Time for a Break!

Dear Families,

I’ve been home sick and I’m sorry to have missed the awards assembly and a chance to wish the students a happy vacation.  One good thing for some of the students…I don’t have my gradebook at home, so if your child still has some make-up work to do, they will have all month to finish it! 

Reminders:

Please encourage your child to continue reading while off track!  I just added their Trimester 2 AR goals, which are based on their most recent STAR test results and reading for 20 minutes each day. (AR awards for reaching Trimester 1 goals will be given out the week we are back on track.)

 

Dates to Remember:

October 29th (2pm – 5pm): Mega Fall Festival! There will be carnival games, bounce houses, face painting, balloon art, trunk or treating, pumpkin decorating, food trucks, and more all located on our school blacktop and parking lot!! 

October 30th: Back to School!

 

Also, I haven’t created a parent volunteer calendar for November and December, yet.  If you would like to volunteer, just send me an email with the days you would like to come in and I will add them to a calendar before we go back on track.  When we have solidified plans for a holiday celebration, I will also send out a separate sign-up sheet. 

 

HAVE A FANTASTIC BREAK!

Mrs. Barnes

 

 

 

 

Newsletter #10

Dear parents,

Well, today is the last day of Trimester 1 of 3rd grade…it has gone by so fast! I will be completing report cards on Monday and Tuesday. So, if your child completes any late or missing assignments over this weekend, please send me an email telling me the assignment. The grades in ParentVue may not necessarily be the grades that your child will get on their report card… I still need to add the AR grades to reading, as well as participation and homework grades. Any questions…please send me an email.

Learning this week:

Science/Writing: We are combining science with writing to learn how to write an informational paper.  We will be learning and writing about the adaptations that animals have that help them survive in their environments. (We started today.) We are doing one animal for each continent, beginning with camels from Asia.   

Social Studies: We are learning about the many landforms that are throughout our state and country. The students have already completed a poster about 15 different landforms, and they will have all of the 2nd trimester to complete a landform slideshow.  They are to complete just two slides each week to be done on time. 

Math: We will continue with Topic 4 this week. Please continue to encourage your child to memorize multiplication facts.  We will be taking timed tests each Wednesday and Friday.

Reading: We will continue with Wonders for weekly reading and grammar instruction. Also, the students took the STAR test yesterday and will have a new ZPD reading range and a new AR point goal for the 2nd trimester.  I will give the students bookmarks with the information by the end of next week.

 

Invention Presentations

The students have been amazing me with their innovative inventions and their presentations! I am so impressed with all of them!  Here are the fantastic inventions that were presented this week…

Phoebe’s “Hands Free iPad Holder” …

Mason’s “Ultimate Book Holder”…

Trenton’s “Water Dispenser”…

Jasmine’s “Cell Phone Holder”…

Hunter’s “Reusable Cat Bed”…

Hayden’s “Bored Cup”…

Madeline’s “Homework Helper”…

Sarah’s “Doggie Express”…

Aanya’s “What Should I Do? Organizer”…

Ronan’s “Book Buddy”…

Ariana’s “The Handy Dandy Box”…

Have a great weekend!

Mrs. Barnes

Newsletter #9

Dear Families,

Well, we are beginning the last week of Trimester 1! I can’t believe how fast the first trimester has flown by! Please encourage your child to reach their AR goal by Friday, as that is the cutoff day. They will take the STAR test again this week to see how they are progressing with reading and to set a new ZPD level and goal for the 2nd Trimester.

Sunrise’s 1st Spirit Rally! …

Tomorrow is the first spirit rally of the year!  Please have your child wear their spirit wear and line up in the morning as usual.  Teachers will pick their classes up from the red dots on the playground and take them to the quad for the rally.  Parents are welcome to stay for the fun!

Learning this week…

Math: The students will review Topic 3 on Monday and do a practice test Monday night for homework.  They will take the Topic 3 Assessment on Tuesday.  We will begin Topic 4 on Wednesday, which focuses on using multiplication facts to divide.  For an overview of Topic 4, click here. It is very important that students are memorizing multiplication facts in order to be successful on Topic 4. 

