Happy Tuesday!

We had a very productive day today. Though we are not quite into the rhythm of our schedule, we were able to complete more tasks today than we were last week. In truth, it will probably take another week before we are all settled and comfortable with our daily schedule. This week, we will begin our library class and we hope to begin our guidance classes soon.

I have posted the spelling words on the side of the blog and in Spelling City. If you click on my link within the Spelling City program,  it will take you to the lists of words that I have already made. The lists may not go in the same order as last year, but the children should always know the title of the words for the week. Just click on that list and all the words will appear and give you options for games. I told the children to take a peek at Spelling City this week just to get used to some of the games and test the print function before I begin assigning homework. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. This week they have Open Syllable words. There are three rules that apply to this list. I have told the children that for dictation this week, they will have to write at least two of the three rules. They have written these rules in their notebook. But the rules are as follows:
1. An open syllable ends with a vowel
2. The vowel has a long sound
3. An open syllable can be just one letter if that letter is a vowel

From time to time this year, I will give the children a poem to learn. These are poems in addition to the one that they will learn for Poetry in the Park. I find that not only are these poems fun, they help ease the children"s fears of  speaking in front of a crowd as well as "train the brain" to remember words and phrases. You will find a poem, Keep a Poem in Your Pocket, in the homework folder tonight. The children will be asked to recite this poem on September 14 in front of their classmates.  We will also begin our Poetry Unit in Writing along with preparing our "special moments" personal narrative writing. The children will write a couple of poems. One of the poems that they will publish is a poem about Peace. This topic will connect to our observation of International Peace Day on September 21.We will share out poems with the school on that day by putting them on display. I will make sure that each child has a copy of this poem to bring home to share with you.

This week, I assigned several pages of manuscript practice. In fact, the children will review all the letters of the alphabet both upper and lower case. I told the children that they could manage their own work but that all the circled pages in their workbook needed to be completed by Friday. You may want to ask to see this work. I will not assess it until Friday upon which time if I find that any of the writing has been done in haste, the children will be asked to complete the assignment again.

Both tomorrow and Thursday, the children will attend their Art class. There will probably be a notice coming home, but I would like the children to try and bring in a rock by Thursday to take to Art class with them. The rock should be one that can fit in the palm of their hand and carried with ease. I have not discussed this with them, but will do so tomorrow morning at Morning Meeting.

I do have some graded reading and spelling papers that I will return to you as soon as I can set up my grade book. Once the papers do come home, please have your child look over them  paying close attention to any mistakes that are made. As I tell the children, mistakes are good if they learn something from them.

This week in Math, we will work on equivalent names, discuss probability, and finding differences with larger numbers. We worked on math boxes today in class. Something that I forgot to mention at Back to School Night are the math box pages in the workbook. The directions on these pages are sparse if not from time to time non-existent. This is intentional and a very good way to assess what your child has learned from the lesson that day. I want to assure you that if and when these math box pages are assigned for homework, that I will review the activities with the children  and allow time for questions before the assignment ever comes home.  I know that some of you are familiar with the routines and expectations of our Everyday Math program. But I realize that at times it is difficult for you to know exactly how it is taught at school. I will do my best to eliminate any confusion or anxiety for you and your child. I would also encourage the children to go ahead and either find some multiplication flash cards or make some themselves. We do not get into the formal teaching of this concept for a while,   but it always helps to have some background knowledge of these basic facts.

We will begin our Scientific Knowledge work this week. I will be sending home an activity that asks the children to form their own hypothesis about a few topics. They don't actually have to do the experiment unless they want to. But, they should be able to write an hypothesis once we have practiced in class. As I mentioned at Back to School Night, the children will keep a Science journal that will stay in class. You can request to see this during our conference if you so desire.

This week I will be reviewing our first third grade project on Landforms. I have all the expectations detailed in a project letter that will come home. Giving the fact that it's the first project of the year, I have outlined some of my expectations and objectives, but have also given the children some choices to make on their own. Again, once you see it and have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me. But please know that I will review this at length with your child so there really should not be any reason your child cannot explain it to your satisfaction.

We have completed our first Class Novel. As a class, we came to the conclusion that if everyone were perfect, than the world would be boring. And that if we were all perfect at everything, that we would miss out on friendships formed by helping each other strive to be better. We will compose another response in our response journal this week and then move on to our next novel, Muggie Maggie by Beverly Cleary.  The main character of this book, decides that she does not want to learn cursive handwriting. This is an appropriate book giving the fact that we will begin cursive handwriting next week. Let's just hope we don't have any "Muggie Maggies" in our room. Smiles! we will spend some time on character development and outlining the basics to a story in identifying the beginning, the middle, and the end.

I have been very impressed with the children's grammar abilities. We review certain skills such as capitalization, punctuation, and commas where they are needed. I look forward to learning more about your child once we are in full swing of  Writer's Workshop. We did take some time last week for the children to repsond to some questions on both reading and writing. These surveys gave me some insight as to the perceptions that your child has about his or her ability in both areas. They all seem to love to read and write, but are less confident in their ability as a whole.  This is where I will begin my work!  I am sure it is of no surprise to you when I say that children are so much more accepting to learn when they are comfortable and are confident. And though I don't want to give them false praise, I do want them to receive as much positive feedback as possible. When you are working with your child at home, please try and compliment on even the smallest of things such as expression, pausing at periods and commas, and attempts to sound out a word even if the end result is not the correct pronunciation. Thank you in advance for your support!!!

Tomorrow the children will come home with a Time Capsule Sheet. They will have until Friday to complete the questions. Each child will put his/her sheet in a can and we will keep them safely stored until the end of the year. It will be interesting to see if with another year of learning and maturity how if any their interests will change.

Thank you to all of you that came to Back to School Night. If you were not able to sign up for a conference, please email me as times are limited and I would like to have the schedule in place in order for me to plan ahead of time. Many thanks!