Friday, December 22, 2017

Friday, December 22nd, 2017

The week of January 8th we have PE on Tuesday and Friday

Dear Parents,

I can't believe it is already winter break. This year is flying by so quickly!
Thank you to our room mother, Chamisa Logemann, and all of the other parents who made our winter party a success.  The kids had a blast!

I would like to say thank you for all of the wonderful gifts. I feel blessed to be able to spend each day teaching your children and loved by all your thoughtfulness. Thank you.

Please continue to collect Box Tops!  This is a great and easy way to support our school.  Student council will be sponsoring another Box Top contest after winter break.

Literacy:
This week students worked on publishing one of their opinion pieces.  They will be hanging in the hall for our school community to read after winter break. After break we will begin a narrative writing unit using fairy tales as the structure to write our own “fractured” fairy tales.

Math:
We started Unit 4, Addition and Subtraction of Multidigit Numbers this week and spent a few days reviewing place value.  We will continue this unit when we return from break. I know you keep hearing me say practice math facts, but memorized multiplication and division facts 1-10 and subtraction and addition facts through sums of 20 are imperative for fluent problem solving as math content gets more difficult.  The car is a great place to practice math facts, your kids can quiz you too, which can make it more fun for them. 

Social Studies:
This week we continued our unit on Regions of the United States.  We will finish up this unit shortly after we return from winter break.

Homework Ideas for Winter Break
  • Encourage your child to read independently and with you.  Take some time to talk about the texts.
  • ReadingPlus or iReady lessons
  • Practice addition and subtraction facts sums through 20
  • Practice all X and / (0-10) 5-10 minutes daily
Important Dates to Remember
Saturday, December 22-January 8 Winter Break
Tuesday, January 9 First day back after Winter Break

Thank you again for supporting your kids every day! Happy holidays and have a safe and restful break.  See you all in 2018!!

Students first day back  is Tuesday, January 9th.

Sincerely,
Aisha Galt
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Friday, December 15, 2017

Friday, December 15, 2017
Next week we have PE on Wednesday
Dear Parents,
We had another good week in third grade.  There is definitely a building holiday energy in the air!

The Kohl Spelling Bee was this week. Our students, Kierra Logemann and Caylin Schwab, did a great job! We are so proud of their hard work.

Please continue to collect Box Tops!  This is a great and easy way to support our school. Student council will be sponsoring another Box Top contest after winter break.
Literacy:
Students are working on publishing an opinion writing piece. When we return from winter break, students will begin our second narrative writing unit.  We will be reading and analyzing traditional fairy tales, and students will be writing their own version of a well known fairy tale.  This is a fun unit for everyone!
Math:
We finished up our math unit on Measurement, Time and Graphing this week. The graded unit test will be in your child’s Friday folder next week.  On Monday we will start Unit 4, Addition and Subtraction of Multidigit Numbers. Our next math homework packet will not be sent home until after winter break.  Please continue to practice addition and subtraction facts through 20 and multiplication and division facts 1-10 nightly.  We had a math summit on Wednesday this week, and fourth grade teachers really stressed the importance of memorized math facts.  The MobyMax site has two great math folders, Fact Fluency and Math, that your child can use to support math homework practice.
Social Studies:
This week we continued our unit on Regions of the United States by learning about landforms and how landforms affect human life.  We also started studying key characteristics about individual regions: landforms and bodies of water, climate, products and natural resources, culture, and landmarks.  Students will compare and contrast these characteristics for the 5 major regions of the United States.

We are not assigning a mystery state or a Dictado sentence next week.  Happy holidays!
Homework Ideas for Next Week
  • ReadingPlus or iReady lessons at least once per week.
  • Practice all X and / (0-10) 5-10 minutes daily
Important Dates to Remember
Friday, December 22 Winter Party 1:30-2:30
Saturday, December 22-January 8 Winter Break
Tuesday, January 9 First day back after Winter Break
Have a fantastic weekend!

