The first couple of days of the new school year are SO exciting but I am always happy to get those days down and routines back in place. I was worn out! We had a lot of fun the first couple of days! I hope your kiddos (and their parents!) get some much needed rest this weekend!
Class Dojo- At Meet the Teacher Night, you had a sheet on your desk to sign up for something called "Class Dojo". You may or may not be familiar with this tool. If you are not, this is a way you can see how the day is going. Mainly, I use it for our class behavior management system. Students can earn points based on work habits and behaviors. It's easy to share for the special class teachers to see and it's easy for you to check in if you have a question about the day. It has some really other cool features that I TRY my best to use. ;) I can post class photos that are private to our class (or the parents signed up), I can send class reminders, and you can message me. I like that feature a lot but if you have an urgent need, please email me instead. I sometimes won't see the Dojo messages before I see my email. If you have a transportation change, please call the office at 417-742-3469. Snack- Students are welcome to bring their own snack to eat during one of our morning work times. We have quite a bit of time between breakfast and lunch (lunch is at 11:50) so the purpose of the snack is to help them stay focused. Because of this, we ask that the snack is a healthy snack. Some suggestions of easy healthy snacks are: fruit, popcorn, crackers, granola bars, trail mix. Please do not send sugary drinks or snacks. Students should only have water to drink during the snack. If they happen to bring something a little too sweet or sugary, don't worry, I don't keep it and eat it myself...I just ask that they save it for lunch. ;) Solar Eclipse- Monday, August 21 is the day of the Solar Eclipse.( I'm sure you haven't missed that since it's quite the news maker right now!) Dr. Jarvis was so generous and provided protective eyewear for the district. On Monday, we will learn about the solar eclipse and then have the chance to outside and experience it. We will emphasize to the students the importance of NOT looking up at the sky at all without their protective eye glasses but if you could emphasize it at home as well, that would be extremely helpful! Their safety is our main concern but this is such an amazing teachable moment. I am very excited for Monday! *Early Out Mondays* Just a little reminder that Mondays are the district's early release days. Students release at 3:10pm and teacher will have professional development. I am just as excited for next week as I was for the past two days! Next week, we will get into what will look like our regular routine! On Monday I will send home a sheet with some more information about 3rd grade and what to expect this year! Upcoming Dates: Aug 21- Solar Eclipse Aug 25- T-shirt order and money due September 1st- No School - Teachers in meetings September 4th- No School
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WELCOME TO THIRD GRADE!!!!!!
I am SO excited to be your teacher for the 3rd grade and I CAN NOT WAIT to meet you next Tuesday at Meet the Teacher Night! I wanted to take just a second to tell you how excited I am for this year and to introduce you to our blog! I will use this throughout the year to post important updates, reminders, and announcements. I try to update it about once a week but there are weeks where we there isn't much going on or they are short weeks OR there are weeks you will beg to not see my name come across your email saying there is another blog post. I will always send a new post out through email. There will be a link in the email that will take you directly to the new post. Meet the Teacher Night is next Tuesday, August 15th from 6:30-7:30. This isn't something you need to stay for the entire time. Stop in, meet me, unload school supplies, and fill out some paperwork. :) If you need quick access to a school supplies HERE is this list. We are going to have such a great year. I am kind of partial but I think 3rd grade is THE BEST grade! :) Enjoy your last few days of summer!!! Mrs. Letterman Holy cow, we have 8 days of school left. (7.5 if you want to get technical) This year has flown by.
Here are a few updates for the end of our week! Field Day- If you haven't heard, Field Day has been moved up to tomorrow on account of the forecast for Thursday and our makeup Field Day, Friday. We are praying the rain clears out for us to get out to the football field to have some fun! * We will eat lunch around 11:15. Students may bring a lunch or it will be a school sack lunch. If it's not too wet, we will eat somewhere outside. * 2nd,3rd, and 4th grade will play on the football field from 12:00-2:00. We will be at our first station on the football field and ready to play at 12:00. Feel free to come join, play, and help out! * Students will need to wear their Field Day shirt if they bought one/ play clothes and tennis shoes. They will need to bring sunblock, a water bottle, and a change of clothes for after Field Day. 2-4th grades will finish by 2 and students usually get pretty wet. Shirt and Yearbook Signing Students will sign yearbooks and Field Day shirts tomorrow morning before we play. Mrs. Coffey will bring by yearbooks to the students who ordered. Students can sign those or the shirts. Ughhh....the shirt signing. ;) If your child has a field day shirt, they may get it signed. If they don't have a field day shirt and you are okay with them getting the shirt they have on tomorrow signed, fill out the Google Form (linked below) with your child's name. It is easy and I will have all of the names in one place. BELIEVE me when I say I know how crazy I sound asking for permission that your child can have their shirt signed. But believe me, shirts that you would never want Sharpie signatures all over have been signed in the history of shirt signings....it's not pretty. ALL of our class will be getting a memory book that we will be working on over the next few days. It is a fun way to look back on our year and it has a nice little autograph page. :) SO if your child didn't get a yearbook and you don't want to waste a shirt, they will ALL have those to sign. CLICK HERE for Shirt Signing Permission ------>https://goo.gl/forms/ec0XfQn4qgd7DQFe2 Tiger Pride Our End of the Year Tiger Pride will be THIS Friday, May 12th, at 2:30. Yes, we just had April's. This one will wrap up our year with some special recognitions, some of our normal monthly awards, and fun! Other Announcements: *All library books are due by THIS Friday. *Next Friday is the last day of school!! School will dismiss at 12:35! Here are some updates for the rest of this week and next week!
