Friday, August 26th

QUICK REMINDERS:

1. NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5th - LABOR DAY

2. Individual Picture Day-Thursday, September 8rd  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, we will start Dictado. This sentence dictation activity is one element of our spelling and writing instruction.  The weekly Dictado sentence will contain some words from the BVSD 3rd grade Must Write word list. The list contains 100 words third graders must master by the end of the year. I put a link on my website with all 100 words so you can help your child practice these words at home. https://docs.google.com/a/bvsd.org/file/d/0B539GG5UwPlvSTU3ck45bEgzTlk/edit

Next week, we will also review sentence and basic paragraph structure.  We will use these tools to begin writing small moment personal narratives.  Please ask your child what they are writing about to strengthen their storytelling experiences.

On Thursday, Mrs. Sbrocca will be completing a reading assessment using i-Ready with students. We started using this reading assessment two years ago Kohl, so your child should be familiar with the format. 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 was able to complete a math screener for a few students. I will continue assessing students next week.  This information gives me a snapshot of where your child is in math.  We also started our first math unit on Multiplication and Division. Students will begin nightly math homework on Tuesday, September 30th. Each student will bring a Homework and Remembering book home with pages to complete on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. 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.

Social Studies:

We will begin our first unit in Social Studies on Monday. This first unit is about Diverse Communities and Local Government.

Homework Reminder:

We will begin our regular homework routine next week.

On Monday students will be assigned a reading log, which will include their weekly Dictado sentence assignment.  They will also be assigned a mystery state.  These assignments are due on Friday. Students will have math homework on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Math assignments are due following day.

Third grade students should be spending no more than 45 minutes total each night on homework. 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 an awful experience. Please keep the lines of communication open with me if you are experiencing any issues with homework. I am here to help.

I hope you all have a safe and relaxing weekend.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Welcome Update

August 19^th, 2016

           

Dear Parents,

We had a great first two days together in third grade!! This is a wonderful group of kids who seem ready and eager to learn.  It was fun to learn about each other through the sharing of the All About Me bags.  Building community is an important part of these first few weeks of school.  This sharing assignment allows us to realize some of our similarities and differences. 

I will be writing newsletters to update you on what’s happening in our classroom, give reminders about upcoming events, and to share any news we might have.  I plan to email the newsletters as well as post them on my website so you will be able to access them at any time during the year if needed.  www.mrsgalt.blogspot.com

Reminders:

Snacks:

Students will have snack each day in the morning, and they can have another snack in the afternoon if they would like. I do not provide snack so please be sure to send a healthy snack with your child. Water bottles are encouraged.  Please label bottles with your child’s name.  Thank you!

Homework:

We will not be assigning homework until the week of August 29^th.  We will talk about our homework routine next week, and I will go over it in detail during our back to school night.

Important Dates for Your Calendar:

Tuesday, August 23^rd-Back to School Night 5:30-6:30

Monday, September 5^th - NO SCHOOL- Labor Day

Thursday, September 8^th - Picture Day

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. You can contact me by email aisha.galt-theis@bvsd.org or by phone 720-561-8616.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

720-561-8616

Welcome to Third Grade!

Welcome to Third Grade!

I hope to see you at third grade Back to School night on Tuesday, August 23rd from 5:30 to 6:30.

Friday, May 20^th

Dear Parents,

We had a fun filled day yesterday.  We enjoyed our walking field trip to meet our 7^th grade buddies.  Students love their books and seemed to really enjoy the writing project. Today, students wrote thank you notes for their partners.   They will be bringing their books home today.  It is fun to think about the day these guys are 7th graders, and they get to come back to work with my new set of 3rd graders. We also enjoyed the talent show yesterday.  It is always exciting to see our Kohl students share different strengths.

Important Dates to Remember:
Monday, May 23^rd- 3^rd Grade Field Daze 12:30-2:15

• Please have your child remember sunscreen, a water bottle, athletic shoes, and proper clothing for the weather.

Tuesday, May 24^th-Poetry Reading -9:00

• Please feel free to join us in our classroom for this event.  Each student will be sharing two of their poems.

Thursday, May 26^th Last Day of School

• Report cards come home.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  As always, thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Aisha Galt

Friday, May 6th

Friday, May 6^th

Dear Parents,

It is hard to believe that we only have 14 days of school remaining. Over the next few weeks, students will be writing and publishing many poems.  We would like to invite you to our poetry reading on Tuesday, May 24th  at 9:00 am.  Each student will share two poems aloud.

We had two special guests this week.  On Tuesday, our 7^th grade writing buddies visited our classroom to share a draft of their story.  All of the students were excited to see each other and share their work.  Our last meeting will be a walking field trip on Thursday, May 19^th.  Field trip permission slips are coming home in Friday folders today and should be returned as soon as possible.  We do not need any chaperones for this trip.  Thank you! Our second guest was Ms. Pam from the Fire Department.  She visited third grade and talked to us about bicycle safety. Be sure to ask your child what they learned about how to properly fit a bicycle helmet and the rules of the road while bicycling. We always love having her come to visit us. 

Important Dates to Remember

May 16th-May 18th  Kohl Spring Book Fair in the Library 7:45-3:30

Tuesday, May 17^th  3^rd Grade Field Daze 12:30-2:15

Please have your child remember sunscreen, a water bottle, athletic shoes, and proper clothing for the weather.

Thursday, May 19^th- BHMS Writing Celebration at Miramonte Park

Thursday, May 19^th-  Talent Show 1:00

 Thursday, May 26^tth  Last Day of School

Report cards come home.

Have a wonderful weekend! Happy Mother's Day!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

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