Friday, October 26th

Next week we have PE on Tuesday and Friday.

Dear Parents,

Our field trip to the zoo was a great success. Thank you to all of the chaperones!  Next week, we will continue to make connections between our life cycles unit and the information that students collected about animals that they saw and wrote about at the zoo.

You will find a permission slip for our next field trip in your child’s Friday folder.  On Friday, November 16th we will be going to see Annie at the Broomfield Library Auditorium.  Please sign the permission slip and have your child return it to school as soon as possible. There is no cost for this trip!  We will walk to the auditorium at 8:15 and return to school by 1:30 for our fall party!

Thank you to those of you who have returned Read a Thon donation envelopes. Please have your child return their envelope as soon as possible. We greatly appreciate your support!

We had our last lesson with Thorne Nature Experience this week.  Students spent time creating a book about their learning.  Thank you to our PTA for funding our work with Thorne!

Curriculum Update
Students are reading and writing informational texts.  They have read and written about paleontologists and the difficulties of living in Alaska in the winter. Next week, students will be reading and writing about animal migration.  Please talk to your child about the purpose of informational writing and share interesting facts that you learn through your own reading of informational texts.

We are moving through our second math unit-Multiplication and Division 1-10s. Unit 2 has been a lot of practice with all of the multiplication and division facts and how to use them in one and now two step word problems. The class is doing a good job of using a step by step method to find the important information, think about what the problem is asking them to do and then writing and solving the equation.

Our life cycles unit has been enhanced through our lessons with Thorne and our trip to the zoo. Each student planted a pea seed and will be observing the stages of its life cycle over the next few weeks.  We have lots of sprouting seeds! We will be comparing the life cycles of our pea plants to the life cycles of animals like: a butterfly, frog, and mealworm.  

Our new literacy materials are providing us with some rich interactive read aloud experiences. We just finished a selection of texts all focusing on the importance of kindness. Students are learning to confidently identify the genre of texts and to discuss their thinking about texts using evidence from the text to support their ideas.

Homework for next week:

• ReadingPlus or iReady lessons at least once per week.
• Read at least 20 min nightly.

• 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.
• Practice math X and / facts 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10. 10 minutes daily

Mark Your Calendar

Friday, October 26th-Trunk or Treat 5:30-7:30

Friday, November 16th-Field Trip to see Annie the play

Friday, November 16th-Fall Party 1:30-2:30

Have a wonderful weekend.  

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Friday, October 19th

Next week we have PE on Tuesday and Friday.

Dear Parents,

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day! Clearly, we have started experiencing our lovely Colorado winter weather with snow one day and sun the next.  Please remind your child to dress for the weather. Thank you!

We had a fantastic Read a Thon week!  The gym was transformed into a reading wonderland on Wednesday, and students enjoyed our class read in today!  Thank you for supporting your child with collecting pledges for this important school fundraiser. The first class to return 100% of their Donation envelopes will be awarded with a prize!  We will also get a class treat if we have 100% participation. Any size donation is appreciated and counts toward our 100% participation goal.

Our field trip to the Denver Zoo is next Thursday, October 25th!  Thank you to everyone who has returned the permission slip and fee. Students will need to bring a cold lunch and dress for being outside at the zoo for the day.  Thank you to our chaperones: Becky Jones, Sasha Davis, Amber Gray, Dana Harris, Kimberly Garnett, Karen Hunter, and Heidi Siguaw. You will need a sack lunch and $5 for the zoo entrance fee.  Please come to our classroom at 8:45. Thank you!

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. Rolling two ten sided dice is a fun way to practice facts. The fact fluency folder on MobyMax also provides a good platform for students to practice +,-, X, and / facts. Learning Wrap-ups are another fun way to practice. They are an inexpensive tool for kids to use to practice their facts anywhere. You can find them at learningwrapups.com or on amazon.

You should have your child’s MobyMax and Reading Plus or iReady username and passwords. Please have your use Reading Plus or iReady at least once a week.  

Homework for next week:

• ReadingPlus or iReady lessons at least once per week.
• Read at least 20 min nightly.

• 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.
• Practice math X and / facts 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10. 10 minutes daily

Mark Your Calendar:

Thursday, October 25th-Field Trip to the Denver Zoo

Friday, October 26th- Read-a-Thon envelopes due

Friday, October 26th-Trunk or Treat 5:30-7:30

Have a wonderful weekend.  

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Thursday, October 11th

Dear Parents,

Please check your child’s Friday folder for information about our first ever Kohl Read-a-Thon!

Thanks again to all who have signed up for parent teacher conferences. Conferences are scheduled for next Tuesday, October 16th and Thursday, October 18th. I am looking forward to meeting with each of you.  Your child is welcome to come to the conference.

We are looking for donations for our third grade Trunk or Treat basket.  This year our theme is science. Please send basket items in by Monday, October 15th.  Thank you! The class basket raffle is a fun PTA fundraiser that happens during the Trunk or Treat event on Friday, October 26th from 5:30 to 7:30.

