Hello!

The first quarter report card went home yesterday in your child's Monday folder.  Please review it, sign the cover sheet, and send it back to school with your child. You can keep the report card for your records. I only need the top sheet returned.

Wednesday is Halloween!! We will have a school parade and class party that afternoon. Students will bring their costumes to school and change into them just before the parade begins at 2:45. The Halloween party will begin at 3:00, immediately following the parade. You are all welcome to swing by the classroom to see your child and the other kiddos dressed up for the holiday!  Don't forget to send in your supplies if you signed up to help with the party.  Here is the link to signup genius if you forgot what you were supposed to bring!  :)  www.SignUpGenius.com/go/409084BAEAC2E5-halloween

Prairie Ridge is celebrating Red Ribbon Week this week! Here is the schedule for spirit days:
Monday- Wear sweats
Tuesday- Wear red, white and blue
Wednesday- Crazy Sock Day (and bring Halloween costume to change into later)
Thursday- Twin Day
Friday- Pajama Day

Here is what we will be doing in class the rest of the week:
Reading- As we move to our next reading theme, Every Vote Counts, the students will practice creating images as they read.

Writing- We will publish our last piece and will also write a fun Halloween story.

Spelling- The pattern for the spelling lists this week is 'adverbs'. Adverbs are words that describe a verb. They often end with -ly.

Social Studies- The class has nominated 4 of our very own students to become class president. Grace, Ashley S., Max and Rheagan were nominated as candidates in our class election.  I am very proud of all of my kids as they were responsible when nominating their classmates.  They had to write one or two sentences stating qualitites as to what makes that person a good candidate.  I read so many wonderful comments about several of our kids, not just the final four candidates.  The students are working on a campaign to represent one of these 4 nominees. The class election will take place on Wednesday. After our class president is elected, he or she will then represent our class in the 3rd grade election, which will be held on election day next Tuesday!

Math- We will begin a new topic on multiplication this week.  The kids are very excited! 

Have a Happy and Safe Halloween!!

October 15-19

We are nearing the end of the first quarter!  Can you believe how fast it has gone?  This Thursday marks the last day of the quarter.

Students have this Friday(19th) and next Monday(22nd) off from school due to teacher in-service days.

Here is a look at this week's plans:
Reading- Students will begin learning about the "law" in our next theme.  They will be learning how to 'monitor understanding' of what they read.  A great way for them to practice this strategy is to have them complete the phrase, "I am not sure I understand..." about the text that they read.

Spelling- Our spelling pattern this week is contractions.  Students will practice which letters to remove from the two words that combine to make a contraction and where to place the apostrophe. The test will be on Thursday.

Writing- Students will continue working through the writing process with their personal narratives about their first loose tooth.

Math- We will take our Topic 3 test tomorrow.  If you would like to help your child prepare for the test, a review will be coming home tonight for homework.  The remainder of the week will be spent on telling time to the half-hour, quarter-hour, and minute.  Students will also take the official timed tests for addition and subtraction this week.

Social Studies- Our Rigby theme goes right along with our current social studies theme, just in time for elections.  Students will get a second helping of government during social studies this week.

SCIENCE REMINDER:  Solar Houses are due next Tuesday!!  Not only does your child need to have a solar house constructed from a shoe box, but they also need to have a write-up that goes with it. This can be either typed or handwritten.  See the rubric for all of the criteria for the write-up.

Have a great week!!

October 8 - 12

I sure am enjoying these cooler temperatures that have finally arrived.  As the air is getting cooler, remember to send your child with a light jacket to wear at recess. 

We had our Solar Cookout yesterday!  The baked apples were a big hit!  Although it didn't get warm enough outside for the cheese to melt on top of the nachos, the kiddos had a great time preparing them. They sure learned a lot about the process of creating and using a solar cooker as well.  Thank you so much to all of you who either donated items for this project, to those who were able to join us on Friday to help assemble the cookers and to those who joined us Monday to help the kids with the nachos.  I really could not have done that without all of your help!!!!!

