Couple of quick things. SAGE test schedule has changed slightly and the third graders will be testing on Thursday the 6th.
Don’t forget home projects are due for October.
Monthly Archives: October 2014
SAGE Test
This post applies primarily to our third graders. This is the big year when students are introduced to standardized state testing. Last spring, the state piloted a new test, the SAGE test. Third grade students are tested on their proficiency in the areas of math, language arts, and writing. Monday, November 3rd, our third grade students will be taking the SAGE interim exam. This is currently an optional test according to the State Office of Education, but a great tool to both familiarize the students with the SAGE summative test as well as show growth. I am excited for this optional and feel that this will be a great way to help students know what to expect, come spring, when they are taking the required SAGE summative test.
In addition to iXL, students will be able to access a program called typing web. My intention is to create time for each third grade child to use the program during their regular morning work cycle. My hope is that the use of these two programs will help with an important piece of the SAGE test, digital literacy. These tests are important, but they are only a piece in the assessment of your child. We are all unique individuals, who learn differently as well as demonstrate knowledge differently. We ask you to help your child perform well on these tests by encouraging attendance (make up time for these tests are extremely difficult) a good nights sleep followed by a hearty breakfast that includes protein can make a great difference come test day. (Hopefully, they will have come down from their Halloween sugar high by Monday morning.) Thank you for your support.
Time is Flying!
I cannot believe how quickly time is flying! It felt like yesterday that I was sitting meeting with all of you for conferences. October is almost over, this is our last week for October home projects. Please help your child complete this project before Friday. We have a large number of students who have not yet completed this project and the last day of the month we are flooded with projects. This Friday we will be very limited on time for presentations. I hate to eliminate another day out of the week for projects, but I will be out of the classroom on Tuesday for my daughters surgery. I would really prefer to be present for your child’s project and I know how excited they are to present the day they bring them to class. If you could help avoid Tuesday, I would appreciate it. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday would all work great.
It was my great intentions to get homework folders ready this week, but it didn’t happen with the extra busy week we had. I was so excited to see families send back reading logs, although I had not formally put them into action. Please make certain you and your child are setting aside 20 minutes for reading daily. This is especially important for students who are not yet reading on a 3rd grade reading level. Students below this level are still learning to read as opposed to reading to learn. If you missed conferences with me and are uncertain of your child’s current reading level, please contact me.
Our level ones were sent home with a paper for their November home projects this week. All levels will be focusing on their history studies for home projects.
Level 1: Personal time line of life.
Level 2: Anything relating to this years history studies which includes: galaxies, stars, planets, etc.
Level 3: Anything relating to the time line of life. I explained this project to the students this week and they are aware of their choices. This could be a certain era, trilobites, dinosaurs, etc. Here is a link for an overview to draw ideas from.
December is our big International festival. I like to think of it as the science fair of cultural studies. The entire school is involved. All students will need a display board for this home project. Our class will be doing our presentations on Australia and Antarctica. This could be anything about these countries. Information on the country as a whole or more detailed about the animals, people, food, etc. I wanted to let you know now, as this is a busy time for everyone. We would like to start presenting this earlier in December to the class and I will store the projects until the festival. The festival will be held right before winter break. I will be sending out more exact details.
October 31st
Hi! My name is Melissa Bielaczyc, and I am Ms. Brittany’s Room Mom.
I am planning the Halloween Class Party on Friday the 31st. It will run from about 1 to about 245, which will give us time to clean up before school let’s out for the day.
We are going to do a Fun and easy craft or two, as well as play Halloween bingo, and some other fun Halloween themed activities, as well as have some healthy snacks.
I thought it would be best if we split them up in groups. I am hoping to get 2 to 3 volunteers that can help with these.
We’re using VolunteerSpot (the leading online signup and reminder tool) to organize our upcoming signups.
Here’s how it works in 3 easy steps:
1) Click this link to see our Sign-Up on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/KTeCuK
2) Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.
3) Sign up! It’s Easy – you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on VolunteerSpot.
Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.
I have created a pinterest board for some fun Classroom party, crafts, all around ideas. If you would like to pin to this board, just send me an email and I will get you added. Find the board here.
The class party, field trip, whatever budget is $25! YES, for the ENTIRE year, as I am aware of budget constraints I will do my best, but I am asking for $1 to $5 donation for the party, totally up to you. I have some supplies already, as I am a craft hoarder. 🙂 BUT snacks and such do cost money, and I would like to have some fun small prizes for the games. I would love it if each of you could bring in an empty toilet paper roll!
