March Madness

 As we approach the mid-March mark, there is lots of exciting news to report on!

 

Science Fair: WOW! I was so impressed with the hard work your children put in to their Science Fair projects. I was able to speak to every student in the class, and they all did a wonderful job explaining their projects to me. I love when students are able to talk about their projects without having to read straight off their poster. All students were all well-behaved and respectful at the fair and I was (and still am!) so proud of them. 

 

Coins for Cures: Coins, coins, coins! Please continue to help your child look for any spare change. Any small amount makes a difference. Last week, we collected $50.14. We still have 5 weeks to make it to our classroom goal of $400.01. It's a big goal, but I think we can do it!

 

Dr. Ilda King: Dr. King, Elmwood's Reading Consultant, will be speaking to parents TONIGHT in the Elmwood School Library from 6:30 to 8:00.

This workshop will provide:

·       An overview of the stages of reading development   

·       An understanding of Instructional/Independent reading levels

·       Ways to support your child at home

I encourage you to go if you can!

 

Junior Achievement: Yesterday, Mrs. Thomas came in for our first Junior Achievement lesson. Junior Achievement is a program that focuses on how a community works. We look forward to learning with Mrs. Thomas over the next several weeks!

 

Academic News:

 

In Writing, we have completed our unit on persuasive writing! Hopefully, all of you received a persuasive letter from your child. I have to admit, I was pretty persuaded myself reading their letters! They did a great job. Today we will begin learning about a paragraph/how to write a paragraph. I encourage the students to think of a paragraph as a sandwich. They have the top of their bread (the topic sentence), the lettuce, tomato, and meat (the detail sentences), and the bottom of the bread (the closing sentence). We will be paragraph writing professionals by the end of this unit! If you have time at home, please practice writing paragraphs with your child at home. They can be about anything!

 

 In Math, we have just completed Unit 7. Be on the lookout for your child's test coming home with them at the end of the week. One thing many students struggled with in this unit was finding the median. They have to remember that numbers need to be put in order from smallest to largest before finding the median. They also struggled with accurately placing larger numbers on a number grid. This is a skill we will continue to work on in class.  We will be starting Unit 8 on Fractions today. This is a fun, yet difficult unit for students. I'm looking forward to it!

 

In Reading, our skill for the week is working on making predictions. Something we have been working very hard on lately is our writing in response to reading. In an effort to assist your children in producing stronger writing, I have implemented a checklist that they will now use to assess their writing in response to reading before handing their work in. The students will assess their spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and whether or not their writing makes sense. I will then use the same checklist to assess the students' work. Be on the lookout for this checklist stapled to your child's reading work. We are almost third graders now, and the expectations have risen in regards to finished products. If they do not accurately complete the work to the best of their potential the first time, they will have their work handed back to them to fix their mistakes. I know your children will rise up and meet the challenge!