Circle Letter 9/25/15

September 25, 2015

Dear Families,

       It’s been a great week together! Our daily morning writing workshop has really taken off.  This is a class that likes to write and story tell.  In this first unit of writing the focus is on writing true small moment stories. or Personal Narratives. This week we have been practicing using dialogue, as well as noticing the difference between just reporting out information and rich and vivid story telling.  Mentor books have been helping to demonstrate the sort of writing we are after.  It’s hard!

       Be on the lookout each week (Mondays) for a new list of Spelling Words. The words are taken from the previous Friday Spelling Review. It is up to each student to practice mastering the spelling words using the Word Work Menu for ideas.  If a student has only a few or no spelling words to practice that week then content related Vocabulary Words will come home.   Parents please help out with quizzing them on the words and/or doing creative word games.  It makes a big difference.  Thanks in advance for the yearlong support.

            This week has been Maine Harvest Week for our lunch program.  Our class helped out the kitchen workers on Monday by husking locally grown corn for the whole school to enjoy at lunch. Wow… that’s a lot of corn! Also our class did morning announcements all week…! FunJ  Get the scoop from your kiddo. And we are getting very good with our class and school fire drill procedures when the loud, attention-getting alarm goes off. Lots of practice this week.

            Upcoming dates to remember:  Picture Day is next Thursday and Fall Parent/Teacher conference dates are 10/21 and 10/27.  I’ll have an on-line sign up for conferences in October. 

            Enjoy the weekend with your family…!      Best regards~

Circle Letter 9/18/15

September 18, 2015

Dear Families,

       Our first full week together has been great!  Students are doing well with the new routines, remembering red folder and completing the weekly homework assignments. We start our mornings in circle with a handshake greeting and everyone is getting comfortable with student names. This is important in fostering a supportive, caring classroom climate.

       We have started lots of things this week… word work, writing workshop (a personal narrative unit) read aloud (get the scoop from your kiddo…) reading workshop and even a little geography Continent review.  The day’s schedule is becoming familiar to the kids.  Our first math unit has been review of second grade concepts, as you can see from the weekly homelinks coming home.  In computer on Thursday each student logged onto the EveryDay Math on-line site.  Passwords will come home so students can use this at home.  There are interesting tools and games, as well as access to the Student Reference Book (SRB) which is a good resource when doing homework.  You will find the site via the Mitchell Student Links on our web site.

Our “Helping Hands” job-board has been colorfully designed, thanks to the help of  Makili’s Mom! Each week new jobs are assigned.  Some of the jobs require a bit of at-home work and planning, but most are jobs that help the class run more smoothly while getting everyone involved.  Be sure to check in with your student to see what job they had this week.

And lastly, don’t forget about the PTA sponsored four-mile road race Sunday at Fort Foster.   Race time starts at 8:30.  It is a great fundraiser for our fantastic PTA. The money they earn is directly spent on opportunities for Mitchell School Kids!              Enjoy the weekend~

Circle Letter 9/10/15

September, 10 2015

Dear Families,

Greetings and welcome officially to Third Grade! It has been a really nice start to the school year as we get to know our new classmates and new classroom routines.  The kids get an A for effort with their welcoming spirits and eagerness to make new classmate friends. Yes, it promises to be a wonderful year of learning.

This is the format of a weekly letter called the Circle Letter.  Each Friday I will write to you highlighting the week’s events and informing you on upcoming activities.  Your child will also write a letter to you about school topics.  Each weekend please set aside some time to write a letter back to your child in the notebook.  Your child will then start the school week reading a personal (and sweet!) letter from you.  This is a year long activity that I hope you will discover becomes quite meaningful and informative. Your participation in this is critical and I would like to thank you in advance for your support.

                          A few initial bits of information….

1) The red home –school folder will come home each night and should be returned each morning.  Thank you for helping to build good habits with this routine right from the start.

          2) Inside the home-school folder will be a weekly assignment sheet and homework for the week.  Typically, there is nightly reading, math and word work assignments.  I try to hand out most homework on Mondays/Wednesdays to help with time management at home.  We will slowly ease into homework beginning next week. 

3) Our special schedule is the following:

Monday- Art,   Tuesday –Library,  Wednesday – P.E,  Thursday- Computer,    Friday – Music

         4) We have a morning snack at 10:30 after a morning fresh air break.  It is important to have some healthy hearty food as lunch is not until 1:05.  Snack milk is also available for purchase.

         We are off to a great start.  I look forward to an exciting year together.  If you should want to contact me, my e.mail is: klantz@kitteryschools.com or call the school at 439-1707.                          

                           Best Regards~