Reading Buddies!

Last Wednesday we launched Reading Buddies with Ms. Burns’ 1^st grade class.  Reading Buddies will happen twice a month and it’s a fun way for the 1^st graders and 3^rd graders to get to know each other.  It is also a great opportunity to practice reading skills in a meaningful way.  During this literacy time the 1^st graders read several books at their reading level to their 3^rd grade buddies.  Then, the 3^rd graders have a chance to choose to read more difficult books aloud to their 1^st graders.  Everyone is excited and engaged, and we are all thankful to spend this time together!

Back to School Night

Thank you to all who attended Back to School Curriculum Night on Thursday!  The following is an overview of the information that was presented.  Please let me know if you have questions or concerns regarding the third grade curriculum.

Back to School Night

September 20, 2012

3^rd Grade

Ms. Elizabeth Little

elittle@maynard.k12.ma.us

Expectations

·      Be independent

·      Be responsible

·      Be respectful to others

·      Be able to follow multi-step directions

·      Be neat and organized

·      Put best effort into all assignments

Homework Procedures and Expectations

Students will receive homework most nights (Monday – Thursday). It should be brought back to school the next day in their homework folder. Homework assignments will be discussed each day in school prior to going home so that students understand what is expected of them.

A minimum of 15 minutes of reading should occur nightly. Independent Reading Journals will be given each Monday and should be completed and returned the following Monday. There is a checklist on the Reading Journal itself so students can check independently that they completed each part.

Support at Home

Families can support students at home by asking questions about a book they are reading, such as asking what kinds of connections they are making to the characters or plot in the story. There is a “Sentence Starters” sheet that will stay in each student’s homework folder to help them respond to what they’re reading.

Math is a cumulative subject and therefore builds on what students have learned prior to third grade. It is beneficial for students to practice basic addition and subtraction facts to help them build a solid base for multiplication and division.

Communication

A typed newsletter (Ms. Little’s 3^rd Grade Beacon) will be sent home weekly in the Thursday Backpack Folder. This newsletter will communicate upcoming events, important dates, and classroom news. Most of the newsletter will be written by the students. Completed and corrected work will be sent home in the Thursday Backpack Folder as well. Please take a look at what we’re working on, and please communicate with your child about their assignments. There is a class website that displays our newsletter, updates, and pictures. (http://mslittleinmaynard.blogspot.com). You’ll also find several links to websites that students may visit to practice math and literacy skills.

Availability

I am available for parent conferences and/or extra help both before and after school if you find there is a specific concern you’d like to discuss. Appointments may be made by email (elittle@maynard.k12.ma.us) or by calling the school. I check my email at least twice daily. Please feel free to send me an email if you have a question or concern, and I will respond as soon as possible.

Newsletter 9-20-12

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon

September 20, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Thursday, September 20th – Back to School Night 6:30 – 8:00

·        Friday, September 21^st – Scholastic book orders due

·        Friday, September 24^th – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Sophia: In Art on Monday we got our idea books so we could get ideas for how to make faces out of our initials. We cut out our initials with colored tissue paper. Then we glued the letters on a big piece of paper.

Colin: Yesterday we played a game in the classroom about Math. The game was about three ways to write a number. They are word form, standard form, and expanded form. Expanded form looks like this: 200 + 60 + 2.

Phaydan: Our class is doing a postcard project. We contacted our family and friends and asked them to send us postcards. Four people in our class got postcards already.

Lily: In Music we sang one song called a choice of our song name. We had fun in Music. We worked in groups, too.

Madison: We wrote about a story called How I Spent My Summer Vacation after we read it with a partner. It’s about a little boy who has an overactive imagination.

Jesse: In Math we played a place value game. One person read the card they chose from the bag out loud. The other person made the number with the place value blocks.  Then we checked that they made the right number.

Brenna: In Writing Workshop we thought about objects that matter to us. For example, the object I thought about was my doll. I wrote about the day after I got my doll.

Tatyiana: We got big United States maps. On our maps we are writing the names of the states. I live in the state of Massachusetts. I like the map.

Ali: Last week we started our acrostic name poems. First, we got a chart and wrote down all the adjectives that started with each letter on the chart. Then, we wrote the real poem and added words to make the lines longer. Then we were finished.

Katie: We voted on our class newsletter name. Last Tuesday we came up with ideas for a name. Then we made a list of the names. The name we chose was Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon.

Seanalee: Last week we read about the Olympics in Time for Kids Magazine. I read about a guy who had no legs that ran the race. I also read that Missy Franklin came home with four gold medals and one bronze.

