1/16-12 - 1/20/12

Important Reminders- 
There is no school on 1/16 in honor of Dr. King.
If your child is in third grade Math, and you would like them tested to see if they qualify for Accelerated Math, please email his/her teacher as soon as possible. Disregard this note if your child is already in Accelerated Math. They will not need to be retested, they are automatically kept in the program.


Find out first by reading the blog!:The third graders don't know it yet, but we will be going on a field trip to see a production of Ramona Quimby on Mon., February 6th at the Paramount Theater in Aurora. (A permission letter will be coming home later this week.) Each class needs 2 parent chaperons. If you are available, please email your child's teacher or send them a short note. The 3rd grade teachers will contact parents to confirm.

Please read the letter regarding Open House:
OPEN HOUSE

Dear Parents and Students:

You and your family are cordially invited to attend May Watts School’s Open House on Tuesday, January 31, 2012.   We are holding only one Open House this year.  To alleviate being overcrowded, we are asking families whose last name begins with “A thru L” attend from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.  Families whose last name begins with “M thru Z” are requested to attend from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.  

This is an excellent opportunity for you and your family to see your children's work, meet your child's teacher and see your school.  All members of our support staff will also be available for you to visit.  Please be sure to stop by and visit with them. Due to the informal nature of the night, it will not be possible to conduct parent/teacher conferences.  Our next conference date is Tuesday, February 21^st,  or you can call the teacher anytime to schedule a meeting. 

 There will not be a Book Fair during Open House this year.  We will be holding the Book Fair in March and more information will be forthcoming.

 Please remember to check our "Lost & Found" which will be on display in the Office hallway during the evening.  Any items not claimed this evening will be donated to a charity.

 We will open all outside building doors in order for you to enter the building so that you may park in the rear of the building.   Come on in.  We are looking forward to your visit.

 Sincerely,

 May Watts Staff

Spelling- The test for List 14 will be Friday, 1/20. The skill is /ar/ words. Please click on the tab above for the list.

Reading- The students will continue reading Balto, the Dog who Saved Nome. We will work on the strategies of sequencing important events and identifying parts of a nonfiction story. Please have your child reread the story at home at least once throughout the week. The students will take an open book test on this story at the end of the week.

Science- The third grade team is very excited to immerse students in the rain forest! 
The students will begin by asking a question about something in the rain forest that they want to learn more about. We wanted these projects to be student driven with few limitations so that students can be creative! All that we ask, is that the projects can be hung in the hall as we are going to turn it into a rain forest!

Within this unit, the students will learn where rain forests are located in the world, and the different layers of the rain forest- the emergent layer, forest floor, understory, and the canopy. More information regarding the rain forest party and donations will be forthcoming.
Please send an empty, clean 2 liter bottle with the top on to school by Jan. 27th for a special rain forest project that your child will be doing. The third grade team is collecting $2.00 from each student in order to cover the cost of supplies for the project.
In addition, as a totally separate project, for the next two weeks the students will be assigned a rain forest animal or insect to research. The teachers will provide the students with a direction sheet for this and paper for this special poster. The students will research their animal using the internet, books, and magazines. On the poster, they will name their animal, find pictures of it, explain its physical characteristics, habitat, diet, enemies or predators, and give wow facts. We will be working on this in class, in the library, and in computer lab. Students may also work at home to find additional books, internet sources, and facts about their animal.

Writing- For the next four weeks, the students will learn how to write a personal narrative. We will begin by immersing students in short narratives and writing what we notice. Then the students will write flash drafts, and our classes will create a narrative checklist. We will model how to brainstorm ideas using the heart map. Teachers will also model how to write a personal narrative, as well as write narratives together as a we do. Finally, the students will write independently (you do).

Third Grade Math- The Unit 5 Study Guide is due on 1/17. The test for Unit 5 will be on Wed., 1/18. We will then begin Unit 6 which is all about Geometry. The students will learn to identify, name, and create lines, rays, and line segments that are parallel, perpendicular, and intersect.