October

Happy Fall! 

Upcoming calendar dates to remember:    October 12 - End of the First 9 Weeks
                                                                                  - Last day to make AR goal
                                                                                  - Fall Festival
                                                               October 18 - School Wide Field Trip
                                                               October 22 - 26 Conference Week
                                                                                  - Early Dismissal 12:15PM
                                                               October 31 - Field Trip to Vulcan Quarry

Conferences
We are looking forward to meeting with each of you during your assigned time during conference week.  Please arrive on time and we will go over the report card for the first nine weeks with you.  The teachers will be prepared to discuss any concerns and establish a plan for a successful year in third grade.  Be sure to let your child's teacher know if there is a specific day and time that you can come to your conference.  NOTE: We will not be doing the morning confernces beteween 7:15 and 9:00AM.  All morning conferences will have to end by 7:20AM this year.

Multiplication
Your child has started to memorize the multplication facts for 0's up to 10 x 10.  Please help your child be successful in class with these facts by spending 10 to 15 minutes 3 or 4 times a week practicing the multiplication facts. 


Sincerely,
The Third Grade Teachers:
Beth Burruss      Taylor Washington     Lauren Smith     Kathryn Davidson      
                                   
Karen Shoenig     Angela Schneider      Gigi Richardson      Davida Dyer   

September

 Welcome parents! 

Upcoming calendar dates to remember: September 4-13 - Cogat and ITBS testing
                                                                October 8- School Wide Field Trip
                                                                October 12- End of the First 9 Weeks



Some of you have joined us after the first week of school.  Due to this you may not have received our welcome letter  which outlines the basics about third grade. Please see the letter below and of course, feel free to email us should you have any questions.

Homework

         Each night your child will bring home an Agenda with assignments written down.  Important information regarding weekly assignments, conduct, and special announcements will be in this Agenda.  This agenda will come home every night and should be returned signed, every day.  This Agenda will serve as an important means of communication between parents and teachers, so please review it carefully.  Students with a blue dot showed self discipline all day long, students with a green dot had at least one inappropriate incident during the day. Students with a yellow dot received multiple warnings and students with a red dot have had either a teacher/parent contact or an administrative contact.

            All students are expected to read at home every night.  Reading logs will be checked daily. Parents must initial the reading log in order for students to receive credit for the assigned reading.  Minutes will increase throughout the year. (20 minutes each night for the first 9 weeks)

Grading Policy

          Please note that all students will receive a 9 week report card, as well as a progress report.  Behavior concerns will be noted in the Agendas and on the progress report. Grades will consist of summative and formative assessments given throughout the 9 weeks.

Snacks

 Snacks are optional, but strongly encouraged because 3^rd grade does not attend lunch until almost 12 P.M.  For this reason, we also encourage students to eat breakfast at home or in the cafeteria.  Please refer to the list of the Dynamic Dozen (healthy snacks) listed on the back of students’ Agenda for suggestions.  A student may bring in a water bottle with his or her name on it (no juice or soda).

Birthday Celebrations

If you would like to recognize the birthday of your child in a special way here at school, we would like for you to do that, but also it is very important this celebration not disrupt the learning environment in any way. For this reason, please adhere to the following expectations.

·                     Please do not send in a cake or cupcakes due to icing stains.

·                     Please do not send any party favors or gift bags.

·                     No candles

Suggestions

·                     Cookies

·                     Little Debbie Snacks  

·                     Brownies

·                     Rice Crispy Treats

·                     Muffins

Dress Code

            Uniforms are mandatory.  Please refer to the back of the students’ Agendas for guidelines concerning uniforms and appropriate dress.  All shirts must be tucked in.  Parents who need help with uniforms should contact the school office.  Sneakers are required for P.E. days.  Feel free to send in a sweater, sweatshirt, or jacket with your child in case they get cold.

*******Students who are not in uniform 5 or more times over each 9 week period are not eligible for Character Club.*******

            We thank you for sharing your children with us and we look forward to getting to know and work with them.  Look for more information to follow about third grade academics, procedures, and policies in the upcoming newsletters and Agendas.  With your help it is going to be a great year!

Sincerely,

The Third Grade Teachers

Beth Burruss          Taylor Washington        Lauren Smith        Kathryn Davidson       

                                   

Karen Shoenig          Angela Schneider      Gigi Richardson           Davida Dyer   

Posted by Sedalia Park Third Grade Team at 3:44 PM

Third Grade Newsletter

Hello! Can you believe it is the fourth nine weeks? This year has flown by! It is March and third grade has alot of activities coming up. Report cards will be coming home Monday the 19th, so check your child's Monday Folder.

