Week of February 23rd

Hello Parents,
Here are the important notes for the week:

• Read to Succeed Forms - Wednesday 2/25
• 3rd Quarter Ends - Friday 3/6
• Last Day for Redone Work/Absent Work/Late Assignments - Friday 2/27

Reading

We will be starting another set of book clubs this week.  These books will be a little longer than the last ones, but the idea of book clubs will remain the same (packet of jobs each day, project at the end of the book).  

Spelling 

Soft G and soft C sounds this week.  

Social Studies

We are finishing up our slavery discussions and moving onto Civil Rights in the next couple of weeks.  Your child has been assigned a writing assignment for this topic called "Would Rather...Stay or Go?"  I gave them the sheet of instructions today with a graphic organizer on the back to help them organize their thoughts.  I strongly encourage them to fill this sheet out on their own.  Then they should type their paragraph onto Kidblog by Monday 3/2.  This is how they will turn it into me (I do NOT need the paper back).  Please have them make the title of this post "Would You Rather...Stay or Go?"  

Thank You

Thank you for all that you do to support your child at home and school.  I am loving being their teacher this quarter and they have come so far since the beginning of the year.  

Week of Feb. 16th

Hello parents,
It has taken us some time to get past our big projects and we finally did it.  Here's what's on the agenda next.

Writing
We are taking our writing to a new level.  Today I introduced the kids to a site called Kidblog.  They have written tons of stories or short pieces this year, but most of these have been for themselves or a handful of their classmates to read.  I do this so that the kids can begin feeling more comfortable with writing and not have the fear of it being judged all the time.  We have worked on their mechanics a lot and they have conferenced with me several times about their writing.  Now it's time to introduce them to a bigger audience.  Kidblog allows me to set up a class under my name and put privacy settings on it to help your kiddos safe.  However, it does make their writing more public to the class, their teachers, their families, and others who know about kidblog.  I will be asking for some of you to join our class blog to help comment and give feedback regularly to the kids so that they have a genuine audience that they are writing for.  This helps motivate them to write and give a reason for them to pay attention to details like periods, word choice, and spelling.  For now all you need to know is the log in information for when this type of writing is assigned.

How to Get to Kidblog
1. www.kidblog.org/MrsGlackinsClass/
2. Click "Login" in top right corner
3. Select your username and type in the password "cclsccls"
4. Click on New Post if you are starting a new assignment.  Once you are here, it is very easy to navigate as it acts similar to Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
5. You must click on "Save Draft" if you plan on coming back to finish later.
6. If you are finished with your post, click "Publish".

If you want to return to a post that you saved as a draft, you must go to your Dashboard to find it.

Social Studies
We will be reading the book The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom.  This is the story that inspired our art project for the week which all of you are so kindly cutting fabric for.

Wednesdays
I am going to be very diligent about not sending home lots of homework on Wednesdays.  They may have a little bit of math if they do not finish in class, but otherwise I would just ask that they work on their times tables, memory, or spelling in the car or during a few free moments.  This will hopefully give your families time to worship this Lenten season.

Week of February 2nd

If you're anything like me, you're hoping and hoping that spring comes early this year.  Until then, we have some cool things that we are doing in 3rd grade while we wait inside for warm weather.

Religion
My seminary student, Nick Teller, will be here for this week and next week still.  He is doing a great job teaching your kiddos the Lord's Prayer.  All the memory is updated through the end of the Lord's Prayer Unit.

Math
We are getting into some new and fun concepts such as square roots and liquid capacity.  We are also doing multiplication games.  I talked about this last week, and we are starting it tomorrow.  Here's how it will work:

• Everyday each student will take a time test of 22 facts. 
• If they get 100% correct in 50 seconds or less they have passed the test.  
• If they pass the test they will receive an ice cream scoop with their name on it.  This scoop gets placed in the bowl for the matching set of times tables on the door to our classroom.  
• The next day that student will be tested on the next set of times tables. 
• If they pass the test, the process repeats. 
• If they do not pass (get 100% in 50 seconds), they will continue to be tested on that set each day until they do pass.  
• Every time the whole class fills up a bowl of ice cream (x2's or x3's etc.) on the door, they will get to vote on a reward.  
• Once the whole class fills up all the bowls (2-12) we will have an ice cream party. 

This will be graded on completion in the grade book once they have passed each test.  The goal is for them to have memorized their times tables by the end of 3rd grade.  Happy multiplying!!!

Reading
We have finished reading our Magic Treehouse books and it's time to show what we have learned.  I need the packet of job papers (predictor, visualizer, etc.) completed and turned in by Wednesday.  They will receive points for each paper, so they need to make sure each one is finished.

I am sending home their book projects on Tuesday of this week.  We will go through them in class and they should be pretty self-explanatory.  I want them to be creative and prove that they understand the book.  These will be due on Wed. 2/11.  

Science
I sent home a sheet that explains the planet project the kiddos are doing.  It is also available to them in their Google Drive account.  I have helped them each set up an account already.  Here is their log in information:
     
       email:  20(their first name)@ccls-stlouis.org    This is also taped to the inside cover of their planners
       password:   cclsccls

This will require some time exploring the website and researching their assigned planet (should be written on top of their project sheet).  I want the kids to be creative and take the time to make the powtoons commercial presentable.  However, I will only give a small portion of the grade to how the presentation looks.  They are still learning technology, so the majority of the grade will be based on the content, not the presentation.
These will be due Friday 2/13 

Important Dates

• Friday 2/6 - Author Visit 9:00 - 9:45
• Friday 2/6 - Field Trip to Harriet Tubman Performance at the Sheldon 10:45 - 1:00
• You will need to send your child with a larger snack and a home lunch this day.  The kitchen will be closed when we get back, but we will eat ASAP after returning.  
• Tuesday 2/10 - No School (Teachers technology conference)
• Wednesday 2/11 - Mrs. Glackin's class is leading chapel - Please join us at 8:35 am!!!
• Friday 2/13 - Valentine's Day party at 2 pm