Spelling Words - week of Sept. 27-Oct. 1

This week's spelling words are all long-a and long-e words.
1. easy
2. grade
3. meet
4. late
5. seat
6. saved
7. pail
8. these
9. reach
10. name
11. raise
12. leave
13. gain
14. theme
15. scream

Transitions (and this week's spelling words)

Third grade is a year of many transitions. The students begin to become responsible for many of their daily needs. At the beginning of the year, they start by building good routines. In the morning, they have four main jobs that need to be completed before 8:30. They need to sign up for milk, put their homework in the homework bin, read/sign the morning message, and sharpen two pencils. Right now, these jobs take about 15 minutes and lots of reminders from me, but soon they will have the time down to just a few minutes, with very few reminders. I love watching them grow into responsible students!

Another transition is remembering to bring home their new spelling lists every Monday. Here are this week's spelling words.

Lesson 2 - week of Sept. 20-24

1. slip

2. fish

3. pick

4. rocks

5. lunch

6. gift

7. thing

8. inch

9. truck

10. pond

11. from

12. jump

13. socks

14. dish

15. thump

Third Grade Schedule - as of 9-13-10

8:30-8:45 Morning Misc. – attendance/Pledge/milk count/etc.

8:45-9:00 Morning Meeting

9:00-9:25 Spelling

9:25-9:40 DOL (Daily Oral Language)

9:40-9:49 Read Aloud – Picture Book

9:49-10:14 Music/Writing (every other week)

10:14-10:30 Math Meeting

10:30-11:12 Reading

11:12-11:37 PE

11:37-12:25 Science/Social Studies/Health

12:25-12:50 Lunch

12:50-1:15 Recess

1:15-1:45 Milk Break/Read Aloud – Novel

1:45-2:40 Math

2:40-3:00 Library/Silent Reading

3:00-3:10 Clean up/Hand out homework/Dismissal

Sept. 14 - Tuesday letter

Sept. 14, 2010

Dear Parents,

It was nice to meet all of you at the Back-to-School Conferences. We had 100% attendance for our classroom conferences this year! That’s terrific! Thank you for filling out all of the forms that were given out at conferences. If you haven’t returned them yet, please do so as soon as possible. If you need extras of the forms, let me know.

We are off to a great start in the classroom. Together we brainstormed a list of how to follow our main four rules. You can find the finished list on the back of this letter. The students have all passed their bus safety test and have also created bus safety posters. We have been settling into a good routine.

This week we also started our first reading story and our first spelling list. Our story, Officer Buckle and Gloria, is a funny story about safety rules at home and school.

In today’s folder, there are several things for you to notice. There is a copy of our daily schedule, a copy of the rules we brainstormed, and a letter about our math series. There are also several book orders. Your child is never obligated to buy books, but book orders are a good way to buy books at a cost lower than at the stores. If you do choose to purchase books, please pay with cash or a check written out to Scholastic.

The students have done a super job on homework this week. Keep encouraging your child to develop a good homework habit. For some children, it works best to get homework done right after school. Others may need some outside activity first. Find what works best for your family. Building a good homework habit will help your child all the way through high school. Also, don’t forget to remind your child to read and record their minutes on their reading log.

Have a great week!

Our Rules

The large print rules are the four general classroom rules. The smaller print rules are the ones the students brainstormed to help us understand the general rules.

1. Be kind.

Give compliments.

Talk nicely.

Play with lots of people, not just the same ones over and over.

Say “I’m sorry.” when needed.

Don’t cough on your friends.

2. Be safe.

No pushing or hurting others.

No kicking or punching.

No shoving.

Let the teacher know where you’re going.

3. Be responsible.

Follow the rules.

Take care of yourself.

Take care of the classroom.

Listen to the person speaking.

4. Be respectful.

Listen to people when they talk.

Be polite to people.

Use your manners.

Spelling List - Lesson 1 - week of Sept. 13-17

This week's spelling words are:
1. sat
2. felt
3. last
4. send
5. next
6. best
7. went
8. hand
9. stand
10. past
11. grand
12. stamp
13. belt
14. lend
15. checked

Our spelling pretests will be on Tuesdays (or the second day of the week on a short week) and our posttests will be on Fridays (or the last day of the week on a short week).

Back to School Conferences

Today was a great day of back-to-school conferences. 100% of my students and parents came today! Yeah! It was nice to meet everyone and put faces to the names on my class list. Tomorrow the classroom will be filled with students ready to learn. :)