Week of November 5

 We recently assisted our book buddies in Mrs. Norris' kindergarten class when they were studying owl pellets.  Together, we found all sorts of neat things like the skulls and bones of mice and rats. 

I hope you all are staying warm this week, while enjoying the cool, crisp fall air!  Remember to turn back the clocks one hour this weekend - Daylight Saving Time ends!

Students will be issued their report cards on Thursday, November 1, along with their MAP scores.  Please take some time to review these items with your child and set goals - both behaviorally and academically -  to have him/her maintain doing his/her personal best or brainstorm ways of doing better in the second nine weeks.  Remember, third grade is a transition year and require more independence and responsibility!  You may keep the items in the report card cover, but please sign and return the report card cover by Friday.  It will be used each nine weeks. 

Looking ahead:  Students will wrap up our unit on measurement unit with a test on Wednesday, November 7 (A study guide will be going home this Friday and we'll review it in class on Monday).  Students will also continue studying multiplication and have a 2s multiplication quiz.  As writers, students will learn all about the meaning behind Veterans Day and draft letters to our Veterans.  In reading, students will review informational text features, using their SC Social Studies Weeklies.  As historians, students will dive into colonial life in South Carolina, focusing on the effects of European settlement in the new colony.

Students are also receiving an edited Tic-Tac-Toe for homework this nine weeks.  Two boxes have changed, which give students more choices!  We have discussed in class that students may choose ANY three boxes to do on their Tic-Tac-Toe, so long as they do the center box.  This means, your child does not have to do the Tic-Tac-Toe vertically, horizontally or diagonally.  Links to the two new web sites mentioned on the new homework are located at the bottom of our class blog:  ABCYA and IXL math.  This new copy will also be e-mailed to you, so you can use it as a reference throughout the second nine weeks.

You are receiving a permission brochure for our next "Being There Experience," which will actually be held at school.  Students will enjoy time with Diamond Del and mine for rocks and minerals.  Please sign and return the entire brochure by Friday, November 9.  You have already paid for this in the first installment of our field trip fees.

Our new reading incentive:  “The Palmetto Reading Bowl”
Ready for Bookman Road’s Palmetto Reading Bowl?  Students at BRES are so pumped about the big reading game!  Our school is asking that every child write the title each book he/she reads between November 5 and 16 on a football (colored to match the preference his/her favorite team), which will be provided by teachers.  Of course, we’ll have Carolina garnet, Clemson orange and white for any other top team. On November 20, we’ll count all the footballs to see which “team” read the most books!  We’ll also celebrate by enjoying some “Beacon tailgating” treats.  We’ll all be scoring at the goalpost because Readers Are Winners!

Next Tuesday is Election Day - a great "Being There Experience" for your child!  If you have the opportunity to do so, please take your child to vote with you!  It is a great, educational experience.  We'll be doing an in-depth discussion on the importance of voting, when we study government in the third nine weeks.   

I hope you all have a safe and wonderful weekend!  Thank you, as always, for your never-ending support!

Week of October 29

 We enjoyed our visit at the Congaree National Park on Tuesday!  Students met Ranger Corrine, who introduced the park to us.  She also told us about the animals and plants living in this habitat. 

We stopped to check out one of the largest loblolly pines in the world!  It took 16 students to "hug the tree!"  If you have time, visit the park with your family! 

I hope you've had a wonderful week, families!  Our week has been super busy!

Looking ahead:  Students will be learning all about Native American legends, as readers.  They'll discover why legends were told in the first place to Native American children.  Students will also be setting new AR goals.  As historians, students will wrap up their unit of study with a discussion on the effects exploration had on Native Americans.  We'll review for their unit assessment on Wednesday and test on Friday.  Students will also be wrapping up our measurement unit, focusing on area models and circumference.  As writers, students will write a descriptive piece on the "monster" they created. 

We'll be starting our weekly multiplication fact quizzes next week!  We'll be testing on the 1s table next Friday.  A letter will be going home soon regarding our weekly multiplication quizzes.  Please be sure your child is working on them daily! 

A special shout-out to our chaperones for our first "Being There Experience" to the Congaree National Park.  Thank you Mrs. DeLong, Mrs. Moody, Mrs. Kivett and Mrs. Reynolds!

A note from the Bookman Road Health Advisory Committee:

With Halloween fast approaching, we wanted to take this opportunity to review our policies and procedures regarding this day. We will not be celebrating this holiday in school; this includes any "party" type of celebrations, costume attire, or treat bags. Teachers are asked to ensure adherence to these guidelines during the day. We appreciate your understanding, acceptance and support of these policies.

Thank you again for all of your support!  It means so much to us!  Have a wonderful three-day weekend with your child!

Week of October 22

 Keys to Friendship:  Students recently rotated throughout the third grade classrooms and learned all about differences (IE: vision impairment/blindness, being deaf, having no limbs, etc) through simulations presented by our Special Education team at BRES.  Students learned how to respect friends with different abilities and ways in which they can help them.  The biggest lesson learned:  Give put-ups!



Hi, families!  I hope you enjoyed your week! 

Looking ahead:  We have a busy week coming up!  As mathematicians, students will be learning how to find perimeter and reviewing probability language.  Students will start a descriptive "Monster Match" piece in writing, while focusing on adjectives.  As historians, students will wrap up our social studies unit by studying explorers.  This study will be integrated into our reading time, as we continue focusing on text features and locating information.  Students will also take their first grade spelling post-assessment on any words missed on the pre-assessment earlier this month. 

