Newsletter for January 27, 2011

Dear Families,

Here is what's been happening over the past week and what is planned for this coming week.  Remember, there is no school tomorrow, January 28^th!

What's Up!

·         Reading: What a busy short week we had in reading!  We took our Theme 3 reading assessments, listening assessments and learned some new vocabulary words that were shared by our classmates.  Let’s keep those words coming!  Next week, we will be reading Nights of the Pufflings.  In this story we will focus on evaluating the author’s purpose.  We will continue to practice this skill with our own books during Read to Self time.  Another skill we will address is Fact vs. Opinion.   

·         Writing: It has been fun learning how to write a story like the actors in the Brainstormer Assembly.  We have really worked on taking chances in our writing, especially by trying to use voice.  We will share these with one another next week and continue to write in this format.

·         Spelling: Next week’s words are from Nights of the Pufflings

1.        hair

2.       care

3.       chair

4.       pair

5.       bear

6.       where

7.       scare

8.       air

9.       pear

10.    bare

11.     fair

12.    share

13.    flair

14.    farewell

·         Vocabulary: Nights of the Pufflings List

1.       ashore: on or to the shore (from the water)

2.      burrows: holes or tunnels small animals use as underground nests

3.      instinctively: acting on an inner feeling; done without thinking

4.      launching: sending up in the air

5.      stranded: in a helpless or difficult position

6.      uninhabited: having no people living there

7.      venture: to set out to do something even though it might be dangerous

·         Math: We have started MULTIPLYING!    In this chapter we will focus on the basics of what is multiplication, how to build arrays to show multiplication and we will also be working on our first sets of multiplication facts.  Please make sure to go over homework with your child each day and begin to spend 5-10 minutes each night studying multiplication facts.  Don’t forget you can view the text book online by going to www.pearsonsuccessnet.com.  

·         Science: We will be moving onto our unit on Weather and the Water Cycle next week!  This is a great unit.

·         Social Studies: We took our test on the South this week!  Way to go!!!  Some students still need more practice on locating the states in the south.  Please continue to practice this as well as the states located in the east as we are moving to the EAST! 

·         Cursive:  Students are having a lot of fun learning their new letters.  We now know the letters a, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, p, r, t, u, and y.  We will continue to practice our keyboarding skills in computer lab as well as learning our cursive letters in class.

Multiplication has Begun

The nines are coming home today!!!  Please add this to the flashcards your child has already brought home.  Keep them studying!!!

      http://www.mathfactcafe.com/

      http://www.aaastudy.com/mul.htm

      http://www.aplusmath.com/

      http://www.multiplication.com

      http://www.coolmath4kids.com/times-tables/index.html

      http://resources.oswego.org/games/mathmagician/cathymath.html

THANKS APT!

Thanks to the money APT makes available to the individual teachers, the third grade team was able to purchase new book boxes for all third graders.  These beautiful blue book boxes are a great resource for keeping all our books for Read-to-Self neat, organized and easily accessible.  Check out the pictures of our class using their new book boxes.

http://picasaweb.google.com/WinGrinClass/BookBoxes?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDIraSqjLL2Bg&feat=directlink

Book Orders

I will be ordering books tomorrow at noon.  If you would like to order, you may go to www.Scholastic.com/bookclubs. Our class code is GY2HX.

Free E-Books

I recently applied for and earned a grant for access to 55 e-books from the Sylvan Dell website for Amberly students.  These books have automatic page flip and have a real person reading the story (in English or Spanish) with expression.  All the stories have a science or math theme to them and are beautifully illustrated.  You can access the books from home by following this link: http://www.sylvandellpublishing.com/SiteLicenseAccessCodes.php and typing the code LACFK6.  If you would like, this link and code can be shared with other Amberly families, but please ask them not to pass it along to their friends who do not have children attending Amberly.  This is part of the grant and the site license agreement.  We have access to this resource until January 6, 2012.

Behavior

Our new word is FRIENDSHIP.  The students once again must keep at least one letter in order to participate in our fun activity on Monday, February 21st.  Please remind your child of your expectations and the Amberly High 5.  This includes being responsible for doing their chores around the classroom including making their lunch choice in the morning and turning their homework in first thing.

Dates to Remember

• January 28 – Records Day – No School for Students TOMORROW!
• January 28 – Book Orders due online
• February 2 – Star Students Lunch for our December/January Star Students and their special guests
• February 11 – Report Cards sent home with students
• February 21 and 23 - Conferences

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thank you and have a great week!

Mrs. Winstanley