Seamus: We have Library on Wednesday. Last time we had Library was last week. We had so much fun because we got to play on the computer.

Jameson: In Writing Workshop we wrote about places that are important to us. I wrote about Johnny Camp because it was my grandma’s birthday and we always go there for her birthday. I also write about Coco Keys. Jake, Anthony, Jake’s Dad and I went to Coco Keys and we had fun. I went in the hot tub, too.

Daniel: At Gym on Friday we practiced passing soccer balls. We played Freedom Ball and warmed up by doing relays and stretching. We all were sweating.

Emily: On Tuesday we used watercolors for our poems. We drew a picture and then put black crayon over our pencil lines. Then we took our watercolors and started painting.

Molly: Last week our class went over to Ms. Burns’ classroom and had first grade reading buddies. My buddy was named Megan. Then we helped them read.

Logan: Last week we started chip trading in Math. This is how it went. We had a white board, an eraser, a dry erase marker, and a big piece of paper with four up and down lines. We had a partner to help. The 1^st column was the thousands, the 2^nd column was the hundreds, the 3^rd column was the tens, and the 4^th column was ones. We rolled the dice and say it ended up as a 3, you have to put 3 chips in the ones space. When you get 10 chips in the ones place, you have to trade the 10 chips in for 1 chip to put in the tens column.

Tyler: I like Writing Workshop because we do it in our notebooks. I wrote a story of when I went to Ocean City. It was awesome there. We wrote about people that are important to us and moments we had with them.

Nathan: We started cursive on Monday. We learned the letters of the word “it.” For example, it looks like this:             . We liked it because we all wanted to learn cursive.

David: Ms. Little is reading us the book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. The main character is a china rabbit. He is the toy of a little girl named Abilene. Abilene’s grandmother made Edward for her. Abilene’s parents don’t really care about Edward. Edward doesn’t like this because he thinks he is a perfect rabbit. Every night Abilene says to Edward that she’ll come home to him when the little hand is on the twelve and the big hand is on the three. One night when she said that and left, their dog Rosie snatched Edward in her mouth. When Abilene’s mom came in she said, “Rosie, drop it!” Rosie dropped Edward. Soon after, Abilene’s family went on a boat to London. Some boys were tossing Edward around. One boy didn’t catch him and Edward went overboard and sank to the bottom of the ocean. He was caught by a fisherman and so he lived with someone named Nellie. Then he lived with Bull, and then with Sarah Ruth. Now he lives with a boy named Bryce.

Ms. Little: Our Back to School Curriculum Night is tonight from 6:30 – 8:00.  I will present important information about the third grade curriculum, expectations, and daily routines. If you are unable to attend, I will send home handouts of the material that was presented with your child on Friday. Hope to see you there! J

Newsletter 9-13-12

Ms. Little’s Third Grade Beacon

September 13, 2012

 

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Friday, September 14^th – Dismissal at 12:30

·        Thursday, September 20th – Back to School Night 6:30 – 8:00

·        Friday, September 21^st – Book orders due

·        Friday, September 24^th – Dismissal at 12:30

Classroom News:

Jesse: In Math we made sunflower glyphs. We cut out the stem, petals, head, and seeds. Each part of the flower stood for something about us. My sunflower had 11 seeds because I was born in November.

Madison: Ms. Little is reading a story to us called The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. It is about a rabbit named Edward. Right now in the story he is lost. I like it so far.

Emily: Last week we learned how to do Read to Self. When we do Read to Self you have to read in your head and don’t move around. I think people enjoy it.

Tatyiana: Last week we made license plates with our names on them. I decorated mine with stars and hearts. I loved making them.

Logan: Last week our class did the Pledge of Allegiance over the loudspeaker. We did it slowly because the people that are saying it with us in the school are little and big kids so we went slow. I was nervous because it feels like you are on a stage speaking in front of a big audience.

Seamus: Last week we had Gym. It was so fun when the fire alarm went off. We also did a relay race.

Jameson: On the first day of school Ms. Little read Chrysanthemum to everyone. During the story I ate my snack. The girl in the story liked her name a lot and everyone was laughing at her because she had a long name. Then we talked about our names and why we have them. I’m named after my dad.

Nathan: In Writing we made Me Books. We drew and wrote about family and friends. We added as much detail as we could.

Katie: Last week we went to Library. We went to the story corner so Mrs. Patino could read us a story. After that we checked out a book. Sometimes after Mrs. Patino reads us a story we do an activity. I think people enjoy it.

