SHARING THE JOY OF CHRISTMAS

Parents, Families, and Students~
You have no idea of the impact we have made on a family right here in Brownsburg. With the help of all of you we collected, organized, and wrapped all the gifts you see in the picture. This family would not have all this for Christmas if it had not been for the generosity of all of you! We, myself, Mrs. King, and Mrs. Mingus thank you for sharing during this holiday season!

Star Student This Week

Our star this week was Cristian. Cristian has a great attitude in class and is faithful about doing his classroom job daily. Keep up the good work Cristian!

This Week's Star

Our star student is Allison this week. Allison consistently puts forth 100% effort into everything she does. She works hard and is a responsible student in the classroom and around the building.

Acuity Information

We will have our reading Acuity #2 test next week on Tuesday. Every child should be working on the website://www.acuityathome.com because it has tutorial and practice problems for the standards they missed on the most current test (see binder for ID). As they pass those skills by using the study section, the questions disappear. It is extremely helpful for the kids and will only help them pass the real ISTEP test in the spring. Please email me to let me know if your child has used this at home so I can watch their progress from my teacher’s account. Thank you for all you do to challenge your children to be all they can be!

Hope to See You There

Hugo Caberet movie will be this Sunday at the Regal in Avon at 1:05. We will wait for you all in the lobby. If we are not there just meet us inside.

November Top Readers

Wow, our third graders read 11,305 minutes at home during the month of November! That is quite a jump from the 6,128 last month.
Our top reader read 1,313 minutes-Grace
2nd highest reader was Hailey with 890 minutes
3rd highest reader was Aubrey with 812 minutes
Keep up the great reading everybody!!

Star Student

Brayden has been our star student this week. Braden has been working super hard to stay on task and work hard throughout the day. He has been doing a super job!

McTeacher Night

We had a great turn out at McDonalds tonight. Thanks to all of you who could make it-if I counted correctly we had 11 students from our class show up!

Weekly News

Hugo Cabret movie will be coming out Thanksgiving and I would still love to have as many kids as possible meet up at the movie theater either December 3^rd or 4^th. Mrs. King and I are working out a date and I’ll get that to you as soon as we know.

The kids are now able to go onto www.acuityathome.com to practice the skills they did not do well on when we took our first ISTEP predictive test. This is a great resource to prepare for ISTEP because they are the same types of questions that are found on ISTEP. The kids have a label in their assignment notebook with their sign-ons.

Math: Everyday Math: We are working on Unit 5 and the kids are getting really good at saying large numbers up to the millions. We will be working with decimals next week and this can be a very difficult concept for all of the kids. Please work with them on their homework each night because it helps for you to see their struggles.

Reading: We are really focusing on fluency right now and getting our readers to read smoothly without being so choppy. It really helps for them to be reading out loud occasionally at home.

Writing:
We are finishing up our “How to Cook A Turkey” and we also began brainstorming for our “Personal Narratives”. The kids will continue to work on paragraph writing. They should be able to tell you that a complete paragraph has: indents, a topic sentence, supporting details, and a concluding sentence. It will really help them when ISTEP rolls around and any help you can do with practicing at home will only help enrich them.

Health/Science/Social Studies: We will continue working on Squanto and when we are finished with the novel we will complete a book report in class.

Important Dates to Remember:

Spelling-none this week (short week) Reading Counts quiz #3 due 11/22 PSG meeting 11/29 at 6:00pm McTeacher Night at McDonald's 11/30-stop and see me-I'll be working from 6:30-8:00 Thanksgiving Break Nov 24-25 Meet up to see Hugo Cabret Dec 2/3 (more to come later)

Star Student

Our star this week is Olyvia. Olyvia worked super hard last week to make sure all her work was done and turned in on time. Olyvia, your hard work paid off-keep it up.

WE DID IT (Times 2)

First, we won the collection contest for Veterans-Our class will celebrate with cookies on Wednesday.

ALSO, we collected 20 labels for Sunny D and I mailed them in today to receive 20 free books from scholastic.

These accomplishments would not be possible without all of you! THANKS FOR EVERYTHING!!

Talk About SUPPORT

Thank to everyone who could send in something for the troops. Our class collected 117 items in support of our troops! I'm so excited and amazed by what we all can (and will) do to help others. You are all the best!!

Star of the Week

Our star this week has been Jackson Carter. He has been working really hard to use our morning routine to get the things done he needs to. He's also a great helper when asked to do something! Keep it up Jackson.

Next Reading Counts Quiz

As of last Wednesday (after our library visit), every child had a new lexile book that they should be reading for the upcoming quiz. The next quiz will be due on or before Nov. 22nd. Please check with your child to see where he/she is with their book. Thanks!!

Award Winners!

First of all, congratulations to everyone who submitted a design! The three third grade classes voted throughout the week and out top winners emerged from there.
The top winners in the boat design were Matthew (41 votes) and Jackson C. (13 votes). The winners for the dress design were Grace (26 votes) and Emily (23 votes). These students worked hard to create an award winning design and thus were awarded with a homework pass!

Learning in Action

Writing:
This week we began structuring of paragraphs. Next week we'll focus more on "how-to" writing and we'll be writing many rough draft paragraphs on “How to Wash Your Hands”, “How to Do Your Homework Properly”, etc. The kids are still struggling with indenting and writing in straight lines. Suggestions are to have your kids practice writing at home as much as possible to help with this skill. ISTEP writing can be overwhelming. Try having the kids write letters and stories. (They make great Holiday gifts for those people who have everything in your family).
Math:
We are working very hard on multiplication and we will keep taking times tests. It is imperative that every child is practicing all math facts at home using flashcards or computer programs to help them. I know I say this over and over again, but they must go to 4^th grade knowing subtraction, addition, and multiplication facts well.
Social Studies:
We will begin reading Squanto.

Lots of Stuff

Hi Parents~
Be sure to look through your child's Friday folder~you'll find the Brown Barker for the month of November as well as other papers from the office. Not to mention that I put together a list of computer resources that you may find helpful as winter weather approaches and outside activities slow down.

This week's star

Blake is our star this week. He has been working very hard and staying focused on his work when asked to. Blake has also been showing respect when he has something to share! Great job Blake.

Upcoming next week 10-31/11-4

Our story next week is The Stories Julian Tells. It is a realistic fiction story that many students can identify with, moving and making new friends. Our focus will be on sequencing the main events from the story.

In spelling we will be working with possessives and it is a very difficult list for the kids so we will not do challenge words because the test takes longer to complete. Words such as; student’s and students’.

In math, we are working in Unit 4 and it is all about multiplication. All 3^rd graders should know their math facts by the end of the school year.