Friday, December 20th

Dear Parents,

I can't believe it is already winter break. This year is flying by so quickly!

First, I would like to say thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts. I feel so blessed to be able to spend each day with your children and so loved by all your thoughtfulness. Thank you.

Literacy:

We have been working on writing opinion paragraphs with and without text support. The kids will finish these when we get back from break.  In reading we have been working on some test taking skills and also active reading strategies for deeper comprehension. The kids are coming along nicely with their skills. I will do mid year reading testing when we return and share the results with you in February conferences.

Math:

We are close to finishing our third unit- Time, Measurement and Graphing. We will do that the week we return from break and have a test on the unit most likely on the Friday we get back. Students' multiplication and division facts are really coming along. They are becoming more and more fluent. I'm so proud of them. Keep practicing those every day!

Social Studies:

We are in the middle of a unit on the Regions of the United States. We have had an overview of the five regions (West, Midwest, Southwest, Southeast and Northeast). When we return, the kids will break into smaller groups to become experts on one of the regions. 

Thank you again for supporting you kids every day, and also thank you for the thoughtful gifts you sent in. I am truly blessed.

Happy holidays and have a safe and restful break. See you all in 2014!! 

(First day back is Tuesday, January 7)

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Monday, December 9th

Monday, December 9

Dear Parents,

I hope you had a good weekend. The forecast is calling for warmer weather for the rest of the week, so we may get to go outside for recess. Thank you for making sure your child comes to school prepared for cold and snowy weather.  Students are not allowed to play in the snow unless they are wearing boots.

Math Update

Last week, we explored ways to measure things using the customary and metric systems of measurement using inches, centimeters, cups, pints, quarts, gallons, liters, milliliters, pounds, ounces, grams, and kilograms.  You can help your child become familiar with these units of measure by working with measurement together.  For example, you might estimate and measure the length of something in inches and centimeters.  You might use a measuring cup to explore how the cup can be used to fill pints, quarts, or gallons of liquid.

This week , we are learning about time.  This topic is directly connected to home and community and involves skills your child will use often in everyday situations.  Students are reading time to the hour, half-hour, quarter-hour, five minutes, and minutes, as well as describing the time before the hour and after the hour.  Students will also be using clocks to solve problems about elapsed time and learning how to add and subtract time on a number line.

Please help your child read time and find elapsed time.  Ask your child to estimate how long it takes to do activities such as eating a meal, traveling to the store, or doing homework.  Have your child look at the clock when starting an activity and then again at the end of the activity.  Ask how long the activity took.

Thank you for supporting your child with our current math unit.

We would love to see you at our Winter Party, which runs from 1:30 to 2:30 on Friday, December 20^th.  Thank you to our wonderful room parents and to all of you for making this party a success.  

If you have any questions or comments, please call or write to me.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Tuesday, November 19th

Tuesday, November 19^th

Dear Parents,

Our class has earned another compliment celebration!  They voted to have a game hour.  Tomorrow, students are allowed to bring appropriate games from home that they would like to play together at school.  Students can bring electronic games.  These games will stay in students’ backpacks at all times outside of our game hour. 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

November 15th

Friday, November 15^th

Dear Parents,

I hope that you are well.  It is hard to believe that our first trimester is over.  Report cards are coming home today in your child’s Friday folder.  It would be wonderful if you can take some time to go over your child’s report card with them.  This provides an opportunity for you and your child to discuss celebrations and goals for improvement.  Please sign the report card envelope and return it early next week.  Thank you!

Students have been working diligently to publish their informational animal writing. This final draft comes after researching, drafting, revising, and editing.  They will be displayed in the hall by the end of next week.  Please stop by to read them if you have a chance.  Over the next few weeks, we will focus on writing strong paragraphs to respond to a writing prompt. 

Each week we discuss and practice reading strategies to help develop comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and vocabulary.  Please ask students how they use their reading strategies to support their at home reading.  In the weeks to come, we are going to focus on summarizing the central ideas in texts through conversations and writing. 

Our Plant and Animal Life Cycles unit is coming to a close.  It has been amazing to watch and learn about the life cycles of frogs, butterflies, pea plants, and mealworms in our classroom. We will begin a social studies unit about regions when we return from Thanksgiving break.  

Students will be taking our second unit math test on Thursday of next week.  Students are now responsible for the multiplication and division facts 1-10s.  Math fact practice should become a regular part of your child’s homework routine.  Fast fact recall allows students to focus on more complex problem solving and in an imperative skill.  Our class website has some excellent online resources for math fact practice. http://mrsgalt.blogspot.com/ When we return from Thanksgiving break, we will begin our Measurement, Time, and Graphs unit.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for your support.  It is an honor to work with your children each day. 

