We are off to another great week. I am going to try and stay on the schedule this week so that the children have a better understanding of how our daily activities are organized. Tomorrow is library and the children will begin checking out books. They can read these books as a part of their nightly reading as homework.
The yearbook staff is collecting photos of the student's summer vacation experiences both in and out of the country. Please send or email your photos to Mr. Napodano in the Upper Division (nap@shorecrest.org) if you have any that you would like to share. They will be collecting photos until September 30th.
Picture Day is coming! Lower Division children will have their photos taken in the Student Activity Center on Tuesday, September 14th. Please make sure they are dressed appropriately when they come to school. The children's picture will be taken prior to recess and lunch on that day.
The children are coming home with their spelling words this week. These spelling words not only have a sound pattern, but they also relate to the stories that we will read in our reading books. Please make sure they take the practice test tonight with you so they can focus on only the words that they may experience some difficulty for the rest of the week.
I sent home a Geography project. I reviewed all the guidelines with you child. If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to email me. Please make sure you sign the bottom portion of the letter and send just that portion back as your child will need the rest of the letter to complete the project correctly.
This week will study common an proper nouns, review the Scientific process, continue our study of the Wordly Wise words. These words for this lesson are: cylinder, examine, fatal, feature, grasp, jet, marine, scar, tentacle, and vessel. There will be homework this week so you can use the workbook to possibly call out the definitions or have your child read the definitions to you. There will be a quiz on these words on Friday. Remember.. the format that I showed you is fill in the blank. However, they will be provided with a word bank for spelling purposes.
If your child has not brought in the Handbook slip signed letting me know that he/she understands the rules, please make sure you send that in by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest. I would like to get these filed and move on to other duties.
We will continue with number patterns, equivalent names using name-collection boxes, and introduce the language of number chances.. ie. certain, uncertain.. high probability, low probability of things happening. We will conclude the week by using a number grid to find differences in numbers and working on calculator routines.
We will test the Scientific Method this week as well with an experiment that deals with flying objects. The children should have fun and learning about variables and using the Scientific Method.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Wow.. it's Wednesday!
Thank you all very much for coming to Back to School Night. I enjoyed meeting all of you and look forward to a productive and fun third grade year. I appreciate your attentiveness and your kind words at the end of the evening. If you have thought of any additional questions since last night, please don't hesitate to email me. Of course, as always I did forget a few things, but will share them with you as they are appropriate in the curriculum. However, I would like to remind you that we expect the children to come to school dressed according to uniform code. This also means that if their pants have belt loops, they need to wear a belt. When they walk in the front door in the morning, they need to have their shirts tucked in.
I didn't really discuss math last night. The program is similar to what you were used to in second grade. Everyday Math follows the same approach no matter what grade level. However, the topics of study do change. The big skill in third grade are the multiplication and division tables. Though we are not addressing those skills now, they can go ahead and begin practicing with flash cards. This will help tremendously once we do get to that skill. Please make sure you read the Family Letters that come home. Not only does it include important vocabulary associated with that unit, it actually gives you the answers to the Home Links which may be of great help down the road.
The spelling test will be on Friday. Please make sure that they review the words even if they are already an expert in spelling them.
They are bringing home a piece of white tagboard tonight. I have reviewed this with the children, but I wanted to share the details with you as well. This tagboard will go inside the front sleeve of their writing folder. They are decorate it with pictures or cut out pictures from magazines or computer of things, people and places that are special to them. They can first cover the tagboard with other colorful paper including wallpaper if you have some. Then they are to make a collogue of pictures that are unique to them. This will really personalize their writing binder in hopes that they take great pride in what goes inside.
As we get closer to the date, I will remind you of your conference time. Thank you again for coming last night.
I didn't really discuss math last night. The program is similar to what you were used to in second grade. Everyday Math follows the same approach no matter what grade level. However, the topics of study do change. The big skill in third grade are the multiplication and division tables. Though we are not addressing those skills now, they can go ahead and begin practicing with flash cards. This will help tremendously once we do get to that skill. Please make sure you read the Family Letters that come home. Not only does it include important vocabulary associated with that unit, it actually gives you the answers to the Home Links which may be of great help down the road.
The spelling test will be on Friday. Please make sure that they review the words even if they are already an expert in spelling them.
They are bringing home a piece of white tagboard tonight. I have reviewed this with the children, but I wanted to share the details with you as well. This tagboard will go inside the front sleeve of their writing folder. They are decorate it with pictures or cut out pictures from magazines or computer of things, people and places that are special to them. They can first cover the tagboard with other colorful paper including wallpaper if you have some. Then they are to make a collogue of pictures that are unique to them. This will really personalize their writing binder in hopes that they take great pride in what goes inside.
As we get closer to the date, I will remind you of your conference time. Thank you again for coming last night.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Marvelous Monday!
