Friday, January 6th

Dear Parents,

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful winter break. Our first week back was a super short one with the snow day.  It was great to see everyone and jump back into our work.  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 am not sending home Friday folders today, but students are coming home with information about Jump Rope For Heart in their backpacks.

Next week, we will be asking students to use their assigned reading program, Reading Plus or i-Ready, at home for their reading log at least once a week.They should write this time on their reading logs as part of their 100 minutes of weekly at-home reading.  

Important upcoming dates:

Friday, January 13th-Field Trip to the Broomfield Auditorium to see Singin’ in the Rain (Students will need a sack lunch for this trip.) No parents are needed on this trip.

Monday, January 16- No School MLK Jr. Day

Thursday, January 26- Field Trip to the Museum of Nature and Science.  Permission slips will come home next week in Friday folders. We will need parent helpers for this trip. If you can go, please indicate this on the permission slip. Remember, you must have the district background check completed before you can go with us.

Saturday, January 21- 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.

Enjoy the weekend.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

December 9, 2016

Dear Parents,

Today in your child’s Friday folder you will find a permission slip for a field trip that will happen soon after winter break. Our third graders were invited to see, “Singing in the Rain”, by Backstory Theater company at the Broomfield Auditorium. The performance is free, but we are asking for $3 to help cover the cost of the bus in case the weather is bad. If we get good weather, we will walk and you will get your money back. We would love to be able to have all permission slips and money back by next Friday, so that we don’t have to worry about it when we return from break. Thanks for your help with this.

This was another busy week in third grade. We would like to congratulate our Spelling Bee participants, Annie Egy and Kylar Jaramillo. They both did a fantastic job, and we are very proud of them.

We will be finishing up our math unit on Measurement, Time and Graphing next week. I am planning on having the Unit 3 assessment on Thursday. When we return from break we will start Unit 4, Addition and Subtraction of Multidigit Numbers.

In literacy, we are working on reading and writing informational texts. So far, we have read and written about the job of a paleontologist and we are working on learning about winter life in Alaska. After break, we will start working on how to research a favorite topic and write an informational text about that topic.

Don’t forget, our winter class party is Friday MORNING from 9-10. The All-School Sing-along will be from 8:15-9:00.

Have a great weekend.

Sincerely,
Aisha Galt

Friday, December 2nd

Dear Parents,

We had a great week!  Students started writing informational writing pieces about paleontologists during our literacy block and created vocabulary posters.  We are continuing to read in small groups focusing on comprehension and answering questions using evidence from the text. I have all the kids go back and use direct texts to answer questions. This work is also supporting our work with reading and writing informational text.  Please try this at home while reading with your child. Hopefully you and your child are enjoying Reading Plus and i-Ready. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about these programs.  Students should start using their assigned program at least once a week for homework. They should write this time on their reading logs as part of their 100 minutes of weekly at-home reading.  

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 begin to create and use graphs to solve problems. 

In science, we started our Matter and Measurement unit.  This is an excellent hands on support to our measurement math unit.

I hope to see you at our winter party on Friday, December 16th from 9:00 to 10:00. Yes, we are trying a morning party this time!  Maybe it will help our students get out some of their winter holiday excitement earlier in the day. More details about our party will be coming from our room mom soon.  The school Sing-A-Long will be in the morning from 8:15 to 9:00.  You are welcome to join us for this activity as well.   

Have a fantastic weekend.

Sincerely,
Aisha Galt

Friday, November 18th

Dear Parents,

Thank you for sending in food for the Kohl Food Drive. It is always amazing to see how much can be accomplished when everyone does a little bit.  Kohl collected hundreds of pounds of food!

Our Kohl Spelling Bee is set for Tuesday, December 6th. I wanted to congratulate our finalists. Annie Egy and Kylar Jaramillo will represent our third grade class in the spelling bee.  Beth Schimschal is our alternate.  

Your child has their report card in their Friday folder.  Please return the signed report card envelope on Monday, November 28th.  Thank you!

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving break with your families.  I am so thankful to be part of the Kohl community!

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt

November 4th, 2016

Dear Parents,

Today is the last day of our first trimester. It’s hard to believe your children are ⅓ of the way through their 3rd grade year! Report cards for first trimester will go home on Friday, November 18.

