Spelling Words for January 14-18, 2008

Sitton Words- Unit 16
1. best
2. across
3. during
4. today
5. however
Pattern Words- ou
6. about
7. around
8. house
9. sound
10. without
11. you
12. enough
13. should
14. thought
15. young
Content Words
16. cooking
17. show
18. enthusiasm
19. costume
20. region
21. mountain
22. piedmont
23. coastal plain
24. swamp
25. Georgia
or any vocabulary word from Unit 10

Essential Questions for January 14-18, 2008

Reading- What are the story elements of fiction?
Writing- How do the steps of the writing process help me improve my writing? What are different ways to begin a sentence?
Grammar- What are verbs? How can verbs help you identify the predicate of the sentence?
Spelling- Unit 16 and ou patter
Vocabulary- Unit 10
Math- What are fractions? How do you add and subtract fractions? What are equivalent fractions? How do you compare fractions?
Science- What are plants and animals of Georgia?
Social Studies- What are the regions of Georgia?
Health- What are test taking strategies?
Character Education- What is self confidence?

January Updates

January 8, 2008
Dear Parents,
Welcome back to school and welcome 2008! I am looking forward to getting back into our routine. We have so much to learn, so it is time to get to work! I wanted to give you a few updates about upcoming events.

Illustrator Visit
Michael P. White is an illustrator who will be visiting our school tomorrow. We are looking forward to learning some new literary techniques from him. He is a great “kick off” to our fiction unit this third nine weeks. His books are available to be purchased and signed on the day of his visit. The students have previewed and read some of them in class. I will send another order form home this afternoon. These were previously sent in December, but there was not much response due to the busy holidays. I am looking forward to purchasing a copy of The Library Dragon for our classroom.

Conferences and Report Cards
Conference letters will be coming home this week. Please let me know as soon as possible if you have a conflict with your scheduled time so that I can make accommodations. Your child’s report card will be handed out during conference week with an updated progress report with more detailed information regarding your child’s academic growth. During conferences, we can also review test scores. Because I met with all of you in October, it is also possible for us to have a phone conference.

3rd Nine Weeks
I have attached the content maps for the 3rd nine weeks. These maps outline what we will be doing in reading, English, and math this quarter. Please let me know if you have any expertise or real life applications that you would like to share with the students.

Environmental Field Studies
The Environmental Field Studies will be at school for the next few lessons. The Parks Department and the Chattahoochee Nature Center will be coming to Ford to teach hands-on life science lessons to our students. The dates for each field study are listed on the blog.

100th Day of School
The 100th Day of School is on Wednesday, January 23rd. We will be doing a few activities to celebrate this special day. Please have your child bring in 100 small items- goldfish, M&M’s, pretzels, ect. to add to into a 100th Day Snack.

Curriculum Night
The Curriculum Night is approaching on February 7th. 3rd Grade will be participating in Science Olympiad projects. Two of the activities will be Straw Towers and Bridge Building. We are looking forward to sharing a performance based activity with you that evening.

Supplies Needed
We are in need of a few supplies for the classroom. We need notebook paper, tissues, and soap. Now is also a good time to ask your child about their personal supplies. Pencils are always in high demand!

CRCT Update
I am starting to look ahead to the CRCT in April. The online tests have not been made available to us, but I will let know as soon as they are. These tests are the closest to the CRCT that I have found. They are a valuable tool for you to use as a parent to assist your child. Some common tips to share with your child are test taking strategies- process of elimination, reading the questions first, locating information, understanding the key words in the question, ect. These online tests will help your child become familiar with the testing format and types of questions that will be asked of them. Sit with your child while they practice these tests online. Have them read the paragraphs out loud to work on fluency. It is okay to help them at home!

AR
Please challenge your child to increase their AR points. I would like to see an increase of at least 25 points by March 15th. The Million Dollar Store has helped to motivate some of the students.

Multiplication Facts
Mastering multiplication with speed and accuracy continues to be a struggle for many of the students. Continue to practice with your child on their basic multiplication and division facts. Having these facts “under their belt” will help them be successful in math.

Math Challenge
Encourage your child to do the Math Challenge from the Principal. Who will be the first from our class to join Mrs. Pepper’s Wall of Fame?

Cooking Show
The next home project will be a cooking show. A memo describing this project will come home later this week. Our nine week unit in math is about fractions and measurement. This performance based project has students demonstrate real world use of fractions and measurement in cooking.

Monthly In School Research Projects
One of the skills that we need to reinforce with our students is the use of resources to locate information. Each month I will supply the students with a list of topics that they may choose from to research. Reference materials will be available for them to use at school. I am encouraging the students to use a variety of materials to locate the information on their chosen topics. The requirements will be to gather a minimum of four facts presented in paragraph formation. They will have ample time to complete each assignment in class. Again, the purpose of this assignment is to provide the students with experience using various forms of reference materials to gain meaningful information. The students will do their research, note taking, and summarizing of information at school. The first Monthly Happenings project will be due on January 31st.

Technology Update
We are so excited to have new computers in our classroom. The county updated some of the older computers. We are thankful to have 2 desktops and 2 laptops available to the students. It is my goal this quarter to use these resources more frequently in the classroom.

December Celebrations
Thank you to the room moms who planned a fabulous Christmas Party! Kudos to Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Kalafut, and Mrs. Barfield! Thank you to Mrs. Hughes and Mrs. Hunt for making merry pretzel snacks with the students. Thank you to Mrs. Kalafut and Mrs. Subasavage for creating festive ornaments. Thank you to Mrs. McCullough for cooking us some yummy waffles! Thank you to Mrs. Booth for playing Holiday Bingo. Thank you also to Mrs. Miles, Ms. Arnold, & Mr. and Mrs. Odihe for assisting with the party! Thank you to Mrs. Shoemaker for being a guest speaker about Hannukah. Thank you to the Kilpatrick family for being our mystery readers with hot chocolate and an ornament craft! Thank you to everyone else for sending all of the supplies for the party!! Your generosity made the party a success! An updated classroom helper and Mystery Reader calendar will be coming home soon. We are looking forward to your assistance in the classroom.

Thank you for being so supportive at home and at school! I am so thankful to have the class that I do this year. Your children are so much fun to teach. They come to school with an eagerness to learn. It is so wonderful to spend the day with these intelligent 3rd graders! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Mrs. McAuley

Spelling Words for January 8-11, 2008

Sitton Words- Unit 15
1. paper
2. hard
3. near
4. sentence
5. better
Content Words
6. fraction
7. numerator
8. denominator
9. equal
10. parts
11. January
12. winter
13. children
14. important
15. fiction
Challenge Words- Unit 10
16. audible
17. consume
18. glide
19. origin
20. prevent
21. punctuate
22. representative
23. scorn
24. stout
25. woe