9:30 AM (CogAT)

Oct. 14 - Picture Day

Oct. 16 - Early Release 1:15

Oct. 21 - Science Fun for Everyone Skin and Bones

Oct. 23 - End of 1st Quarter

Oct. 26 - No School/Teacher Workday/Conferences

Oct. 30 - Report cards go home

Field Trip Permission Forms

In today's Tuesday folder you will find a permission form for the in house Oct. 21 field trip. Please complete the form and return by the Oct. 21 field trip date. The cost for this hands on science experience is 8.00. If you would like to use the OSP online payment system please see the yellow sheet attached to the permission slip for directions.

Sept.15, 2015 Newsletter

Reading:

Students will be working on character traits and their motivations. We will be looking at characters in our read aloud, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and learning to describe their feelings and motivations in the story. We will be looking at events from the character’s point of view. How does a character’s actions move the story along or change events in the story? Also, students will be working on looking at root words as clues to understanding the meaning of unknown words.

Language/Writing:

The class is learning how to participate in collaborative discussions effectively by building on others’ ideas and expressing theirs clearly. Students are preparing ideas to share and following decided upon rules for discussions. Please practice at home by having discussions during dinner where they can practice listening to others and adding onto ideas expressed.

Students have been crafting their personal narratives. They are working on strong beginnings and will continue writing with detail zooming in on the main events and using interesting vocabulary. We will be practicing using a timeline to organize events in our narratives stressing the importance of sequential order that unfolds naturally.

Math: The students are reviewing rounding to the nearest 10 or 100 as a tool for estimation. We will begin geometry at the end of the week. The students will be studying shapes and their attributes. It is important that when they answer their journal prompt homework they use the correct vocabulary.  

Social Studies: We are finishing our unit on geography. Students will be doing research on a North Carolina Region. They will then collaborate within groups to make displays for each region.

Important Dates:

Sept. 15 - Open House 6:00

Sept. 23 - No School/Teacher Workday

Oct.6-8 - Cognitive Abilities Test 9:30 AM (CogAT)

Oct. 16 - Early Release 1:15

Oct. 23 - End of 1st Quarter

Oct. 26 - No School/Teacher Workday

Oct. 30 - Report cards go home

Open House

Looking forward to seeing you at Open House Tuesday, September 15 from 6:00-7:30. There will be a PTA meeting to kick the evening off at 6:00 followed by two sessions of presentations by teachers in their room. See you Tuesday! 

BOG Testing

Beginning of Grade Testing for reading is Wednesday, September 9. Please have your child get a good night's sleep and a good breakfast. Testing will begin promptly at 9:30 AM Wednesday. There will be no homework Tuesday night to help with an easy bedtime. Thank you for your help:)