Here is a look at this week:
Reading
We will be completing Theme 3 on Friday with a vocabulary quiz.  The students have been practicing how to infer the meaning of text when they are reading.

Spelling
The pattern this week is consonant digraphs.  The digraphs that will appear in the spelling words are: sh, ch, th, and wh.  The test will be on Friday.

Writing
The students will continue writing their personal narrative about losing a tooth.  Be sure to ask them about the story we read together, Trevor's Wiggly-Wobbly Tooth.

Math
The students will be using subtraction in a variety of ways.  They will learn how to use it in an expanded algorithm, model subtraction, subtract using 3 digit numbers, subtract across zeros, and how to draw a picture to help them solve problems.

Science
We will begin studying weather later this week.

Social Studies
We will complete our 3-dimensional communities.

October 1-5

Thank you all so much for attending parent teacher conferences. I really enjoyed having the chance to speak with each of you about your child last week.  I hope that you were able to share some positive feedback with him or her after we met.

This week is Bully Prevention Week at PRE.  Here is the schedule of events for the week:

Monday, October 1 – "Words Hurt, so…Choose them Kindly!"　 All classroom teachers will get a word bubble, your class is in charge of brainstorming a list of kind words – if you could get these to me by the end of that day that would be awesome!　 I want to get them on display, so they can be a reminder to kids all week.　 I will assign a few letters to each class to brainstorm – that way we don’t have a bunch of word bubbles with the same words on them!　

Tuesday, October 2 – "Team up against bullying!"

　 Today we want everyone to show they are teaming up against bullying by wearing their favorite team jersey or t-shirt!

Wednesday, October 3 – "Walk out on Bullying!"　

Today we are walking out on bullying, so wear your favorite fitness gear and sneakers!　 First thing, right after announcements, we will have our second annual bully walk.　 The students will walk around the perimeter of the school and playground to make a bully free barrier.　 Please make sure your students know the reason behind it!

Thursday, October 4 – "I’m too Bright to be a Bully!"　

To show that we are too bright to bully, wear bright clothing today!　 I will also be giving students a bookmark with this year’s bully theme on it.

Friday, October 5 –

"Our school is Bully Free!"　 To show pride in making our school bully-free, wear your favorite PRE spirit wear!

Reading-

We will begin Theme 3 today, What is Light?  Students will practice the reading strategy "inferrring" during this theme.  When you infer, you use your own ideas to help you understand what you read. 

Spelling-

The spelling pattern this week is when the long vowel sound is created by adding a silent 'e' at the end of a word.  This is also called the VCe pattern(Vowel, Consonant, silent e).

Writing-

Students will be practicing their friendly letter writing as they write letters to pen pals.  The pen pals that we will have this year are from the Derrick Thomas Academy in Kansas City, Kansas.  We will also be writing to another very special pen pal, Addisen, who moved to Texas last week! 

Math-

We will begin Topic 3 this week, Using Place Value to Add and Subtract.  The lessons this week will be adding with an expanded algorithm, adding 3-digit numbers by showing a model, adding 3-digit numbers, and adding 3 or more numbers.  We will also be reviewing skills from Topic 2 and restesting later this week.

Science-

We will be preparing Solar Cookers on Thursday.  This will require you to send in $0.50 to purchase the pizza box and a few other items as well.  Please check your child's Monday folder for a list of things that we are in need of to help us make solar cookers.  Our plan is to have a solar cookout on Friday, however, the weather looks a little chilly and we may need to postpone it until next week.  We still plan on preparing the cookers Thursday regardless of when the cookout will be.  Please let me know if you are able to supply us with one of the items on the list, and make sure to send it in by Wednesday this week.  Thanks!

Social Studies-

Students are working in groups to create 3-dimensional  models of rural, urban and suburban communities.