Mrs. Adkins’ Class

Third Grade Newsletter

Volume 7, Number 4                                                                                      September 26, 2008

Hello Parents!  We had a pretty good week together, although I have confiscated many toys from the kids.  Many of them have these ball toys that turn into figures, called Bakugans, or something like that.  I compared them to Transformers once, and the kids were quick to tell me the difference. J These small balls fit nicely in the desks, and I have found many children playing with them when they should be paying attention.  Please make sure that you child leaves their toys at home.  There is no place for them in school, and they only serve as a distraction.  Even at recess, they often get lost or broken, so please check your child’s backpack to make sure there are no toys in there.  We had a beautiful afternoon today for our Walk-a-Thon, so be sure to ask your child all about it.  We had a busy week together, so here’s what’s been happening:

Reading ~ Our story this week was an informational nonfiction story about penguins in Antarctica.  I hope you enjoyed reading it with your child!  This was a story that led itself to great discussions as well as cross curricular projects.  I enjoyed the discussions we held in our reading groups about penguins and how the fathers care for the egg, they sleep standing up, how the babies are fed, and how quickly the penguins grow up.  We spent time in computer class writing stories about what it would be like to be a penguin in Antarctica, and the kids have been very creative.  Be sure to ask your child about what they wrote.  We also spent time yesterday during science watching the movie Penguin March which showed many of the things we had learned about.  Big thanks to Jessica for bringing in that movie to share! 

Language Arts ~ Our grammar lesson this week was on predicates.  We spent time on Monday learning the Mr. Morton song which the kids really got in to.  The main chorus line goes “Mr. Morton is the subject of my sentence.  What the predicate says he does.”  Ask your child to sing you a few lines from that!  We spent our writing time working more on details.  I had the kids write directions on how to put on a coat, and not one of them were able to instruct me to put it on correctly!  That was a fun lesson – ask for details on it from your child.  We will do one more lesson on details that involves colored marshmallows and toothpicks before we get into the meat of writing an expository paper.

Math ~ We finished up our chapter on money, and the kids took their test on Wednesday.  Please look for this test and go over it with your child.  I was glad to see an improvement on rounding overall in this chapter, and we sang our rounding song numerous times during the week.  We did our centers yesterday to review the first three chapters, and the kids took a unit test today.  It was all multiple choices, and we took the time to discuss good strategies to use when taking a multiple choice test.  We will start our new chapter next week on addition.

Science ~ The kids took their first science test on Monday, and those went home today.  Please look for this test and go over it with your child.  It is a difficult format, but now that they have seen what it is like, hopefully the next test will be better prepared for.  Our new chapter is on weather and we will start that next week.

Social Studies ~ This week in social studies, we learned to make and explain the differences between a picture graph and a bar graph.  We compared and contrasted different culture groups in our community, including their food, clothing, and customs.  We explained the ways in which people of different ethnic groups help to make the community a better place.  We will be concluding Chapter One at the end of next week and the first social studies test will take place on Friday, October 10th.

Other Areas of Interest:

      A topic that has come up repeatedly in our class this week is manners.  I have had to speak with the kids repeatedly about being respectful of others and not talking when others are trying to listen.  This was an issue with our penguin movie as well as during several lessons that we had.  Please take the time to go over this kind of thing at home with your child – making good choices, appropriate times to talk, being respectful of others around you.  I appreciate your help in this manner and I will continue to not let these things slide in the classroom.

      We had a really nice show and tell day yesterday.  The kids earned their class reward last week and they chose to have a show and tell day.  Just about everyone brought in something special and had the opportunity to share it with the class.  We will have special days like this throughout the year, but those days are the only days that toys and items like these should be brought in to school.

      Progress reports went home today!  Please look for one in your child’s Friday papers and sign and return to me by next week on Wednesday.  Missing homework has been a problem with this group, so I sent home reports for those with grades less than a C- in any subject, and for those who have had 5 or more missing homework assignments.

      Book-It is a mandatory program in 3^rd grade, and it starts in October.  I will send home a sheet on Wednesday for your child to keep track of the books they read each month.  In third grade the children are expected to read one chapter book a week.  Each month completed counts for 100 points toward your child’s reading grade, so please make sure your child is reading every night at home.

That’s it for now!  It looks like this may be our last beautiful and warm weekend for a while, so I hope you are able to enjoy it.  Blueberry and apple picking are in peak season, and that might be a fun way to spend the weekend with your family.  I wish you all a wonderful weekend and remember to keep your child reading!