Sincerely,
Mrs. Aisha Galt

October 24th

Thursday, October 24th

Dear Parents,

Please have your child study their multiplication and division facts for 0s, 1s, 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 9s, and 10s for homework tonight.  They can use their strategy cards and the website links on our class webpage to study.  Students completed the Unit 1 test yesterday, and many of them did very well!  Tests will be coming home in Friday folders tomorrow.  We will begin Unit 2 on Monday, which is Multiplication and Division with 6s, 7s, 8s, and Multiply with Multiples of 10.  You may have noticed that we skipped some pages in the Homework and Remembering workbook.  I encourage your child to complete these pages for extra practice at some point, but I will not officially assign them.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

October 22nd

Tuesday, October 22nd

Dear Parents,

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day!

Thank you for coming to your child’s parent teacher conference.  After meeting with all of you I understand why we have such a wonderful class.  You are a group of very supportive parents.  Please continue to talk to your child about their goals at school and let me know if you have any questions or concerns as the year progresses. 

I spoke with many of you about the importance of studying math facts with your child.  Please check out the math links on our classroom website http://mrsgalt.blogspot.com/

Reviewing your child’s math homework and reading log with them is also a great way to support your child’s academic growth.

I am excited to announce that we are beginning our Wetland Life Cycles lessons with Thorne Nature Experience this Friday, October 25^th .  A teacher from Thorne will be working with students during three progressive visits to extend our Plant and Animal Life Cycles unit.  Please ask your child about what they learned and did during these lessons on October 25^th, November 1^st, and November 8^th. 

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt 

Tues., October 15th

Tuesday, October 15^th

Dear Parents,

I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend.  I had a productive professional development day and am looking forward to meeting with all of you during parent-teacher conferences this week.  Your third grader is welcome to join us for the conference too.

I wanted to thank all of the parents who helped with our fall party.  It was a great success!   

Students will be coming home with a mystery state and a reading log for homework tonight. These assignments are due on Friday.  Students should also have their math homework workbooks.  Pages 42-66 contain Home Multiplication Strategy Cards.  Please help your child tear these pages from their workbook and cut the cards apart.  Students should use these cards throughout the year to practice their multiplication facts.  They can check their work by looking at the back of the card, which provides multiple models for how the problem can be solved.  Students will have additional math assignments on Wednesday and Thursday.

I am looking for parent volunteers to help me prepare some of the materials that came with our new math program.   This work can be done at home and entails punching out cards and organizing them for student use.  If you are able to help with this task, please let me know.  I can send the materials home with you after our parent-teacher conference this week.  Thank you!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Friday, October 4th

Happy Friday!  Well the snow has melted, and the weather forecast looks good for next week.  As you know, Jog-a-Thon has been rescheduled for Wednesday, October 9^th from 9:45-10:30.  October 9^th is also Walk to School Day!  Please remind your child to dress appropriately and bring a water bottle on Wednesday.  I passed out Jog-a-Thon bottles today. 

The online sign up for parent-teacher conferences is open. Thank you to the many parents who have already signed up. I am looking forward to sharing your child's progress and setting some goals for this year. If, for some reason the three dates do not work for your schedule, please let me know so we can arrange another time to meet. It is important that I see all my families during conference time. 

Your kids have been working hard and have earned their first compliment party!! (I have a jar of marbles, and they earn marbles for good group behavior.)  To celebrate our success we will have a pajama day and read-in this Tuesday, October 8^h.  Kids may come to school in appropriate PJs and may also bring a pillow, blanket, or stuffed animal.  I encourage students to bring additional reading material from home.  If your child would like to bring an electronic reading device this it is fine as long as it is okay with you too. 

Please support your child with regular math fact practice. The following websites are great resources for fact practice.

www.playkidsgames.com/games/mathfact/default.htm

www.mathfactcafe.com/

www.factmonster.com/math/flashcards.html

The following free iPad Applications are also great for math practice:

Flash To Pass, Counting Money, Rocket Math, My Math Flash Cards.

Lastly, if you have not had a chance to pay the $8.00 fee for project supplies and supplemental reading materials please do so.  Thank you!

I hope you have a great weekend.

Sept. 26th Update

Dear Parents, I hope you are having a good week.  Please remind your child to complete their mystery state, reading log, and math homework tonight.  All of these assignments are due tomorrow. Our class had the most marchers in the Broomfield Days parade!  We have been awarded a class breakfast.  Students voted to have donuts and juice on Thursday, October 3rd. Thank you for taking the time to read this update.  Please let me know if you have any questions. I am enjoying teaching your children.  We have a fantastic class!