Happy Memorial Day weekend! Your kiddos certainly deserve a weekend of rest after a very long week of Maine state testing this week. Many students have completed all the tests but several will have to make up some tests next week. We will schedule these around specials and major academic periods.
Hard to believe but the end of the year is but a few short weeks away! Soon your third graders will be moving on to fourth grade and they will be the oldest students here at CRES. I have reminded them that they will soon be the role models for the other students here.
Due to testing this week we have not had any homework but I did ask students to continue with their reading so as to not lose their good reading habits.
In Math we will continue with Unit 10, learning about capacity, measurement, volume and weight. We have only one more short unit left in our curriculum.
In Reading we have been working in book clubs. We have all been reading Beverly Cleary books and I think that most students have been really enjoying them. We will continue to read in book clubs for the rest of the year. It has given many students the opportunity to have great discussions about what they are reading and to discover some ideas from other students that they may not have thought of before. We are working on identifying character traits of our main characters and giving evidence as to why our character has this trait or why this character may be acting the way that they do. Ask your student what characters they are reading about and what traits that they have.
In Writing we have just finished our persuasive writing and will present these "speeches" to the class next week for our celebration. Our next writing unit will focus on fairy tales. The students are really excited about this. I can't wait to hear what they come up with!
In Social studies we have been studying about Early Maine both what life was like for a colonist and also how the Early Maine Native Americans lived and worked. Our own Michele Frietag came in to speak with the students of her heritage as a Native American MicMac. It was very informative and the students were very interested. We have read several picture books about this. One, A River Runs Wild, about how Native Americans used the rivers and how they were polluted with pulp and dyes from factories. We also read the Ox Cart Man and watched a short movie about it. Life was very different back then and we have had some great discussions about it.
We also had Mr. Negley(a retired high school science teacher from Kennebunk) visit us with his inflatable planetarium this week. He introduced us to the solar system, constellations and how the seasons happen. All students thoroughly enjoyed this experience. Hopefully they came home and told you about it.
Last week we were also incredibly lucky to have Captain Tim Newton (Charlie's dad) and Maryse Newton(Charlie's mom) come into the class and read a fascinating book about the Coast Guard. Charlie's dad is in the Coast Guard and is often out to sea for many weeks at a time. They generously donated four beautiful picture books about the Coast Guard to the Jane Stephenson Memorial Library here at CRES for Charlie's birthday which is this Sunday, May 24th. Thank you Newton Family!(check out the photos on my website to see photos of this event!)
A few important dates to remember for the end of the year! Monday, June 8th-Beach Day Parents here is your opportunity to be involved before the end of third grade. Jen Gear has generously volunteered to head this project but she could use your help! Parents set up several stations for students to do and volunteer to run the station for a few hours. There are several stations--watermelon seed spitting, sandcastle building and soccer, just to name a few. We'll eat a bag lunch on the beach and then return to school where we will have ice cream sundaes! So much fun! More to come on that day in the next few weeks. Rain date is Tuesday, June 9th. On Thursday, June 10th we'll be in the back field for Third Grade field day. It will be a very fun day. Rain date for that day will be Friday, June 11th. Step up day is Thursday, June 18th where your student will visit their fourth grade teacher for next year and see who will be in their class and our last day of school will be Friday, June 19th-dismissal at 12:00 noon. Please make arrangements for yours student for early dismissal that day.
As always, thanks so much for being so supportive this year. It really does take a village and knowing that we are a team is so inspiring.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate contacting me. Have a great weekend.
Hard to believe but the end of the year is but a few short weeks away! Soon your third graders will be moving on to fourth grade and they will be the oldest students here at CRES. I have reminded them that they will soon be the role models for the other students here.
Due to testing this week we have not had any homework but I did ask students to continue with their reading so as to not lose their good reading habits.
In Math we will continue with Unit 10, learning about capacity, measurement, volume and weight. We have only one more short unit left in our curriculum.
In Reading we have been working in book clubs. We have all been reading Beverly Cleary books and I think that most students have been really enjoying them. We will continue to read in book clubs for the rest of the year. It has given many students the opportunity to have great discussions about what they are reading and to discover some ideas from other students that they may not have thought of before. We are working on identifying character traits of our main characters and giving evidence as to why our character has this trait or why this character may be acting the way that they do. Ask your student what characters they are reading about and what traits that they have.
In Writing we have just finished our persuasive writing and will present these "speeches" to the class next week for our celebration. Our next writing unit will focus on fairy tales. The students are really excited about this. I can't wait to hear what they come up with!
In Social studies we have been studying about Early Maine both what life was like for a colonist and also how the Early Maine Native Americans lived and worked. Our own Michele Frietag came in to speak with the students of her heritage as a Native American MicMac. It was very informative and the students were very interested. We have read several picture books about this. One, A River Runs Wild, about how Native Americans used the rivers and how they were polluted with pulp and dyes from factories. We also read the Ox Cart Man and watched a short movie about it. Life was very different back then and we have had some great discussions about it.
We also had Mr. Negley(a retired high school science teacher from Kennebunk) visit us with his inflatable planetarium this week. He introduced us to the solar system, constellations and how the seasons happen. All students thoroughly enjoyed this experience. Hopefully they came home and told you about it.
Last week we were also incredibly lucky to have Captain Tim Newton (Charlie's dad) and Maryse Newton(Charlie's mom) come into the class and read a fascinating book about the Coast Guard. Charlie's dad is in the Coast Guard and is often out to sea for many weeks at a time. They generously donated four beautiful picture books about the Coast Guard to the Jane Stephenson Memorial Library here at CRES for Charlie's birthday which is this Sunday, May 24th. Thank you Newton Family!(check out the photos on my website to see photos of this event!)
A few important dates to remember for the end of the year! Monday, June 8th-Beach Day Parents here is your opportunity to be involved before the end of third grade. Jen Gear has generously volunteered to head this project but she could use your help! Parents set up several stations for students to do and volunteer to run the station for a few hours. There are several stations--watermelon seed spitting, sandcastle building and soccer, just to name a few. We'll eat a bag lunch on the beach and then return to school where we will have ice cream sundaes! So much fun! More to come on that day in the next few weeks. Rain date is Tuesday, June 9th. On Thursday, June 10th we'll be in the back field for Third Grade field day. It will be a very fun day. Rain date for that day will be Friday, June 11th. Step up day is Thursday, June 18th where your student will visit their fourth grade teacher for next year and see who will be in their class and our last day of school will be Friday, June 19th-dismissal at 12:00 noon. Please make arrangements for yours student for early dismissal that day.
As always, thanks so much for being so supportive this year. It really does take a village and knowing that we are a team is so inspiring.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate contacting me. Have a great weekend.