Week of September 26th

As of today....we have no missing work in our class!  Yeah!  If we can keep this up until Friday, the kids will earn a party.  Tomorrow evening is the school walk-a-thon at the high school. The school has had great support with this fundraiser, and I am excited to see all the kids at the track walking their laps!  Wednesday is school picture day.  Make sure and wear your smiles that day!  Our photos will not be taken until right before lunch.  It was a first come first served list, and I didn't see the list until it was pretty full.  I was happy we at least got to squeeze in before we ate, in case of spills.  This week we are continuing working on place value in math.  The kids are getting pretty good at writing 6 digit numbers and knowing the value of them.  We are also going to be ordering and comparing numbers.  We are continuing to work on narrative writing and are also working on a problem/solutution story structure this week.  This is a great group of kids.  Thanks for sharing them with me!

September 23rd

I am excited to report that we were down to 2 students with missing work this week!  Yeah!  Keep up the good work!  This past week we have been working hard at making up to six digit numbers, saying and writing them.  The students are able to write numbers in standard, expanded, and word form.  Quiz them and see how awesome they are!  (Ex: 325,014- standard form, three hundred twenty-five thousand, fourteen-word form, 300,000 + 20,000 + 5,000 + 10 + 4-expanded form)

This class is a really great group of kids.  You can tell they have been taught manners and respect at home.  I really appreciate that.  I love how kind they are, and how they remember to use words like "please" and "thank you". 

Remember that our "Me in a Bag" oral presentations begin this next Friday.  Today Mrs. Bitton modeled an example of what that should look like to the entire third grade.  All items should fit in the bag we sent home, and their speech should last 2-3 minutes. 

We are excited to learn more about our awesome students!

Fund Raiser and Other Updates

As part of the PTA fundraiser (walk-a-thon), the PTA is coming in to our class periodically to see which students are wearing the lanyards that they provided, and rewarding those kids with a treat.  Please also make sure the students are bringing in their coupons as they get pledges.

Remember to record your students' reading minutes on the calendar inside their cougar folder (under their colored in star).  This last Friday we were down to only four students with missing work, and each of them only had a couple of assignments!  Yeah! Thanks for all of your support at home.  Please make sure you sign the missing work notices over the weekend and send them back in the folder on Monday.  I really enjoy this new class of third graders.  They have great enthusiasm! 

Hopefully everyone received the brown paper bag along with the note about the speaking assignment each student has next month. If not, please contact me, and I will make sure your student receives another one.

Third Week of School.....Already?!

Wow!  I can't believe we are already starting our third week of school!  Time flies when you are having fun!  My best news of the week happened today when I heard some students comment, "Hey, math is fun!"  I loved it!  That is one of my goals this year....I had heard lots of students tell me before the school year started that math was hard, or that they didn't like math.  I was excited to hear the comments today.  This week in math we will be learning about ordinal numbers, how numbers are used, and beginning our unit on place value.  Students are adjusting much better to getting their assignments done in class.  I am so glad.  As I said before, this is a huge adjustment year for students, but I promise, they get the hang of it, and it turns out great!  Remember that there is no school for students on Wednesday.  On Wednesday teachers will be coming to school to work on implementing the new common core curriculum we are adopting for language arts.  We will be working hard, but the students will have a day to relax!  Thanks for sharing this wonderful group of kids with me!

Second Week of School

This week in language arts our objectives we are working on are:  Narrative Writing, Long vowel words, Character descriptions, and Story structures.

In math we are working on adding two digit numbers, subtraction, and fact families.
In social studies we are beginning to learn about communitites.

Homework
The first few weeks of third grade my students tend to have more homework than they will the rest of the year!  Third grade is a huge transitional year for students.  I promise they catch on quickly and it will ease up!  I have found if I keep the standards high, the students rise to those expectations.  Every day I go over with the students before they leave for the day what work we have accomplished in class.  I remind them if they did not finish those assignments, to grab them and put them in their backpacks.  Every Friday I compile a missing work note.  Look for it each Friday in their cougar folder.  If they have no missing work, it will say that on the note.  Please sign it and send it back on Monday.  Over half our class had no missing work the first week....great job students!

Each night the students should read approximately 15-20 minutes.  I did not make a reading minutes chart this month because I was going to use a PTA form.  I have decided to try and save paper....so from now on, could you please write the number of minutes outside their colored star on their calendar in your students' folder and then after your signature at the end of the week total the minutes?  Next month's calendar I will put a space for minutes read on the calendar. 

Summer Birthdays
This Friday I will be bringing balloons for the students in our class with birthdays in June and July.  I will bring a treat for the class to share, so don't worry about sending one if your child has a birthday in those months.  I bring a balloon, a certificate, and a new pencil on each child's birthday, and we don't want to ignore those great kids with birthdays in the summer!  Those of you who have already had students birthdays this school year, thanks for the fun treats.  It is not a requirement, but the kids sure do enjoy it.

I have a great group of students this year!  They are very fun and love to smile and be friendly.  They are very polite and kind.   I am looking forward to a great year.  If you ever have any concerns or comments, please feel free to contact me at school 257-2590, by email sherri.madson@besd.net or at home 257-0363.

Thanks for sharing your wonderful children with me!