Bat Craft.
Halloween Bingo.
Halloween Word search
(Fun Treat for everyone!)
Healthy snacks.
(I am still figuring out all the little parts! and will continue to add things to bring on the signup sheet.!)
Thanks so much! If you have any questions feel free to text/call: Melissa 801-652-9135 or email: Moon74_28@yahoo.com
Also if you have some time for the Carnival on Friday, don’t forget to sign up! 🙂
To help with Custom Events rides and games:
http://vols.pt/k5uRRq
To help with MAPA games:
http://vols.pt/DT3gkX
School Pictures, PTC, and Thank you!
Tomorrow, Tuesday the 21st, is picture day. We did just just receive a notice that all students will need to be in dress code for pictures. Sorry, in the past they did let the students change for pictures and I had spoke to a few about this. I apologize for the confusion.
I also wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed speaking with many of you last week. It is such a privilege to work with your children. If you were not able to meet and would like to set a time to visit with me, please email me at my school email address. I have had several emails come through to a google account, I only have that set up for blog purposes and it is not check regularly. Also, my own personal email account has somehow been shared, I ask that all emails go through the school email. This will insure that I am receiving them and responding in a timely fashion.
I also want to thank many of you for being so generous in donating books to our class from the book fair. We really appreciate it. Our classroom loves and appreciates them!
Schedule for the week of October 13th
Just a quick reminder that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are early release at 1:00 p.m. for Parent Teacher Conferences. We will be out of school Thursday and Friday. I look forward to visiting with you this week.
iXL
I wanted to let you know that our classroom does have a license for iXL this year! I am working on getting this ready and hope to have students working on this at home. I will be going over this during our parent teacher conference. Don’t forget to sign up!
Service Learning Opportunity
I am looking for a parent volunteer, or more, to help organize a service learning project for our class. Some of you may already be involved in an organization or know of needs that would fit well with our classroom. This could be a really simple project or more complex. We could attend a field trip relating to the service. This is something I feel strongly about doing, but I know my limits and know this is an area I could use some support. Please contact me, if you have a great idea, or would like to take part in organizing a project.
While we are on the subject of service, I want to thank Tannis, one of our parent volunteers, for donating much of her personal time to leveling our classroom library. Thank You! It looks amazing and I can’t wait to start having the children choose better fit books. This is such a great service.
I am really excited to be working with our new reading specialist, Ms. Lynette. She will be training some of our parent reading volunteers in a structured reading program called Star reading. If you are interested in being involved in this, please let me know. The great thing about her training you, is that you can transfer this knowledge into your own home. I have a handful of students who would really benefit from this opportunity. Ms. Lynette is available to train parents next Tuesday or Thursday from 9:30-10. Please know, if this is not a good fit for your time, I will not turn help away. I will use reading volunteers in all capacities.
If you have an idea of how you would like to contribute your volunteer hours to our school or classroom. Please let me know.
October Home Project
It’s here, October! Time is flying by. We really enjoyed getting to know each other more during our September home projects. If your student has not yet completed this assignment, please encourage them to do so. Now is the time to create study habits for the future.
This month we will be focusing our home projects around our Zoology studies. This is a great transition into helping your child gather information from what they read. Please help your child to read and gather information from books, articles, and the internet. Make certain they are using words they know how to read and understand in their final written work, and are not just copying information. If your child is not yet fully reading, please read with them and have them dictate to you what they want to write. Then have them trace over your writing for good practice. Then, they may orally practice and present without notes. This is much more interesting and makes their project their own. Often times student will copy something from the internet and have a friend read it for them. This defeats what a home project is meant to be. Home projects need to have some sort of visual aid and a written paper equal to your child’s ability level. Level 3’s need to be typing their own reports. They will be expected to type on the SAGE test this year and this is good practice. We hope, as a school, to have a new typing class in place in the coming months.
LEVEL 1’s -Please help your child find a vertebrate they are interested in. Level 1’s are studying vertebrates all year long. They have begun identifying the different classes of vertebrates.
LEVEL 2’s- Anything to do with the human body. This can include nutrition, exercise, skeleton, brain, etc. Make it fun!
LEVEL 3’s- Any invertebrate of their choice.
This home project is due by the end of the month. Please make this a quality learning experience with your child. We want this to be their work, but they will need some guidance. It isn’t a project you complete in one night, it should be a process, and an enjoyable one.