Happy Holidays from the Olsen's!

Friday, December 19, 2014

Happy Holidays from the Olsen's!

From my home to yours, may your days be merry and filled with joy and love this holiday season and always!

Merry Christmas....

And A Happy New Year!!!!

Declan: 9 months

Liam: 3 1/2 years old

Thank you all for the very generous and thougtful holiday gifts! I was so surprised and love the owl things!

Thank you again!!!! I am so lucky!

Homework Update:

As we approach our winter break, we thought it would be a great idea to post a note about 3rd grade homework. Although it varies by class, as a team we usually assign homework in at least one subject every day (less so on Fridays as we are mindful of busy weekends and time with family).

Please know that additionally, the students are encouraged to read for 20 minutes each night and can always be writing daily in a journal. These activities are optional for most classes, but will certainly help your student continue to work on their skills. We will be sending home a list of writing prompts (with a self-editing checklist) to help get your student inspired to write as well as a Common Core aligned reading extension menus for students to use in conjunction with their "good-fit" books at home.

Please know that homework is personal and what/how much your family can work on varies. We as a team understand this and while we continue to send home "manageable" workloads for 3rd graders, you always have the option to extend with the aforementioned activity options. Thanks for supporting your students and the efforts they put into their learning here at Prairieview School. Have a wonderful winter break and Happy New Year!

The Third Grade Team

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Winter Break: See you next year on Jan 5, 2015!!

*Thurs. 1/8: MAPS Reading Test

AIMSWeb Benchmarking

*Tues. 1/13: MAPS Math Test

A LOOK AT NEXT WEEK:

*Reading: We will continue our ELA unit #2 as we talk about culture and tradition. We will focus on two stories by Patricia Polacco to illustrate the idea of traditions being passed down through the generations. We will also be working on cause and effect and non fiction text features in our guided reading groups.

* English: We will continue to focus on verbs.

* Spelling: We will not have a spelling list. Instead we will focus on prefix, suffix, and base words. There will be a packet of activities we will work on in class and at home and there will be a final test covering our studies to be announced.

* Social Studies: We will begin ch. 3 as we study culture, tradition, and immigration. Your child will be doing a culture day presentation, sharing a part of their culture with the class. More information coming home on this, but it might be a good time to begin discussing culture and tradition with family during the holidays! Grandparents are usually a wealth of information!

*Science: We will begin our study of matter (Ch. 11).

* Math: We will begin ch. 6: continuing to learn about multiplication facts. We will focus on 5's multiplication facts the week we return. Please see your child's math folder for a green multiplication facts packet. In the packet, the dates that your child needs to master a certain math fact set is listed. As soon as they pass one fact, they move onto the next. Thank you for your continued help with facts at home. Please be sure to have your child practice these over the next 2 weeks! They can use xtramath.org or the link listed in my blog for some fun, interactive games to practice facts.

Have a happy, relaxing, safe, and fun holiday break! See you in 2015!!!!
Mrs. Olsen