Friday, September 21, 2018

Next week we have PE on Tuesday and Friday.

Dear Parents,

Thank you for supporting the Broomfield Days parade.  Our class had the highest participation in the school!  We were rewarded with a school spirit trophy, and PTA provided breakfast for our class this morning.  

On Monday, our third grade team spent most of the day organizing our new literacy curriculum materials.  We are excited to start using them with our students. There are many high quality texts that will support shared reading, interactive read-aloud, guided reading, and independent reading within our classroom.  

CURRICULUM UPDATES:

Literacy: Your child’s login information for ReadingPlus or  iReady is in the Friday folder today. We are using both programs in the classroom to help improve reading fluency, comprehension and vocabulary development.  I encourage you to have your child use their assigned program at least once a week at home to support their reading development.

We are continuing our work with personal narratives and look forward to sharing our published work with you during parent teacher conferences in October.  
We started a cooperative teaching unit with Mrs. Sbrocca, which focuses on health and safety.  Students are learning about the importance of healthy lifestyle choices.

Math:  We continued our work with multiplication and division. Please take some time to look over your child’s nightly math homework.  This will give you a snapshot of what we are working on in class. Students were introduced to the area model and the distributive property of multiplication. These concepts are difficult for some students to understand, please know that we will continue to revisit this formula and strategy for problem solving.  Students were also introduced to the 4s multiplication and division facts. They also practiced 2s, 3s, 5s, 9s, and 10s multiplication and division problem solving. It is imperative that your child practice their multiplication and division facts each day for 5-10 minutes. Thank you for your support with this!

Social Studies:  We have been working on a unit about our community. This week we talked about who works in a community and the difference between public and private services.. Next week, we will be exploring who works at City Hall and talking a little about how the government works in a local setting.

Homework for next week:

I am impressed with how well the students are doing with their homework.  Most of them are completing their work and returning it on time. We discussed as a class how important it is to learn the responsibility of homework, both doing and returning it.

• 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. 5 to 10 minutes daily.
• Read 15 to 20 minutes each day after school.

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

Enjoy the weekend!  

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Friday, September 14th, 2018

Next week we have PE on Thursday.

Dear Parents,

QUICK REMINDERS:

Saturday, September 15th Broomfield Days Parade: The Broomfield Days Community Parade begins at 9:30 a.m. Our school colors are blue and white!

Monday, September 17th is a teacher professional development day.  No School for Students

Literacy: This week during literacy we continued working on parts of a paragraph and used paragraph structure to write small moment personal narratives. Most students have written a few small moment personal narratives.  Next week, students will continue writing small moment narratives and will eventually revise, edit, and publish one or more of their narratives.

Math: This week we continued to work on multiplication and division. Your child has now been introduced to the multiplications/divisions for 2, 3, 5, 9, 10. Please continue to encourage your child to spend at least 5 minutes a day practicing these facts. Our expectation is that our third graders will be fluent with all the facts through 10s by the end of this year. The more practice, the easier it gets.

Social Studies/Science: We have been working on a unit about our community.  This week we spent time investigating how and why individuals work in their communities to change things for the better.  We also discussed how each of us plays an important part in our community and that every little bit that we do for others counts.  Next week, will explore who works in a community and the difference between public and private services.

Homework for next week:

• Check in with your child about their Mystery State assignment.  These are given on Mondays and due on Fridays. The kids did a great job this week learning about Nevada.
• Help your child practice their Dictado sentence.  This should be written in their homework notebook each day for practice.  Students have a Dictado quiz on Fridays.
• Practice math X and / facts 2, 3, 5, 9, and 10.
• Read for 15 to 20 min every day after school.

Mark Your Calendar:

Saturday, September 15th Broomfield Days Parade

Monday, September 17th is a Professional Development day.  No School for Students

Enjoy the long weekend!  

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt

Friday, September 7th       

Next week, we have PE on Tuesday and Friday.      

Dear Parents,

We had a productive week in 3rd grade. Students practiced some of our weekly homework assignments for a second week and should be familiar with the expectations for their Dictado and Mystery State work.  We will start assigning homework next week. Each Monday, students will come home with their homework notebook, which will include the mystery state and the Dictado sentence. The mystery state should be completed by Friday of each week, and the Dictado sentence should be written nightly.  Remind your child to put their homework notebook and math workbook in their backpack when they complete their daily homework. Students will also receive 3-5 math problems from their Homework and Remembering book to complete each night, Monday-Thursday. It is imperative that they return their math Homework and Remembering book each day because we use them during our math block.  Nightly reading and math fact practice should also be part of your child’s homework routine. Thank you!

