Nov. 16 - 20, 2009

Last Thursday evening and Friday Conferences were very insightful and enriching from a teacher's perspective to learn more about your child. Thank you for giving me this opportunity. Twenty minutes with each family goes by so fast. We will continue to aviate, navigate, and communicate together to ensure your child's success in Third Grade.

On Monday your child will be bringing home a letter about Second Step, the social skills curriculum for Third Grade, that will begin on Monday. After reading it, please sign the bottom portion and have your child return it to school by Wednesday, Nov. 18. I welcome any questions or comments you may have about Second Step.

What is an analogy? This question will be discussed as we continue to learn the Wordmaster Words this week. We will be doing different types of analogies and connecting them to synonyms and antonyms. Please come in our classroom to check the word cards to see what ones the children have found more often.

Spelling packets are back. Thank you for signing the front page as you spend time studying the words with your Third Grader this week.

Our Guided Oral Reading Groups are in full swing. Each group reads aloud , does an activity connected to their book, and discusses the text.

Yes, cursive handwriting is in the works! This week we will be discussing the "behind-the-scenes" of cursive - the 5 "S" rules, pencil grip, purpose, history. We will be all set to write our first lowercase letters the week of Nov. 23 - 25. I invite you to share any cursive stories you remember from when you were first introduced to it.

In Social Studies we will be doing work with timelines and comparing maps from different time periods. Paying close attention to detail will be part of our learning.

Elliot was our Author of theWeek. He showed us favorite parts of his books and was well prepared. Our class loved the books read by his Mom, Silva, about the kitty and the puppy. What active characters they are!

Aaliyah was our Mystery Student. Her Grandmother's two dogs are,also, very active and even went trick-or-treating with her on Halloween.

Expect a great week. Room 105 will continue to aviate, navigate,and communicate with each other to make it a memorable year.

Best regards,

Mrs. Maguire