CRCT is coming soon! Third grade students have to pass the reading portion of the test in order to be promoted to the next grade level. The dates for the CRCT are: April 18- 27. Look for more information to come home with your child soon.

AR goals have been reset and this the last opportunity of the year to make the goal! Encourage your child to work hard and stay diligent to make it to the last AR party of the year!

March is Math Madness Month here at the park. The third grade challenge will be given by Principal Lawson and multiplication will be the focus. If your child is still struggling to learn their multiplication facts, please continue to work with them. Firstinmath.com is still available from any computer for extra practice. Students can earn points to receive recognition in class. Challenge your child to have their facts mastered this month!

Here is what we will be studying the 4th nine weeks:

Reading/Language Arts/Writing: We will be focusing on persuasive writing, idioms, and slang. The students will complete a cummulative grammar assessment that covers all priviously taught skills.

Math: We will be extending our work with multiplcation and division, elasped time,  and data analysis.

Social Studies/ Science: We will be studying Thurgood Marshall, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Cesar Chavez in social studies. In science, we will explore conservation and recycling.

Important dates this month:

Mar 5: Zaxby’s Reading Night, 6:00-7:00 pm

Mar 6: Chick-fil-a Spirit Night, 3:00-8:00 pm

Mar 6: Governing Board Meeting, 6:00 pm

Mar 7: 5^th Grade Georgia Writing Assessment

Mar 8: PTA Meeting, 1^st Grade Performs, 6:00 pm

Mar 11: Daylight Savings: Set clocks forward 1 hour

Mar 12-23: Spring Cookie Dough Fundraiser

Mar 13: Math Night at East Piedmont Publix, 5-7 pm

Mar 15: Kindergarten Sewell Park “Rocks” Field Trip

Mar 17: St. Patrick’s Day

Mar 19: Report Cards Home

Mar 23: Taste of the Park, 6:00-8:00 pm

Mar 28: New Kindergarten Registration, 8-11:30 am

Mar 29: The ABCs of Discipline, 11:00 am-12:00 noon

Mar 30: School Wide Walk

Mar 30: Yogolycious Spirit Night

3rd Quarter Panther Pride Assemblies are coming soon!

• Assemblies will be held March 26-30
• 3rd grade will be Wednesday the 28th from 8:00-8:30
• Look for more information in your child's Monday Folder!

Parent Resources

     Did  you know that we have a Parent Resource Room here at Sedalia Park? If you didn't, or you just don't know very much about it, we want to give you a little more information about this great resource for families. 

     Frances Jaramillo is our resource room coordinator. She has a great collection of learning matierials for both parents and students that are available for check out.  These materials include games, books, and videos... to name a few! Mrs. Jaramillo also holds classes and workshops throughout the year to help parents better understand different areas of their child's education.  See below for more information regarding and upcoming class. You can ask about our resource room in the front office.  We hope you will stop by soon. 

Upcoming class:

The ABCs of Discipline  - Parents are invited to the Parent Resource Center, Instructional Room #2.  We will feature a video (9 minute clip) from “The Parent Institute” and learn about common discipline mistakes, rules and expectations, how to let natural consequences help. Each parent receives a booklet.

 

When: Thursday, Mar. 29 from 11:00am - 12 noon.

 

* A session will be offered in Spanish from 9:00-10:00 am

 

Third Grade February Newsletter

Hello all Third Grade students and parents/guardians! It is February already and the Third Grade has a lot of activities going on. Please check below for important dates of upcoming field trips! We have an extra day this February because of Leap Year. Do you know why we have the extra day (29th)? Do you know how often this occurs? Ask your child! They have talked about this in class!

Please remind your child to keep up with his/her AR reading so that they can achieve their goal. We had many students make their AR goal last marking period, but we would love to see every child achieve their goal. READ!! Also, remember that extra, out of class reading, also counts towards the Six Flags Read to Succeed program. Students that read 6 hours or 360 minutes and hand in their completed form by March 1, 2012 will be eligible to receive a free ticket to Six Flags this summer! WOW!!