Sincerely,
Aisha Galt
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Friday, December 8, 2017

Friday, December 8, 2017
Next week we have PE onTuesday and Friday
Dear Parents,
This was another busy week in third grade. Students spent some time developing their phonics, comprehension, and vocabulary skills through daily short iReady lessons.  We will be completing the winter iReady Diagnostic test next week.  Please encourage your child to do their best!  
The math review homework packets are due this Monday, December 11th. I hope that your child has been working on this assignment consistently.  It was not meant to feel like an overwhelming assignment, but rather a nightly practice of materials that students should be familiar.  I will send the next math homework packet home after winter break. The MobyMax site has two great math folders: Fact Fluency and Math that your child can use to support math homework practice.
Please continue to collect Box Tops!  This is a great and easy way to support our school. Student council will be sponsoring another Box Top contest after winter break.
Literacy:
This week we continued working on opinion writing.  Students wrote a piece about an opinion topic of their choice and a piece about the best pet for an apartment that was supported by facts from a text that we read as a class. I encourage you to have conversations about personal opinions with your child.  Model sharing clear reasons for an opinion that are supported by facts.  When students can talk about their opinions with clear reasons, it makes writing about their opinions much easier.  
Math:
We are working on telling time to the minute and solving elapsed time problems in math. Please continue to support your child with telling time.  Elapsed time is a tricky concept and practice is extremely helpful.  Students will continue to complete multiplication and division Math Dash quizzes throughout the school year.  Regular math fact practice should continue to be part of your child’s nightly homework routine. Next week we will  create and use graphs to solve problems.  Our unit 3 test will be on Friday, December 15th.
Social Studies:
This week we continued our unit on Regions of the United States by learning about how to find places on a map using latitude and longitude. We also worked on building vocabulary to support our learning during this unit.

Homework Ideas for Next Week
  • ReadingPlus or iReady lessons at least once per week.
  • Check in with your child about their Mystery State assignment.  Help your child practice their Dictado sentence.  This should be written in their homework notebook each week and should be written each night at home.
  • Practice all X and / (0-10) 5-10 minutes daily
Important Dates to Remember
Monday, December 11 Math packets due
Friday, December 22 Winter Party 1:30-2:30
Saturday, December 22-January 8 Winter Break
Tuesday, January 9 First day back after Winter Break
Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Aisha Galt
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Friday, December 1, 2017

Friday, December 1, 2017

Next week we have PE on Monday and Thursday

Dear Parents,

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving break and had great food and fun with family and friends. We have jumped right back into our daily routine in third grade this week, and we have been busy, busy!
Tuesday was our last meeting with the teachers from Thorne. We really enjoyed learning about the wetlands and reviewing life cycles with them. Thanks once again to our generous PTA for providing the funds for this wonderful extension to our science program at Kohl.

This week we noticed that many students were missing their nightly Dictado practice in their homework notebooks. Also, many students are not using ReadingPlus/iReady at home at least once a week. Please help support your child with these weekly assignments. Thank you!

Literacy:
This week we started working on writing an opinion piece supported by facts, both from a text and on our own. All of the students wrote a piece about the importance of recycling and used evidence from the text to support their opinion.  We have also been working on understanding what the main idea of a text is and how we can use that to find the supporting details.

Math:
We are working on telling time to the hour, quarter hour, half hour, 5 minutes and minute. Most of this is review from second grade. Next week, we will use time telling skills to understand how to compute elapsed time problems. This is a more difficult concept.  Please support your child with practice telling time and calculating elapsed time at home.  Thank you!
Don’t forget to have your child work on the math packet. These are due on December 11.

Social Studies:
This week we continued our unit on Regions of the United States by learning about how to find places on a map using latitude and longitude. We also worked on building vocabulary to support our learning during this unit.

Homework Ideas for Next Week
  • ReadingPlus or iReady lessons at least once per week.
  • Check in with your child about their Mystery State assignment.  Help your child practice their Dictado sentence.  This should be written in their homework notebook each week and should be written each night at home.
  • Practice all X and / (0-10) 5-10 minutes daily
Important Dates to Remember
Thursday, December 7 Vision and Hearing Screening
Friday, December 22 Winter Party 1:30-2:30
Saturday, December 22-January 8 Winter Break
Tuesday, January 9 First day back after Winter Break

Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Aisha Galt
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