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Monday, February 25, 2013

Skyping Later Today

Well, we had a shortened week last week due to the weather.  Hopefully this week goes back to normal!

We are really excited for our morning "Mystery Skype" with another 3rd grade classroom in the world.  Last week, we prepared for the Skype by reviewing our geography skills.  We discussed the continents, oceans, directions, etc.  We then used Edmodo to generate a list of questions that we wanted to ask the class about their location.  (We are using those questions to ask the "Mystery Skype" class and narrow down to the country that they are living in).  We even practiced Skyping with Mrs. Buehler's class to practice asking questions and arranging our classroom.  We will let you know how it goes!  Wish us luck!

Last week, I sent home your child's last fluency passage.  While your child will continue to work on fluency, he or she will not be assigned a passage to take home as a homework assignment.  Also, like I stated last week, your child's homework assignments will continue to be math sheets and possible online assignments using Edmodo.  Thank you for listening to your child read while he or she was bringing fluency passages home.  It is appreciated.


Your child’s February reading calendar is due on Friday, March 1st.  (I will take it no later than Monday, March 5th.)  I am sending home your child’s March reading calendar on Friday.  The calendar includes a reading goal of 450 minutes that your child will be asked to complete by the end of the month.  If your child reads 20 minutes or more a night, he/she is to color in the icon for that night.  If he/she brings the calendar back at the end of the month and read the amount of minutes his/her goal requires, he/she will get a pizza certificate to Pizza Hut.  This is your child’s last calendar for the program.  If your child brings this calendar back and has brought all the other calendars back, he/she will celebrate with a pizza party for lunchtime.  I will be supplying the pizza!  Woot!  Woot!  However, if they do not complete the calendars, they will not get the opportunity to eat and celebrate with those who complete it.  If you have any questions, please ask!

Lastly, there is a 3-hour early dismissal on Wednesday, February 27th.  Students will be dismissed at 12:25 PM, so please plan accordingly.  

Have a great week!

Sincerely,
Mrs. McCarville


Monday, February 18, 2013

Post Conferences and Online Assignments

Parents,

Hello!  I wanted to thank all of you for attending your child's conference last week.  Hopefully you were able to gain some insight to your child's education and progress.  I was very impressed with how well the students shared their work and were honest about their behaviors.  Thanks again for coming in!

One area that I wanted to mention was online assignments.  Your child is given different assignments throughout the week.  Rather than running off the assignments on paper copies, I am working towards assigning some of your child's work online to complete and submit to me.  Your child is very familiar with using Google Drive for Google Docs, Edmodo, Kids Blog, etc.  The assignments your child will have are typically completed on those sites.  Currently, we have assignments that are given that can be completed here at school.  However, some students have incomplete assignments from classwork and need to finish up.  Those assignments can be completed at home.  

Starting in a few weeks, I will be assigning homework assignments that your child will have to complete at home using either Edmodo, Google Drive, Kids Blog, etc.  Your child will be assigned an assignment for a night and will be expected to complete it on the computer, much like a math sheet/journal page or fluency passage.  Your child is expected to complete the assignment, unless it is an extended assignment that he or she will have several days to complete.  While some of your children have access to going onto a computer at home, others do not.  If your child does NOT have access to a computer at home, your child can come to the classroom at 8:00 before school, and complete the assignment at that time.  Please contact me if you have any questions.  Thank you!

Throughout this week, we are preparing for a "Mystery Skype" that will take place on Monday, February 25th.  We are going to review our geography skills and prepare questions that we can ask the class we are skyping, as we are going to try and figure out their location.  We will let you know if we figure out where our class is from next week!  Stay tuned!

If you have any questions, please contact me.  Have a great week!

Sincerely,
Mrs. McCarville  




Monday, February 11, 2013

Chinese New Year, Conferences, STEM, and Valentine's Day

As you can tell by the title of this post, we have a BUSY week ahead of us!  We are going to be doing a variety of activities this week that the class should all enjoy.  Yah!