MAP- Tomorrow and Friday, 3rd graders will be taking the ELA portion of the MAP test. They did AWESOME on the Math and I know they will do the same on the ELA sessions! After Friday, we will be finished! Be sure to have your child go to bed at a decent time, eat a healthy breakfast, and send them off with encouraging words and a positive attitude! Miss Weatherly- Sadly, Miss Morgan Weatherly's time with us has come to an end! She has been an awesome teacher and the kids that have her for a teacher will be truly blessed! I will be going to purchase a gift card from our class. If you wish to donate a dollar or two, send it in with your child in an envelope or baggie marked "gift". Then I will know. Field Trip Field trip money and permission slip is due this Friday. If you need an extra, let me know! The bus will leave school on Tuesday (May 2nd) by 9:00 and will be back at East by 2:00. Have your child wear their "Tiger Pride" shirt and tennis shoes! So far, the weather looks like it will be nice! (FINGERS CROSSED!!!!) Field Day- Field Day is May 11th! Coach F sent out some information about field day! If the weather turns out to not cooperate on the 11th, our make up day is May 12th. Field day will be our day to sign t-shirts (if you wish) and yearbooks! If your child doesn't have either, no worries! We will start making our memory books that morning and there will be a page for autographs! Summer slide As we get into our last 3 weeks of school, I am just as excited about summer! But one of the most important things is to continue to read. The library does a fun reading program where kids can earn free treats and prizes. Get involved in a series or a book that is going to be made into a movie soon (I am not "up to date" on what's coming out this summer). CLICK HERE for an article about 3 easy ways to prevent "The Summer Slide". ( I uploaded this from our instructional coach. There was no Google setting but if it says you can't access it, please let me know so I can change that! :)) is These are some of our busiest days of the year! Time is flying by! Here are a few updates and some upcoming dates for the next couple of weeks:
Writing- We are finishing up our fairy tales. Students were able to join Mrs. Kramer's class today and read them their pieces of work! So fun and our students were SO proud to share their writing! Reading- We are meeting in guided reading groups still but are working pretty heavily on finding evidence in the text to answer questions. Math- Miss Weatherly has been working so well with the students and are wrapping up Topic 14, which has covered measurement. They will review on Wednesday and test (in two parts) on Thursday before the 3 day weekend. Science- We have finished covering the life cycle of a plant and have moved onto ecosystems and food chains. Other Announcements MAP- We are officially a little over a week away from taking the MAP test. MAP stands for Missouri Assessment Program. If you are unfamiliar with it, it is given to grades 3rd -8th and is all done on the students' Chromebooks. Students will take 6 sessions varying in length. Some pretty short and a couple that can take up to 50 minutes. We give them breaks to get up, snacks to replenish their little minds, and LOTS of encouragement. Third graders tend to be a little more nervous because it is all new to them! But we try to make it as "enjoyable" as possible and not like 6 little torture sessions. ;) They will need earbuds for portions so check with your child to see that theirs are still working. I will be sending some tips home how you can help them feel as ready for the test as they can! 3rd grade testing dates are: Math - Thursday, April 20th and Friday, April 21st. ELA- Thursday, April 27th and Friday April 28th We will begin promptly at 9:00 so make sure students arrive to school on times those days. They will not be able to join the class if they arrive after testing has started and will make up their missed test later that afternoon. Field Trip- Mark your calendar! We will be heading to The George Washington Carver Museum in Diamond, Missouri on May 2nd! We know some parents like to attend the field trips with us and you are more than welcome to! Parents are allowed to attend but must drive/ follow the bus. Watch for more info coming soon! Miss Weatherly- We have been so BLESSED to have Miss Morgan Weatherly in our classroom for the last 8(ish)weeks. About a week ago it dawned on me, I don't think I ever explained what student teaching IS. Student teaching