October 31: Happy Halloween!

We wrapped up our week and October with some fun activities. The kids were happy to participate in Wacky Wardrobe Day and Halloween puzzles in the afternoon gave us an opportunity to enjoy time with our friends.

Your child has a Mid Chapter review for the current math unit on Multiplication facts. Please look it over and detach the bottom chart for your reference. Return the rest with your child on Monday. Thank you!

Here's what to expect for next week:

• We ended our study of The Seven Continents with the Salt Dough Maps, which are currently on display outside our room. This week, we will begin an exploration of what makes up Cultures Around the World. To help your child, you can have talks about your family's cultures and traditions. In the few discussions we've had so far, students have been eager to share facts about the foods they eat, the games they play and objects of cultural significance. This is a very exciting unit for the kids! It will culminate in the Third Grade's Cultural Food Festival on December 12. There will be more information coming about this event. 
• Parent Teacher Conferences will take place on Thursday. November 13th. Please keep an eye out for a notice informing you of the details and asking you for your preference of meeting time. This will be distributed on Monday. 
• Schools will be closed on Election Day (Tuesday) for students. 
• November 7 will be our second Family Friday. It will focus on healthy life styles. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

October 24

We had a busy week with the start of music class, andd armory visit and the launch of new units in math and writing. The math test was sent home on Wednesday in a blue test folder. Please keep an eye out for it if you have not reviewed it with your child.

Please make it a part of your Friday routine to have your child empty their homework folder of old notices and checked homework. This will keep teh folder from being too cluttered.

Here's what's coming for next week:

• Music class will take place on every Tuesday. Please make sure your child brings their blue recorder back to class.
• I will be absent on Wednesday for jury duty.

Have a great weekend!

October 17: Have a happy BOO Bash!

My thanks to all families for sending the salt dough for our fun mapping activity. The kids were very excited to participate and we look forward to showing our finished products soon!

Here's what's happening next week:

• Our math unit, Multiplication Concepts, has come to an end and we will have our test on Monday. 
• We are headed to the Armory on Tuesday. Please make sure your child wears sneakers. 
• We are also starting our Music program on Tuesday. Mr. Kiah will teach our third graders vocal music and how to play the recorder.
• We are starting a new writing unit on Tuesday. Children will begin to learn how to write informational pieces. The focus of this unit is to develop writing that informs or teaches others a topic of a child's expertise. We will look at organizing and writing information on topics we know a lot about so we can share that knowledge with readers. Please help your child get ready for this work by discussing topics that they know a lot about. Usually, it's a hobby, a certain type of pet, or an interest. It will be great for your child to get a reminder of what they know. 
• Wednesday is Picture Day! We are scheduled to have our photos taken at 12:20 ( before lunch). 

Have a fabulous fun weekend!

October 10

Fall is here and it seems like the cools weather will stick. We've had some colds this week so we will review using tissues and covering our sneezes. Please reinforce this practice as home.

Here's what's happening next week:

• School will be closed on Monday for Columbus Day!We are ending our first reading unit Building a Reading Life and moving on to Character Study. In this new unit, we will closely examine characters and how authors use characters to teach us lessons about ourselves and life.  
• There will be a new weekly reading response prompt to reflect the new unit. This response will focus on making an idea about a character's traits based on evidence from the story. Traits are words that describe a dominant personality quality for a character. Often times it can be confused with a feeling. A character can feel happy most of the time and therefore be easy going or positive.  Evidence can include the characters actions, thoughts/ feelings, and others say about the character. 
• Our book orders have arrived and were given out on Friday. A new book order was given out and for families who are interested in buying books, the order is due by next Friday. You can also order online at Scholastic.com using the class code on the sticker on front of the order sheet. 

Have a great three day weekend!

October 3

Wow! Time flies at supersonic speeds as we say goodbye to our first month of school. We have settled into our routines and are getting into our more intense academic work.

The first Math test was administered on Wednesday and returned to your child today. Most children did very well. A letter and progress report was sent home with the test. Please review the documents and return the test with your child. There were some suggestions for additional practice with the IXL Games link on this blog. Please do not feel it is a requirement; you and your child can decide if the additional practice is something to take on.

A form went home today asking for your information as well as reminding you to fill out the blue card online if you have not already done so. The link is http://ps154.org/students/blue-card/ . Our class parent is trying to create a class directory. Please send in the completed form as soon as you can.

Here's what's coming next week:

• We are headed to the Armory next Tuesday! Please make sure your child is dressed for physical activity and wearing sneakers. 
• We have started our new math unit called Understanding Multiplication. This unit focuses on the concepts of multiplication so that students can recognize situations that would call for multiplication in real life situations.

Have a wonderful weekend! Happy Yom Kippur to our families who observe this holiday!