Mrs. Sarah Adkins

Third Grade Newsletter

Volume 7, Number 2 and 3                                                                           September 19, 2008

Hello Parents!  Wow, being gone for three days really threw things for a loop!  I am so sorry that I missed curriculum night as I always look forward to meeting you at that time and covering some very important topics.  I would like to extend a big thanks to Mrs. Michaels for hosting the evening for me.  She did mention some questions that came up which I would like to address:  someone asked about spelling lists.  They always go home the first day of the week, and your child will have two copies of the list – their pretest and a letter about our story that includes vocabulary words and spelling words as well.  Someone asked about when papers go home.  You wouldn’t believe the stack that I ended up with this week!  I send graded papers home on Fridays.  The tests the kids take on Friday come home the following week as I am unable to grade them by the end of the day.  Sorry I have held on to these for so long – it took me forever to get caught up on the grading!  Since I am on the topic of graded papers, I have a special policy about tests that have a D or F (L) on them.  I put a green Please Correct stamp on them, and your child has the option to correct their mistakes and I will then raise their grade.  This is voluntary and something that I never ask for – it is up to your child if they wish to learn from their mistakes and raise their grade.  I give half credit for each corrected answer.  Whew.  Now onto this week.  We sure were busy, so here’s what’s been happening:

Reading ~ Our story this week was a nonfiction article called “Whose Habitat is it?” and I hope you enjoyed it with your child Monday night.  We had some good discussions about urban sprawl and whether it is the fault of the animals that we took over.  One group even got into talking about how we drove the Native Americans out of their land too.  Our story from last week was Dear Juno and the kids had a great time relating to having relatives far away that we communicate with.  Thank goodness for e-mail and Skype!

Language Arts ~ Our grammar lesson last week was on commands and exclamations, and the kids seemed to do pretty well with that.  I am missing an assignment from about half the class from when I was gone.  Last week on Thursday, the grammar assignment was pages 9 and 10, and about half the class turned it in.  I found a couple still in grammar books, but I have no idea what happened to the rest.  Please look for this paper at home and return it to school as soon as possible.  I also had lost spelling sentences from last week, and I understand that my sub stamped them and sent them home instead of collecting them for a grade.  I collected and graded the ones that turned up for me, but did not count it against anyone who took it home and lost it.  Whew.  It is good to get things back on track.  Our grammar lesson from this week was on subjects, and I spotted no problems with this lesson in class.  Our writing time was spent with expository writing, focusing on details.

Math ~ We have been flying through our math chapters, and I am comfortable doing this since most of our skills have been review from last year.  I discovered that many of the kids did not grasp rounding very well despite learning it last year, and I pulled several kids in the class for interventions on rounding who did not do well on their test.  Remember to have your child correct their test if the green Please Correct stamp is on it!  We will encounter rounding again many times throughout the year, so we will have more opportunities to learn and practice this important skill.   I taught the kids a rounding song to the tune of If you’re happy and you know it.  Ask your child to sing it for you!  We worked with money this week, and the children will be tested on it next week on Wednesday.  Please take some time this weekend to practice counting money and making change with your child.  These are real life skills that they will use almost daily as they get older, so practicing with real money at home is an added benefit.

Science ~ We have wrapped up our first chapter on the water cycle.  Their review homework (P. D24) was due today, and the test will be on Monday.  The review homework is an important tool for the kids to use to help them learn to study.  This is why they need to write their review answers in complete sentences.  I give two points for each question, one for it being written in a complete sentence, and one for the correct answer.  Those kids that turned in only answers only got half the points for the assignment.  If your child does not study for science tests, s/he will not do well on the tests.  They are very difficult, especially compare to second grade.  All vocabulary words are always on the test, and I covered all concepts to be tested with the kids during our review game we played yesterday.  Ask your child to tell you about it and tell you the parts that they did not know and need extra studying for.

Social Studies ~ (This section of my Newsletter is always composed for you by Mrs. Michaels herself) The past couple of weeks we have learned why people live in communities.  They live in communities to belong, to have fun, and to work.  We read about Walt Disney and his plan for creating his very own community.  The name of his community was to be called EPCOT.  This stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.  Unfortunately, Walt Disney passed away and his dream did not become a reality.  We discussed that all people have the same basic human needs and that we all depend on each other to meet these needs.  We will be concluding Chapter One at the end this month and the social studies test is scheduled for Oct 10th. 

Other Areas of Interest:

      The Walk-a-Thon is scheduled for next Friday, September 26 in the afternoon.  Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for the weather and that they have good walking shoes to wear for this fun event.

