November 13th, 2009

Hello Families,

          Good afternoon! I hope everyone has had a terrific week! We had a fun and exciting week of school. This week we continued our unit “Paces and Feet” where the students have been working on using standard measurements, practicing measuring in both inches and in centimeters. They have been enjoying measuring things around the classroom and comparing their data using line plot graphs.

We continued our student – led independent reading groups and began our Houghton Mifflin Theme 3! We read ‘Dogzilla’ and began to discuss fantasy versus realism.

We had Art Start this week, thanks to Mrs. DiStasio and Mrs. Eberts! The kids enjoyed getting to work on an awesome clay project that we will continue in December.  

This week we continued our Social Studies Interact and met Squanto. The “tribe” discussed whether or not we wanted to help the Pilgrims, and decided to help and have a Peace Treaty with them. We will be learning about what this decision will lead to next week as we finish up this interact and have our family celebration on Thursday November 19^th from 2:15 -3:15 where families will be invited to join and bring in food that is important to their family tradition to share at the harvest celebration. I sent out an invitation earlier this week, but if you have not let me know if you are planning on attending please email me, tell me how many will be attending, and what you plan on bringing! At this point we have plenty of sweet breads and silverware and plates, so I encourage anything else that you would like to bring.

I have received several emails letting me know that students will be missing either the week of Thanksgiving or in December. Please let me know if your child will be absent at all in the upcoming weeks, due to trips. If you are going to be gone for an extended absence please check the website for the Reading Log and spelling words, and know that we will be working on Measurement, line plot graphs, and determining the differences between charts (John jumped 40 feet, 37 feet, 20 feet. Max jumped 41 feet, 38 feet and 31 feet. Please write a sentence describing the data using two numbers from the chart). We will also be continuing to focus on Fantasy versus Realism, and understanding the differences until our Theme 3 test during the week of December 14^th – 18^th.

I did want to let everyone know that we will be going to see the Snow Queen at the Kirkland Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, December 15^th, 2009 at 11 am. The permission slip and more information about the field trip will be coming soon. I will be able to take 4 chaperones, so please check your calendars to see if you are available if you would like to come too!

I also wanted to let you all know that I have figured out my exact dates that I will be gone when Baby Johnson is born. I am due January 20^th and will be working up until he is born (even if it goes later than the 20^th). I will then be returning March 26^th, 2010 (which is the day before Spring Break). This is approximately 9 weeks, but Mid- Winter break is part of that. Pat Vigeland is still planning on doing the long term sub position and is excited to be coming back to McAuliffe to teach third grade! We have already met and gone over the basics of how the class is run. I will be preparing a detailed map for that time frame in order to make the transition as smooth as possible. I have complete faith in her ability to teach our class and know that the students will benefit from such an experienced and caring teacher. Kirsten Sutherland had her as a long-term sub at the beginning of this school year and has only positive things to say about her!

Remember to check with your child every day about their experience in school, and don’t accept, “Fine.” or, “Nothing!” as an answer. At the end of every day they have to write their favorite part of the day down, so remind them of this – they will at least have one thing to share!

          Please make note of our specialist schedule. We attend specialist classes on the following days:    

  PE: Tuesday and Friday     Music: Monday and Wednesday     Library: Thursday

Students need to remember to wear tennis shoes for PE days and remember to send back the library books on Thursday.

          Thank you all for signing up for our Conferences in November. I have you signed up for the following times, please make sure you remember the time and are prompt with the schedule (arriving and departing) since we have a lot to get through in only 25 minutes. I will be sending home a letter with the report cards that goes through in detail what was graded for the report card, so please make sure you have gone through the report card and the letter before our conference. At the conference you will be able to go over the student’s tests and district assignments to see what exactly they have been doing, then I will be happy to discuss any questions or concerns that you may have regarding social, academic or curriculum goals.

Friday, November 20th
Time	Family of Student
8:00 -8:25 AM	Angela
8:30 -8:55 AM	Dane
1:00 -1:25 PM	Carter
1:30 -1:55 PM	Lauren
2:00 -2:25 PM	Seren
2:30 -2:55 PM	Ananya
3:00 -3:25 PM	Ahana
3:30 -3:55 PM	Himani

Monday, November 23rd
Time	Family of Student
8:00 -8:25 AM	Arushi
8:30 -8:55 AM	Vivek
1:00 -1:25 PM	Evyn
1:30 -1:55 PM	Sam
2:00 -2:25 PM	William
2:30 -2:55 PM	Hayden
3:00 -3:25 PM	Mitchell

Tuesday, November 24th
Time	Family of Student
8:00 -8:25 AM	Sonja
8:30 -8:55 AM	Lizzie
1:30 -1:55 PM	Donovon
2:00 -2:25 PM	Jake
2:30 -2:55 PM	Andrew
3:00 -3:25 PM	Sarah
November 12th 3:30 PM Preston Lees November 16th 3:30PM Nathan Sutter

What We’ve Been Doing this WEEK

1.     Following our “Politeness Plan”

2.    Continuing to get to know each other

3.    Reading in our student-led individual reading groups – 4 of our groups finished books this week, so we will be shuffling the groups slightly beginning next week.

4.     Being Safe and Responsible

5.     Being Kind and Respectful

6.     Being our Best

7.    Reading aloud, “Julie of the Wolves”.

8.    Doing our Reading Race

9.    Went to Music, PE and Library

10. Continuing our unit on Standard Measurement!

11.    Working on our “Early Work” Packet and completing our “English Packet”

12. Completing our “Reading Log” and math homework, remember next week there is a dictation test. (The Reading Log and spelling words are put up on the website each week).

13. Meeting Squanto and having a “tribe” discussion and making the decision to help the Pilgrims.

14. Learning about how to write different leads, and trying it out ourselves.

15. Reflecting about our favorite part of every day.

16. Doing Art Start on Thursday

17. Learning about Veteran’s Day and watching a short Video on the importance of our Veteran’s and the history of the day

Mrs. Swanson will be here on Tuesday due to my being at the District Office for Professional Certification.  I also wanted to remind families that November 20^th, 23^rd, 24^th and 25^th are all half days with Noon dismissal times, so make sure that your child has a plan for those afternoons!

Thanks so much and enjoy your weekend,