Newsletter October 31 - November 4

Hi parents! I hope that everyone has had a great and relaxing weekend. Thank you all so much for your help with the Medieval festival! Our tent was a big hit! The games looked great and the kids had a lot of fun playing them. Again, thank you so much for putting so much time into these big projects. It enriches the students' learning experience so much and I know that Friday is a day they will remember.

News to Know

• Will Rester is this week's snack helper. Emmy Harvey will be next week's helper.
• Students need to bring an old magazine on Wednesday, something that you don't mind being cut up!

Language Arts
We will continue reading The Whipping Boy. We will study for the nouns quiz and take the test on Tuesday. We will then begin learning about verbs. We will be doing vocabulary this week and will have a test on Friday.

Math
We will continue Topic 5, and will take the test on Friday. Students need to be practicing their times tables at home. We will continue taking times table quizzes each day. Students must pass each table before moving onto the next.

Conceptual
We will be learning about knights and castles this week.

Science / Social Studies
We will wrap up Earth's Resources this week and will take a test on Tuesday. We will then make our continents and oceans maps. Students will take a quiz on this information sometime next week. We will also start adding information to our timeline.

Newsletter October 24 - 28

I hope that everyone had a wonderful fall break! The weather has been gorgeous this week.

We have lots of exciting things planned for this week and I can't wait to get started.

News to Know

• Quinn Morgan is this week's snack helper. Will Rester is next week's helper. I will be redoing the schedule this week.
• Don't forget about the Medieval festival on Friday! Students are to dress in Medieval clothes and our class is responsible for the games booth. If you did not receive my email or have any questions about our booth, please be in touch.
• Students need to each bring a box of sugar cubes for this Thursday's conceptual lesson. Mr. Trent has something exciting planned.
• Thank you to Charlotte Phillips for watching the class while I was in technology training!

Language Arts
We will finish reading The Midwife's Apprentice on Thursday and take a quiz. We will begin The Whipping Boy on Friday. We will continue working with nouns, particularly common errors with nouns. We will take a grammar quiz on Friday. We will also begin reading excerpts from Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village and writing journal entries based on the excerpts.

Math
We will continue learning concepts about multiplication early in the week. We will then begin learning the multiplication tables. Students will be creating flash cards to help them study. It is important that students study these facts nightly as they will be quizzed on each table and must pass each test.

Science / Social Studies
We will finish up with earth's resources this week. We'll take about evaporation, condensation, recycling, and pollution. We will take a quiz early next week. We will also create a map of continents, oceans, and a compass rose. Students will be quizzed on this information later next week.

Newsletter and Medieval Festival

Hi parents! This will be an abbreviated newsletter as we are having fall break this week. The Medieval unit has gotten off to a great start! The kids are so excited about everything we are learning and all of the great activities we are doing. I think this unit will be a favorite of many!

This year we will be having a Medieval Festival in place of the Fall Festival. It will be on Friday, October 28, from 12 - 4. Students are to dress in some form of Medieval costume. Booths will be set up with different activities and food and we will have some schoolwide events like singing and a jousting competition. It promises to be an exciting day!

Our class's parents are responsible for setting up and running a games booth. The games to be played are listed below. Please let me know if you need any help or if you need contact numbers for any of the parents in our class.

• This Philosopher's Game
• Shovelboard
• Knucklebones
• Hazard

The following website has rules for these games: http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/entertainment-middle-ages.htm

Thank you for all you do for our school and students!

Previous Post

Hi parents,

Please disregard the previous post. We are still going to the de Grummond, but it will no longer be on Friday. It will probably be sometime the week after fall break. I will give you more information as soon as I find out.

Also, I may still need someone for Monday, but it will probably not be from 9-2. It will likely be for a few hours at the most. I'll keep you updated on that as well.

Sorry about any confusion!

Also, with tonight's reading, it may help to read with your child, as this book is a bit above grade level.

Field Trip Friday and Substitute for Monday

Hi parents!