      Next Friday is also the mid point of the first quarter, and progress reports will be going home for grades less than a C- or 73%.  I will also be sending home progress reports for those children that are missing five or more homework assignments.  Not doing homework drastically affects grades in third grade, so please make sure your child is doing their homework every night and that they bring it back to school the next day!

That’s it for now!  It looks like a beautiful weekend ahead of us, and the Cubs should clinch the division this weekend!  Summer officially ends this Sunday, so make the most of your weekend with your family.  I wish you all a wonderful weekend and remember to keep your child reading!

Mrs. Sarah Adkins

Third Grade Newsletter

Volume 7, Number 1                                                                                      September 5, 2008

Hello Parents!  We have had a terrific start to our school year, and I have really enjoyed getting to know your children.  This is such a nice, small group to work with, and I know we are going to have a successful year together.  We have been busy learning procedures and routines of the classroom, and are just now starting to get to the meat of our curriculum.  We have been busy, so here’s what’s been happening:

Reading ~ I have given each of the children fluency and comprehension assessments, and have placed them in reading groups with people of their same reading level.  We will start our reading groups next week.  I used this week to teach the kids how to complete the seat work independently that they will be working on every week.  Our story for this week was called First Day Jitters.  Hopefully this story was read aloud to you by your child this past Tuesday night.  Your child will be reading each of our weekly stories aloud to you on Mondays (or Tuesday if we have off on Monday) so please make sure your child is accomplishing this with you every week.  Your child will be given a reading test every Friday based on the skills learned that week.

Language Arts ~ Our grammar lesson for this week was on fragments, statements, and questions.  Everything we learn in grammar is review from last year, so there are no new grammar concepts in 3^rd grade, just more practice.  The kids will also have a grammar and spelling test every Friday.  Please make sure your child practices their spelling words every night.  I usually introduce the grammar lesson on Mondays, then the kids will have grammar homework on Thursday night to help prepare them for the test.  The kids are to take home their grammar paper on Mondays, and use that to review the lesson each night for just a few minutes.  We started expository writing this week.  Please ask your child to explain to you what expository writing is. (I taught them to associate the word explain with expository.)  The kids did a short paper on how to brush their teeth.  We will learn from those and move to a longer assignment next week.

Math ~ We have made it all the way through chapter one in our math book.  The kids learned about place value (last year they learned place value through thousands, this year we went up to hundred thousands), comparing numbers to 1,000, and number patterns.  I realize that many of you helped re-explain the homework to your child this week, and I thank you for that.  Math is third grade is very fast paced, and I’m not always allowed enough time to spend on a topic that I would like.  We do math centers in here every few days, and that provides an opportunity for the kids to review and revisit concepts that we practiced earlier.  I always allow the kids to bring home their math textbook if they want some help with their homework.  If they found something confusing during the day, I will encourage them to bring it home along with their workbook. 

Science ~ Our first chapter is on the water cycle!  The kids did an experiment last week on how much water covers Earth’s surface.  Ask your child to tell you about it if they haven’t already.  Yesterday we read through the first part of our chapter and did some vocabulary definitions.  All of our vocabulary words are always on the test, so it is a good idea for your child to bring home their science notebook (green) at least once a week to start reviewing those definitions. 

Social Studies ~ This week in social studies we learned about communities.  We discussed who lives in communities, what are communities, where are communities, and why do people live in communities.  We read about a community called Eagle, Colorado.  We looked at pictures of this community and your child had to illustrate the differences between our community and Eagle, Colorado’s community.

Other Areas of Interest:

      We celebrated Michael’s 9^th birthday last week on Wednesday.  His actual birthday had been the Sunday before, August 24, and we were happy to celebrate with him a few days late.  Happy birthday Michael!

      Curriculum Night is coming up this Thursday, September 11, at 7:00.  Please come!  This is your opportunity to meet me and see where your child spends much of their day.  I have important information to pass along to you that evening, so please make arrangements to be here on Thursday.

That’s it for now!  The weather has taken a chilly turn, so please make sure that your child is dressed appropriately for this change in temperature.  I would like to thank all of you that came through for me and volunteered to help out with my reading groups: Mrs. Houpy, Mrs. Manos, Mrs. Plesha, Mrs. Sanchez, and Mrs. Stocchetti.  I look forward to working with you, and I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to be with us here in the classroom.   I wish you all a wonderful weekend, and remember to keep your child reading!

Mrs. Sarah Adkins