Welcome Back!

Dear Friends & Families,
   I hope you had a wonderful vacation.  I was so excited to have the kiddos back this week.  I didn't realize how much I missed them until they walked in the door on Tuesday morning.  As many of you know, I fractured my foot over the break & your students have been so patient & sympathetic.  They help me walk down the stairs & are constantly asking me if I am healing quickly.  It warms my heart!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Tuesday, May 8th is PICTURE DAY!  Students must wear uniforms.

Thursday, May 10th is the pizza party for the students who completed the reading challenge.

   This week we were reviewing the math concepts we had covered before vacation.  Please ask your students to tell you about: area, perimeter, 2/3 digit x 1 digit multiplication, place value from the hundreths to the millions, and rounding.  Next week we will begin a unit on measurement; length, volume, capacity, & weight.  This is a really easy unit to supplement at home.  Have students practice measuring things around the house, finding perimeters of objects, have them weigh themselves and their siblings, or measure how much water it takes to fill up different sized containers in your kitchen.
    In language arts we are beginning a "Testing as a Genre" unit.  CST testing is quickly approaching & although it is no one's favorite time of the year I want to ensure that your students are not taken by surprise.  We spent time this week discussing the difference between "real reading" & "test reading."  The students are learning that during the test you must:
1. know what to look for in the passage so they read the questions first
2. know that the test makers choose the answers & there is only 1 correct answer
3. know the questions & directions are like little puzzles & we have to figure out what the test makers want us to figure out
4.  know the teacher cannot help
5.  know that all of the passages do not relate to each other
     We were practicing answering questions about "how-to" passages so the class thought it would be great to make a  3rd Grade How-To Book.  Each student decided on a skill that they believe themselves an expert in and are creating pages to share their skill or expertise.  We will have it in our classroom library when we are finished, so come check it out!
     We are finishing our solar system unit.  We read a great book called Postcards from Pluto.  Then the students pretended to travel to a different planet & write postcards back home telling about their trip.

   Another exciting event in our classroom...we have class pets!  Bill & his father went hiking over the weekend and brought us tadpoles.  We are having so much fun watching them grow.  A few have even sprouted their hind legs.  Check back soon to see if we have any that transform into frogs.