| 2nd September Newsletter |  | Hello Families!
September 25, 2008
We can’t believe it’s almost October! The year is starting off quickly!
Reader’s Workshop
For the first few weeks of reader’s workshop, our third graders learned about all of the rituals and routines. We have learned about the reader’s notebook, how to choose a book, the five-finger rule, and our classroom library too. We have also formed book clubs and the clubs have come up with their essential agreement (rules) for when they are discussing books and reading them as well.
Writer’s Workshop
Just like reader’s workshop, the third graders have learned a lot about rituals and routines in writer’s workshop. There is a difference though! During writer’s workshop, we have learned about the writer’s notebook, types of entries, how to make more entries about a certain subject, and how to be more descriptive. The students have chosen a topic have begun to write more about that topic in hopes of publishing this piece of writing during the beginning of October!
Math Workshop
We are finishing up unit one and will be taking the first test within the next week. The first unit of Every Day Math focused a lot on reviewing the skills they learned in second grade. We have learned and reviewed place value to the millions place, money, addition, subtraction, time (hours, ½ hours, ¼ hours, 10 minute, and 5 minute intervals), number grids, number sequences, data charts and graphs, equivalent names, chance, calculators, estimating, and finding the difference between two numbers. Please practice addition and subtraction facts at home in your free time, or even when you’re in the car! Having your child help you at the grocery store is a great idea too!
Math SRB – Student Reference Books
We have a limited number of student reference books for students to take home this year. The Home Links refer to pages in the SRB further explaining what the kids are being asked to do. Since our supply is limited, please inform us through your students’ planner if you would like one.
Words To Learn = Spelling
Words to Learn is the spelling program we are going to use this year. The students will have 20 spelling words to study each week, and be able to study them with a buddy in class. The list of 20 is broken down into three parts: 10 words are from a specific skill or spelling pattern learned at the beginning of the week, 7 words are from a list of high frequency word wall words, and the other 3 are words the kids want to learn. Word wall words are changed every other week instead of every week like the other words.
Because of this, the second week of the two-week word wall cycle the students are to choose 10 words from the specific skill or spelling pattern, any word wall words THEY GOT WRONG the week before, and the rest are words the students want to learn (as long as the total number of words they have is 20). This approach brings more meaning and authenticity to their spelling and really gets them excited about it! Here is a schedule of Words to Learn activities throughout the week. It is confusing, so if you have any questions, please let me know!
Monday - Mini Lesson on a specific skill or spelling pattern and the introduction of word wall words. After the mini lesson, the students choose their words and write them on an index card, in their Words To Learn Notebooks, and in their planners for you to see at home.
Tuesday - The students will be working on their dictionary skills by looking up words in the dictionary and writing the definition. Later they will learn how to paraphrase!
Wednesday – The students take and reread the definitions they wrote on Tuesday, and write sentences using those Words To Learn words. So if they chose to look up and write the definition for ‘brother’ they will reread the definition for brother, then write a sentence using the word ‘brother.’
Thursday - Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check and play “Mystery Sort”. Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check is where the students will Look at the word, Say the word, Cover the word, Write the word on a piece of paper and Check to see if they spelled it correctly. Mystery Sort is a game where the students sort their words any way they want and their partner has to figure out how they sorted the words!
Friday – Test Day! The students will be paired and they will give each other their Words To Learn test.
Unit of Inquiry
We are currently learning about Rocks! We have learned about igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks as well as the earths crust. We will be making edible ‘rocks’ in the next week to help the students understand the rock cycle. Monday we will be studying igneous rocks, Tuesday we will study sedimentary rocks and Wednesday we will study metamorphic rocks. If your child has any allergies – to food especially, please let us know as a couple of the recipes include peanut butter. Also, if you would like to donate any of the materials needed for these recipes, we would appreciate it. (See the recipes below.) We also have an Observation Station in class that the students are more than welcome to go to during the day. Some students have brought in rocks for others to look at and ask questions about. If you have any rocks you would like to share with the class, feel free to send them to school!
If you have any questions or comments, please call us before school or leave a message during school at (651) 293-8770. You can also email us at teresa.vogelgesang@spps.org or diane.zanter@spps.org; we check our email daily. Another wonderful place for information is our school website and our class page. The web address is: http://highlandel.spps.org. For our class page click on classrooms, then Third Grade, then the appropriate teacher. Thank you for your time and again, we look forward to meeting you and getting to know you throughout the year.
Sincerely,
Ms. Diane Zanter and Mrs. Teresa Vogelgesang
3rd Grade Teachers
Materials12-ounce bag milk chocolate chips12-ounce bag white chocolate chipswaxed paperLoaf of white breadLoaf of brown breadgraham cracker crumbsred jampurple jamraisinscrunchy peanut butterplastic knivespaper plates4 packages sugar cookie dough
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| | | |  | | Important Dates! | September 24th
Early Release Day
September 26th
Fall Picture Day
MATH Night
October 6th
Site Council 4:45pm
PTA Mtg. 6:00pm
October 16th & 17th
NO SCHOOL!
State Teacher Meetings
October 23rd
Halloween Carnival
October 24th
NO SCHOOL!
Conference Prep
October 27th
Picture Retakes
October 29th
Early Release Day
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