Weekly Wrap Up

Conference appointments have been set, and your form should be attached to this newsletter. Every effort has been made to accommodate your first choice of days, times requested, and to coordinate with teachers of your other child(ren). If you find that you are not able to make our conference please let me know as soon as possible and I’ll be glad to reschedule.

Your child will bring home his/her report card on Thursday. Only the envelope needs to come back (signed). Please keep the report card at home.

Our new math topic can be a bit tricky for some, especially finding equivalent fractions and comparing fractions. You might want to check on how your child is doing with his/her math homework each night.

We have a shortage of Kleenex at Toffolon right now, and I’m not sure when we’ll be getting more. Any donations for the classroom that you can send in for now with your child will be very gratefully accepted.

There are a few other items we could use in our classroom. Many thanks if you can send any of these in:

• Plastic spoons and forks for forgotten ones at snack time
• Plastic grocery store bags - Great for when kids forget their backpack or need to carry extra stuff home. We also use these for personal trash bags during cold season.
• Back issues of children’s magazines, such as Highlights, Sports Illustrated for Kids, or National Geographic for Kids - Great for something different to read!

Here's what we'll be learning about next week:

Reader’s Workshop: Biographies
Writer’s Workshop: Opinion Writing
Spelling: Unit 23 - Words home on Monday, test on Thursday
Math: Topics10 - Fractions
Science: Habitats

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. Together we are partners in your child’s education!

Weekly Update

Today your child is bringing home their report card. We discussed how they are graded, and what they are graded on, but I did not let them look at their report card. I’d like them to look at it with you. Your child also filled out a blank report card in class today. It’s their view of how they think they are doing. They’ll use it to set two goals for themselves for the next trimester. I’ll share their self-evaluation report card with you at their conference, as well as their goal.

Do you know about the website, multiplication.com?  It’s free and has fabulous games for students to practice their multiplication facts. Now that we are well into our study of multiplication, your child should be including multiplication into his/her fact practice at home. As a reminder, we only go up to the 10’s in third grade, although I go ahead and teach them the 11’s, and strategies for the 12’s. Also, as you may have discovered, the math program we use does not teach the facts in sequence. Unit 5 covered 0, 1, 2, 5, 9, and 10. Unit 6, which we just started, will cover the rest. After that, we move on to division!  

One of the things that I do on an almost daily basis is place extra copies of worksheets and papers in our "extra copies" box. This way there's always an extra copy in case something gets lost. At the end of each trimester I let the children who like to play school take home any of these papers. So, if you see a lot of blank papers come home next week don't think it's work your child needs to catch up on, it's just for fun.  :)

On Friday (Dec. 12) we’ll celebrate the hard work and tremendous learning that’s gone on so far this year with with PJ Day, popcorn, and a movie! On that day your child may wear school-appropriate pajamas, and even bring their favorite socks/slippers to wear in the classroom. One stuffed animal friend is also welcome for the day!

Here's what we'll be learning about next week:

Reader’s Workshop: Main idea and supporting details
Writer’s Workshop: Information research and writing
Spelling: Unit 13 - Words home on Monday, test on Friday 
Math: Topic 6, Multiplication

Please remember that my door is always open if you have any questions or concerns. Together we are partners in your child’s education!