Progress Reports:
In tomorrow’s Monday folder, you will be receiving your child’s progress report. The report will serve as a brief update on how your child has been doing over the first few weeks of school. Please understand that I am still getting to know your child and we have just begun to have assessments. If your child has a 2 or 3 in any particular subject on their interim, it does not mean that this is what will be given on the report card. We still have several weeks until the end of the quarter, and plenty of opportunities to improve or maintain grades. Please review and discuss the progress report with your child and help your child to set goals for the rest of the quarter.
Parent-Teacher Conferences:
Parent-teacher conference time is here! I am sending home a conference sign-up sheet tomorrow that lists some available times for conferences. Please fill out this form and return it to school as soon as possible. I will send you a confirmation note back to let you know your conference date and time. If the times listed are not convenient for you, please let me know by indicating an alternate date and time, and I will do my best to accommodate you. If you would prefer a phone conference, please list the best time of day to reach you, some possible dates and the number to call.
Conference times will be selected on a first come, first serve basis. Please return this form in a timely manner. I will confirm your scheduled time immediately.
It has been a pleasure working with you and your child. I look forward to talking with you soon!
Picture Day:
Cog-At Testing:
Next week, from October 9th through 11th, the children will be taking Cog-At Testing. These are the first round of tests to determine eligibility for the Academically Gifted (AG) Program. There is an information letter from Dr. Spivey in tomorrow's Monday folder.
Picture Day is this Wednesday. Payment must be turned in by the time pictures are taken. Have your child dress their best. This picture will be the one used in the school yearbook.
Scholastic Book Orders:
I am going to send home the October Scholastic catalogs in tomorrow's Monday folder. Orders for this month will be due by Thursday, October 11th. If you would like to order books from “Scholastic Book Clubs”, go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, click the "Register" button in the "First Time Here?" section. Register for your own user name and password. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code H8846. This unique code ensures that your order is sent to me. SELECT the books you'd like to order -- choose from thousands of titles -- many more than in our monthly flyers. I have also added catalogs for any older or younger children you may have, too. There are some great Halloween and fall fun books, too. Last year I ordered for my daughter Jordanna "The Spooky Wheels On the Bus", which she absolutely loves. Such a cute take on the old story! You may also send in checks to school with your order made out to "Scholastic Book Clubs".
Snacks:
Snacks:
Please be sure to send in a snack with your child each day. Thank you to everyone who has donated snacks to our classroom. We are in need of replenishing our community snack supply. If you are able to donate a box of granola bars, crackers, dry cereal, etc., we would greatly appreciate it. It is important that those who forget their snacks and those who are unable to bring one, have something to get them through the day until we have lunch. Thanks in advance!
Weekly Notes about the Curriculum:
In reading this week we will continue to look at character's point of view. We will also learn how to make inferences and draw conclusions about our reading. To do this, we will use clues from the text plus prior knowledge that we have to make inferences. In word work we will continue our study of root words and prefixes. We will also learn about suffixes. In writing we will write the endings to our narratives. We will learn how to conduct peer conferences with our classmates and how to best support and encourage one another during the conferences.
In math, we our continuing our unit on geometry. We will continue working this week on identifying and drawing different quadrialterals and finding the perimeter of each. Make sure your child is studying the notes and handouts provided by your child's math teacher. We will conclude with an end-of-unit assessment on Friday.
We are going to begin Social Studies with Mr. Otto on Monday. The first unit in Social Studies is "History and Colonial America".
Community Service:
In second quarter Social Studies we will be studying citizenship. Since citizenship is such an important objective in the curriculum, as well as within our daily lives, I have my class participate in a yearlong community service project. We will be learning about the different communities we belong to and ways we can help serve these communities.
We will be begin by helping within our school community. We will start this week with volunteering in Ms. Levine's Special Education preschool class. These are students who need extra support to help them get ready for kindergarten. We will be helping them by modeling social skills such as teaching them how to play correctly and how to build their communication skills. The students will volunteer at least once per week in Ms. Levine's class. We met with Ms. Levine on Friday to discuss the program. The children are super excited to get started!!
We are also paired up with Ms. Caldwell's first grade and will meet with them as book buddies. As book buddies, we will help the first graders with their reading and writing. Each of the third graders will be paired up with a first grade buddy. Ms. Caldwell and I hope to get the program up and running within the next week.
In second quarter, we will be learning about how to volunteer and help out within a local level. We will be assigned at least thirty minutes of service to do within our neighborhood communities per quarter. Some popular service projects my students have done in the past are: donating old toys or clothing to those in need, helping with our school Backpack Buddies program, doing a walkathon or fundraiser for a special organization that is dear to the student's heart, doing a park clean-up, making holiday cards for people in a nursing home or hospital, helping an elderly neighbor with things like raking leaves, pulling weeds, etc. More information will come about this during second quarter. My hopes is that be making service to others a part of their regular routine, it will inspire a lifelong love for helping others!
Thank you so much for all of your support!
Weekly Notes about the Curriculum:
In reading this week we will continue to look at character's point of view. We will also learn how to make inferences and draw conclusions about our reading. To do this, we will use clues from the text plus prior knowledge that we have to make inferences. In word work we will continue our study of root words and prefixes. We will also learn about suffixes. In writing we will write the endings to our narratives. We will learn how to conduct peer conferences with our classmates and how to best support and encourage one another during the conferences.
In math, we our continuing our unit on geometry. We will continue working this week on identifying and drawing different quadrialterals and finding the perimeter of each. Make sure your child is studying the notes and handouts provided by your child's math teacher. We will conclude with an end-of-unit assessment on Friday.
We are going to begin Social Studies with Mr. Otto on Monday. The first unit in Social Studies is "History and Colonial America".
Community Service:
In second quarter Social Studies we will be studying citizenship. Since citizenship is such an important objective in the curriculum, as well as within our daily lives, I have my class participate in a yearlong community service project. We will be learning about the different communities we belong to and ways we can help serve these communities.
We will be begin by helping within our school community. We will start this week with volunteering in Ms. Levine's Special Education preschool class. These are students who need extra support to help them get ready for kindergarten. We will be helping them by modeling social skills such as teaching them how to play correctly and how to build their communication skills. The students will volunteer at least once per week in Ms. Levine's class. We met with Ms. Levine on Friday to discuss the program. The children are super excited to get started!!
We are also paired up with Ms. Caldwell's first grade and will meet with them as book buddies. As book buddies, we will help the first graders with their reading and writing. Each of the third graders will be paired up with a first grade buddy. Ms. Caldwell and I hope to get the program up and running within the next week.
In second quarter, we will be learning about how to volunteer and help out within a local level. We will be assigned at least thirty minutes of service to do within our neighborhood communities per quarter. Some popular service projects my students have done in the past are: donating old toys or clothing to those in need, helping with our school Backpack Buddies program, doing a walkathon or fundraiser for a special organization that is dear to the student's heart, doing a park clean-up, making holiday cards for people in a nursing home or hospital, helping an elderly neighbor with things like raking leaves, pulling weeds, etc. More information will come about this during second quarter. My hopes is that be making service to others a part of their regular routine, it will inspire a lifelong love for helping others!
Classroom Wish List:
- Treasure Chest items
- Snacks for community snacks
- Books for our class library. Picture books are great!