Many students are still working on mastering their multiplication facts. All students are encouraged to log onto firstinmath.com at home (or from any computer) to become more fluent in their facts. Plus, they can earn points! Students can also use Fast Math here at school to help review.

Thank you to all parents/guardians that attended our Panther Pride Assembly on March 25. The students enjoyed and felt pride in receiving their awards that they worked hard for.

Here is what we will be studying the 3rd marking period:
LANGUAGE ARTS: We will be continuing our focus on non-fiction text features and using them to help gather information in our reading. Students will also be working on a short informational research topic of their choosing. Students will also continue their work in writing sentences correctly, using more complex sentences that contain compound subjects and compound predicates, and using and identifying descriptive adjectives.

MATH: Most classes have finished their initial study of fractions, but they will still be used throughout the year! Please work to keep this fresh in their minds. Students will alsobe working with measurement of length, both customary and metric. Help your child learn the basic conversions, such as 12 inches equals 1 foot, 3 feet equals 1 yard, etc. The metric can be a little tricky only because in the United States we don't use it as often as the customary unit. Please review centimeters, milimeters, meters, and kilometers with your child as well. It would be helpful to have your child measure objects at home to practice using a ruler and a meter stick. If they do not have a ruler, they can use the one in their agenda! (There is a lot of useful info in the agenda!) We will also be working on area and perimeter during this 3rd nine weeks.

SOCIAL STUDIES / SCIENCE: Our units of study in Science will include investigating the properties of magnets and Heat. We will study our country's government, on the local, state, and national level. Students will learn about the three branches of government and how they work together. We will also be continuing our study of some famous Americans that played an important part in American history. These people include: Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt, and Mary Bethune.


Here is a list of important dates to mark on your calendar:
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 14 - Valentine's Day
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17 - SCHOOL WIDE FIELD TRIP TO THE CIRCUS! (If you have not sent in your permission slip and the $7.00 donation, please do so ASAP! We don't want anyone left behind!)
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20 - NO SCHOOL
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23 - Third Grade field trip to Warm Springs, GA to visit the Little White House. This will tie in very nicely with our study of Franklin Roosevelt. The cost of this trip is $20.00 and can be paid in installments. If you have not yet paid or turned in your child's permission slip, look for another one to be sent home on Monday, February 13. We will be leaving the school at 8:30 and will be arriving back at the school at 5:00. It is important that students have someone to pick them up at the school by 5:15 or they will be sent to  ASP and will be charged their fee. If you have any questions about this trip, please let your child's teacher know! It should be fun, exciting, and educational for all!

Have a great month! Spring is just around the corner!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone had a restful winter break and is ready for the second half of third grade.  Students will begin the year with a new AR goal, so take some time this week to discuss AR expectations.  The days are shorter and the nights are longer, therefore this is a great time to have your child read.  Review the multiuplication facts frequently this month.  If your child has not mastered these multiplication facts additional practice will be in place beginning this week for school and home.   Study guides for science or social studies tests are sent home several days before an upcoming test.  Once the study guide is sent home, be sure to help your child study for the science or social studies test each day to help them be successful with the test This is a very important 9 week period because students are learning test taking skills that will help them as they prepare for the CRCT in April. 

1-16-12   Martin Luther King Holiday – no school

1-27-12   Vulcan Quarry Field Trip

2-17-12   Schoolwide Field Trip

2–23–12  Franklin Roosevelt’s Little White House Field Trip – Return to school at 5:00PM.  Since we will not be at school for the bus dismissal you will need to pick your child up at 5:00 or have your child attend ASP.

Topics of Study

Reading – Non-Fiction Literature: We will study the components that make up this genre.

Math – Fractions, Measurement ( Standard Units: inches, feet, yards, and miles/ Metric Units: milimeters, centimeters, meters, kilometers) - Have your child start to measure items at home using a ruler, yardstick, or measuring tape.  We will continue to use the multiplication and division facts with increasing difficulty.  Continue to help your child increase fluency (speed and accuracy) with these facts.

Science – We will continue the Georgia Habitats units with a focus on adaptaions that organisms make in order to survive. The next unit on magnets will be brief, but full of fun.  We will then start to study heat.  You will find that we have moved the heat unit from the 4th nine weeks to the third nine weeks in order to cover it before the CRCT.

Social Studies - 3 Branches of Government and our Biographies: Mary McLeod Bethune, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: We are excited to take a trip to the Georgia vacation home of Franklin Roosevelt in Warm Springs Georgia.