We’re off to
a great start!
How wonderful to meet all of your third graders. They are kind hearted and full of life.
We spent the morning organizing our materials,
beginning a Reading Workshop, meeting the new PE teacher –Mr. Lewis-- and making
Glyphs (ask your student) that represent our feelings and thinking about math
class.
In the afternoon we started our Storyline with Beverly Cleary’s book Henry
Huggins. Kids listened to
Ms. Cleary’s introduction in which she describes how she came to write the
book, lots of discussion about what
choices and decisions writers make. We
did a “close reading” with the first chapter and kids looked for evidence in
the text that described the main characters.
(See the photos). We prepared
homework boxes and discussed homework before the three o’clock bell rang.
Whew!! That
was a lot.
Please mark your calendars for Back to
School Night, Thursday, September 18, 6:30-8:00. The event always begins in the cafeteria with
introductions and then moves to classroom.
That is the time to sign up for fall conference which will be earlier
this year--- The last week of October. It
is also the time to get the full run down on classroom procedures and
expectations. Our year together will be
jam-packed and I will be expecting a
lot from your students. With the Common
Core State Standards, teachers are preparing students for some rigorous testing
and new curriculum to meet the standards.
During Back to School Night I’ll also talk about volunteer
opportunities. Some things just don’t
happen without the help and support of parents.
Please consider volunteering to help with Writing Workshop, Math and
such.
One great opportunity happens
this Thursday and Friday, September 4
and 5, from 2:00-3:00. For our Storyline we need to make a lot of
painted paper. It’s always fun to see
kids mix the colors. But it can get
hectic. Help us out, you won’t regret
it.
The blog
is up and running and it is the best way for me to let you know what is
happening in the classroom. Please let
me invite you, send me an email with the tag line: class blog, and I will use that email. I’m NOT an expert at this but it is fun to
learn as I go.
Thanks
for all you do,
Valerie
McKenzie
 |
| Close reading of the text. |
