Friday, September 5, 2014

Notes From Week Ending Sept. 5, 2014

What a wonderful first week of school weʼve had! Weʼve had fun getting to know our new classmates, and learn our way around our new classroom. The Treasure Hunt and Find a Friend activities were big hits... ask your child to tell you about them! Today we explored apps on the iPads and went to the computer lab to make word clouds all about us. Weʼve also spent quite a bit of time practicing third grade procedures, and talking about what “ready to learn” looks like. We even made a short movie of it on Thursday!

Spelling begins next week. Hereʼs how it works in our classroom... Each Monday the students will take a pretest on their spelling words for the week. If they get 90% or higher they do not have to take the test on Friday. Students who get below 90% will study their words during the week, and take the test on Friday (or Thursday if itʼs a short week). The pretest will come home each Monday in your childʼs Jungle Book, so youʼll know their score. There are a variety of ways your child can study their spelling words, a list of some ideas can be found in the File Cabinet section of our class website. Also, our word lists for the entire year, and a variety of games that go with them, can be found on our class page on the Spelling City website. The link to it be found on spelling page of our class website.

Reading and math logs are coming home today. They should be filled out each night, and stay in the Jungle Book. I collect them on Friday (or Thursday if itʼs a short week). Your childʼs 20mn. of home reading should be a continuation of what they are reading in school, on their “just right” level. Outside of the 20mn. they can, of course, read anything they want. But during that 20mn. they need to read on their level, in order to practice the skills they are learning in the classroom during their reading mini-lesson. In addition to reading for 20 mn. each night, students need to practice their math facts for 10 mn. They will also have a math worksheet to do each night from Monday through Thursday. That will start next week. One of the things I also suggest on weekends is playing board games or card games as a family. Not only does this bring you together, but it also helps children practice counting and other math skills, and it helps their memory and concentration grow. Homework should never be a struggle for your child, either academically or emotionally. If you find that it is, let’s meet and talk about it, and together come up with strategies or modifications to help.

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. I also check email frequently. Together we are partners in your childʼs education!

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