Happy Mother's Day! Well it looks like I haven't posted a newsletter in awhile. So sorry! April not only was a busy month but it included a week of vacation(I was lucky enough to travel to London to see my oldest daughter who was there on a semester abroad! and in between there my youngest daughter made her college decision--busy,busy!), so......back to business! I hope that you and your families had a wonderful spring break and thank you for attending your child's spring student led conferences. They did a fabulous job and it is important that we have some goal setting at that time to finish out the end of the year strongly!
In Math we have just finished up Unit 7-which was about fractions. I will have the corrected tests sent home earlier this week. If you could go over the test with your student, sign and return it to school that would be very helpful.
Our next unit will be about measurement. Our very last unit is unit 9. We are fast approaching the end of the year!
In Writing we just finished publishing our persuasive essays/speeches. We filmed students presenting their speeches and my plan is to post them on the website as soon as I figure out the technology!! They all did a wonderful job. Be on the lookout for many of your students coming home to persuade you to get a new kitten, a fitbit or take them to a Patriots game! Our next unit will be all about writing adapted Fairy Tales. The students are very excited about this new task! They have come up with some incredibly creative ideas already!
We have started working in Book Clubs in Reading. You may have noticed that your student has a book in his book baggie that he/she has been reading. They also have a calendar with certain page numbers listed for each day. That is their agreed upon nightly reading. They are able to count this and record this on their reading log. Since all students in their club are reading the same book it is imperative that students read the pages assigned(they made up their own calendars) and write at least one sticky note about their reading so that they can have meaningful conversations with the other members of the group the next day. If you could help by reminding your student to do their reading AND to write their sticky note, that would be most helpful. Our mentor text for this unit is Because of Winn Dixie. The students are really enjoying it and we are having careful insights around the book. We hope to watch the movie version in the next week or so. We will be finishing up this book in the next couple of days and move onto another book and we also will be starting Research Book Clubs but will be using Non-fiction books.
In Science and Social Studies we still have some things to fit in. We will be talking about Native Americans of Maine and our own Horizons teacher, Michelle Frietag will be coming to speak with the students about her heritage as a MicMac Native American this next week. We also will have a White Pines program here at school where students will learn about Native American cooking techniques, tools, games and wigwams. This is happening Friday, May 20th. I recently sent home a piece of paper specifying directions etc. on it. If you have any questions or would like to join us that day, please email me.
We also will be talking about Natural disasters and their effect on our land and our communities. The librarians have been wonderful in supporting us with many resources to read about some of these horrific occurrences. We hope to make our own tornados, watch volcanoes erupt and talk about the Blizzard of '78(many of you may recall that one!).
I realize that the days are getting warmer(well, sort of) and the grass and flowers are starting to bloom but there are still several weeks of learning left in our school year. If you could remind your students of this fact as behavior is starting to deteriorate.
The last part of June is a lot of fun stuff for the kids to enjoy and I will give you a synopsis of what is coming up so you can plan your schedules accordingly. We will need many parent volunteers to have these events run smoothly so if you could please lend a hand it would be most appreciated.
Monday, May 30th-Memorial Day-No school
Friday, June 10th-Third Grade Beach Day(this is a parent run event!) Ice cream sundaes back at school in the afternoon
Thursday, June 16-Third Grade Field Day
Rain date, Monday, June 20th
Friday, June 17th--Moving on day(formerly known as Step Up day)
Tuesday, June 21st--Last day of school(Students are dismissed at noon!) Report cards will be issued
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns by either emailing me at [email protected] or calling 363-1800.
Thank you and enjoy your Spring!
Tracy