Reading: Wonders: Unit 1 Week 5. If you would like to know the skills being taught, please click here.

Art: Hispanic Heritage Month is September 15th – October 15th.  Sunrise will be honoring Hispanic Heritage through artistic expression.  In the next couple of weeks, we will complete one art project by Ines Alvidres and one Amate Bark Painting.

Science: We will continue learning about animal adaptations. 

Writing: We will continue working on sentence writing; learning about simple and compound sentences.  We will begin learning the structure of an informational paragraph.

 

Our student engineers have come through with some outstanding inventions!

Christopher’s “RC Snacker”…

Emerson’s “Chip Bank”…

Daniels “HMT” (Homemade Movie Theater)…

Maverick’s “Face Saver”…

Sophia’s “Finder Box”…

Nela’s “The Life Saver”…

Holden’s “Portable Phone Holder”…

Angeline’s “Personal Portable Fan”…

Isaac’s “Trash Claw” (I’m not sure that’s the correct name, but it worked great!)

I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the inventions!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Barnes

 

 

 

 

 

 

WEEK #8 NEWSLETTER

LEARNING THIS WEEK:

Math: We will finish up Topic 3 …see last week’s newsletter for a description of Topic 3. Please continue to encourage multiplication fact practice!

Reading: We will finish Unit 1, Week 4 in Wonders. The students were given an invention project to go along with our Wonders stories this week.  Here is the link to the assignment in case your child forgot to take the instructions home:  Link to Our Invention Convention!

*Your child can bring in their invention any day this week or next week.  Please note that they should make their invention from materials they already have!  Some good ideas can be found if you Google “From Trash to Treasure”

Writing: We will work on writing fluency, descriptive writing, and proper sentence structure

Spelling: Link to Week #8 Word List Long i & Long u

Homework: Link to Homework 9/11 – 11/14

 

COMING UP…

Wednesday 9/13: The school will have their first lockdown drill.  We will discuss the reasons for having these drills at school, but I wanted to let you know because it may result in the necessity for further conversation at home.

Friday 9/15:

  • Minimum Day:  12:55 Dismissal
  • Spirit Day: College Spirit Wear
  • PFO Spaghetti Feed and Silent Auction: 5:30 pm-8:00 pm in the Sunrise MP Room. I hope to see you there!

 

 

A PEEK INTO OUR FUN FRIDAYS…

As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Have a fantastic week,

Mrs. Barnes & Mrs. Sardo

WEEK #7 NEWSLETTER

Dear Families,

It’s hard to believe that we’re halfway through the 1st trimester! Thank you to all who took the time to meet for a parent/teacher conference over the last two weeks. I also want to thank all of you for supporting your children academically and for encouraging good classroom behavior.

Yearbooks:

Sunrise yearbooks are on sale and the price goes up October 1st! You can purchase one online at ybpay.com and enter yearbook ID 14810824.

The yearbook committee is looking for pictures to add to the yearbook.  If you have any pictures of the first day of school or any other Sunrise events that you’d like to submit, you can do so here.

Homework:

I will start linking the Homework Slideshow here each week. Some parents have asked about the Reading Log link. I removed it since students are now expected to take AR tests after they finish a book. It is also beneficial if you have your child read out loud to you, as well as ask them questions about what they are reading.

Multiplication:

Please, please, please help and encourage your child to work on memorizing multiplication facts! There are practice tests linked above that you can print and time your child for 3 minutes.

Snacks:

I am so grateful to all of the families who have donated snacks to our classroom!  We truly appreciate your generosity! The intention is to have “emergency snacks” on hand for those students who need them. Unfortunately, there have been 9 or 10 students taking snacks from our snack drawer each day. I know there are times when your child forgets to grab a snack, but please try to send one on most days so that our snacks will last longer!

Language Arts:

Math:

As always, let us know if you have any questions or concerns!

Have a fantastic week!

Mrs. Barnes & Mrs. Sardo