Newsletter 3-12-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

April 12, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Thursday, April 12^th – Open House (3^rd grade: 7:15-8:00)

·        Friday, April 13^th – Book orders due

·        Friday, April 13^th – April vacation begins at the end of the day

Classroom News:

James: Last week we did a math activity with area and perimeter. First we made figures on graph paper. Then we traded our paper with a partner. Our partners figured out the area and perimeter of our figure. It was fun.

Brianna: Every week we read Time for Kids. Time for Kids is a magazine for kids. It teaches us a lot about history and about other people’s lives. It is very interesting. One of the articles was about a little boy who had cancer. He cooked and it took his mind off of the cancer so he got better.

Kyle: In the morning Ms. Little’s class has Writing Workshop. We each have a partner to share ideas with for our essay unit. Our partners can give us ideas if we’re stuck. We don’t have to write the ideas if we don’t want to.

David: Last week we went to Music on Friday. We played recorders. We also made posters to help us learn the song.

Kyleigh: Two weeks ago Ms. Little’s class had 1^st grade buddies with Ms. Burns’ class. I had a partner named Prisca but she was absent so I had to be partners with a girl named Meg and Dorinda. When the 1^st graders are stuck on a word while they are reading we help them. When I looked around the room I saw everyone reading wonderful books.

Kate: In Art we did three different things. The first thing we did was we had to write what the month we were born in meant in our idea book. Next, we had to write what our name meant. Mrs. Santillo taped the cards to the back of our masks. Last, we had to peel off a sticker with our initials on it and stick it to a folder.

Cara: We switched seats. These are the tables we are in now: Kate, Cara, Rory and James are together. Samantha, Aiden, Henry, and David are together. Reese, Brianna, Graham, and Kyle are another. Hunter, Morgan, Joseph, and Robbi are another. Alonso, Kyleigh, Vinny, and Dorinda are another. Last but not least, Thomas, Hannah, Lindsey, and Daniel are another. Those are all of the table groups in Ms. Little’s class.

Thomas: We started watching people to see if they are doing the right thing. At the beginning of the week, we pick a name out of a box and can’t tell anyone who we are watching. At the end of the week, we will share at least one good thing that we saw our person doing at meeting.

Alonso: In Math we used unifix cubes to find the area and perimeter of a shape. Unifix cubes are blocks that you can stick together. We had partners to help us. To me, everyone did a good job sitting for the lesson. I think my partner and I did an amazing job finding area and perimeter.

Samantha: Last week we finished listening to Ms. Little read Stuart Little. I thought it was a pretty good book. It did not end like I thought it would. Stuart Little did not find Margalo the bird. Ms. Little said we could watch the movie soon.

Aiden: Last week we finished learning the lowercase letters in cursive. We did lowercase z. It looks like a y in cursive. Lowercase y looks like a cursive h upside down. Lowercase v looks like a mountain.

Hannah: Lately in Library, Mrs. Patino told us the book fair was coming up. The book fair is when the library puts out a bunch of books and kids bring money and buy them. But if kids do not bring money, there is a video to watch until the book fair is over. If you want to get a book but did not bring any money, there are two things you can do. You can either write your name and the book you like on a slip and get your book the next day, or you can go to the book fair on a different day. The book fair is a good idea because it is an easier way to buy books.

Graham: Last week in Math we learned about area. Area is the square units inside a figure. You would need to know how to find area for some jobs. After math we went to lunch and recess.

Robbi: Last week we had two days of early release days. The days were Thursday and Friday. The special thing about it was that we got to have recess with all of the 3^rd graders. Also, Ms. Little had parent conferences. That’s why we had dismissal at 11:25.

Joseph: Yesterday we were learning about fractions. Fractions are parts shaded out of a whole shape. So if you had a square with 4 parts, and all 4 were shaded in, you would have       .       would be 3 parts shaded out of 6.

Henry: In Writing Workshop we have been drafting. My essay is 10 pages long but that is on drafting paper. It will probably be shorter on the final copy because I won’t skip lines. The teacher (Ms. Little) recommended that I write a paragraph explaining what a good sport is because my essay is about why it’s important to be a good sport.

Morgan: In class we started a new book for read aloud. It is about three kids having a bad life. The story is called A Series of Unfortunate Events. The three kids’ parents died in a fire so now they have to life with a relative named Count Olaf.

Rory: On Monday Samantha read to us because it was her birthday. She read us a book called Where the Sidewalk Ends. It was a poem book. She read three poems from the book. Some were funny.

Dorinda: Last week on Friday we watched a movie about the 13 colonies on Brainpop Jr. The video said that Native Americans were slaves. I learned that the people who settled in the colonies had to pay money to the King of England even though they were across the ocean. I liked the movie.

Vinny: Last week in Gym we played a warm up game and did our relays. We also climbed the net. After that, we played ball tag.

Lindsey: On Monday, April 9^th, Ms. Little’s class went to an assembly. It was a singing assembly. We sang America the Beautiful, The Ants Go Marching, Chicken Soup with Rice, and Risseldy Rasseldy. I liked singing Risseldy Rasseldy.

Reese: Last week in class two people from Middlesex Savings Bank came in for Savings Makes Cents. They taught us how to fill out a deposit slip. A deposit slip is a slip you use to put money into your bank account. First you write the date and your name. Then you write your account number. Then you write how much money you are putting in. It’s very simple!

Ms. Little:  You are invited to visit our classroom for Open House on Thursday, April 12^th.  We have worked very hard on our realistic fiction stories and our essays in Writing Workshop and are looking forward to showing them off! The time to visit third grade classrooms will be from 7:15 – 8:00. We hope to see you there!