School Management Team Notes/September 2006

Our students are adjusting nicely to third grade by learning classroom procedures and expectations.  All three classes have brainstormed ground rules that will help students be successful at school.  Students have begun to change classes for math.  They are all working on Unit 1 which covers place value, addition and subtraction, and data analysis (graphing).  We have also begun to change for Science, Social Studies, and Map Skills each week.  In Science, students are working with Mrs. McCarty on the study of fingerprints.  All students have made fingerprints of their right hands. They are in the process of identifying each fingerprint type and their fingerprint formula.  They will continue studying the three different types of fingerprints and will solve a mystery using fingerprints by the end of the month.  In Map Skills, Mrs. Michlewicz introduced students to the atlas and began working on cardinal directions.  In Social Studies with Ms. Smoral, students are categorizing resources as either human, natural, or capital.  In reading, Mrs. McCarty’s class has read “The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig.”  Students are in the process of writing a summary for the story.  They have begun meeting in reading groups and are working on text to self analysis and understanding words using context clues.  Mrs. Michelwicz and her students are working on understanding characters in fiction.  They are also writing about memories and learning to write in cursive.  Ms. Smoral’s class has been using realistic fiction books to make text to self connections.  They are learning strategies to use before, during, and after reading.  The class is working on using context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words.  All three classes are using Spellwell books for spelling.  As you can see, third graders are very busy!  They seem to be most excited about learning to write in cursive.  They’re off to a great start!