September 18 2006

Dear Families,

This week we are starting our spelling program. Your child took a spelling pretest on Friday for the first unit in our third grade program. If your child missed none or one of the words on the pretest I have given him/her a more difficult list to study for this week (Green List). If your child missed several of the words he/she will study this list for the week. The "Blue List" is the standard third grade list that we will all be working on for the week. As the year progresses I may also be giving a "Purple List" which is more challenging, or a "Red List" which is a shortened version of the blue list. Everyone will be taking their spelling tests in school on Friday.

In order to support your child at home please give him/her a pretest tonight, Monday, and again on Thursday night. If your child is missing words on the Monday pretest, you may make flash cards or find a way to practice those words during the week. Your child has made a "Flip Folder" to practice spelling words. This folder should stay at home. I'll send home a "flip folder" list with each child on Mondays. This is a great way to practice words. The directions are printed inside each folder.

On weeks with less math homework I will sometimes assign spelling sentences, but I don't do this on a regular basis. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Sally Gilbride

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September 15, 2006

Dear Families,

We have finished our first full week of school and I am so pleased with the way everyone is adjusting to our routines. Your children are a joy to be with each day. It has been very interesting to listen to each child talk about themselves through the pictures and writing they've brought in to school. As we make note of our similarities and differences, new friendships are developing.

We have been reviewing different genres, or types of literature in reading. We are reading short samples of each genre, webbing the attributes of each type, and learning where to find each genre in our classroom library. This week we looked at nonfiction, plays, biography, and historical fiction. We are working on Reader's Theater productions of three plays based on some of Bill Cosby's Little Bill series. I'll be calling a few volunteers next week to help us practice. In Reader's Theater students read a script and use their voices to add expression and meaning to the words. Props are minimal. We'll probably use some hats to help the audience identify the characters. I love how Reader's Theater builds reading fluency and group cooperation.

Homework has been coming in very regularly this week, Everyone even put his/her name on it! I hope it hasn't been too much of a struggle at home. Let me know if there is anything I can do to smooth over the process. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's Reading Record. New ones come home today. Thank-you for your help and encouragement. Students have borrowed books from our classroom library this week. I'm happy to have it so well used. Today was the first time this year students borrowed books from Central's library. Mrs. Poli makes sure that our library just keeps getting better and better. There are some new biographies that I think are perfect for us. And, a new crop of chapter books have been added to our school's collection. Next week we will be starting on our spelling program and studying spelling words for a weekly test. I'll send home more information on that on Monday with our homework schedule. We are taking the pretest on unit 1 today.

Number grids and number grid puzzles have been challenging for many students this week in math. We'll keep working on them in our Everyday Math journals and in group work. My mother would have been ninety this week. I had given her a box with dated pennies for each year of her life. The children have been having a great time putting these pennies on a grid to make a penny number grid puzzle.

Telling time is another challenge many faced this week. At the top of each homelink is a place for students to write their names (very important!) the date and the time. Please encourage your child to fill in all the parts, it's good practice. Asking questions like, "What will the time be in 10 minutes?" or "..was it 10 minutes ago?" are also helpful thinking exercises. We collected data on the number of letters in our first and last names, made tally charts, and converted the tally charts into bar graphs! This year our maximum, minimum, and range were the same for both first and last names! We will be thinking of other survey questions we can ask each other and follow through the same process. Graphing some of the data we collect allows us to share that information in an organized way.

Open House is on Tuesday, September 26th, A week from today, September 22nd, is Picture Day. Have a wonderful weekend.

Sally Gilbride

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September 6, 2006

Dear Families,

I would like to extend my welcome to you as third grade parents. I feel that it is in the best interest of your child that we have close home-school communications as we begin this year. I will keep you informed about your child's progress through notes, phone calls, conferences, and weekly letters that are sent home. Please let me know of your concerns and observations. If you need to speak to me in the morning, please call before 8:00 am (because I have bus duty) or around 10:00 am when the class is at special. My voicemail box number is 220. If you have e-mail capabilities, I check my e-mail often. My e-mail address is: sgilbride@msad35.net .

In this mound of papers you will find our class schedule. Some parts will probably change, but the "specials" will definitely remain the same. We are on a five day schedule. This means that "specials" will not be on the same day of the week every week. On Day 2 Mrs. D'Aran, our school counselor, will be coming in to teach a violence prevention program called Second Step. I'm sure we will be hearing more about this 12 week program soon. We will see how this schedule works and I'll let you know if there are any changes.

I will be gradually introducing the routines of third grade over the course of the next few weeks. The children are less likely to feel overwhelmed this way, and third grade can be overwhelming! Starting on Friday I will send home a Reading Record for recording reading that is completed at home. The goal is to read 15 minutes a night. I feel that the best thing your child can do for homework is to practice reading. In third grade we expect children to spend 30 minutes a night on homework. There will also be spelling words to practice and math assignments, called Homelinks, on a regular basis, but I consider keeping a Reading At Home recording sheet to be of primary importance. Recording sheets will usually be sent home on Fridays and returned the following Friday. The first one will come home on Sept. 8th and be due the following Friday.

There are many options for finding books for your child to read. I will lend out books from our classroom library as long as they keep coming back! Our school library is ready to lend books. The town library also has a good selection of children's books. I will be sending home book order forms every month or so. There are four in today's bundle. If you wish to place an order please send in a check made out to the company, or cash. All of the book order companies are connected, so you only need to send in one check even if you are ordering from several forms.The orders are due by next Friday, Sept. 15th.

Please help your child find a safe place to keep the recording sheet and encourage him/her to keep track of his/her reading. We will be keeping track of time spent reading. You will find the latest tally on the weekly Homework schedule. I encourage you to read what your child has read and discuss it together. Reading aloud can also count toward time on the Reading Record. Talking about what has been read helps to strengthen reading comprehension. You will also find a Parent Survey in the packet. I do not need it back tomorrow! Please take some time to fill it out and send it back within the next week or so. This year all of the teachers in the district read 7 Keys to Comprehension by Susan Zimmerman and Chryse Hutchins. We were very fortunate to have Susan Zimmerman speak to us last week. I will be using our Reading Records to focus on the 7 keys as we learn and practice each step.

I use Guided Reading and the Writing Process in my classroom. I believe that we learn about reading through writing and conversely, we learn about writing through reading. Third grade skills are taught through whole group instruction and reinforced through worksheets and individual review. I give remedial and accelerated instruction individually as well as in small groups. The children read a variety of fiction and non fiction. My classroom has a good library of grade appropriate books. The children receive Storyworks magazine monthly and Scholastic News weekly. I rely upon these two magazines to provide appropriately written articles on current events, reinforce reading skills, and provide many oral reading and writing opportunities. Over the next few weeks the children will begin Reading Journals in which they will "converse" with me about their reading. The journals are a way for me to monitor comprehension as well as presenting an opportunity for meaningful writing.

During the Writing Workshop children choose their own topics, and we will also write on the same topic or in the same style as we grow as writers. Editing is done through a checklist and conferences with me and other students. I conduct a whole group lesson before each Writing Workshop, however, many skills are taught individually as the child uses them in writing. I find this approach to be more meaningful to students because they can see an application of the skill in their own work. We publish our work in various ways. The children may put together a book or choose a frame and laminate their work. I like final work to be done in the child's own handwriting, but occasionally pieces are typed. Generally, finished work is kept in writing folders which stay in school until June. I do photocopy work to send home so children can share their writing with their families.

This year we will continue to use Everyday Math. I'm very excited about this program and I think the children will enjoy the third grade program. It is a rigorous curriculum that aligns with the Maine State Learning Results. Please read the Introduction and Unit 1 overview in your family's orange math folder. I think you will really like the way that each unit is introduced to parents. You will find vocabulary and important concepts explained for you as well as the answers to the unit's "Homelinks" (homework). Keep your folder handy for storing the unit overview letters as well as any other material I'll send home. At the beginning of each unit I'll send home a list of free online math games with their internet addresses. In unit one we start the year off by looking closely at numbers and how they are used, building our "automaticity" of the basic addition and subtraction facts, reviewing telling time, and place value. Our first "Homelink" asks children to find numbers and their units at home and record them on a chart to bring in and share with others.

We will be updating our portion of the school web site on a regular basis. Our school policy is to not include any names or faces of students on our site. However, from time to time I would like to have your child write the class news and submit drawings for the web site. I will not do this without your permission. You will find a permission slip for this at the end of this letter. Our web site address is: http://www.msad35.net/central/index.htm

You may want to bookmark it on you browser to avoid having to remember it. The district site: http://www.msad35.net also has a link to our site.

Our first science unit this year is Forces and Motion. We'll be learning about how and why things move the way they do. The major part of our social studies curriculum involves the study of communities and their governments. We'll be starting with a geography review and then looking at South Berwick with the help of the workbook, Our Town, which was developed with the help of the town.

Please let me know if you have any questions I look forward to seeing you at the school Open House on Tuesday, September 26th.

Sincerely,

Sally Gilbride

school: 384-2333 / home: 363-3191 / e-mail: sgilbride @msad35.net

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