We will be going on our first "Being There Experience" next Tuesday to the Congaree National Park.  Be sure to send a lunch/drink (juice or water, no sodas) with your child, if you chose that option. If you chose the school lunch, the cafeteria will provide one. If you are a notified chaperone, please be sure to arrive at our classroom no later than 9:00, wearing a yellow Lobbyguard sticker. Chaperones must bring their own lunch.

A note from the Bookman Road Health Advisory Committee: 

With Halloween fast approaching, we wanted to take this opportunity to review our policies and procedures regarding this day.  We will not be celebrating this holiday in school; this includes any "party" type of celebrations, costume attire, or treat bags.  Teachers are asked to ensure adherence to these guidelines during the day. We appreciate your understanding, acceptance and support of these policies.

Please continue to encourage your child to read at home!  That extra reading time makes a huge difference in your child's reading growth.  We have discussed in reading conferences these past few weeks how to choose "just right" books and implement reading skills/strategies to decode unfamiliar words and understand the text.  Also, students only have a few days left to meet their reading goals this nine weeks.  Grades will be due soon, followed by report cards being issued!

Many of you have asked about checking to see if a book is an AR book from the public library.  Now you can!  Just visit our school's web site, Bookman Road Elementary and scroll down under "Beacon Links," to "Media Center."  Once you clink on "Media Center," it will give you options of viewing BRES' card catalog or checking to see if a book at the public library (or a bookstore) has a quiz here, at BRES. 

As always, thank you for your never-ending support!  It means more to us than you know!  Have a great weekend!

Week of October 15

Our classmate, Jenna, went on a walkabout with her family on the Clemson Extension nature trail.  Knowing that we were learning about plants and animals, Jenna decided to take a picture and share it in class.  We thought it was neat to see an example of a food chain out in the "real world"! 

If your child would like to snap a photo of something that pertains to what we are learning in school and share it with the class, please email the photo to Mrs. West!  We'll be happy to take a peek during Morning Meeting!  Thank you for continuing to encourage your child to apply outside of school what he/she is learning!



A friendly reminder:  Please send in your child's "Being There Experience" payment, if you have not done so already.  The first payment is $25, or you may pay in full, $50.  If you send in a check, please be sure your phone number is on it.

Tuesday will be a half day.  Lunch will be served.  Students will be dismissed at 11:30.  If your child's transportation changes that day, please send in a note.

Looking ahead:  We'll be diving into measurement as mathematicians, focusing on the US Customary and Metric units.  As readers and historians, we'll focus on Native American nations in South Carolina.  We'll also discuss text features in nonfiction writing.  As writer's, we'll wrap up our prompt unit by publishing a piece of writing we've been working on for three weeks.

A note from the Bookman Road Health Advisory Committee: 

With Halloween fast approaching, we wanted to take this opportunity to review our policies and procedures regarding this day.  We will not be celebrating this holiday in school; this includes any "party" type of celebrations, costume attire, or treat bags.  Teachers are asked to ensure adherence to these guidelines during the day. We appreciate your understanding, acceptance and support of these policies. 

Please continue to encourage your child to make personal best choices!  Thank you again for all of your support!  Have a great weekend!

Week of October 8



We celebrated collecting money for our Fall Fundraiser, by enjoying an assembly put on by MAD Science!



Happy Thursday families!  I hope you all are enjoying the cool fall weather and find time to get outside! 

Looking ahead:  We'll be reviewing graphic organizers that we've used for the past five weeks in reading.  Students will be using them to review skills, while reading their Accelerated Reader books.  There will be no traditional reading test next Friday.  We'll continue working on our prompt unit in writing.  As mathematicians, we'll wrap up our addition and subtraction unit with a test on Wednesday (the study guide for this test will go home this Friday - we'll review the study guide on Tuesday in class).  We'll start studying measurement next Friday.  As scientists, we'll finish studying plant life cycles and test on Friday (a study guide for this test will also go home this Friday). 

Friendly reminder:  "Being There Experience" payment number one is due tomorrow, Friday, October 5.  If you chose to make it two payments, the first payment is $25.  If you chose to make one full payment, the total is $50.  When making a check out to BRES, please be sure to include your phone number on the check!

Also, please note that students will not receive multiple copies of homework, reading logs or study guides (as mentioned at Open House).  As a way to encourage more responsibility, each student receives only one copy.  Students are encouraged to keep these items in their red homework folders.  Thank you for your understanding! 

Today, in your child's communication folder, you'll find a letter to your child about signing on to a new Web site for our reading series, Treasures.  Please read over it carefully and help your child set up his/her account.  It is another wonderful resource for reviewing reading skills.  A username and password will be attached to this letter for your child.  Please do not lose it.  I will add a link to the Web site section of our blog, so it will be easy access to the site. *The username for your child is in ALL caps - I have put a small, red "UN" next to the username, as a reminder.  The other item is the password.*

Here is an interesting video that Mr. G passed along to our faculty this week.  It discusses the effects on your child of having the television on in the background at home.  Check it out, if you have some time!

(WLTX's story on background television noise)

We hope to see you for Donuts with Dads on Friday, October 5!  Enjoy a donut in the Seaside Cafe anytime between 7:30 and 8:00!

I hope you all enjoy your weekend.  Thank you again for all of your support!