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

Friday, September 28, 2018

Next week we have PE on Wednesday.

Dear Parents,

Happy Friday!  We had a fantastic and busy week.

Your child should have come home with a ziploc bag full of multiplication and division flash/strategy cards on Thursday.  This is a great resource for nightly math fact practice.

The online sign up for parent-teacher conferences will available to you on Monday, October 1st. Conferences are scheduled for Tuesday, October 16th and Thursday, October 18h. Thank you in advance for signing up. 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.

CURRICULUM UPDATES:

Literacy: Students are working on a book of short personal narratives!  We practiced the essential elements of a well written narrative paragraph. Each narrative should include: an introduction sentences that capture the reader’s attention and introduces the topic, at least three strong detail sentences, and a conclusion sentence.  Next week, students will publish 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.

Math: We will have our first unit assessment on Wednesday of next week. This will cover all multiplications and divisions of 0,1,2,3,4,5,9 and 10 facts. Students will need to be able to solve math fact problems and word problems using both multiplication and division. I will be able to support students on the test by reading the problems, but they need to be able to do the math on their own.

Students will begin having Math Dashes next month. These are short, ‘timed’ fact checks for students. Students will work on each one until they pass it and then move on to the next. The first dash will cover facts of 2s and 5s multiplications. The second is 2s and 5s divisions. When your child passes all of the dashes I will treat them to an ice cream sandwich for all of their hard work. This usually takes several months.

Social Studies/Science: We are wrapping up our first unit in Social Studies, local community government. Students have learned about many important people in our local government, how our local government works, and how we can have a voice in our community. We will have an assessment on this unit early next week.

Our next unit will be Science- Life Cycles!

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 wonderful weekend!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

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