For starters, I am sure you may have noticed the Minnesota Vikings gifts we received from the Vikings.  We tried to contact the Minnesota Vikings to see if any players would be available to Skype in and read aloud to our class for World Read Aloud Day in March.  We began tweeting the Vikings and awaited a response.  Luckily, they responded!  Unfortunately, we were told that the Vikings are away from the facility and are spending time with their family and friends, so there would not be any players available to read to the class.  However, because we are suck loyal fans, the Vikings sent us free gifts, which included a key chain, a poster with the team roster, and a sticker.  We were super excited to get those cool gifts that we are busily writing thank you cards to the Vikings.  Thanks Vikes!

On Friday, we discussed in some detail the Chinese New Year.  We learned several things about the history of the holiday, the celebrations, and beliefs.  There is more that we are doing today as we are going to create a few craft items, including an edible one, to celebrate the Chinese New Year!  Yum!  Your child will also post on their Kids Blog page some facts about the Chinese New Year, so look onto there and make a comment!  Enjoy! 

Conferences will take place this week.  I want to remind you that your child will attend conferences with you this week.  The students have been practicing and are excited (actually nervous) about sharing things with you.  Being that the conferences are only 15-20 minutes long, I wanted to let you know that if you are scheduled for a conference time and a conference is still in session, please come in and start the conference and I will join you towards the end of the conference.  Some conferences may overlap, as one conference may take a little longer to finish up, so please come in at your time so you can start your conference on time and finish on time.  Thanks!

On Wednesday, February 13th, your child will partake on their first experience in a "STEM" grant that the kindergarten, 3rd grade, 4th grade, and 5th grade received.  Your child will be creating a wind turbine out of various items and testing to see if they can make it move.  Ask your child about their experience on Wednesday.  I know they are all excited to try it out!

Thursday, February 14th, is Valentine's Day and the class is excited to exchange valentines.  The students are not expected to bring valentines.  However, if your child chooses to bring valentines, he/she must bring them for the whole class.  Also, we are NOT making Valentine's boxes/bags to put valentines in.  If your child would like to make a box/bag at home for valentines, feel free to do so and bring to school on Thursday.  I am attaching a class list so that your child can fill out valentines if he/she would like.  Again, this is optional.  Your child can bring in his or her valentines anytime between now and Thursday.  Thank you!  

Lastly, there are 1-hour early dismissals both Monday, February 11th and Tuesday, February 12th, due to parent/teacher conferences.  There is no school on Friday, February 15th, as it is a teacher compensation day.  There is also no school on Monday, February 18th.  Thanks! 

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.  I look forward to visiting with you at conferences.  Have a great week!

Sincerely,
Mrs. McCarville


Monday, February 4, 2013

Snow, Snow, and More Snow

Dear Parents,

Well, we had quite a week last week!  No school, late starts, with COLD temperatures!  Hopefully this week will be a little more normal, with the exception of a planned early out on Wednesday for a teacher in service.

Next week, Parent Teacher Conferences are scheduled.  A letter was sent home on Tuesday with the instructions for signing up for conferences.  As of now, I only have 8 parents that have signed up for conferences.  IF YOU HAVE NOT SIGNED UP FOR CONFERENCES, PLEASE DO SO.  If you need another copy of the instructions, please let me know so I can give you a copy.  If you have questions concerning conferences, please contact Linda at the office, or me.  Please, please sign up as soon as possible.  Also, keep in mind that your child is to come with you to conferences as he or she will lead the conference.  Thank you!

February reading calendars were set home on Friday.  The goal for this month is 400 minutes.  If your child completed the January calendar, please have him or her turn it in as soon as possible.  I would like to give him or her a well deserved pizza certificate.  Thanks a bunch!

Your child will be taking the unit 4 test on multiplication this week.  As soon as the tests are corrected, your child will bring home the test so you can see the results.  I do suggest having your child practice the multiplication facts at home.  My suggestion is to make flashcards (unless you have some already) and practice the flashcards in different families.  For example, practice all of the "1" cards (1 X 0, 1 X 1, 1 X 2, 1 X 3, etc), but make sure that the cards are mixed up and in different orders.  Once your child has mastered a fact family, move on to a different fact family.  Your child is expected to have all the facts mastered this year.  If you have any questions, feel free to let me know.

Lastly, there is a 3-hour early dismissal on Wednesday, February 6th, due to a teacher in service.  Students will be dismissed at 12:25 PM so please plan accordingly.  Thanks!

Have a great week!

Sincerely,
Mrs. McCarville