More specific  information will come home after their presentation. Be sure to ask your child about their visit!

     We try to discourage children from bringing any kind of trading or sports cards to school. Lately in our class, we have had a run of problems with Pokemon cards being brought to school, and then lost or stolen.   As a general rule, I tell the kids that special things are better left at home, to prevent theft, loss or damage here at school.  I ask that you have your children leave these kinds of cards at home to prevent any further disappointment here at school.  Thank you so much for your help and support with this!

Fondly,

Jen

     Can you believe it's almost the end of the first trimester??  I know I sure can't!  So much has been going on, where do I begin??

HEROES CELEBRATION

The Heroes Celebration was a huge success!  The children were so proud and I know many of you were moved by their words.  Even though I had heard their stories over and over again, I was still touched as I watched them read what they had written and present their awards.  Thank you all for taking the time to come in.  We even had a hero travel all the way from Florida!  A special thank you to Mrs. Roy for taking some great photographs!

LITERACY

The children continue to plant "Seeds" in their Writer's Notebooks, and soon we will begin creating stories from those seeds.  Up to this point, we have been doing more structured or directed writing, along with many mini-lessons about writing.  Just today our mini-lesson centered on the word /said/, and what kinds of other words authors use in place of said.  The students generated a list both from prior knowledge and from their current independent reading books, of 36 words! I was very impressed and told them that now I will be looking for some of those alternatives in their own writing! Accelerated reader continues to add excitement to our reading.  The kids are asking for and excited when, it's independent reading time, and we have nearly reached our first goal of 100 points! I promised a celebration when we reached our first goal, so information about that will be coming soon.  Our next goal is 500 points, so let's challenge them to keep reading!

MATH

In math we finished up Unit 3 today with our assessment.  Tomorrow we will begin Unit 4 and the study of multiplication.  It is expected that the children will know their multiplication facts from 1-12 by the end of third grade.  We will be practicing here at school, but any support you can provide with this at home will be greatly appreciated.

SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE

We finished up our unit on American Government in Social Studies and will be taking a short break to focus more of our attention on our endangered animal projects and reports in science.  By now your child should have brought home the requirements for this project.  If they have not, please let me know as soon as possible.  We will resume Social Studies in January with a study of the Presidents.

CONFERENCES

Thank you all for signing up for parent-teacher conferences on Nov. 24th and 25th.  I am looking forward to this chance to chat with you about your child.  Conferences are only 20 minutes long, and I have a tendency to get behind a bit, so please help me out by being on time, and I will help out by sticking to my schedule! Thank you so much.

Well, I think that covers it for now.  See you all next week!

Fondly,

Jen

AND THE WINNER IS......

Today the  3rd grade held a mock election.  Each student made and printed a voter registration card during computer lab, and used that card to vote this morning.  A private booth was set up and Mrs. Austin served as our Voter Registrar.  She checked off each student's name in her "Voter Registry" and gave them their ballot.  As each student exited the voting booth and placed their ballot in the ballot box, she gave them an "I voted" sticker- which they wore proudly!

The kids really enjoyed the experience!  Some quotes from my class include:

"Now I know how my parents feel when they vote."

"I really felt like a grown up when I voted."

"I didn't think it would be a big deal, but it turns out it was really neat!"

"I'm definitely going to vote when I'm 18."

Let's hope they keep that enthusiasm into adulthood!  They are very anxious to see if the country votes the same way they did!

The results are..........

Barack Obama 85 votes          John McCain 37 votes

 Brick Store Museum Trip!

On Wednesday, we will be visiting the Brick Store Museum to learn about Kennebunk's history. We will also have a chance to visit the attic of the museum where many artifacts are kept!  No permission form was needed for this trip as it is in-district. This should be a fun morning!

     So much has been going on in our classroom over the last couple of weeks!

     Our 3rd grade was fortunate to have a special volunteer come to teach us about cartography, better know as maps.  Mr. Carpenter has been a faithful volunteer, sharing his knowledge and practicing "hands on" mapping with the students. This year the children plotted out roadways from a neighboring community.  Our thanks to Dave Carpenter for his continued dedication to our schools.

     In Social Studies, we have been studying our government.  We have learned about the 3 branches of government, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  Tomorrow, as part of this unit,  State Representative Gary Connor will be spending an hour with our class doing a fun activity about the branches of government; more specifically the legislative branch.  Rep. Connor came last year as well, and it was one of our favorite activities!  Next week we will be holding a mock election on Tuesday morning.  In preparation , the children will be printing voter registration cards and completing a "President for a day" activity in Computer Lab this week.  The children will be required to show these voter registration cards in order to participate in the election on Tuesday.  We will also watch some election coverage and follow up on Wed. with some exploration into the Electoral College and the election results.  Will our 3rd graders vote as the nation does? Stay tuned! Check out the Homework Links section of the KES for some fun government websites as well!

     In our Writer's Workshop, the children have been working very hard on writing a story about their hero! We will honor our heroes at a "Heroes Celebration" on Friday, November 7, 2008 at 1:00 in the gathering space.  Refreshments will be served follwoing the ceremony.  I hope you all can attend!  I am hoping that my hero will be able to attend this year as well! 

