For the week of September 4, 2017

Welcome to the 2017 – 2018 school year! It has been a pleasure getting to know each learner and we are looking forward

to a fantastic year of learning.

● Friday FoldersFriday Folders went home on Friday, September 1st. Please review materials and keep at home. Signed Merit Cards and empty folders are to be returned the following school day.

● International Literacy Day - Friday, September 8th This year the Lift Off To Literacy program will host their annual kick off on September 8th. Learners will meet special visiting author Barney Saltzberg. He will speak on creativity and making mistakes as he introduces this year’s theme: Always Learning. Together we will focus on the concept of perfection being just what it is, and that mistakes are part of the process. This idea is celebrated in Barney Saltzberg’s book, Beautiful Oops. www.barneysaltzberg.com

● Patriotic Day - Monday, September 11thRed, White and Blue Shirts with Uniform Bottoms Learners will be participating in a special flagpole ceremony and assembly in remembrance of September 11th. Children are asked to wear red, white and/or blue shirts with uniform bottoms to show their patriotism.

Upcoming Events

Monday, Sept. 4th; Labor Day - NO SCHOOL

September 5th - 15th; STAR Testing Window

Friday, Sept. 8th; All School Mass

Friday, Sept. 8th; International Literacy Day Monday, Sept. 11th; Patriotic Day

Friday, Sept. 15th; Prayer Partner Mass

NewsletterTHIRD GRADE

BROOKS/McCORMICK KIRBY SAINE

Religion - Next week’s God Shining Stars are: Jalyssa, Sofia M., and Molly. We can’t wait to learn more about you!! Thank you Gavin H., Nick G., and Carrick G. for doing an outstanding job sharing with us this week!

Our Learners were busy this week! Every block gathered as a community to join in prayer. We learned more about each other by sharing and praying for our prayer intentions. We also in prayer circle we discussed the difference between traditional and spontaneous prayers. We finished talking about the creation of the earth, the book of Genesis, and how all things were created in the image of God. We also discussed how to write a friendly letter. Next week we will learn about serving the Church community and how we can do our part to help out.

Social Studies - The learners worked collaboratively to discuss what makes a good citizen. We discussed our rights and responsibilities in our classroom community. In their groups they discussed being fair, respectful, responsible, and caring citizens. They made posters and presented their ideas to the class. Next week we will learn what good citizens do to serve their community. We will brainstorm as a class ways we can help serve our community and draw a picture of one way we plan to serve the local community this school year.

ELA - From chewing bubble gum while on a scavenger hunt for buddies, to building a pyramid with red cups, rubber bands and strings, to watching heartfelt prayers for a great school year given up to God, to a engaging in a paper doll kindness reflection, to painting kindness rocks, we had a busy first week of school - busy building a community of learners in which all participants consider and contribute to one another’s well being and learning. These attributes will serve as the foundation for building a strong community of readers and writers.

This week we will celebrate the opening of our new classroom library and begin our first reading unit - Building a Reading Life.

Writing Workshop - To kick-off writing workshop this week, much time will be given to creating fanfare around using a Writer’s Notebook - a very grown-up, professional writing tool.

Learners will bring home their writing notebooks this week to decorate the covers with a collage of photos and pictures that might spark stories, perhaps of special people, or special events that have happened in special places.

*On Monday, Sept. 11th and Tuesday, Sept.

12th learners will take the first of three

STAR Reading assessments to be given

throughout the school year.

Mathematics - This week

learners took a pre-assessment for math. This was not a graded assessment, simply a tool for me to utilize when teaching. We began Chapter 1 of our Math in Focus text and will continue this next week. Our first “School to Home Connection” came home in Friday folders this week. These will be sent home at the beginning of each chapter for you to become more more familiar with the material we will be working on in class. Simple Solutions will begin next week. Learners were given time in class on Friday to get started on this to prevent homework over the long weekend. We will complete lessons 1-4 this week and there will be a quiz on Friday. 1 lesson will be graded in class each day. 3 of the 4 will be graded for completion and the 4th will be graded for accuracy. I will choose a lesson at random each week to grade for accuracy. STAR Assessments will be given in the upcoming week so please make sure your learners are eating a protein rich breakfast and getting plenty of rest!

Science - This week we began our unit on forces and motion while simultaneously learning about how scientists use investigating questions. We are excited about beginning work in our garden this year. If you have a green thumb and you would be interested in helping with our 3rd grade garden, please contact Mrs. LaVigne via email at slavigne@stedschool.org.

from the week...

First All-School Mass

Snapshots

First week of our God Shining Stars! Great job Gavin H., Nick, and Carrick!

Pyramyd Cup Team-Building Challenge