Friday 8-30-2013

I hope you had a wonderful week. Things have been great here in room 205!!

We are deep into building our stamina for reading and writing independence.  It is critical for third graders to be able to read and write, uninterrupted, for at least 30 minutes.  While your child is practicing good reading and writing skills, I will be conferring with students in order to provide them more individual reading and writing instruction. 



I have sent home a slip that indicates your child's AR goal for this quarter.  In order to attend the quarterly celebration, your child will need to have met their AR reading goal and have returned 90%  of their homework pages.  Since students have a week to do their homework, this should never be a problem.  Some students have already begun taking AR quizzes, but I will begin to push this much harder next week.  For more information about AR, homework, and Quarterly Celebrations click here .


In math, we have been working to understand the value of large numbers and the many ways to write these large numbers.  We will continue this topic through next week.

Next week ushers in a new month.  September brings a lot of school fun (and hopefully a return to cooler weather).  Below I have included a list of dates to mark on your calendar:

9-2-13: No School, Labor Day

9-3-13: PTA Meeting, 6:30 Media Center (Superintendent, Dr. Springston will be there!)

9-9-13: Math-a-Thon Pledge Sheets come home

9-13-13: Fall Festival, 5:00

9-16-13: Mid-terms come home

9-17-13: Math-a-Thon Test Day!

9-20-13: Picture Day!

9-21-13: Mercury Gymnastics Night, 6:30

9-27-13: Math-A-Thon money due

 

Fall Festival:

Our PTA is starting to collect items for the classroom basket raffles at our Fall Festival. Please send your donations to the school when you can.

There is now a volunteer sign up sheet available at the following link:

http://vols.pt/hMWUhU

Please click on this link to sign up to volunteer at our Fall Festival on Sept.13th from 5:30-7:30pm on @VolunteerSpot today!

We have lots of exciting things planned, including:

Cheerleaders from PHSH performing.

A tree planting ceremony

Carnival games, food, bounce houses and a DJ

The Drumline from PHSH from 630-7:00!

If they have questions they can contact Jen Gust at 816-916-9986

or jengustpta@att.net or check the PTA website for further information.

https://sites.google.com/site/hawthornhuskiespta/home

 





Let's Try This Again...Parent Orientation!

The video in my original post about Parent Orientation didn't seem to work.  Frustrating!  Please be patient with me as I explore all things technology.  ;) Sometimes it works beautifully and sometimes it seems to be such a headache! 

To view the presentation click the highlighted link, below:

Parent Orientation Presentation

 

 

 

Again, if you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the comment section of the blog.  This way, we all benefit from your questions and the answers provided.

 

Thanks,

Jodi

Off to a GREAT Start!!

Hi Everyone!!  I don't know about the kids, but I thought the first 3 days of school went by quickly.  We were busy making new friends, learning 3rd grade procedures, and creating cool superheroes to show off all of our amazing talents! 

This coming week, we will really start diving into curriculum by setting our personal learning goals.  Throughout the year, I will expect your child to do their personal best on every task and challenge them to persevere through difficult problems.  Not only is it important for your child to learn skills and content, but also to develop pride in a job well done!  Please support this growth in your child by taking an active role in your child's work this year...review the classwork that comes home, look over the reading log and math homework before they turn it in, and discuss what you like about your child's work and what you'd like them to do differently next time.  Specific feedback holds a lot of weight with anyone, especially an 8 year old.

We will also be setting up our Writer's Notebooks this week.  This is a great tool for students to collect ideas for topics they'd like to write about.  As a part of this set up, I am asking that your child brings in a few pictures they can cut up and glue onto the cover of this book to personalize it. These pics can be of family, friends, pets, favorite memories, etc.  We will begin this activity on Tuesday. 

An example of a Writer's Notebook

Homework was sent home Friday afternoon.  This consists of a reading log and math paper. Remember your child has until next Friday morning to turn in their homework.  Please be sure to sign the bottom of the reading log before your child turns it in.  Your child will be checking out from the classroom and school library this week and they are always welcome to bring these books home for their nightly reading. 

Finally, if your child didn't bring an all about me bag on Friday, we will have time on Monday for them to share.

Have a great weekend!
Jodi

Parent Orientation

Wow!  I can't believe it is REALLY here...the first day of the 2013-2014 school year!  It was so nice to see all of you Monday night at Back to School Night.  I am looking forward to all of the fun we will have!

This year, Park Hill has replaced the traditional Parent Orientation Night with a virtual presentation.  Please view the power point I've shared below and feel free to post any questions you have about 3rd grade expectations. 

Finally, If you haven't signed up to follow this blog via email, please do so.  This way you receive the most up to date information posted by the students and myself.