October 9th, 20011

                                                  

Hello everyone,


Last week I did not update my blog because I was at an AdvanceEd Conference. I am so excited to put into place things I learned, either in my classroom or with our school for School Improvement.

Owl Prowl: Thank you for sending in your response forms. Just one last reminder that the Owl Prowl will be held on Tuesday, October 18th at 6:00 pm at St. Pat's Park. If you signed up to contribute anything for the dinner, I will be sending reminder slips home on Wednesday or Thursday. Mr. Glassman will be visiting our room on Monday, October 17th to teach 3rd grade about Owls of Indiana. At that time, we will give him the money you all donated. Then in Science on Tuesday we will be dissecting owl pellets. The kids always find this really interesting.


Here is the what is coming up this week:

Reading:  We will be reading a story called "Dream Wolf". It a wonderful Native American folktale. I have been reminding the class that they are to be reading their stories on Monday evening with an adult. I suggest that either you read a page and your child read a page or you read a paragraph and your child read a paragraph. This really helps boost comprehension, helps with sounding out tough words, and helps with reading fluency. I have noticed that my class needs to work on pausing at commas and stopping at periods. Please listen for this at home and help reinforce it.  

Language:  I am hoping to continue working on our personal narratives we began a couple of weeks ago.

Math: Keep practicing those addition and subtraction basic math facts for speed and accuracy. Flash cards are always a good tool. There is a link on the left side of my blog for www.superkids.com
Here you can create worksheets and print them off for timed tests at home.

Science:  Last week, both science classes tallied their recycling survey. This week the children are going to take their data and create bar graphs. This was a great way to teach them how to collect data and show the results.



Whew! Have a great week, and I can't wait to all of you at the Owl Prowl next week.

Fall is here! I think it is my favorite season of the year, next to summer. The weather is cooler, and the trees are popping with color.





Here is an update for the week:
Reading:  We will be finishing up our reading unit test this week. Look for it to come home next week. The story for we will be reading is called "City Green". It teaches a great lesson on how we can take better care of the earth.

Language:  The class will be learning their first grammar song about nouns. It is a catchy tune that you can't quite get out of your head. However, it does help the kids learn what a noun is and to identify them in sentences. I also will be showing them the old Schoolhouse Rock video on nouns that I used to watch as a kid. It's an oldie, but a goody!

Math:  This week in Math we will be learning how to add and subtract with money, continue working on subtracting three digit numbers, and column addition.

 HELP!!!!  As we are doing our math lessons involving two and three digit addition and subtraction, I am noticing that my class is quite slow in knowing their basic math facts. By this point of third grade it is absolutely necessary that they have all facts memorized for speed and accuracy. Please help with this at home. It can be as simple as drilling flash cards for five minutes every night. Another option is to go to www.superkids.com to make your own timed tests to do at home. Thank you for your assistance with this.

Science:  We are continuing to work on the Scientific Methods. This past week we learned how to make a survey. Each third grade homeroom created a "Recycling Survey". A couple of moms graciously typed them for us, I copied them, and each child received ten surveys to have completed. This week I am going to break each class into groups to tally the data, and then the groups are going to create bar graphs. It is going to be an exciting and busy week!

 F.Y.I.:  I just wanted to give you a heads up that I will not be in the classroom next Monday (10/3) or Tuesday (10/4). As I told you at Back to School Night I am the School Improvement Chair for our school. I will be attending a conference to gain ideas to help our school improvement at Christ the King. It is a great time to get connected with educators from all over Indiana.

Owl Prowl:  Thank you for responding to the Owl Prowl. If you would like to make a donation to Mr. Glassman to cover the cost of the hot dogs and to give him a monetary donation for his time, please send it in with your child in an envelope marked "Owl Prowl".  The week before the prowl,  I will be sending reminders home if you signed up to bring any food or drink items.  Don't forget it is on Tuesday, October 18th. Start praying for good weather. 

 
Happy Birthday Tea and Anna!!!!!! This past week 3N helped both of them celebrate their birthdays.

Thank you to my entire 3rd grade class and my room moms for making my birthday last week so special. We were treated to yummy tea cookies and muffins. The class also gave me a beautiful yellow mum. I already potted it and placed it in front of my house. I just love it!!!! 

Owl Prowl

This week I sent home the letters with the information about the Owl Prowl. Some of the responses are beginning to come in. If you would like to make a donation to Rick Glassman to cover the cost of the hot dogs, please send it in with your response form. If you sent in your form and would still like to donate, please send it in in an envelope marked "Owl Prowl". The evening should be a hoot!

August 21, 2011

Here We Go!

Well...we survived our first week of school! I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each of your children. They are a delight to teach. My goal this coming week is to get the children into their normal school and homework routines. The assignment notebook will help you understand what is coming home.