  

Molly: This month we made September calendars. We had to write things we did or we were doing to help other people know more about ourselves. First, we wrote the month up top, and then we wrote the weekdays.  Next, we numbered the days. Finally, we wrote in the things we did.

Lily: This week in Music we learned how we could work together with music. We worked in stations. The instruments we used were drums and voices.

Daniel: Each person in our class has a job. Our jobs change every week.  Some of the jobs are messenger, line leader, and substitute. I hope to be the sharer soon.

Ali: Last week in class we drew self-portraits. We added lots of color and detail. We also had a lot of fun drawing them.

Tyler: In Art we colored the front of our ideas book and we made postcards.  I like Art because Mrs. Santillo teaches Art and I want to be an artist, and we do fun things too.

Brenna: Last Friday we made a rule list for our class. One of the rules we said is that we will respect each other.  Then we traced our hands and decorated them.

Sophia: Last week Ms. Little assigned us to bring in pictures to decorate our writing workshop notebook. We glued the pictures on our notebook. Ms. Little let us design it ourselves.

Seanalee: On the first day of school Ms. Little read us First Day Jitters. Then we wrote about our first day jitters. My picture said I was feeling happy. I drew a picture of me on the school bus smiling. I saw all of the pictures hanging up.

Elizabeth: Last week decorated our book boxes. Our book boxes were blank so we colored them or some people brought in pictures from home to put on their book boxes. When we finished they looked really good and colorful. I thought it was really fun.

Phaydan: Yesterday Mrs. Dankner read to us. The book she read was called A Fine, Fine School. It was a fine book because it was funny.

David: Ms. Little read us a story called Chrysanthemum on the first day of school. In the book, nobody liked Chrysanthemum because of her name. When she went home she said that school is no place for me and that she hated her name. Her parents wanted to make her feel better so they said, “Your name is beautiful!  And precious and priceless and fascinating. It’s everything you are.” This made her feel better. The next day at school they had Music. They thought the music teacher was fabulous and they would do anything to impress her. During Music, everyone was saying mean things about Chrysanthemum, like she’s named after a flower, or her name is so long. Then the Music teacher said, “I’m named after a flower, too!” Then they all liked Chrysanthemum’s name.

Ms. Little: Our class had a busy and productive start to the school year!  We hope to write and send our class newsletter home once a week.  Please read it carefully to find out what has been going on in our classroom.  Have a great weekend!

Welcome Back to School!

Third grade is off to a terrific start! 

We have started to settle into the classroom and become comfortable with our classmates.  Each day we participated in different activities and games to help us learn more about each other.  We played "Grab a Question" and "Stand Up, Sit Down" games to learn about each others' likes and dislikes, and went on a "People Hunt" to find classmates with similar interests. We also chose a partner to interview and then introduce to the rest of the class.

In the first two days of school, we visited Mrs. Patino for Library and Ms. Lilley for Music.  Together, we read First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg and Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and afterwards discussed the significance of our own names. 

We are adjusting to our new routines, becoming acquainted with our classmates, and ready to begin a fantastic, eventful, and successful school year!

Newsletter 6-7-12

The Green Meadow Gazette

June 7, 2012

Upcoming & Important Events:

·        Thursday, June 7^th – Wax Museum for Biography Project (1:15 – 2:00)

·        Thursday, June 7^th – 3^rd Grade Concert (7:00)

·        Tuesday, June 12^th – Walking field trip to Erikson’s (12:45 – 2:30)

·        Thursday, June 14^th – Last day of school (dismissal at 11:25)

Classroom News:

Thomas: Last week we went to the bank. We walked there and saw the inside of the ATM. Mrs. Copley asked me a question and my mom gave me the answer. We also saw the vault and the door weighed 18 tons! It also tells how many hours that it stays closed. At the end, they gave us a snack and we walked back to the classroom. I liked it because I’ve never been to those places in the bank before.

Lindsey: Yesterday we went to watch Ms. Burns’ class play. It was about Frog and Toad. My favorite one was The Shivers. There were six or seven plays. I had the best time.

Morgan: Last week we planted seeds in Science. We did it for the beginning of our soil unit. We have to water them almost every day. The kind of plants we planted were green beans. We each had a cup of soil. We took our pointer finger and made a small hole almost to the bottom. We took two green bean seeds and put them in the hole, and then we covered them up. After we did that, Ms. Little gave us little sticks to write our name on and what kind of plant it was.

Samantha: On Monday we had yoga with Mrs. Grundstrom/my mom. We had our greeting during yoga. We said good morning to the person and then did their favorite pose. For example, my favorite pose was the giraffe. We went all the way around the class. I had an awesome time. It was our last yoga class.

Kyleigh: Last week Ms. Little’s class watched a play. It was about the American Revolution. The play was by Mr. Thomas’ class. They tried their best! It was only words, no costumes, but it was still great! My favorite part was when Mr. Thomas told a funny joke. Then we left and went back to class.

Robbi: Last week we had Spring Fling. At recess, we did the conga line, we danced, we blew bubbles, we had leis, and we wrote on a big piece of paper to celebrate Spring Fling. We also did the cha cha slide, cotton-eyed joe, and the chicken dances.

Rory: Field Day is today (6-5-12). The theme is Survivor. I am on Team Tiger Survivors. The other team is called The Cucumbers. The Tiger Survivors’ colors are orange and black. The Cucumbers’ colors are green and black. I am very excited.

Reese: Samantha’s mom (Mrs. Grundstrom) comes into our classroom every month to teach us yoga. We have learned tons of poses. My favorite is the snake pose. It is fun to do! To thank her we made cards for her. We made a giant book of the cards, too. I think Mrs. Grundstrom deserved it because she is an awesome yoga teacher!

Aiden: This week we made buttons for our wax museum. How we made them was we took a bottle cap and a piece of paper. Then we taped them down to the paper. I turned my button into a football because I am going to be Tom Brady. I liked decorating my button.

Vinny: Yesterday we had indoor recess. We had it because it was raining. I played a game called Make 7. Some other choices during indoor recess are board games, building with cubes, using string, or coloring. I like outdoor recess better because we get to run around.

Henry: Lately this year we have been trying to finish up projects. One of those projects is the biography project. We will be practicing for our Kindergarten and 1^st grade buddies. Some parents are coming to the practices, too. For my biography project I am being David Beckham. Also, the Wax Museum is June 7^th. For our practices, we will dress up and pretend we are the person we are being for our project and pretend it is a real wax museum.

Kate: Last week we changed seats. There are six tables. I’m with Hannah, Henry, and Joseph. Another table is Kyle, James, Alonso, and Daniel. Another is Aiden, David, Graham, and Vinny. There are three other tables and they are Kyleigh, Reese, Dorinda, and Morgan. The other table is Thomas, Rory, and Lindsey. The last table is Brianna, Robbi, Samantha, and Cara.

Graham: Last week in Art we made bags to put our art supplies in. We each made a design to put on the bags. I drew a castle on my bag. The things we got to put in our bags were a stick of chalk, a mini pencil, and an eraser. You could choose a handful of either crayons or colored pencils. I chose colored pencils.

James: Last week we learned two more cursive letters. They were capital I and capital J. They looked like this: I and J. It was very easy to write. That is what we did for cursive last week.

David: Last week we went to Library. In Library we went on the computers. I went on a website called ABCya and I played a weird game called Kick Off. To play, you have to kick the soccer ball into the net. You have to press the key to move the soccer ball into the net. We didn’t check out books because it’s almost the end of school.

Hannah: Lately in read aloud we have finished reading book three in A Series of Unfortunate Events. We started reading a book called The Witches, but some people got a little bit freaked out. So, instead, we started the fourth book of A Series of Unfortunate Events. By now we have already finished it and hopefully we will start reading the fifth soon. But if we start the fifth book, then we probably won’t finish it in time for the end of the year. Even though we won’t finish it in time, A Series of Unfortunate Events is still a great series.

Kyle & Alonso: Mrs. Reilly is a teacher that comes into different classrooms to help the people in the class, so we made her thank you cards/letters.  We will give them to her on the last day of school. I think she will like the cards. Everyone worked hard on them. I wrote about when she brought flint in to show us what it looked like when we were learning about the Pilgrims. It was really nice of her to bring it in. We were writing her letters because she helped us a lot this year.

Dorinda & Brianna: Last week on Friday we practiced for our 3^rd grade concert. We practiced with Ms. Thomas’ class and Mr. Mehigan’s class. For the practice concert we had to sit on the floor. Everyone had to pick a song and I picked Jingle Bells. The choices were Jingle Bells, Pop Goes the Weasel, Hush Little Baby, When the Saints Go Marching In, Starlight Starbright, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, and the Theme from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. At the concert, we are going to sing songs and play our recorders. I hope you enjoy the show!

Ms. Little:  Please visit the “Wax Museum” for our biography presentations! It will be Thursday, June 7^th from 1:15 – 2:00. We have worked very hard to research, write, and practice our speech about our famous person. Please note that this will be our last class newsletter. If you have any questions or concerns regarding upcoming events please contact me. Enjoy the weekend.