is a graded class and is pretty much the same as an unpaid internship. Student teachers are expected to slowly take over all . She has done an OUTSTANDING job. I cannot brag on her enough. She has given your kiddos so many outstanding lessons and activities, extra reteaching, grading, and love all while still completing work for her own schooling and applying for jobs for next year! Miss Weatherly's last day is April 28th. I would love to do a little gift basket or shower her with some supplies she can use in her own classroom. If each student would bring $1, I will get her a $25+ gift card to Mardel or IPA to help her get some classroom supplies for next year! If you feel like doing a little extra, send in any office supply (we teachers LOVE sharpies, pens, post-its, fun paper, pencils, ANYTHING ) and I can make a little basket for her. I will miss having a second hand in the class. She is and will be an AMAZING teacher! It is hard to believe that spring is already here! Just like the other 3 quarters we have flown through, this one will fly by, too! Writing- We are starting a new(ish) writing unit this quarter. It's not new because we are going back to narratives. BUT- we will start working on writing narratives that are not just personal narratives. Students will spend a couple of weeks working on fractured fairy tales. This is always a fun and light hearted unit that lets students be creative as they write and use the writing skills they have learned. Reading We have wrapped up our unit on book clubs! We will be going back to our regular guided reading groups for a few weeks before we start MAP prep. Math Students have been learning about fractions. This week, we have been talking about equivalent fractions and comparing equivalent fractions. We should finish this topic at the beginning of next week and test by next Thursday. Science- Students are learning about the life cycle of a plant and the different operations of each part of the plant. Other Announcements: Spring Conferences: Next week we will have spring conferences. As I mentioned before break, these are more relaxed and I do not need to meet with everyone this quarter. If I haven't contacted you for a conference and you would like one, I have attached the sign up. CONFERENCE SIGN UP---------------> CLICK HERE (Works best from a computer) Friday Night Run at the Track Coach Larson, the head track and field coach, at Willard High School has extended an invitation to Willard East students to run a 400m (1 lap) race at the track during the high school track meet this Friday, March 24th. Here are the details that Coach F received from Coach Larson: (it does specify running club students but all students are welcome to participate) 1) be at the track at 6:15 with your student/kid that wants to take part in the race. 2) race distance will be 400 meters long (1 lap around track) 3) it is this Friday night (March 24) in the middle of the high school inter-squad meet (so the elementary students will have the eyes of all the high school kids, parents, etc.) 4) NO PAYMENT required. Just a fun way to recognize those students that have come out to running club and hopefully continue to build a positive outlook on running. Upcoming Dates: Thusday, March 30: Tiger Pride Assembly at 2:30 Friday, March 31: NO SCHOOL Friday, April 14: NO SCHOOL April 20-21: MAP April 26-29: MAP My intention was to have some updates sent out by Monday evening. I ended up with a sick child and yesterday seemed to get away from me. Anyhow, here are some updates for the rest of this week and a few things that are coming up for next week!
Spirit week: Tomorrow is PJ Day Friday: Wear Your Favorite Color! Family Reading Night- Our annual Family Reading Night is tomorrow night from 6-7 pm. Come and join us for all sorts of activities that are about The BFG! And of course, the Book Fair will be open! :) **Friday is the last day for the Book Fair** Headphones/ Earbuds At this point in the year, there are a lot of broken headphones or earbuds. Check with your child and see if their's are working. We still use them daily and they will be needed at the end of April for MAP. Remember, these do not need to be expensive or "high end" by any means. Target and Dollar Tree often have them for around $5. Or they can even be a gently used pair that came with an old phone and aren't being used anymore. Upcoming Dates:
Once again, it's so hard to believe we are at the end of another month of this school year! The days are busy, fun, and fly by!