Our first field trip is scheduled for Thursday, October 25th. If you have not returned the permission slip and fee, please do as soon as possible. If you need help with all or part of the fee, please let me know.  Thank you to our chaperones: Becky Jones, Sasha Davis, Amber Gray, Dana Harris, Kimberly Garnett, Karen Hunter, Heidi Siguaw, and maybe Mary Ann Lawler. You will need a sack lunch and $5 for the zoo entrance fee.  Please come to our classroom at 8:45. Thank you! If you hope to join us for the trip but are not listed above, please let me know as soon as possible.  You must have completed a BVSD approved background check to join us on the trip.

Your child came home with their recorder for music this week!  They are very excited about their instruments. Please send in your $3 recorder payment if you have not done so already.  Thank you!

Curriculum Update:

We started our second chapter in math; Multiplication and Division with 6s, 7s, 8s and Multiplying with Multiples of 10. Please continue to support your child with nightly multiplication and division math fact practice. This practice is imperative for fact memorization. We have also started daily math dashes (timed multiplication and division tests). Students who are practicing at home are showing accuracy and fluency on these assessments. Thank you for your support!

We enjoyed our first class with Thorne Nature Experience this week.  Students learned about the characteristics of plants and animals that live in a wetland.  Next, week they will investigate the life cycles of some of the wetland animals. This week, we also discussed the characteristics of living, nonliving, and dead and investigated the parts of a pea seed.   

We  published our first piece of writing, a personal narrative paragraph. These are on display in the hallway.  Please take some time to read them before or after your parent teacher conference. We will start our informational writing unit next week.

Homework for next week:

• ReadingPlus or iReady lessons at least once per week.
• READ, READ, READ for our Kohl Read-a-Thon!!!!

• 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.
• Practice math X and / facts 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10. 10 minutes daily

Mark Your Calendar:

Friday, October 12th-Teacher Professional Development Day-No School for Students

10/15-10/19 Our first ever Kohl Read-a-thon and #1 School Fundraiser  

Tuesday, October 16th and Thursday, October 18th-Parent Teacher Conferences

10/16, 10/17 and 10/18 Kohl Book Fair-7:45am to 8:00pm on 10/16 and 10/18

                                                            -7:45am to 3:30pm on 10/15

Thursday, October 25th-Field Trip to the Denver Zoo

Friday, October 26th-Trunk or Treat 5:30-7:30

Have a fantastic weekend.  

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Friday, October 5th

Next week we have PE on Monday and Thursday.

Dear Parents,

Thank you to those of you who have signed up for parent teacher conferences. Conferences are scheduled for Tuesday, October 16th and Thursday, October 18th. I am looking forward to sharing your child's progress and setting some goals for this year. If for some reason these dates do not work for your schedule, please let me know so we can arrange another time to meet. It is important that I communicate with all my families during conference time.  Your child is welcome to come to the conference.

Please be sure to check your child’s Friday folder today for a permission slip for our first field trip to the Denver Zoo. This trip will be a great support to our Life Cycles science unit. We will be going on October 25th. If you are interested in helping us with this trip, please check the box on the permission slip and make sure that your volunteer documents are in order with the office. If you have any questions about that, please let me know or contact Mary in the office (720-561-8600 or mary.bunge@bvsd.org). I need all permission slips and money for the trip in by October 22nd. If you have a financial difficulty please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you!

Curriculum Update:

We had our first unit math test this week, which I will share with you during parent teacher conferences.  On a whole, the class did very well! We will start math dashes next week. Math dashes are short quizzes testing students recall of multiplication and division facts. Students will take a dash almost each day until they complete all of them. When they are finished with all quizzes, they will get an ice cream sandwich!. At this point, many students are still using their fingers to count up by numbers to multiply and divide, and this is appropriate for this time of year.  Students should have their multiplication and division facts 1-10 memorized by the end of the school year. Please have them continue to study every day! It is so important to build a strong foundation in math for the upcoming years ahead.

We are working on publishing our first piece of writing- a personal narrative paragraph. These will be on display in the hallway, and we will use this first writing as a baseline for growth throughout the year. Our next writing unit is informational writing.

We completed our first social studies unit, Community and Local Government, and started our plant and animal life cycles unit.  Through the generous support of our PTA, we will be able to supplement this unit with the in-school Thorne Nature and Science program.  They will be working with our students on the next three Tuesdays!

We are also working on a health and safety unit through a project based learning platform.  Students learned about the importance of breakfast, sleep, exercise, hand washing, and fire and bike safety.  They were also introduced to the five food groups and the risks of smoking. Each student will work with a small group to create a project that teaches our classroom more about a health and safety topic that they feel strongly about. Please ask your child about what they are working on.

Homework 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.
• Practice math X and / facts 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10. 10 minutes daily

Mark Your Calendar:

Monday, October 8th-Coffee at Kohl 8:30-9:30 (Focus-CMAS Assessment Data)

Friday, October 12th-Teacher Professional Development Day-No School for Students

Tuesday, October 16th and Thursday, October 18th-Parent Teacher Conferences

Have a fantastic weekend!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt