http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/ en Copyright 2012 Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:35:42 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Today the students received a copy of the book report format. I thought I would put it on my blog so you can refer to it in case you misplace the format sent home. Your child should bring in their book they have chosen for approval. Please make sure it is a chapter book. The students will be required to write four book reports for third grade. The following dates listed are when the book reports are due; First Book Report - Friday, January 27th - Printed on loose leaf paper Second Book Report - Friday, February 24th - Written in cursive on loose leaf paper Third Book Report - Friday- March 30th - Written in cursive on loose leaf paper Fourth Book Report - Friday- April 27th - Typed in computer class (rough draft needed on April 27th) Name Date School Grade 3 Room 8 Book Report Title: Author: Characters: Summary: Write your summary while you read the book by reading a couple of chapters, then writing a paragraph about what you read. It should be written as if you are retelling the story in your own words. It should include several details from the story so that anyone reading it, should be able to understand it and feel as if they read the story too. After you have written a lenghty summary, include a paragraph as to what you liked best about the story. The cover should be creative. You can draw and color your cover or find any other ways to decorate it. Please do not scan the cover of the book from your printer. Parents should not write these book reports but you can help your child with their writing skills and with their creativity. This is a new skill for the students, so they probably will need some assistance. After four book reports, you will be surprised how your child writes so well.. This is the grading rubic that will be used: IDEAS: A clear focus on the book ORGANIZATION: A beginning that identifies the title, author, characters, setting A middle that describes the main events in time order An ending that sums up the writer's opinion of the book VOICE confident, lively voice WORD CHOICE Carefully chosen adjectives SENTENCE FLUENCY A variety of sentences CONVENTIONS Correct grammar and usage Correct spelling Correct punctuation an capitalization PRESENTATION Neatness Consistent margins and spacing COVER ________________________________________________________________________________ POINT VALUES: 4 - not evident 5 - minimal evidence of mastery 6 - evidence of development toward mastery 7 - strong evidence of mastery 8 - outstanding evidence of mastery http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/2012/01/book_report_format.html http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/2012/01/book_report_format.html Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:35:42 -0600 I can't believe the time is flying by so quickly and it is almost Christmas. I am not ready for it but the students are very eager for Christmas to come. I am sure I will enjoy Christmas break, though. We have been busy preparing for our Christmas song "We Need A Little Christmas". The students have been working hard and I think you will be amazed with their dancing ability. I may even have future "Dancing with the Stars" in my class. The performance is next Tuesday, December 20th at 7:00 in the church. Bring your video cameras because this is a once in a lifetime performance. Our Christmas party will be next Wednesday. In the morning we will watch a movie and our party will be at 12:30. We will play some games and make "Build Your Own Sundae" I don't really need any help with this party, but if you would like to join us, you are always welcomed. As you may have noticed, I accidently skipped over a chapter in Math. I think I am a lttle frazzled these days. I promised the kids we would go back to it after Christmas. They were not too happy about this. After Christmas, the student will begin writing everything in cursive. They are very excited to about this. Also, multiplication is right around the corner. Please start practicing these facts if you haven't yet. In Math we are working on elasped time and many of the students are having difficulty with this concept. Keep practicing telling time and elasped time with your child. This is an important concept they will need to know in everyday life so they all need to master telling time. Merry Christmas to you and your family and I hope you have a joyous Christmas! Mrs. Moran http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/2011/12/christmas_already.html http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/2011/12/christmas_already.html Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:55:10 -0600 We had a great surprise this past week and welcomed Jackie Waclawik to our class. The students were so excited for her to come that some of the girls even welcomed her with a song they created called "Jackie". The students have been great helping her get aquainted and adjusted to our school. Jackie is a great addition to our class and she is adapting well. I hope all of you will be able to meet her because she is a real "Sweetheart" I can't believe it, but our first quarter is ending this Friday. I know there are alot of tests this week, but it just happened we completed many units at the same time. Mrs. McGovern and I didn't plan this, it just happened that way. I am sure all the students will do great on their tests. Monday is Halloween and I wanted to let you know the activities that are planned for that day. The students may wear their costumes to school. At 8:30, grades K-3 will parade outside modeling their costumes. Please bring your camera to catch your child's shining smile. It is fun to see all the unique costumes. The students will be coming out of the doors by the flagpole and will parade to the kitchen door. I have three wonderful Mom's who have volunteered to help with the Halloween party. They are Mrs. Greene, Mrs. McCarthy and Mrs. Przybilski. We will be playing games, passing out candy and even having pizza for a snack. Mrs Przybilski wanted to treat the students to pizza on Halloween! Thank you Mrs Przybilski! Don't we have such great parents at St. Linus! We will be serving pizza around 2':00 so the students don't have to have a huge lunch that day. Juice boxes will be provided too. The students may bring treats to share with the other students but it is not mandatory. We have 22 students now! Please make sure your child brings a bag to collect all their treats. Just a couple other reminders. With the weather turning colder, please make sure your child is dressed appropriately because we usually do go outside. Also many students are missing their lunch towels, so if you could remember to provide one, that would be great! If you have any questions about anything, just let me know. I hope you all have a great Halloween and I hope your kids share some candy with you, because you all deserve it. http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/2011/10/halloween_party.html http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/2011/10/halloween_party.html Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:04:14 -0600 I can't believe it is the middle of September already! I hope the really hot weather is behind us because it was really difficult for all of us. The students were troopers through all of it. It has been fun seeing and teaching some of the students I had last year in second grade and being able to teach students that were in Ms. Anderson's class. Now I can teach the whole third grade class which has been a joy! The beginning of the year was great because the students adapted so easily to the class rules, the schedule, and the changing of classes for Social Studies and Science. It has been an easy transition for me, the students and I hope for you too. The students have done a wonderful job coming in the morning, getting organized and beginning their morning work right away. I give them about 25 minutes to complete their morning work before we begin our subjects. Most of the student can accomplish this task in the given time. If a student doesn't finish their morning work they have time during snack and lunch to complete it. If it is still not completed after lunch, they need to complete it during recess. Most of the time this is not a problem. In third grade we want to teach the students responsibility and accountability. We feel they are old enough to complete their homework and return it to school the next day. This has been a bit of a problem so if your child does not do their homework or does it, but did not bring it to school , they will receive a check mark. Three check marks in a quarter will result in the student staying afterschool the following day for 30 minutes (2:45 - 3:15). I will let you know if your child has to serve a detention. Hopefully this will not be a concern for you. We are well underway with all our subjects. There is alot to cover in third grade, so your child is very busy during the day. In Math we are working on counting change back. I think this concept is important for your child's future. It allows them to know if they received the correct change back and to be able to give others the correct change. We started working with play money today, having a student give the amount of sale, the bill for paying for it, while the other student counts the money back. The students need to start with the change and count up to the amount given to them. They will have homework reviewing this concept. This is difficult for most children so if you could help them learn to count up, that would be great. I know everyone is very busy these days, but I could use some volunteers to plan the class parties. You would only have to plan for one party. Maybe a group of mothers could get together and plan it together. I have some ideas from past parties. We usually have a Halloween party, a Christmas party, and a Valentine's Day party. If you would be interested please let me know at the Open House. By the way it is Tuesday, September 27th. If you have any concerns, please feel free to contact me any time. I am very approachable and would love to hear from you through a note, an email or by phone. I look forward to meeting all of you at the Open House. PS. If your child wants to contribute candy to our reward bucket that would be great! http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/2011/09/a_great_beginnining.html http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/2011/09/a_great_beginnining.html Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:59:06 -0600 August 30, 2011 I would like to welcome you and your child to my class. I am looking forward to this year and I am very excited about teaching this “great bunch.” I know it will be an exciting and challenging year. Your Child’s Schedule this year is as follows: Monday - Gym Tuesday- Art and Library Wednesday – Art Thursday- Gym Friday- Gym and Computers Please see that your child brings their library books to school on Tuesdays and wears their gym uniforms on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. I really want to stress the importance of reading. I know you are all very busy and it is difficult to find time to read, but please see that your child reads each night. If your child is not reading chapter books yet, it is time to introduce these books to them. I encourage the children to have a book that interests them in their desks at all times. When their work is completed they can use that time for silent reading. Please continue studying your addition/subtraction flashcards. I will be introducing multiplication facts to the students, but they do not have to fully know them until after Christmas. I will let you know when I will be testing the students on these facts. I highly recommend purchasing multiplication flashcards. It is the easiest way to learn the facts. I would separate them into groups of 2’s, 3’s and study them to the facts of 12’s. Let your child master them before proceeding to the next group. As your child has probably told you, the children may bring a morning snack. It would be great if you could send your child with a healthy snack, such as yogurt, fruit, cheese and crackers or anything that makes them happy. Please no candy though! I think all children need a little “pick up” in the middle of the day and so does their teacher. The children and I will go outside everyday unless it is raining, snowing or just too cold. Please see that your child dresses according to the weather. The children will not be getting homework on the weekends. Weekends are “family time”. Homework will be given Monday through Thursday. The children will copy their homework from the board in their assignment tablets. I will check the tablets and draw a smiley face so that you know everything is written correctly. I would appreciate if you could check your child’s homework to make sure it is completed and done neatly. Please sign your child’s tablet each night so that I know you have checked the assignments. If there is a problem completing homework, due to illness or family emergency, please send a note. Your child may complete their homework the following night. If your child has three missing assignments in a month, your child will have to stay after school until 3:30 the following day. A note will be sent home if this becomes a problem. I am trying to teach the children responsibility and accountability. If your family is planning a vacation during the school, the work missed will be completed upon your return. After many years of teaching, I have found that when students return, they are either ahead or far behind. It becomes quite frustrating for all of us. I will give your child as much time as they need to complete the assignments. The students will be using a vocabulary book again this year. Each unit will take about nine days to complete. At the end of each unit, the children will be tested on the meaning of the words and will have to know how to spell the words. I will let you know, in advance, when the tests are scheduled. This year the students will be changing classes for Science and Social Studies. My third grade partner, Mrs. McGovern will be teaching Science and I will be teaching Social Studies. These classes will be taught Monday through Thursday. Listed below are the rules for our classroom: 1. Listen carefully 2. Follow directions 3. Work quietly. Do not disturb others who are working 4. Respect others. Be kind with words and actions 5. Respect school and personal property 6. Work and play safely Each Friday your child will be coming home with corrected papers. I ask that you review your child’s papers with them and return the empty folder on Monday. Please return only tests to school signed on the following Monday. Worksheets do not have to be returned. One last thing! Please see that all your child’s books, supplies, sweaters, sweatshirts and gym shorts have their names on them. This will lessen much confusion. Thank you always for all your support. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, at any time throughout the year. You may write me a note or e-mail me at tmoran@stlinusschool.org. I am looking forward to teaching your child and I know we will have a great year. http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/2011/08/beginning_of_the_year_letter.html http://www.stlblog.org/tmoran/2011/08/beginning_of_the_year_letter.html Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:51:55 -0600