Each week I will try to let you know what is coming up in each subject.
Spelling:  On Fridays the Spelling packet for the next week will be ripped out and stapled. It will always be due the following Friday. This is not assigned homework for the weekend. However, if you find that your family is really busy with sporting events during the week, your child can get a head start for the week over the weekend. In addition to the packet, every Spelling word is to be written three times each on control-lined paper. I already showed the class how to head their papers and the format for writing their words. Words 3X each will always be due on Thursdays. Lastly, we will have Spelling Pre-tests on Wednesdays and a Final Test on Fridays. If your child aces the test on Wednesday, he or she does not need to take the test on Fridays.

Reading:  This week we will be reading a story called "Grandfather's Journey". Part of your child's homework is to read the story to an adult. As a parent myself, I would recommend that you read a paragraph or page to model and your child read the next page or paragraph. This helps move things along a bit more quickly. Also, to encourage good reading comprehension and writing complete sentences, every Monday story questions will be sent home. These are due by Friday every week. Please help your child with time management. There will always be five questions. It really helps to break it up by doing one or two questions a night. 

Language:  We will be reviewing the four types of sentences and how to punctuate them correctly. I will also be introducing the 6+1 Traits of Writing beginning with the trait of ideas. 

Math:  We started our new Math series last week. We worked on months, years, calendars, and counting patterns. This week our lesson will focus on reading a clock to the nearest five minutes, reading a thermometer, telling time to the nearest quarter and half hour, and working on basic addition and subtraction. What a busy week!
Please practice basic addition and subtraction facts at home for speed and accuracy. I recommend the website www.superkids.com. On the left hand side click "math worksheets". From there you can print specific worksheets to use as timed tests at home.

Science:  I am very excited to teach Science this year. There will be some changes to my curriculum as the Indiana Science Standards have changed. We are going to begin the year with learning about the science process.

 Mark your calendars!!!!! The date for our Owl Prowl is October 18th at St. Pat's Park. I will talk more about this at Back to School Night. 

Back to School Night:  I am looking forward to seeing many of you Tuesday evening for Back to School Night. 

  Happy Birthday Alexis!!!

 On Friday Alexis celebrated her birthday. Even Fr. John joined us in wishing her a very happy birthday.

Dear Parents,

Welcome to third grade! I am looking forward to working with each and every one of your children this year. It will be a pleasure to get to know both of you. Throughout the year I will be posting important third grade happenings like assignments, any upcoming projects, or events on a weekly to biweekly basis. I hope that it will be informative to you.

Third grade is an exciting and busy year. On the first day of school I will be sending home some important information papers. Please look for them.


Always feel free to contact me anytime through my school voicemail (272-3922 ext. 124) or you can email me at cnemeth@christthekingonline.org. I do make every attempt to check my voicemail in the evening. Please bear with me through the month of September.  I will be checking assignment notebooks every morning. Please check these on a nightly basis and sign them if all work has been completed. The assignment notebook is a good place to jot me a note too.

Here are a few items I'd like to let you know about before school begins:

• Pencils: If you are able to sharpen a pencil or two at home before the first day of school it would be a really big help.  The pencil sharpener gets overheated the first day when every one is trying to sharpen two pencils.  Thank a bunch!
• Snacks: I do not provide snacks for the children at morning recess. Please send a healthy snack with your child every day.
• P.E.:  Our P.E. days are Tuesdays and Thursdays. Send gym clothes either on the first day of school or for Thursday.
• Pink Eraser:  I can't remember if I added a pink eraser to the school supply list. If I did not, please pick on up when it is convenient for you.

• Scholastic Book Clubs: I will be sending home Scholastic Book Club order forms on a monthly basis. Ordering from the book clubs has become quite easy. After browsing through the flyers, you can either send in the form to me with a check made out to Scholastic Book Club or you can place your child's order online and pay with a credit card. The order will still be delivered to school for me to pass out to your child. It is very simple to do. You will need to go to Scholastic's website, www.scholastic.com/clubsordering. On the first day of school I will send home our class name and password to access the ordering page. I hope you will find this helpful. 

Lastly, here is a prayer I found that I would like to share with you and your family before the first day of school.

         Prayer Before the First Day of School

Loving Father,

we aren't sure

we feel like celebrating today,

because tomorrow

is the first day of school.

Some kids like school;

some kids don't.

some day we like school;

some days we don't.

There's a strange feeling

inside

because we don't know

what's coming.

We give you this feeling, Father,

and this year of school.

 Please be with us

 so we'll look for what's good

 in each day

and then do our very best.

Enjoy these last day of vacation, and I will see you soon!