We have been learning about the writing process since the beginning of the school you. One thing that we have stressed to the students is that every write revises his or her work. We would like to take the third and fourth graders to the de Grummond Children's Book Museum at USM on Friday. The museum has manuscripts by authors. It will be a great way for the kids to see how published authors use the writing process and how they can apply it to their own writing.

We need drivers for Friday. We will leave the school around 9:20. If your child is in mass, he/she can go straight from there. If you are willing to drive, please text / email me. Also tell me how many kids your car can take.

I also still need substitutes for next Monday. I need someone to watch my class from 9-2. If you cannot stay the entire time, that is fine. Just let me know. I will have some fun Medieval and Halloween activities for them to do that day.

Newsletter October 10 - 14

Wow, it's hard to believe that we are already on our 3rd unit! The year is flying by! The Roman Empire unit was fantastic! Thank you to all of the parents who helped out, decorated, sent food, and so much more. I know that I say it a lot, but your continued support really helps to create such an enriching environment for the students.

The students worked so hard on their Latin play this unit! I cannot express how proud I am of all of them for the time they put into learning something so difficult. I am so impressed with what they learned and how well they learned it.

I can't say much about the next unit just yet, but I promise that there are many exciting things in store for the students. They are going to have so much fun!

News to Know

• Courtney is this week's snack helper. Quinn will be snack helper the week after Fall Break.
• Be sure to check this week's newsletter for information about November lunch.
• The teachers will be learning about SmartBoards on Monday, October 17. If you would like to help out by watching the third graders for the afternoon, please get in touch with me. I will have an assignment in place for them. Thanks!

Week of October 10 - 14

Language Arts

We will begin reading our new book (please send it on Tuesday so we can keep the unit a secret). This book is a little above grade level, so when it is sent home for Tuesday night reading, you may want to read to your child. We will also continue to discuss nouns.

Math

We will wrap up Topic 4 and take a test on Tuesday or Wednesday. I will send a study guide home for the test. We will also be taking the benchmark test this week. This test will cover Topics 1-4. It will not be for a grade, but can show some strengths and weaknesses in certain areas. If you have any questions or would like some extra practice for your child, please let me know! We will begin Topic 5: Multiplication at the end of the week. As students begin to learn their multiplication facts, it is important that they spend time each evening working on memorizing their facts. I will have a test for each number, and students will have to get 100% to go on to the next test. The kids are all so excited to start multiplication!

Conceptual

The Roman Empire has fallen. What now?

Science

We will continue learning about Earth's Resources, including the water cycle and water conservation.

Newsletter October 3 - 7

Hi parents! I hope that everyone is enjoying this lovely fall weather. We had a great week last week. We learned about the Punic Wars, Julius Caesar, and Cleopatra. We also enjoyed eating Roman food on Friday. The kids were excited to try some new things. Thank you to everyone who sent food and helped out!

News to Know

• McCall is this week's snack helper. Courtney will be next week's helper.
• If you haven't ordered your books for the next unit, please do so this week.
• For math homework, please remind your child to follow directions. I know that there are several ways to work these problems, but the math test will require them to know several different ways, and I want them to get practice using all of the methods.
• Our culmination performance for the Roman unit will be on Friday, October 7. Please make plans to come as the third graders are doing something awesome!
• For our performance, we need a king's crown and dog ears. If you have either of these items and are willing to let us use them, please send them this week.

Language Arts

We will finish reading Atticus of Rome and take a test on Friday. We will put together the final drafts of our persuasive writing projects and share them with the class on Friday. We will be discussing common and proper nouns, capitalization, possessive nouns, and combining sentences.

Math

We will continue working on subtraction this week, both two-digit and three-digit. We will also work on subtracting across zeros. On Friday, we will take a cumulative test on Topics 1-4. This test will not be for a grade, but will be a way to show how much the students are retaining and where they made need some extra help. Please let me know if you have any questions about this test.

Conceptual

We will wrap up the Roman Empire unit this week.

Science

We will continue learning about Earth's Resources and working on our culmination project.