Literacy:

This week students continued to build understanding about well written complete sentences. We are using this knowledge to write small moment paragraphs and practice editing for complete sentences.

This was our second week of practicing Dictado. This is one method we use to teach students about spelling, vocabulary, punctuation, and writing complete sentences. Each week your child will be given a sentence that they will work on in class and at home. At the end of the week we will have a quiz to see if students have learned the sentence. Your child’s grade will reflect the percent of the sentence correct, including all spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.

Math:

This week we continued working with multiplication and division of 5s and started 2s and 10s. Your child should have  a study sheet to help them practice in their Friday folder. Encourage your child to use their fingers to keep track of the count bys.  This visual helps with multiplication and division and builds a stronger understanding of the equation. For example: 5, 10, 15 would leave three fingers up. 3 x 5=15 and 15/3=5. Starting around the beginning of October we will begin doing timed tests on each of the facts that we have learned. Next week we will be learning facts for 9s and 3s.

Social Studies:

This week we continued  investigating what makes our community diverse. In small groups and as a class we explored how different cultures contribute to our cultural diversity through food, languages, holidays, types of shelter, clothing, and traditions. We also discussed why and how individuals get involved and make a difference in our communities.

Mark your calendar:

Monday, September 17th: Teacher Professional Development/ No School for Students

Have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt

Friday, August 31st, 2018

Next week we have PE on Thursday.

QUICK REMINDERS:

1. NO SCHOOL ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd - LABOR DAY

2. Individual Picture Day-Friday, September 7th  Don’t forget to turn in your order form, if you would like pictures.

Dear Parents,

We completed our second 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.

Thank you to those of you who have had a chance to pay our $8 third grade fee.  This money is used for project supplies and supplemental reading materials. If you have not had a chance to turn this money in, please send it to school with your child as soon as possible.  You can also drop it off at the front office. Thank you!

Birthday Treats: If your child is celebrating a birthday during the school year (or a ½ birthday for summer kids) you are welcome to send in treats for the class. Please email me before you plan to bring treats, just so I can make sure we leave time to celebrate in our day.  We have 24 kids in our class. Please note the following food allergies when planning your treat selection: raspberries, gluten, and almond milk.

Literacy:

This week, we started 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. I also included a list of the words in your child’s Friday folder. .Ihttps://docs.google.com/a/bvsd.org/file/d/0B539GG5UwPlvSTU3ck45bEgzTlk/edit

Next week, we will continue to review sentence and basic paragraph structure.  We will use these tools to begin writing small moment personal narratives. Please ask your child to tell you short stories about their day to strengthen their storytelling experiences.

Math:

We started our first math unit on Multiplication and Division. Please review multiplication/division of 5s (0-10) with your child and talk with your child about when you use multiplication in your daily life. For example, at the store you might talk about calculating the cost buying multiples of one item: buying 4 boxes of cereal that each cost $5. We will have a multiplication 5s quiz on Tuesday.

Social Studies:

This week we started our first unit in Social Studies, Our Diverse Community. We worked on understanding how communities are similar and different around the world and the things communities share- people, language, culture, food, holidays or special events.

Homework Ideas:

• Practice math facts.
• Read for 20 minutes.
• Talk about special events in your day/week/life. Use many details that can help your child when they have to write about small moments in their lives.

Enjoy the long weekend!  

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt

Friday, August 24, 2018

Next week, we have PE on Tuesday and Friday.  Please remind your child
 to bring their gym shoes on that day.

Dear Parents,

Thank you for joining us on Wednesday night for our Back to School
 night presentation. It was great to meet so many of you. If you were not able to
 attend, your child should have brought you my back to school letter and survey
 in their Friday folder today.  Please look it over and let me know if you have any
 questions. Also, please pay your classroom fee of $8 if you have not done so. 
This money helps us support many projects that extend our learning in the classroom. 
Thank you!

Volunteers: Thank you to those of you who were able to sign up to 
volunteer for our classroom.

• Room Parents: Genevieve Weleck, Heidi Siguaw, Laura Meushaw, and Sasha Davis
• Friday Folders: Karen Hunter
• Reading in the classroom-  M-Th from 11:55-12:25.
  (Start the week of September 10th if you have completed your background check)

          Monday: Amber Gray

          Tuesday: Genevieve Weleck

          Wednesday: Heidi Siguaw

          Thursday: Mary Ann Lawler

• Clerical help: Kimberly Garnett (Fridays)

Homework: We will begin sending homework home the week of September 10th.  