Updates for this week: * We DO have school tomorrow. It is our first makeup day for the snow day we had right after Christmas Break. Mrs. Letterman Gone Tuesday and Wednesday- I will be attending The Leader in Me symposium in Kansas City with some other teachers from our school and district. If you recall, we went on a school visit last fall and this conference will teach us the in's and out' s of the Leader in Me program and what it is all about. Willard Central, South, and the Middle School are all currently in the first year to two of implementing this program. The Leader in Me takes content from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and uses them to help children become leaders in their own school, home, and community. There is so much more. If you are interested, keep your eye out for more info or check out THIS LINK for more information. (click the word "Link") With all of that being said, I will be away and learning Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Miss Weatherly will be there to teach and guide the class. (She has been doing awesome!) If you have a change to the way your child will get home, call the office. She has access to our Class Dojo but I am uncertain if she can see messages from parents. Think Sheets- Our early arrival of spring brings has brought out some jitters, which is NOT uncommon at all. But we have a lot of learning left to do in third grade and Dojo points aren't as effective as they once were. This week, students will start filling out a Think Sheet when they lose a point. I have explained to them that this isn't meant to be an extra step as a form of punishment but as a way to give students a chance to think about their action that kept themselves or others from learning and hopefully leads to a change of behavior. If you see one of these come home, please sign and have your child return in back to school the next day. I will continue to use Class Dojo. I try my very best to add a note if a student loses a point. This helps make it a little more specific than just " -1 for unexpected line behavior." This "plan" is not perfect by any means and there will be some kinks. Please feel free to share any feedback or ideas you have to help improve this. If you ever have questions about your child, please contact me. I will always let you know if your child is having trouble with something in class, whether it be behavior or academic related. Math Students have been working on two step word problems this week using all operations. We will finish this up and test this week and Miss Weatherly will begin teaching fractions to the class later this week. Writing- Students are finishing up their first piece of opinion writing. This piece we did with a lot of help and modeling. This week, students will begin writing their first independent piece with a little less help and then will complete one all on their own before the end of the quarter for their writing prompt. The third grade expectation is that each student needs to have a good introduction that clearly states their opinion, three paragraphs- each paragraph being a reason and examples and explanations of that opinion, and a good conclusion to wrap it all up! Reading- I know first hand that this time of year can get hectic with new sports seasons starting up and BEAUTIFUL weather that makes it hard to stay inside for very long. Please be sure that your child is reading 20 minutes a day. This is hands down one of THE BEST things you can do to help your child out at home to help them grow academically. And it's fun! They can read to you, a sibling, or you can take turns reading to each other! Upcoming Dates:
Writing-
Last week, we took a little walk to some familiar places in our building and thought of how we could change things for the better around our school. This helped us have some ideas to write about. This week we will draft our first opinion piece and talk about writing a good introduction that hooks our readers, have three reasons with good examples to support our opinion, and having a good conclusion to wrap things up! Reading- Book clubs have been a lot of fun! Students read a couple of chapters and have a "job" to complete before they meet in group. Those jobs help keep discussion going in groups as we talk about the book! We will continue with our book clubs and talk about point of view in stories. Math- This week, we will be talking about subtracting. We will focus on using the standard algorithm to subtract and have a little more practice with adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers. Science- This week we will be learning to measure different forms of matter. Agriculture- It's so sad but this will be our last week of agriculture. Mrs. Wilson has done an AMAZING job. We have enjoyed it and I know that your kiddos have! We will have a little pizza party to celebrate. Your child should have brought a note home today that explained that you can send ONE picture of your student enjoying agriculture in some way! These notes are still sitting in my room. ;) HERE is a link to the letter. Feel free to just email this to me and so we can display them on the Smartboard during the party! **The letter says return by Tuesday but it can by Wednesday! Valentine's Day Party- Our Valentine's Day Party will be on FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10th. This is a half day and we have tried having our parties on our 1/2 days this year and it has worked out well! Students can bring in a box or bag to collect valentines. I just ask that it is not so big it takes up their entire desk. ;) Students are more than welcome to bring valentines to share with the class, however, we ask that they bring enough for the whole class. We will eat, open valentines, and do a little challenge if there is time! (If not, we will do it ON Valentines Day for a little extra fun!) Here is the Sign up- (It may be hard to sign up on a phone?) Party Sign Up We have been busy since we have come back from Christmas Break! It's hard to believe we are already a 1/2 way through January!
Writing- We have started a new writing unit in which students will be writing about their opinions. We have already done one neat little piece of writing as a "warm up" to our unit. Students got to write about their favorite feature of themselves and explain why they liked that feature! They turned out super cute and it was a great way for students to think of all of the good things they can do (although when it came to writing, they only wrote about one feature) Reading- We are currently working in book clubs and reading some fun little novels. Students also have jobs that they are supposed to complete with each assignment and use those assignments to help keep the discussion going in their small group. Math- We have finished up our 8th topic/ unit that covered mental math and estimation. Our next topic will cover addition and subtraction algorithms. Science- We have started talking about what matter is and next week will talk about how matter can change and how it can be measured in each state. Other Announcements: 100th Day of School- We are celebrating Tuesday as our 100th day of school! To do this, your child is welcome to dress up like they are 100 or they can create and wear a simple shirt, bracelet, necklace, etc that shows 100 of something. (Even the number "100".) Upcoming Dates: January's Tiger Pride is next Friday at 2:30! See you there!!! |
AuthorMrs. Letterman is a third grade teacher at Willard East. This is her 8th year in Willard, but her 10th year to teach third grade! Archives
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