Happy Friday 3rd Grade Families
Congratulations to Kate!!! She is our Student of Character this week. This month we are focusing on Responsibility. Responsible students come to class on time and are ready to work. They complete their homework, are accountable for their decisions, and are honest and trustworthy. Thank you Kate for being a Responsible Spartan!
Information & Reminders:
- Monday is a holiday! I hope you all enjoy a nice 3 day weekend!
- Next Friday, September 9th is a minimum day for Track Change. Students are dismissed at 12:45.
- Next Friday, September 9th we will be honoring our Students of Character for Responsibility. We look forward to honoring Nicholas, Emma, Daniel, and Kate in the MP room for an assembly 9:10-9:35.
- Your child’s chapter 1 math test score is available to view online at Think Central. See the attached handout on how to log in. Click on “My Test Scores” to view results.
It’s Scholastic Book Order time! Ordering online is fast and easy:
Order online at scholastic.com/readingclub by September 16th
- VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub
- ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code GWDPZ.
- SHOP all the amazing books and value packs.
- SUBMIT your order online and earn FREE Books for our classroom.
- All book orders will be shipped to our classroom so we can celebrate the joy of reading together!
Trimester 1 Parent/Teacher Conferences: As mentioned at Back to School Night, on a year-round calendar Parent/Teacher Conferences are not required and minimum days are not provided in our calendar to conference. I would like to meet with those families who would like to conference. This can however be challenging without the minimum days. In order to have ample time to meet, I am planning to take a sub day on Friday, October 21st. A sub will cover my class and I will be offering back-to-back conference slots. If this date does not work for you, and you would like to conference, please email or call and we can work something out for another time that week.
Please use the attached sign-up genius to schedule a conference.
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f48a4a72fa0fb6-trimester2
Classroom Volunteers:
- This year I will use Sign-up Genius to manage our classroom volunteers. I will send 1 sign-up for each trimester. If you have a set day you’d like to come each week, please let me know, otherwise please sign up here for volunteer opportunities August – October 2016. http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f48a4a72fa0fb6-trimester1
- Calling all party planners!!! Do you like to plan parties, do crafts, love Pinterest? I am looking for a few parent volunteers who would like to take charge of planning our holiday party. We will have 3 parties this year. Our first party will be a holiday theme party on Tuesday, December 20th 12:15-2:45. Ideally I would like a few parents to take charge and plan as you wish. I have a small budget to start and we generally ask the families for donations (either items or money to support the fun). I usually ask parents to plan 4 stations containing a combination of art/craft (a possible holiday gift for a family member), a yummy treat, etc. I’m open to your crafty ideas. I do like to keep it simple, each station taking no more than 20-30 minutes.
What are we learning this week?
Attached you will find an information sheet describing our learning goals in Language Arts for the next two weeks. Please read to find information on the reading strategies, skills, and vocabulary we will focus on. On the blog you can find a list of spelling words as examples of the spelling patterns we will focus on. This list had also been provided in your child’s homework binder. We are on Week 2 of spelling.
In Math we began Chapter 2: Representing and Interpreting Data. Please see the attached vocabulary sheet as a reference for our learning goals for this chapter. You can visit the GoMath Think Central website if you’d like examples of our daily lessons for this chapter. There are games and other activities for the students to work on from home for extra practice. If your child loses their nightly math homework, it can be printed from this website as well.
In Social Studies we are studying Geography. We continue to learn about maps, map skills, landforms, and other geography terms.
In Science we’re learning about Biomes. We’re exploring the desert, grasslands, temperate forest, tropical rain forest, and arctic region. We will focus on life cycles and animal and plant adaptations. We continue our work on our Biome Books.
This month in Physical Education/Health/Nutrition we will kick off the SHAPE program and experience our first Harvest of the Month – green beans (YUMMY).
The objectives of the Harvest of the Month program include:
- Increasing students’ access to fruits and vegetable through school meal programs, classrooms, school gardens, farmer’s markets, grocery stores and community gardens. We will take a fieldtrip later this year to the EGUSD food processing plant for a tour!
- Stressing the importance of participation in daily physical activity and understanding why it is important.
- Increasing students’ knowledge of and familiarity with California-grown fruits and vegetables and the rich agricultural bounty of the state. Each month we get to learn about and taste a new fruit or vegetable!
Have a wonderful 3 day weekend!!!
Samantha Casey
3rd Grade Teacher
A Track