Today was a great day! We were able to accomplish many tasks. One important activity was that we prepared and organized our Writer's Workshop binder. I will go over the process with you tomorrow at Back to School night. But today we began making our list of "Memories that are close to my heart". I asked the children to share with you about the memories that they put on their mind map and told them that in your conversation you may "spark" their memory on a special event that they can then come back to school tomorrow and add to their mind map. I modeled my own mind map which allowed me to share a little bit of myself with the children. We will spend the next couple of weeks generating more complete thoughts about these ideas and then begin writing our personal narratives.
The children received their first spelling list. This weeks words revolve around the Silent E and how powerful this one letter can be. They have written these words in their spelling notebook, but also have the list in their homework folder. That list if to stay at home to review. In the near future, the children will also receive dictation sentences which they will have to study as well. Spelling tests are on Fridays.
I will introduce the first reading book revolves around the idea of Identity Awareness. This particular week's theme under that umbrella is entitled, Homeland. This collection of stories is about people moving away from where they were born caring with their traditions and customs. These stories and poems will hopefully generate some good class discussions on traditions and customs not only within a culture but within each individual family. I will introduce new vocabulary words that will follow them throughout the stories for the first couple of weeks and it is my goal that the children will attempt to use these words in their own writing. Some of the reading skills within the first few stories that we will focus on are character development and author's viewpoint. The language skills include common and proper nouns.
We will begin our first lesson in Wordly Wise. I will talk more indepth about his at Back to School night. But we will spend two weeks per lesson. This program helps to build and increase the child's reading writing vocabulary. Each list contains several activities including a story with comprehension questions.
In Math, we are beginning our first unit on number patterns and sequences. You will receive the Family letter that lists the skills that will be taught in this unit. Please take a few minutes to read over this letter. It may be helpful during homework time.
We are sharing our All About Me bags tomorrow and probably into Wednesday.I can't wait to learn more about your child and what makes them so unique. They are to put three things in the bag that represents them as a person or student. The items must be able to fit in the bag and not sticking out for others to see. We discussed how this may take some creativity. (ie.. instead of a real soccer ball, they may have a key chain that has a soccer ball on it)
I will introduce the Social Studies this week by reading through a great little book about that includes special information about Florida. The children will design their own license plate that will then become the cover to a Florida folder that they will create.
I look forward to seeing all of you at Back to School night. Please make sure that you start your evening at the Janet Root Theater at 7pm. The roooms will be locked until after the brief program and introduction of teachers. There are door prizes as well. When the program there is complete, please hurry down to the room. I have a great deal of information to share with you and I want everyone to have equal opportunity to hear it all.
It is the expectation that each child will read each night for at least 15 minutes. This reading can come in a few forms. They can read outloud to you, independently or you reading to them. I will give you a book log tomorrow night where you are to keep track of the books and the time.
Thank you for sending me such mannerly children. If there are any school supplies that your child still needs, please try to have the supplies and other information in by Friday at the latest.
The children received their first spelling list. This weeks words revolve around the Silent E and how powerful this one letter can be. They have written these words in their spelling notebook, but also have the list in their homework folder. That list if to stay at home to review. In the near future, the children will also receive dictation sentences which they will have to study as well. Spelling tests are on Fridays.
I will introduce the first reading book revolves around the idea of Identity Awareness. This particular week's theme under that umbrella is entitled, Homeland. This collection of stories is about people moving away from where they were born caring with their traditions and customs. These stories and poems will hopefully generate some good class discussions on traditions and customs not only within a culture but within each individual family. I will introduce new vocabulary words that will follow them throughout the stories for the first couple of weeks and it is my goal that the children will attempt to use these words in their own writing. Some of the reading skills within the first few stories that we will focus on are character development and author's viewpoint. The language skills include common and proper nouns.
We will begin our first lesson in Wordly Wise. I will talk more indepth about his at Back to School night. But we will spend two weeks per lesson. This program helps to build and increase the child's reading writing vocabulary. Each list contains several activities including a story with comprehension questions.
In Math, we are beginning our first unit on number patterns and sequences. You will receive the Family letter that lists the skills that will be taught in this unit. Please take a few minutes to read over this letter. It may be helpful during homework time.
We are sharing our All About Me bags tomorrow and probably into Wednesday.I can't wait to learn more about your child and what makes them so unique. They are to put three things in the bag that represents them as a person or student. The items must be able to fit in the bag and not sticking out for others to see. We discussed how this may take some creativity. (ie.. instead of a real soccer ball, they may have a key chain that has a soccer ball on it)
I will introduce the Social Studies this week by reading through a great little book about that includes special information about Florida. The children will design their own license plate that will then become the cover to a Florida folder that they will create.
I look forward to seeing all of you at Back to School night. Please make sure that you start your evening at the Janet Root Theater at 7pm. The roooms will be locked until after the brief program and introduction of teachers. There are door prizes as well. When the program there is complete, please hurry down to the room. I have a great deal of information to share with you and I want everyone to have equal opportunity to hear it all.
It is the expectation that each child will read each night for at least 15 minutes. This reading can come in a few forms. They can read outloud to you, independently or you reading to them. I will give you a book log tomorrow night where you are to keep track of the books and the time.
Thank you for sending me such mannerly children. If there are any school supplies that your child still needs, please try to have the supplies and other information in by Friday at the latest.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)