Friday, April 8th

Dear Parents,

Students will take their last PARCC test on Monday morning.  In order to celebrate all of their hard work we are going to have a read-in on Tuesday, April 12th.  Students are allowed to wear pajamas if they want to, and they can bring a pillow, blanket, or stuffed animal.

We finished our fractions unit last week.   We will begin Unit 5: Write Equations to Solve Word Problems next week.  Please remind your child to continue studying their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. All of these operations will be used in the next unit.

We are working on our Opinion/ Persuasive Writing unit. The kids are doing a nice job reading and writing opinion pieces. We have had some great discussions about the power of persuading our audience through clear, evidence based reasons.

Our current science unit is about Earth Materials. Your children are learning about rocks, minerals, and the rock cycle.

Important Dates:

Friday, April 15- NO SCHOOL

Monday, April 18- NO SCHOOL

Thursday, April 21- Learning Fair 4-6:30pm

Friday, April 22- Middle School writing buddies

Have a great weekend!

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt

Friday, April 1st

Dear Parents,

Students completed their PARCC English Language Arts tests this week. I am very proud of their efforts! We will start the math PARCC assessments next Wednesday, April 6th.  Students will complete the mathematics sessions on April 7th, 8th, and 11th.  Our testing time runs from 8:30 to 9:50.

If you are interested in seeing what the tests are like, or your child is interested in practicing a little more, you can find the practice test at these links:

Math Practice Tests:

Part 1: http://epat-parcc.testnav.com/client/index.html#login?username=15MT03PTEO&password=Practice

Part 2: http://epat-parcc.testnav.com/client/index.html#login?username=PT03M&password=Practice

Be sure you are in either Firefox or Explorer for the test to work. They do not work in Chrome.

We are excited to begin a collaborative writing project with BHMS seventh graders in Mrs. Eaman’s classes.  Each third grader will be partnered with a seventh grader who will write, illustrate, and publish a book especially for their third grade partner. This is an exciting and rewarding creative writing project.  We have participated in this project for many years now, and our third graders have loved the process.This project will begin on Friday, April 22 and conclude on Thursday, May 19. Please make a note of the dates below and add them to your calendar. It is important that our third graders are here on these dates to work with their seventh grade buddy. Seventh graders will be coming to Kohl for the first two visits and then we will meet them in the park on the third visit for our celebration.

Central to the project is the importance of the writing process:  prewriting, writing, revising, editing, publishing and celebrating.  Some of the specific skills and focus areas will be interviewing, brainstorming for ideas, story writing for a particular audience, vocabulary, plot development, characterization, dialogue, and punctuation.

The purpose of the initial trip (Friday, April 22nd) will be to get to know one another via an interview as well as brainstorming story ideas.  Third graders will be actively involved by sharing their interests, writing, and favorite books.  The second trip (Tuesday, May 3rd ) will allow both parties to share writing: seventh graders the progress draft of the book and third graders will share drafts of their story writing.

The final trip (Thursday,  May 19th )will be focused on celebrating the completion/publication of the book.  Each seventh grader will share their book and then give it as a gift to his partner.  This date will be a walking field trip to Miramonte Park.  We will send permission slips home with students at the beginning of May.  We will not need chaperones for this trip.

Thank you for your support.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Important Dates to Remember  

April 6th, 7th, 8th, and 11th- Math PARCC tests

April 10th-Class Picture Day

April 15th and 18th-No school

Enjoy the warm weekend!

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt

March 16, 2016

Dear Parents,

Time is flying by, and at the end of this week we will be saying hello to Spring Break!

On Friday, we will be having a third grade movie day. Your children have been working on saving their classroom dollars to "buy" a day at the movies. Each third-grade class has earned $500 for this as part of their Economics standard to understand long term and short term savings goals. Your child is welcome to bring a blanket or pillow and a snack for the movie.

PARCC testing begins the week we return from break. The first tests will be English Language Arts (ELA) and will be March 29, 30, and 31 from 8:30-10:20 each morning. Please make sure your child is here at school on time on those dates. If they come to school late, they will have to stay in the office until the class completes testing for the day. Please let the office know immediately if your child will not be at school during the testing. The second tests will be Math on April 6, 7, 8, and 11th from 8:30-10:00.