Literacy:

We have been busy revising and editing our adapted fairy tales.  We will start publishing on Monday!

Math:

This week we finished up Unit 2 (Multiplication and Division 0-10) in math. All assessments will be in Friday folders today. Overall, the class did a great job on this assessment. It always amazes me how much they have learned over such a short period of time. Keep working on all of the multiplication and division facts at home.

Our next unit will begin on Monday. Unit 3 is Measurement, TIme and Graphing. This unit is a bit shorter and will be completed shortly after Thanksgiving break.

Science:

We also completed our unit in science, Life Cycles. The kids had a great time learning about all sorts of life cycles, watching life cycles in the classroom (frog, ladybugs and pea plants) and having Thorne Nature work with us. We have one more session with Thorne, next Wednesday. This has been an awesome addition to our unit. Life Cycles assessments will be coming home soon.

The Kohl Spelling Bee is scheduled for Tuesday, December 6th.  You will find a list of Third Grade spelling words in your child’s Friday folder.  This is completely optional, if your child would like to be in the spelling bee they can study this list. I will give the students a quick test of 15 random words from the list to qualify them for the spelling bee. Our top two spellers will have the opportunity to be in the Spelling Bee.

Mark you calendars:

November 11- NO SCHOOL- VETERAN’S DAY

November 21-25- NO SCHOOL- THANKSGIVING BREAK

Have a wonderful weekend and don’t forget to turn back your clocks 1 hour on Saturday night.


Sincerely,
Aisha Galt

Friday, October 28th

Dear Parents,

Thank you to our room mom, Renee O’Lear, and all of the parents who helped make our fall party a success.  The kids had a fantastic time.

Literacy:

We are busy with our writing unit about adapting fairy tales. The kids and I read many classic and adapted fairy tales to get familiar with their style. We looked at how and why writers of adapted fairy tales might have decided to make the changes they did. Each student selected a fairy tale to adapt.  They completed plans for their stories and have started writing their first drafts. 

Next week, students will work on revising and editing their fairy tales so they can be published.  I am looking for some parent volunteers to help with editing.  We will edit stories for spelling and complete sentences.  Please let me know if can help edit during our literacy block on Thursday, November 3rd and or Friday, November 4th from 11:45 to 12:45.  Thank you!

Some children are bringing home an important letter about the Reading Plus program in their Friday folder. These students are familiar with Reading Plus and should be comfortable using this resource.    If you child does not have a Reading Plus letter, they have an i-Ready membership.  They should know their login information. I would like students to use Reading Plus or i-Ready at least once a week for their reading log. I will be able to monitor their work on Reading Plus and i-Ready.  If weekly computer access in not possible for your child, please let me know.Thank you!

Math:

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 great job 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. We even started using order of operations (ask your child about PMDAS Please Make Dad A Sandwich). I am impressed with their hard work. We will have our Unit 2 math test on Wednesday of next week. Then, we will begin our Measurement, Time, and Graphs unit.

Science

Our Plant and Animal Life Cycles unit is coming to a close.  It has been amazing to watch and learn about the life cycles of frogs, ladybugs, and pea plants in our classroom. We will begin a social studies unit about regions the week of November 7th.

Important Dates:

Monday, November 11- NO SCHOOL VETERANS DAY

Have a wonderful weekend with your families. 

Oh I almost forgot, I am not going to assign reading minutes or a mystery state on Monday.  Happy Halloween!

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt

Friday, October 21st

Dear Parents,

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day!

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.  Please check out the math links on our classroom website http://mrsgalt.blogspot.com/

You should have your child’s Prodigy username and password.  Students seem to love this site, and it is a good way to support our math work.

Reviewing your child’s math homework and reading log with them is also a great way to support your child’s academic growth.  Thank you!

I am excited to announce that we are beginning our Wetland Life Cycles lessons with Thorne Nature Experience on Thursday, October 27th .  A teacher from Thorne will be working with students during three progressive visits to extend our Plant and Animal Life Cycles unit.  Please ask your child about what they learned and did during these lessons on October 27th, November 3rd, and November 10th.  Thank you to our PTA for funding our work with Thorne!

Important Dates to Remember:

Saturday, October 22nd: Kohl Carnival

Friday, October 28th: Fall Party 1:30-2:30

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt