Sunday, March 10, 2013

End of 3rd Quarter Already!


We are entering the last week of the 3rd Quarter. Time sure seems to be flying bye! Things to expect over the next couple weeks include...

1. Regular Homework of the Week of the 11th, with the addition of a nightly observation of the moon's appearance. We will continue the Moon Observation Record into next week but will NOT have regular homework for the Week of the 18th.

2. Spelling Test for the Week of the 11th, but No Spelling test the Week of the 18th.

3. Book Report due this Friday, the 15th of March and the last book report is due the 15th of April.

4. During Reading this week, we are focusing on the Science content standards, not doing literacy centers as some of the Science book readings require more hands on activities, rather than small group focus of the topic such as we do with Social Studies content.

5. March’s Family Project directions will go home in Blue Folders Friday and are due the 1st of April, since we will be on a field trip the 29th of March.

6. Still have many classmates that haven't returned permission slips or payments for Stars and Strikes Field Trip on March 29th. I will be sending home new ones to anyone who hasn't made a payment of returned the slip. If you are willing to come help facilitate the field trip I would much appreciate it. If you are able to sponsor one of the other children who cannot afford this trip, please text me and I will let you know if any of the kids need help by next weekend.

7. We will be doing 3rd quarter benchmark assessments the week of the 18th (thus no homework and no new content). Other than quality sleep, healthy eating, continuous support and nightly reading there is nothing you as parents can do to help the children through these assessments. They should already know the standards and content. These assessments are truly just a measure of what the kids have been taught about the standards, a check to see if the strategies I use teaching are beneficial to their retention of the content, and an opportunity to assess the student's ability to think and respond to the curriculum in a creative and thoughtful manner.

8. Report cards go home the 22nd, in Orange Folders along with work from this week.

9. With the new quarter, we will be doing a mixture of writing genres. I am hoping to get a more current sample of each type of writing from the kids over the next 6 weeks: Narrative (1st quarter), Informational (2nd quarter) and Persuasive/Opinion and Friendly letters (3rd Quarter).
I am very pleased with the kids’ willingness to see a writing piece through to completion, and I think they all did excellent jobs on their Valentine Letters to you and their opinion pieces that were sent home this past Friday. I am very happy with their efforts, Writing is tough subject to teach and also challenging to learn but they are handling it like professionals!

10. If you are looking for a good family outing, I would like to suggest the Tellus Museum. It has a great Planetarium type feature that can enrich what the kids have been learning about the night sky, stars and constellations. I had hoped to make a field trip to the Museum, but between gas prices, bus fees and time restrictions with such a distance to drive it was not possible. The museum also has other exhibits that support science standards from the other grade levels as well. (PS, I do not get any financial kick back for telling you about Tellus, but I suggested it as a day trip to Matteo's mom Patricia back in Kindergarten and it's one of his favorite places to go! It is appropiate for all ages, pre-school and up.)
 

As always thank you for your support and encouragement to both your child and me.
Love,
 G

1 comment:

  1. As always, thank you Ms. G for all the info above!

    Yes, Tellus is Matteo's favorite place to go and if anyone is up to doing a field trip let me know and we can coordinate a date/time.

    Patricia

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