We have done a little practice testing in class so that your child is familiar with the online setting and tools available for completing the tests. If you are interested in seeing what the tests are like, or your child is interested in practicing a little more, you can find the practice test at these links:

English Language Arts Practice Tests:
Part 1: http://epat-parcc.testnav.com/client/index.html#login?username=PT03E&password=Practice

Part 2: http://epat-parcc.testnav.com/client/index.html#login?username=15EL03PTEO&password=Practice

Math Practice Tests:
Part 1: http://epat-parcc.testnav.com/client/index.html#login?username=15MT03PTEO&password=Practice

Part 2: http://epat-parcc.testnav.com/client/index.html#login?username=PT03M&password=Practice

Be sure you are in either Firefox or Explorer for the test to work. They do not work in Chrome.

Important Dates to Remember  
March 21^st-25^th-Spring Break
March 29^th, 30^th and 31-ELA PARCC tests
April 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, and 11^th- Math PARCC tests

If you have any questions, please contact me.

Thank you,
Aisha Galt

Friday, March 5^th

Dear Parents,

I enjoyed meeting with each of you during our parent teacher conference last week. Although conferences make for long days, I feel energized by these meetings.  You are an incredible group of parents, raising amazing kids.  I commend you for your dedication and hope that you will continue to communicate with me throughout our last trimester to ensure your child’s success in third grade and beyond.  

Students will be completing the PARCC, state standardized, tests when we return from spring break.  The language arts tests will be completed on March 29^th, 30^th, and 31^st.  The math assessments will be completed on April 6^th, 7^th, 8^th and 11^th.  Attendance is very important during these times.  Our tests begin at 8:30 and go until 9:30 to 10:20 depending on the day.  We will complete a few PARCC practice activities over the next couple of weeks to familiarize our students with the format of the online assessment.

Math

Our geometry unit test will be early next week.  Please ask your child questions about what they are learning and review your child’s homework to check for their understanding.  The following are some key vocabulary for this unit: right angle, polygon, quadrilateral, opposite, parallelogram, rectangle, rhombus, square, trapezoid, area, perimeter, square unit, decompose, and dimensions.

Writing

Students have been working very hard to complete their informational animal Google slide shows.  It is impressive to see them navigate the Google slide show program to create a dynamic presentation to share what they know about the animal they chose to research. Students will start sharing their work with the class next week.

Reading

Our class is reading many short stories and non-fiction texts together. We are focusing on identifying details from the text to support student answers. Please continue to take the time to review your child’s reading log to ensure they are thinking more deeply about the texts they are reading at home.  Thank you!

Social Studies/ Science

We are coming to the end of our economics unit.  Students have been learning about the role of needs, wants, producers, consumers, supply, and demand  in our economy.  We will continue our class money system for the next few weeks. This system is helping our students build understanding around the importance of long and short-term financial goals.  Our next science unit is Earth Materials.  Students will complete many hands-on activities to explore the rock cycle and how rocks and minerals are resources for humans.

Important Dates to Remember  

March 21^st-25^th-Spring Break

March 29^th, 30^th and 31-ELA PARCC tests

April 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, and 11^th- Math PARCC tests

I hope you have a fantastic weekend.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Friday, January 22nd

Dear Parents,

I would like to thank all of the parents who joined us for our field trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science yesterday. It was a great success.  We couldn’t do it without you!

Our Valentine’s Day party is right around the corner. Our class party will be on Thursday, February 11^th from 1:30-2:30. As always, parents are invited to attend the party. Please stay tuned for information from our room mother about our Valentine’s Day party.

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 11^th.  Students will be making a container to collect their Valentines during our party, so they can just bring their cards in bag on the 11^th. Handmade cards are encouraged.  Here is a list of student names to help with this task.  Thank you for your continued support.

