Newsletter for April 15, 2011

Dear Families,

Welcome back.  I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing spring break.  Here is what's been happening over the past week and what is planned for this coming week.

What's Up!

      Reading:   This week we spent began our novel study of Ramona Quimby, Age 8.  Students are reading one chapter of the book each day/night and filling out a “job” sheet.  The jobs included the Discussion Director (writing questions about the story), Connector (comparing the story to their lives or other things they have read/seen), Illustrator (drawing a picture about the story and explaining its significance), Summarizer (writing a summary of the chapter) and Word Wizard (finding interesting words in the chapter and their meaning).  Students bring these worksheets to class each day and use them when they get with their group and discuss the chapter.  I have been very proud of how well the students have been doing with their discussion groups.  They are having very respectful, enlightening, cooperative discussions about the chapters and working well as a team.  Next week we will continue with Chapters 5-9 in the book. 

      Writing:  We have been working on our Brainstormers creative writing papers this week.  The top five stories will be handed over to Mrs. Daoust to be in the running for the papers that will be performed by the Brainstormers actors when they return to Amberly in May.  We have also been writing a story about an invisible character during our work on writing time.

      Spelling: Ramona Words (No challenge list this week…these are hard enough!)

       exciting

       breakfast

       pretended

       studied

       hurry

       reports

       understand

       lunchtime

       decided

       accident

       grouchy

       terrible

       enough

       informed

       crayons

       interesting

      Vocabulary: No Vocabulary

      Math:   We continued chapter 8 on geometry this week!  We have learned about lines, rays, line segments, acute angles, right angles, obtuse angles, congruent shapes, triangles (scalene, isosceles, equilateral, obtuse, acute and right) and quadrilaterals (trapezoids, parallelograms, rhombus, square, and rectangle).  We took our test over these concepts today and will be going onto area and perimeter next.  When doing homework, please take a moment to discuss the vocabulary terms used.  Geometry is VOCABULARY rich and we need all the practice we can get with these terms.   

      Science: We have begun our last unit of study this year which is all about matter!  This week we began learning about the useful properties of matter including transparency and magnetism.

      Social Studies: We will be starting learning about the West very soon.  This week we worked on finishing our Pirate love letter papers about the resources of the East.  You can begin studying the states of the West with the following online resources: www.sheppardsoftware.com (USA) & http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/maps/usa-numbers.pdf 

      Cursive and Keyboarding: Students are now writing papers comparing 2^nd and 3^rd grade in cursive.  These papers will be due next Friday.  We are working on them on Wednesday and Friday mornings.  If your child is not in class on either of those days, please encourage them to bring the paper home to work on it.  We are writing these papers in our best cursive.  On Mondays we are continuing to practice our keyboarding in the computer lab.

Report Cards and MEAP Letters

Report cards are coming home today, April 15, 2011, with your child.  Also included in the report card envelope is a summary of how your child did on this year’s MEAP test.

Tiger Trek

The Tiger Trek is our one big fundraiser for APT every year.  We do not ask students to go out and sell any products.  What we ask is that they go out and collect pledges for the number of laps they will run/walk at our Tiger Trek.  Pledge forms went home before spring break.  Every single child will participate in the run/walk.  Even the teachers will be out their running/walking laps.  Students can collect pledges per lap or a flat pledge.  If you need a new pledge form, please contact the office.  Pledge forms are due back to school on April 25^th.  Thanks!

More Multiplication Ideas

Keep studying those facts. We are taking 1 minute timed fact tests several times a week.  The more they have memorized, the easier it will be. Here are websites or use the flashcards we sent home earlier.  If you are looking for other ideas, send me an email or give me a call!

·         http://www.mathfactcafe.com/

·         http://www.aaastudy.com/mul.htm

·         http://www.aplusmath.com/

·         http://www.multiplication.com – LOVE this for self-timed and graded tests!!!

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

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

Behavior

Our new word is Honesty. This is our shortest word yet!  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

April 15 – Report Cards and MEAP letters sent home

April 25 – Tiger Trek Pledge Forms are due

April 28 – Spring Pictures

April 29 – Tiger Trek 12:30 to 1:10 (third grade time)

May 2 – Tiger Trek Pledge sheets and collections envelopes sent home

May 9 – Tiger Trek Money Due in collection envelopes

May 19 or 20 – Third Grade Field Trips to the Nature Center

 

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

Thank you and have a great weekend!

Mrs. Winstanley