August 29, 2014
QUICK REMINDERS:
1. NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST- LABOR
DAY
2. If you haven’t sent in
your $8 classroom fee, please do so soon if you can. Thank you!
3. School Pictures are on
Thursday, September 4th. Don’t forget to turn in your order form, if you would like
pictures.
Dear Parents,
We completed our first full
week of third grade! Your children worked hard and did a great job keeping up
with the new expectations. Here is a recap of our week and a look at what is
coming up in our classroom.
Literacy:
Next week, I will start
assessing spelling skills by testing the first 25 words on the BVSD 3rd grade
Must Write word list. The list contains 100 words third graders must master by
the end of the year. Your child will create a personal spelling list to study
at school from the words they misspell on the assessment. I put a link on my
website with all 100 words so you can help your child practice these words at
home.
Next week, we will also begin
a unit on narrative writing.
On Wednesday, Ms. Sbrocca
will begin the new reading testing called iReady. This will be done in the
computer lab with every child. She expects to use 2 class periods to complete
the testing. After the testing is complete I will have an assessment report,
which shows me how your child is reading, their strengths, and areas to work
on.
Math:
This week, I completed a
math screeners for every child. This information gives me a snapshot of where
your child is in math.
On Tuesday, we will start
our first math unit on Multiplication and Division. Students will begin
nightly math homework the week of September 8th. Each student will be assigned
a Homework and Remembering book. Math homework will always be due the following
day. If your child has trouble with the homework, please write a note on the
page and let me know what they need help with so that I can work with them in
the classroom. Students who do not return the assignment completed the next day
will work during recess to complete the assignment.
Social Studies:
We will begin our first
unit in Social Studies on Tuesday, as well. This first unit will be about
Diverse Communities and Local Government.
Homework Policy:
Your children did a great
job with their first homework assignment, the mystery state. All students
returned it completed and were able to have Friday Fun this week. As the
homework load increases, I wanted to share with you my policy about homework
completion.
Third grade students should
be spending no more than 45 minutes total each night on homework. Here
is how that might break down: 25 minutes reading log, 20 minutes math
and/or mystery state. As a general rule, if your child has worked
diligently for this amount of time and is not done and you feel they are
beginning to get tired or frustrated, please write a note to me on the homework
stating this. It should not
become a power struggle or a nightmare experience. Please keep the lines of
communication open with me if you are experiencing any issues with homework. I
am here to help.
Reading Logs:
This week we completed the
Reading log in class so that your child would understand the requirements. Here
they are in a nutshell:
· Each
third grader is expected to read a Just Right book for 25 minutes per night
(total of 100 minutes per week)
· After
reading, they are to write 2-3 complete sentences about what they are reading
as well as marking their reading time.
· Reading
logs will come home on Mondays with the Mystery State and are due on Friday
morning.
· Short
weeks (like next week)-reading times with be adjusted and students will note
that on their logs.
· Each
child has an example reading log in their Friday folder this week.
Thank you for hanging in there
with me for this rather long update. As the year goes on, I will try to make
these shorter.
I hope you all have a
fantastic long weekend. Stay safe and I will see you on Tuesday.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Aisha Galt