     During our Reader's Workshop last week the kids were introduced to their Reader's Notebooks and we practiced using the first 2 sections: The Reading Log, and Accelerated Readers Quiz folder.  This week I will introduce the Reading Response section.  We are ready to begin our guided reading groups, and our volunteers are spending a lot of time giving the children many opportunities to read aloud.  It really feels like all of the pieces are coming together!

     In math we finished up Unit 2 and are beginning Unit 3.  For the next 2 ½ weeks, we will be working on Measurement. You can help your child at home by reviewing with them how to measure to the nearest ¼ inch and centimeter. Other areas that we will be talking about include perimeter, area, diameter and circumference. For more information, please be sure to read the Family Letter that is coming home this evening.

CONFERENCES: A conference sign-up sheet came home last Thursday.  Spaces are filling up fast, so be sure and send yours back in ASAP.  If you didn't receive one, please let me know and I will send another copy home!  I am looking forward to meeting with all of you!

I think that covers it!  It's hard to believe that November is right around the corner!

Have a great week!

Jen

Arundel/MSAD71 will be sponsoring RSU Informational Meetings to answer questions the public may have on the consolidation process and the RSU Plan. The meetings will be on: Thursday, 10/16/08, 7 PM, Mildred L Day School in Arundel and Saturday ,10/25/08, 9 AM, Consolidated School Gym, Kennebunkport.

     Now that we have settled in and homework is coming home on a consistent basis, I wanted to remind you about the importance of establishing a good homework routine.  My students have homework every night, Monday through Thursday.  This normally consists of a math homelink and at least 15 minutes of reading.  Occasionally your child may have a word study activity or other work pertaining to a classroom project and there may be days here and there when there is no homework assigned, but as a general rule you should expect to see the homework assignment written in their planner each night. Letter journals come home each Friday,so please respond to your child or sign them and return them to school on Monday.

     Here are some tips you may find helpful in ensuring your child's success with homework:

     *Make sure your child has a quiet, well-lit place to do homework.
    Avoid having your child do homework with the television on or in places with other distractions, such as people coming and going.   

    *Help your child with time management.
   Establish a set time each day for doing homework. Don't let your child leave homework until just before bedtime. Think about using a weekend morning or afternoon for working on big projects.

   *Be positive about homework.
Tell your child how important school is. The attitude you express about homework will be the attitude your child acquires.

   *Read before bedtime. Reading before bedtime is a nice way to unwind and then fall asleep.

I hope that you find these tips helpful.  Creating good study habits now lay a strong foundation for later on, when the homework demands become greater.

Happy Homework!

Jen

     Happy Autumn!  Today brings the official end of the summer season.  While that is sad, it also brings the promise of crisp days and nights, football, apple picking and baseball playoffs- fun!

     In our classroom, many new things are happening as well, as we are really beginning to settle in to our routine.  In literacy, we began our week with our first creative writing project based on the Margaret Wise Brown book, The Important Book. The text in this book was written in a predictable pattern that allowed the children to create a new page for the book in a structured format, while still allowing for individual creativity. Next time you're at KES, check out the hallway outside our classroom for a display of their work! Bravo students! Our mini-lessons in literacy centered on topics like, "Reading is Thinking" and "Descriptive Language". These mini-lessons challenge the children to do more than just read the text, and to focus on what is going on in their mind while they are reading and to pay close attention to how the author uses language to create images for the reader. 

     Accelerated Reader!  The children in my class will be using an online program called, Accelerated Reader.  Some of the children also used this program in 2nd grade as well.  Accelerated Reader is a program that allows the children to go online and take comprehension quizzes, here at school, after completing an independent reading book .  It is a wonderful program that allows them to track how well they are understanding what they are reading and once completed, can print our their results to keep here in our room.  For each quiz, they are awarded points so we will be keeping track of our class points that will eventually lead to a celebration of reading!  This program really helps generate enthusiasm for, and encouragement of, independent reading. We will do one more practice run through with the program on Friday and then next week, the children can begin using Accelerated Reader at their own pace.

     This week in math we will be taking our first unit assessment.  The children are beginning to catch on to my enthusiasm for math as I try to show them how fun it can be!  Thank you for helping your child out with their homework, it's really paying off!  Mrs. Glynn paid a visit to the class and introduced the C.O.W, or Challenge of the Week.  This is an optional challenge that the students can do each week. When they return their "COW" she will correct it and attach next weeks challenge for them to complete. These are fun, so encourage your child to try them out!

     In science, we began our study of habitats.  We began learning about what a habitat is and what things organisms need in order to survive.  We will continue this study over the next few weeks, and continue our learning of owls that  also began last week. Did your child tell you all about the owl pellets we dissected? 

     Finally, this week begins our study of government.  The students will learn about the 3 branches of government and what each does.  The presidency will also be studied and the chidlren will begin a research project into the president of their choice! Such fun!

     Well, that's a lot isn't it?  Keep an eye on your child's mail over the next couple of weeks as volunteer information and our first book order will be coming along soon!

     REMINDER: NEXT FRIDAY IS PICTURE DAY!

     Have a great week!

Jen

The Golden Sneaker!