Cog-At Testing: Tuesday through Thursday of this week the children will be taking the Cog-At testing. This is the first round of testing to determine eligibility for the Academically Gifted (AG) program. There is no way for the children to study or prepare for these tests. Please make sure your child gets a good night's rest, eats a healthy breakfast and arrives to school on time each day. These are timed tests. All other tests we have taken so far this year have not been timed, so this will be the children's first exposure to a timed test. The children are encouraged to pace themselves and to not get stuck on a problem that they do not know but to skip it and move on to the next problem. If there is still time left, they can go back to the problems they skipped over.
New Reading Log: We are starting a new reading log today. We reviewed this in class. Please make sure that your child is practicing with a reading skill each evening. If you have any questions about the new log, please let me know!
Maternity Leave Information: There has been a lot of questions from the children and also the parents during conferences, so I wanted to pass along some information about my upcoming maternity leave. I wanted to let you know that I plan to work up until the baby comes. The baby is not due until November 16th, but may come early in October like her big sister did!
I wanted to reassure you that the children will be in great hands during my absence! I have been in contact with Ms. Hart, who is the substitute teacher who will be with the class for my maternity. She is a retired teacher with experience in many grade levels, especially in the early elementary grades. Her and I have been in contact through email and she is very excited to get started! She has checked out our class blog and loves all of the great things we are doing and loves the pictures of our wonderful class. She will be coming in next week to meet the children and to spend time with me.
Also, I am very blessed to work with a wonderful team of teachers. Ms. Hart will continue in my absence to work, plan and meet with the third grade team. This will be as a smooth transition for the children we can possibly make it. Plus, my husband will be right down the hall to check in on the class and to pass along messages from me. With my maternity falling right around Thanksgiving and Winter Break, it will seem like I am back before you know it anyway! If there is anything else I can do to help your child with the transition, please let me know. :)
Curriculum Notes: Because of Cog-At testing this week, the third grade teachers decided to continue with our literacy objectives from last week into this week. Our literacy block will be cut short due to testing. We will spend time this week continuing our word work study of prefixes and suffixes. In reading we will look at character's point of view and making inferences (drawing conclusions) about our reading. If time allows, we will be publishing our narratives. Friday we will be meeting with Ms. Caldwell's class for our first book buddies session.
In math this week we will be studying another unit of geometry. We will not have a test on this unit, but it is still important for your child to review the notes each evening. We will be learning about line of symmetry, congruence, triangles and polygons. In Social Studies, Mr. Otto will continue to work with the class on the English Settlers and the early 1600's.
Upcoming Dates to Remember:
1. Scholastic Book orders are due Thursday of this week.
2. October 15th through 19th is the book fair. (Information went home in today's Monday folder.)
3. Thursday, October 18th is Science Night from 6 to 7:30
4. Friday, October 19th is an Early Release Day
5. Wednesday, October 31st is a Teacher Workday. No school for students.
