Notes+From+Ms.+Raymond



11/25/12 Well it sure has been a whirlwind of a fall. It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving break is coming to an end and the winter holidays are just around the corner. I hope you all had a lovely and healthy Thanksgiving break and had time to spend it with your family. Just wanted to let you know that report cards will be coming out before the winter break so be on the lookout for those. When we get back to school we will be starting our next science unit on Properties of Matter. Prior to leaving for Thanksgiving, the students finished up their memoir writing pieces. They did a great job. On this piece we were working on interesting beginnings to catch the reader's attention and setting snapshots. We also tried to add a little dialogue, action, and thoughts and feelings. The memoirs are hanging in the hallway for all to read. We also finished up Unit 2 in Math. This unit was all about bar graphs, pictographs, and line plots. The students collected data, organized it, and presented it in some form of graph. We also collected data where the kids used a lot of measuring devices. The students need to continue to convert inches to inches and feet and inches and feet to all inches. Whenever possible, get them measuring at home. We are about to begin our third unit in math that will get us adding and subtracting numbers into the thousands. I am also planning on introducing the students to multiplication before our winter break. They will be learning tricks to help them memorize their facts. We will also be skip counting, not only by twos, but threes, fours, fives, etc...which will help with multiplication facts as well. If you have any questions, please don't hesistate to contact me. It has been a pleasure to work with you and your children so far this year.

10/4/12 The students are in the middle of their first research project in third grade. They chose a habitat to research. They picked from deserts, coral reefs, oceans, mountains, tundra, grasslands, rainforests, or even wetlands. Each partner group chose one animal and one plant from their chosen biome. Students are in the process of researching the characteristics of their chosen environments as well as how their chosen animal and plant adapt to living in that environment. There are many websites and printed resources that we will use for our research. It might be a fun project to help your child with at home as well. Please feel free to browse the Internet with your child for information about their biome, animal, and plant. You can send in the information with your child. Please be sure it has the website clearly marked in case we need to visit it again. Also, a trip to the local library with a purpose of finding information about their topic would be engaging and highly motivating for most students. Every year the kids come up with interesting facts and tidbits of information to teach the rest of their class and even their teacher. The students will be working with a partner for this assignment and will put all of their notes and research into a Powerpoint presentation to share with the class. Copies of their PowerPoint presentation will be sent home for your viewing as well. Happy researching! 9/7/12 Wow! What a whirlwind of fun we have had over the past week. We have met new friends and were excited to see some of our old friends. We are learning the third grade routines and learning about each other. We had an amazing Social Development Day today where we were working on team-building activities. We even met with our sixth grade buddies. Before our fun-filled day was over, we had the opportunity to have an ice cream from the ice cream truck. What a special treat! Next week we will begin trying to get into a full routine within the classroom including homework. Parents are invited in on Thursday evening for Open House. I am hoping to meet you all then to discuss third grade curriculum and expectations. During this time, I am able to give you an overview of your child's third grade year and what we have been up to so far this year. Please make every attempt to attend. Also, on Thursday, we will have our class pictures. Again, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns!

8/27/12 Three more sleeps and all the excitement begins again. I am busy getting the classroom ready for your arrival. I can't wait to see you again. Enjoy your last days of summer. Don't forget to bring your Governor's Reading Challenge paper or at least a list of the books you have been reading over the summer. Bring in a healthy snack, a positive attitude, and a smile. See you soon!