Katie, Shane, Brooklin, Graeme, Calvin, Taylor, Julia, Zoe, Aidan H., Blaes, Drew, Tyler, Corwyn, Oscar, Ayden M., Kaleb, Maya, Zach, Olivia, Madison, Logan, Mollie, Atreyu, Sofia, Nathan, Maggie

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

January 15, 2016

Dear Parents,

We have been working very hard since we returned from winter break. Here is a recap of what we are working on in third grade.

Important Dates:

Monday, January 18- NO SCHOOL- MLK Day

Thursday, January 21- Field Trip to Denver Museum of Nature and Science 

Saturday, January 23-PTA Trivia Night

Literacy:

This week we took the second of three diagnostic assessments on iReady. I will analyze the results and this will help inform my instruction for the next trimester of school. I will share the results of this assessment with you in February at parent/teacher conferences.

We have been working on how to write informative pieces in writing using a text or multiple texts for evidence. This week we read two texts about Alaska and then wrote about why it is hard to live in Alaska in the winter. Your child is working on paragraphing skills as well during this writing. Next week we will read and write about Egypt before moving on to our culminating unit project- Animal Reports. The students will choose an animal to research and write about it using text evidence. Then they will create a Google slides presentation to showcase their learning.

Don't forget to keep encouraging your child to use Reading Plus on the computer at home for part or all of their Reading Log.

Math:

We took our Unit 3 Assessment (Time, Measurement and Graphing). Our next unit will be Multi Digit Addition and Subtraction. You will be seeing a new math/homework book coming home for this unit. We have completed Volume 1 and those will be coming home. There are many pages that we did not complete in class. These make great practice pages at home to keep up skills we have already learned. If your child would like to complete the rest of the pages, I will reward their hard work with RIDE bucks for the RIDE store. They have until the end of the year to complete those pages.  

Science:

We started our new unit in Science, Metric Measurement and Matter. This unit will be about 3 weeks long. This week we learned about the metric system of measurement and were able to use balance scales to measure mass in grams, syringes and graduated cylinders to measure capacity in milliliters, and meter sticks to measure distance.  Next week we will begin learning about the three states of matter and how matter can change. 

Reminders:

Next Thursday (Jan. 21) is our field trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. If you have not had a chance to send in the permission slip and $10 fee, please do that as soon as possible. We have several parent volunteers: Mandy Cummings, Jaclyn Sealy, Scott King, Korrie Skibinski, Scott Hansen, Sheila Wogen, Terry Oakley, and Heather Ottem. If you are planning on going and don't see your name, please let me know, or if you are not planning on going and are on the list, let me know as soon as possible. This is a trip that will have parents in charge of small groups for part of the time. Parent volunteers will need to bring $5 for the IMAX movie. Parent volunteers should be in our classrooms that morning at 8:45. Thank you!

Have a great weekend. See you on Tuesday!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Friday, January 8th

Friday, January 8^th

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful winter break. Our first week back in the classroom together went well. I am always impressed by the academic, social, and emotional growth that takes place during the second half of our third grade year. Please continue to communicate with me about how I can best support your child.  

I wanted to inform you of some important upcoming dates.

Third graders will be taking the PARCC tests this year.  This is the state standardized test that is replacing the CSAP/TCAP from years past. The tests have been scheduled for the last week of March, right after spring break, and the first week of April. 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!  If you have any questions or concerns about PARCC, please let me know.

We have scheduled our second field trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science for January 21st.  There is a permission slip in your child’s Friday folder.  I will definitely need parent volunteers, so please check your calendar and let me know if you can help out. You must have the background check clearance through the district for this school year to attend the trip. Please return the permission slip and fee as soon as possible. Thank you.

Other important dates and reminders:

Monday, January 18- No School MLK Jr. Day

Thursday, January 21- Field Trip to the Museum of Nature and Science. Please return permission slips and money as soon as possible.

Saturday, January 23- PTA Trivia Night. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend this fun fundraiser. Adults only please. Check Friday folders, PTA Facebook page, or the school website for more information.

Tuesday, January 26-Spelling Bee. Zach and Graeme will be representing our class at 8:30 in the gym. Please wish them luck when you see them.

Enjoy the weekend.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt