Dear Parents, January 29, 2011Thank you for the positive responses I’ve received from parents about the email I sent earlier this week about distractions to learning in our classroom. You are a wonderful group of parents to work with! Also, thank you for looking through your child’s work to help them choose “exceptional” work to showcase in their portfolios. Several students have proudly returned papers to me over the last few weeks. The dioramas are wonderful! We had a “diorama museum show” on Friday so that we could all look at each other’s work. Students really enjoy showing off their efforts to each other! We also have them displayed for our Open House this weekend, so feel free to come in and check them out.The February Book-It assignment was sent home this weekend on bright pink paper, along with a Heritage Interview form. The Interview form is due next Friday, so we can begin planning our decorations and mapping our diversity in our classroom. We’ll have a world map to show all the countries, states, and regions that our class represents. I’ve attached both forms to this email, just in case something gets lost in transit. I’m very excited about this new special event for third grade! This unit will cover standards in Language Arts, Social Studies, and Religion. If you would like the specifics on which standards this assignment addresses, just send me an email and I’ll be happy to send them.Catholic Schools Week is busy this week! We have lots of fun activities planned for students each day. I know you all received an email from the school office about each day, but wanted to send a quick reminder about special events.· Monday: Students may wear SMS or Catholic High School spirit wear to school. · Tuesday: Student Appreciation Day. Students may be out of uniform.· Wednesday: Pajama Day (school appropriate, no shorts or bare shoulders/arms) Look for a special note from your child in his or her backpack today.· Thursday: Thank you to Mrs. Oaldon for covering my class so that the assistants and myself can enjoy the staff luncheon.· Friday: Dress Up Day for Grandparents/Special Friends Day. Mass is at 8:15. Grandparents may visit the classroom till 10:30. I’ll have a few activities for students to do with grandparents, including an interview about their history/heritage. The day will end with the staff/8th grade volleyball game in the gym.Our focus in school this week:In Math, we are introducing comparing fractions with different denominators and identifying angles in practical applications. We will continue working with measurement conversions and story problems with money amounts. You can help your child by having them do real life math, helping with recipes, identifying fractions, adding money amounts, and figuring the change given from purchases. You can also encourage your student to practice on ixl.com with multiplication facts, angles, and fractions. We are also reviewing addition and subtraction with regrouping, as this is a very important and challenging standard for third grade.In Language Arts, we are continuing our unit on fables and folktales. We will be working on the skill of comparing and contrasting the different types of stories. We will also be working on story writing, and the inclusion of problems/solutions and interesting word choice in our stories. We are close to finishing our cursive handbook, and will begin using cursive for many assignments in class. The story we choose to publish will be written in cursive this time.In Science, we are beginning a webquest about recycling. I will be asking students to bring in 1 paper grocery bag this week and one (clean) item that could be recycled. Please wait to send this until I ask students for them. We will be doing some practical activities with recycling, as well as research on the internet. Students will be working on teams to research and present their information. We will be practicing and learning many technology skills with this unit (including PowerPoint presentations, Publisher documents, and internet research skills). This unit also addresses multiple subject standards. Again, if you would like the specifics, I’m happy to send them to you.In Religion, we are focusing on the stories we hear about Jesus during Ordinary Time. We will also be learning about our Catholic heritage, and the diversity of St. Monica Parish and School to connect with our Heritage theme for this month. We will also be talking about the universality of the Catholic Church in our world. These concepts address the respect for the dignity of all persons, which is a basic teaching of our Catholic faith. Have a wonderful week!Stacie Hernandez