Dear Families of Room C-9:

Welcome to the first day of third grade! This will be a week of getting acquainted--with our room, with each other, and with new materials. We will be establishing classroom routines and defining classroom rules and behavioral expectations together.

During the first three weeks of school, all third grade teachers will be assessing their students in the subjects of reading, math and spelling. The information from these assessments will help us to plan appropriate curriculum for the class and for individual students. It will give us a “base line” for each child to measure growth over the year. The assessments are not graded and the children are not evaluated by these measures.

Homework will be sent home as a packet on Mondays and should be completed and turned in on the days scheduled. The first homework assignments are included with this letter. Please sign and return the TAKE HOME envelope to school on Tuesday. It will come home every Friday and should be signed and returned each Monday.

Please send a baby picture of your child, with his or her name written on the back of the picture, to school by Friday. We will be using the picture for classroom activities and it will be returned afterward.

Requested materials for classroom use for each child:
*A set of fine line colored markers for art work.
*A set of colored pencils for science and art.
*A clipboard for outdoor investigations (please label with name)
*An old clean sock for cleaning individual white boards
*A large “soft” or gum eraser for art projects
*A black Sharpie pen
*A broad tip highlighter--any color

CLASSROOM “WISH LIST”
It would be very helpful to have donations of the following (to share):
***Mr. Sketch Markers (12 colors, scented) -- we need a total of 5 boxes.
* kleenex--we use a lot of boxes during cold season!
*rolls of 35 mm color print film, ASA 400
*A set/sets of earth tones colored pastels (yellow, orange, browns)
We need a total of 10 new sets
*A set of 20 (or more) colored hi-liters with chisel points--Costco carries these.


It was a pleasure to meet so many of you on “Greeting Day”. I look forward to a very enjoyable and exciting year in third grade. Please keep the lines of communication open.

Ginger Gaskin
Third Grade
*Homework *

Week of August 28, 2002
*
Every Day
***: Reading Log--read with your child, or if the child is reading independently, monitor and help record the daily reading. 10 to 20 minutes. The reading log should be turned in when filled and a new log will be issued.


*
Wednesday--August 28, 2002
*“What’s In The Sack?”-- empty your take-home sack and read the poem. Match each item with the correct line in the poem. Enjoy! Now find 4 things at your house that tell about you. Put them in the bag to share. If a “thing” is too big to fit in the bag, you may draw a picture of it. Due Thursday.

*
Thursday—August 29, 2002 :
*Write an alphabetical list of our class members’ names using the first name of each student. Due Friday.

*Look at the person above and the person below you on the list and think of something you enjoyed about that person this week. Write down your idea in a complete sentence. This means you must make an effort to meet and talk to the person on Wednesday or Thursday.

* Math graphing: “Flavor Favorites”—due Friday.


Happy end of the first week of school!
Enjoy the long weekend.