Friday, February 24th

Dear Parents,

Thank you for coming to conferences! These meetings allow us to partner in your child’s growth and provide them with a maximum amount of support.  It has been a fantastic year so far, and the last months of school will continue to be productive and fun.  Thank you for all your support.

I talked to many of you about the importance of practicing basic math facts consistently.  We use the website Fact Monster to practice at school, so students are familiar with this site.:

http://www.factmonster.com/math/flashcards.html

As most of you know, third graders will be taking the PARCC tests this year.  This is a state standardized test. The tests have been scheduled for the first two weeks of April, right after spring break.  If you are planning a trip, please plan the trip outside of the PARCC testing dates. It would be so helpful to have all the students complete the tests during our scheduled testing weeks. Thank you! We will let you know the final dates and times when we have a finalized schedule.

We will be doings some PARCC practice activities.  This practice helps students feel more comfortable about the test and familiarizes them with the testing format. The websites below have have some good practice problems, if you would like to use them at home too. If you have any questions or concerns about PARCC, please let me know.

English Language Arts

https://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/english/

Mathematics

https://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/math/

More Practice for Math and LA
http://lumoslearning.com/llwp/resources/common-core-parcc-practice-tests-and-sample-questions.html

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Aisha Galt

February 17, 2017

Dear Parents,

We have been working hard in third grade. Here is a recap of this week and what to look forward to next week:

Literacy:

We are continuing our unit on research and informational writing. This week we worked on more research in books and on the computer, taking notes from the research, and organizing our notes. Next week, we will begin writing our research papers. After the writing is complete, the students will be creating a Google Slides presentation of their information.

Math:

We have started Unit 6- Geometry- this week in math. This unit focuses mainly on understanding the different attributes of quadrilaterals, names of quadrilaterals (parallelogram, rectangle, square, rhombus, and trapezoid), understanding area and perimeter of quadrilaterals, and calculating area and perimeter of quadrilaterals.

Social Studies:

We continue to work on our Regions of the United States unit in Social Studies. This week focused primarily on map skills, understanding how to read maps and find locations using latitude and longitude. Next week we will begin to study five regions of the United States and how they are similar and different.

Important Dates:

Monday, February 20 No School- President’s Day

Tuesday, February 21 and Thursday, February 23- Parent Teacher Conference. Please sign up for a time to meet with me if you have not done so already. Follow this link to go to the conference sign up page:

https://sites.google.com/a/bvsd.org/kohl-conferences/

Finally, please continue to be diligent in helping your child remember to complete their daily and weekly homework and to return it on time. We have noticed a decline in student’s completing and returning homework and so we have decided, as a third grade team, to bring back study hall on Fridays. Students who get a pink slip during the week will spend time on Friday afternoon, during Friday Fun, completing missing work. It is important to build a foundation of responsibility for their homework. This responsibility will only help them as they move through middle and high school, where homework becomes an integral part of their class grade.

Have a safe and wonderful three-day weekend with your families.

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt

Thursday, February 9th

Dear Parents,

Our Valentine’s Day party is on Tuesday, February 14th from 1:30-2:30. As always, parents are invited to attend the party. Please take a moment to sign-up to donate something for our party, using the link from our room mother.  Thank you!

If your child chooses to bring Valentine cards to school, they need to have one for each child in our class.  Valentines should be brought to school on February 14th.  Students will also need a container to collect their Valentines during our party.  They can make something or just bring a bag. Handmade cards are encouraged.  Here is a list of student names to help with this task.  

Lizzie, Lily, Allen, Savannah, Cecilia, Taylor D., Keira, Zach D., Caleb, Annie, Taylor H., Hailey, Kylar, Elijah, Rileigh, Marcel, Eric, Dorian, Miles, Carter, Echo, Lyzelle, Joaquin, Beth, Jack, Zac T., Andres, Kaylee

Our parent/ teacher conferences are February 21st and 23rd. An email about signing up was sent out by the office last week.  Thank you to those of you who have signed up.  If you have not had a chance to sign up yet, please do so.  I look forward to meeting with each of you.

I also want to remind everyone about our regular homework routine.  Some students seem to be having trouble completing and remembering their assignments.  Students receive a reading log and a mystery state on Monday, and they are due on Friday.  Please take a moment to look over and sign your child’s weekly reading log.  Students should be using their assigned reading program, Reading Plus or iReady, at least once a week at home. I assign math homework on Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Thursdays.  These assignments are due the next day.  In addition, students should be studying addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts on a regular basis.  Thank you for supporting your child!

There is no school for students tomorrow, Friday, February 10th. Enjoy the long weekend.

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt