February 11th

Wednesday, February 11^th

Dear Parents,

Here is a short update and some important dates to remember:

·         Our Valentine’s Day Party is tomorrow, Thursday the 12^th. It is our last official Kohl party of the year. Please join us from 1:30 - 2:30.  Thank you to all of the parents who help make our parties possible!  

·         There is no school for kids on Friday, February 13^th and Monday, February 16^th. The class comes back on Tuesday the 17th. Enjoy the long weekend.

·         Our parent/ teacher conferences are February 24th and 26th. An email about signing up was sent out by the office this week.  Please sign up, and if you have any questions or concerns please let me know. I look forward to meeting with each of you.

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Writing:

Students are planning and drafting multi-paragraph persuasive/opinion pieces.  The class is doing a fantastic job. We hope to have our published work up in the hall for you to view during conferences.  

Math

We started our Geometry Unit this week. Students are learning many new geometry vocabulary terms. Please review them with your child. This will be a huge help for this unit. Please don't forget to keep up with their multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction tables! The students and I went over the test they took last week on place value, adding, and subtracting.  I will return this test to you during our parent/teacher conference. The class did very well as a whole.

Science

Our matter and measurement unit has been full of many fun, hands-on activities.  Students are building their understanding of how we measure the three states of matter and how matter changes phase.   

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 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!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Thursday, February 5th

Thursday, February 5^th

Dear Parents,

First, I would like to thank all of the parents who joined us for our field trip to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  We couldn’t do it without you!

Our class has earned a compliment celebration!  Once again, they voted to have a game hour, which will be tomorrow.  Students are allowed to bring games from home that they would like to play together. They can bring electronics.  These games will stay in students' backpacks at all times outside of our game hour.

I also want to remind everyone about our regular homework routine.  Some students seem to be having trouble completing and remembering their assignments.  Students receive a reading log and a mystery state on Monday, and they are due on Friday.  Please take a moment to look over and sign your child’s weekly reading log.  I assign math homework on Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Thursdays.  These assignments are due the next day.  In addition, students should be studying addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts on a regular basis.  Thank you for supporting your child!

We had a guest speaker, Mrs. Pam Kutchen, from Metro North Fire Rescue today.  She talked to our students about fire safety and the importance of practicing fire drills at home.  Your child will be coming home with a fire drill planning sheet. Please take some time to complete this activity and talk to your child about what they learned today. 

Our Valentine party is next Thursday, February 12^th from 1:30 to 2:30.  Please join us if you can. Thank you to all of the parents who have signed up to support the festivities.

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 12^th.  Students should also bring a container to hold their Valentines.  Handmade cards are encouraged.  Here is a list of student names to help with this task.  Thank you for your continued support.

Hannah, Sebastian, Kai, Tanith, Jake, Destiny, Kenna, Thomas, Julia H., Megan, Ben, Riannon, Connor, Julia M., Eric, Olivia, Leah, Justin, Samantha, Amrita, Brooke, Deegan, Gwen, Noah, Jacob, and Daelan

I hope you all enjoy the warm weekend to come.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

January 29th

Thursday, January 29^th

Dear Parents,

This has been a fast and very busy week. Here is a recap of our classroom activities and some important reminders.

Field trip tomorrow: Please remember to send a sack lunch and drink to school with your child tomorrow for the trip. Students should be sure to wear shoes that are comfortable to walk in all day. We will be in the museum and walking a lot! 

Chaperones, please be here by 8:45 with your lunch, drink, and $5 for IMAX.

Math:

It looks like we will be ready for our Unit 4 test at the end of next week. The test will cover addition and subtraction of multi-digit numbers and a little bit of rounding. 

Literacy:

We have been working on writing opinion and persuasive pieces for the past couple of weeks. This will continue with the addition of students reading to find more information to support their opinions and learning to cite their support. This is a big concept for kids to learn with the Common Core Standards. 

We have also been working on reading complex text closely. You will start seeing articles coming home that have been "marked up". Your child is learning to find important concepts in print, recognize when words or phrases might not make sense right away and how to use context clues to make meaning. In doing this, they are also rereading pieces several times, which is supporting building fluency in reading. 

Science:

Our current science unit is on Measuring with Metric System and Matter. This week we had a lot of fun discovering standard metric measurements for length, volume and mass. Next week we will start learning about Matter and its forms. 

Thank you for your support!!

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

January 23rd

Friday, January 23^rd

Dear Parents,

Another week has flown by!

Thank you for returning the field trip permission slips and money.  We will be going to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on Friday, January 30^th. Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered to chaperone. There are nine of you, and you are all welcome to join us! Delois Meyer, Emily Unkefer, Carrie Pepperdine, Evelyn Plata, Kristin Angelopulos, William Percy, Roger Sealy, Sarah Osborne, and Siva Spitler please plan to meet us in our classroom on the morning of the field trip at 8:45.  We will leave at 9:00 and will return to Kohl by 2:00.  You will need to bring $5 for the IMAX movie and a sack lunch.  Thank you!

Your child is coming home with their Life Cycles and Wetlands book from our classes with the Thorne Nature and Science program.  Please look over it with your child.  I would like to thank our generous PTA and Student Council for supporting this program at Kohl.  It is a great experience for all of our students.

Our Valentine’s Day party is right around the corner. Our class party will be on Thursday, February 12^th from 1:30-2:30. As always, parents are invited to attend the 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 12^th.  Students should also bring a container to hold their Valentines.  Handmade cards are encouraged.  Here is a list of student names to help with this task.  Thank you for your continued support.

Hannah, Sebastian, Kai, Tanith, Jake, Destiny, Kenna, Thomas, Julia H., Megan, Ben, Riannon, Connor, Julia M., Eric, Olivia, Leah, Justin, Samantha, Amrita, Brooke, Deegan, Gwen, Noah, Jacob, and Daelan

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

January 10th, 2015

Saturday, January 10^th

Dear Parents,

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.  Our first week back in the classroom together went well. We spent time reviewing classroom expectations and procedures and getting to know each other again.  I hope your children are feeling good about the transition.  They are amazing, and I am looking forward to the coming months together. 

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 before Spring Break. If you are planning a trip, please plan the trip after the PARCC  testing dates. It would be so helpful to have all the students complete the tests during our scheduled testing week. Thank you!  If you have any questions or concerns about PARCC, please let me know. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

We have scheduled our second field trip for January 30^th.  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. We will be going to the Museum of Nature and Science to see the IMAX movie "Tiny Giants" and the special exhibit "Whales, Giants of the Deep". The kids will be comparing and contrasting these creatures and I will need parent volunteers to help out with small group work while we are there. This trip will be $9 ($5 for the IMAX and $4 for the bus). If you have any concerns about the cost, please contact me immediately. Thank you.

Other important dates and reminders:

Thursday, January 15-Spelling Bee. Noah and Megan will be representing our class at 8:30 in the gym. Please wish them luck when you see them.

Monday, January 19- No School MLK Jr. Day

Friday, January 30- Field Trip to the Museum of Nature and Science. Please return permission slips and money as soon as possible.

Saturday, January 31- PTA Trivia Night. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend this fun fundraiser. Adults only please. Check the PTA Facebook page or the school website for more information.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Aisha Galt

Weekly Update 11/7/2014

Dear Parents,

As we come to the close of our first trimester of third grade, we can look back at how much we have learned in such a short time. Your kids have been working very hard and I am very proud of their efforts and growth so far this year. 

Literacy:

We have jumped in to our writing unit about adapting fairy tales. The kids and I have been reading many, many classic and adapted fairy tales to get familiar with their style. This week we looked at how and why writers of adapted fairy tales might have decided to make the changes they did. We have also put ourselves in the author's seat by choosing a fairy tale to adapt. The class has started making a plan and we will begin writing our first draft next week. It's very exciting. 

In spelling we are continuing our work on spelling patterns and our spelling lists.  We will have a new list next week.  Last week I sent home the last spelling test.  You can use that with the list I gave you at conferences to create your child's next list at home.

Math:

Unit 2 has been a lot of practice with all of the multiplication 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 PEMDAS). I have been very impressed with their hard work.

Social Studies:

Last week we finished up our Life Cycles unit in Science and now we are moving on to the second unit of Social Studies- Regions of the United States. Your child will be studying 5 different regions in the United States, the states that make up each region, and the history, people and cultures of those regions. 

Important Dates:

Tuesday, November 11- NO SCHOOL VETERANS DAY

Friday, November 14- Trimester 1 report cards go home

Tuesday, November 18- Unit 2 Math Test

week of November 24-28- NO SCHOOL THANKSGIVING BREAK

Have a wonderful weekend with your families. See you next week.

September 19, 2014

Dear Parents,

Another busy week has passed and your kids worked very hard this week. I think we are all ready for a nice weekend.

Reminders:

No School on Monday, September 22. Elementary Professional Development Day/Assessment Day

Field Trip- Tuesday, September 30- Please be sure to return the permission slip and $5 fee if you haven’t already done so.

Literacy:

We continue to work on Personal Narratives. This week we finished our first draft and next week we will continue to revise, edit and publish our first narrative.

Spelling- We have reviewed short and long vowel rules and this week we learned the spelling patterns for long i. They are igh, i-e, ind, y, and i at the end of a syllable. We will also continue to work on the Must Write words for 3rd graders. Students are responsible for spelling these words correctly in their everyday writing.

Reading- All students have taken the Diagnostic test on the computer. I have also had a chance to read with several students for some additional information for me as I put students into reading groups. Next week, students will begin working with me in their reading groups as well as working independently in the classroom to complete lessons. This is a big jump for third graders as they learn to budget their time and meet deadlines- a skill they will need for the rest of their lives. So far, they are working very hard and diligently to learn this new skill.

Math:

We continue to learn our multiplication and division facts in math. We have now completed 2s, 5s, 9s, and 10s. You can help your child by quizzing them daily on those facts. We will also be doing weekly math dashes to help them check their own progress towards learning their facts. All third graders are expected to know all multiplications and divisions through 10s by the end of third grade in order to be prepared for 4th grade. Next week we will introduce 3s and 4s if you want to start practicing those to get ahead.

Social Studies:

In our unit on communities, this week we learned about public and private services and how taxes help to pay for public services in our communities. Next week, we will talk about local government and the different roles people play in that area of the community. This unit will be completed the following week.

Don't forget that tomorrow is Broomfield Days and the parade. The class with the highest attendance wins a prize. I hope that you all have fun. I will not be a the parade but I am hoping to make it later in the day so maybe I will see some of you there.

Have a wonderful 3 day weekend with your family. See you all on Tuesday.

Toni Gaddis