Birthday Treats: If your child is celebrating a birthday during the school year
 (or a ½ birthday for summer kids) you are welcome to send in treats for the class. 
We have 24 kids in our class.

Math: This week we were able to get all the math screeners completed. 
 This information gives me a snapshot of where your child is in math.  We are now ready
 to jump into our first math unit, Multiplication and Division 0-5, 9 and 10, on Monday.

Literacy: This week we worked on writing “seeds/small moment ideas” for personal 
narratives. We are getting those writing muscles warmed up and in shape for a lot of
 writing this year! Next week we are going to start working on understanding and writing
 complete sentences.Students also worked on completing a reading assessment 
using i-Ready. We started using this reading assessment a few 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. I will share this information with you at Parent Teacher Conferences in October.

Social Studies: As we get ready to begin our first unit on Communities, we have been
 working to build our classroom community. This week we continued to get to know each
 other better and to understand the expectations in third grade.

Mark your calendar:

Monday, September 3rd- NO SCHOOL, Labor Day

Friday, September 7th-Picture Day

I hope you have a safe and relaxing weekend.

Sincerely,

Aisha Galt

Friday, May 16th

Next week we have PE on Monday.

Dear Parents,
We are in the final countdown-4 days before summer break!
We had a fun filled week! We enjoyed our walking field trip to meet our 7th grade buddies on Wednesday.  Students love their books and seemed to really enjoy the writing project. Students wrote thank you notes and made bookmarks for their partners.   They will be bringing their books home this week. On Thursday, we watched the Kohl theater club’s Alice and Wonderland! It was a wonderful production. On Friday, students participated in the Kohl Garden Day. 

We did our first round of desk cleaning today.  I did my best to encourage students to recycle old papers etc.  I apologize if your child brings home a mess of random goodies, but some of their desks were pretty full.  We will complete our final desk cleaning on Wednesday of next week.

Homework Ideas for Next Week

• Practice all X and /, + and - , 5-10 minutes daily

Important Dates to Remember

Thursday, May 24- Last day of 3rd grade! Report cards can be viewed on Infinite Campus on Tuesday, May 29th.

Thank you for your continued support! I hope you have great weekend. 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Friday, May 4th

Next week we have PE on Friday.

Dear Parents,

This week was a fun and busy one! On Monday we met a local a author/illustrator. Our students loved the drawing workshop that she taught. Summer break is a great time for students to write their own original stories with illustrations! On Wednesday, we enjoyed the talent show. It is always exciting to see our Kohl students share different strengths. Our trip to the Morrison Natural History Museum was a success, despite the rainy weather. Thank you to all of our chaperones!

We still have a bit of End of Year testing to complete for the district. This week we completed the writing assessment, next week we will complete the final iReady reading assessment.

Next Tuesday, we have a guest speaker coming from the fire department to talk to us about bike safety in the morning and Field Daze in the afternoon.  Please remind your child to dress comfortably for Field Daze and to bring a water bottle. Field Daze begins at 12:15 and parents are welcome to come watch and cheer kids on.

Literacy:

We are beginning a short poetry writing unit next week.  Students will also be learning some cursive during our last weeks of school.

Math:

We completed our last official math unit this week and will spend the rest of the year reviewing and extending concepts that we have studied throughout the year.  Math facts continue to be a essential skill! We will have many math fact quizzes over the next few weeks.

Science/Social Studies:

We will finish our Earth Materials unit early next week.  We are learning about the characteristics of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks and the rock cycle. Our last social studies unit will focus on exploring the differences between primary and secondary sources covering a historical event and how we must fact check using multiple resources.  

Homework Ideas for Next Week

• Math packets are due May 8th.
• Complete the weekly mystery state and Dictado assignment.
• ReadingPlus or iReady lessons at least once per week.
• Practice all X and /, + and - , 5-10 minutes daily
• Have your child use MobyMax to practice math, reading, writing, social studies, science and more!  https://www.mobymax.com/signin

Important Dates to Remember

Tuesday, May 8- Field Daze 12:15-2:00

Wednesday, May 16th- 7th grade buddies in the park

Thursday, May 24- Last day of 3rd grade!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt