Looking ahead to the week of Oct. 1 (2nd PE)

Students enjoyed Mr. Bowers playing "Happy birthday" on the piano to one of our birthday friends last week!

Hello, families!

LIFESKILL of the week:  The LIFESKILL of the week is cooperation!  Discuss examples of responsibility with your child and celebrate moments of using this LIFESKILL while at school, home and out and about in the community.  

Blinky's Buddy snacks:  As you begin sending in Blinky's Buddy snacks (if you choose), please keep in mind that we have 19 students in our class.  We also have students with peanut allergies.  

Half day:  Friday, September 28, is a half day for students.  Lunch will be served.  Please be sure to send a note if your child's transportation changes.

Cici's Pizza Night:  Mrs. West will be at our school's "Cici's Pizza Night," from 5:30 to 6:30!  Hope to see you there!

United Way campaign:  Our school is wrapping up its United Way campaign!  This money will go toward a "Pie in the Face" competition between some familiar BRES faces!  The donations for "Pie in the Face" will be collected through September 27.  Students are also welcome to donate $1 to our classroom envelope by September 28, in order to wear school-appropriate pajamas September 28.  Shoes will be required.  Thank you for your donations!  

Envision textbooks:  If you would like to keep your child's Envision textbook at home till the end of the school year, please let me know.  The children only use their workbook in class, but the textbook may be used as a resource when reviewing with your child at home.  Just send me an email and I'll pull your child's book!  You can always access your child's textbook online, using the information sent home last Friday, along with your child's password sheet.

Looking ahead to next week:  As scientists, students will wrap up their animal unit by studying habitat changes and animal adaptations.  They will also begin a plant unit.  As mathematicians, the children will revisit addition and subtraction algorithms.  Be sure to check out our Topic 3 family letter below.  In reading, students continue breaking down CLOSE reading articles, using the TWISTS (title, words, illustrations, sentences, thinking, and summarizing) model.  As writers, they will learn about parts of speech through a mentor sentence, as well as, narrative elements in our writing unit.  

Who read the blog?:  Thank you so much for taking a moment to check out our class blog!  Please send me a smiley face in the subject line, if you have read it!  I encourage the kids to read over it each week with you, too!  I appreciate you staying informed!

Thank you again for all of your support and enthusiasm!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Looking ahead to the week of September 24 (STEM)

We would like to say, "Thank you" to all of the families, who donated a book to our classroom library from the book fair!  We would also like to give a shout out to Mr. Dooley, our school's security officer, who donated a book to EVERY classroom from the book fair!  You're a treasure, Mr. Dooley!  We're so grateful to have you at our school.  
(The book fair will end Friday.)

Mrs. Harrell joined us for an interactive read aloud.  She discussed how authors sometimes include flashbacks to make their writing even better!

Hello, families!  

LIFESKILL of the week:  The LIFESKILL of the week is responsibility!  Discuss examples of responsibility with your child and celebrate moments of using this LIFESKILL while at school, home and out and about in the community.  

Half day:  Friday, September 28, is a half day for students.  Lunch will be served.  Please be sure to send a note if your child's transportation changes.

United Way campaign:  Our school has kicked off its United Way campaign!  Students are welcome to donate spare change/bills to buckets in the Media Center.  This money will go toward a "Pie in the Face" competition between some familiar BRES faces!  The donations for "Pie in the Face" will be collected through September 26.  Students are also welcome to donate $1 to our classroom envelope by Wednesday, in order to wear school-appropriate pajamas September 28.  Shoes will be required.  Thank you for your donations!   

Looking ahead to next week:  As scientists, students will continue learning about animal adaptations and how animals survive in their habitats. They will enjoy a visit from the Riverbanks on the Road. As mathematicians, the children will revisit adding three-digit numbers.  Be sure to check out our Topic 3 family letter below.  In reading, the children will enjoy a story from our Treasures series.  Dear Juno will give students the opportunity to discuss plot more in depth.  As writers, they will learn about plural nouns and continue working on their narrative unit.  Students will also be taking the kindergarten high frequency word spelling post-test Tuesday (only the words missed on the pre-test). 

Riddle me this!  Who's reading our blog?  Please email me a fun joke or riddle to share during morning meeting before Friday, September 21!  We are always looking for something new!


Thank you again for all of your support and enthusiasm! 

Looking ahead to the week of September 17 (2nd PE)

Students enjoy working on "Read to Someone" during our Daily 5 language arts block.  They build fluency skills and practice reading with expression.  They also learn how to talk about text.

Hello, families!  I hope you all had no issues with the storm.  I look forward to seeing the children Monday morning!  I appreciate your flexibility, in advance, for rescheduling our assessment dates!

LIFESKILL of the week:  The LIFESKILL of the week is responsibility!  Discuss examples of responsibility with your child and celebrate moments of using this LIFESKILL.  

Homework:  If your child has been responsible for week 3's homework sheet, he/she may turn it in Friday, September 21.  If your child has lost week 3, then he/she will receive week 4 to complete this week (due Friday).  We will all be back on the same page Friday, September 21, when we issue week 5!  

PTO Meeting:  The PTO meeting scheduled for Monday, September 17, was rescheduled for Monday, September 24.  Please remember, all PTO meetings will begin at 6:00 this year.

NEW SAFETY PROCEDURE:  If you enter the building, for any reason (even morning drop off between 7:30-8:00), you must have a Lobbyguard sticker.  If you would still like to walk your child into school, you will need to park in the back parking lot (bus loop) and walk your child around to the front to check in with Lobbyguard.  Please be sure to exit the front of the building, after signing out of Lobbyguard when you leave.  This procedure will ensure the safety of our school community! 

Read to Succeed letter:  Please be sure to look over the Read to Succeed letter, which went home in your child's communication folder.  If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. O'Connor.

Social Studies study guide:  Just a reminder that your child's social studies study guide is due Tuesday, September 18.  The children will take the unit test in two parts - they will have a vocabulary test September 18 (on the vocabulary words in their fact file, which are the same words on the study guide) and they will have a unit test September 19.  In order to be successful on this unit assessment, students will need to review the study guide, chapter one in their book, as well as all items in their fact file.   They will need to know how to label a South Carolina map with the regions, river systems, fall line, and bordering states and ocean. They will not need to memorize the major cities' exact locations, but should be comfortable with where they are in our state. Please know as the year goes on, that the students will be asked to be responsible for knowing what to study, but since it is their first BIG third grade test, I wanted to give you a bit of guidance.  Also, please note:  Students must return their textbook and fact file each day.  Please make sure your child does not leave these resources at home!  The fact file will be turned in the day of the unit test for a grade.

Field Trip payments:  Students will be enjoying their first "Being HERE Experience" before we know it!  Please sign and return the form that went home.  You may make the payment(s) online through Parent Portal.  The first payment was due September 6.

Communication folders:  Please be sure to initial the communication log in your child's communication folder- just once each week, after reviewing the graded work with your child!  You may keep his/her work.  Please return folders no later than the following Monday.

Online textbooks:  Students will be able to access their science and social studies textbooks online, using the web sites and usernames/passwords located on their password sheets, which were sent home in their homework folder two weeks ago.  We received word from our district social studies coordinator that the social studies textbook access is up and running, as of Wednesday morning, so your child should be able to log in and view his/her textbook.  Please let me know if you have any trouble with either login!

Looking ahead to next week:  As scientists, students will kick off their "Home, Sweet Home" animal unit toward the end of the week.  They will learn about different types of ecosystems.  As mathematicians, the children will continue learning about addition, subtraction, and rounding.   In reading, the children will continue to review elements of a story (setting and plot).  As writers, they will continue studying narrative writing and learning parts of speech through a mentor sentence.  

Thank you again for all that you do!  Your support means the world to us!

Looking ahead to the week of September 10 (STEM)

Mrs. King taught us all about Chromebooks!  We learned not to share our personal information with anyone online, how to care for our Chromebooks, and the "ins and outs" of using one.

Hello, families!  I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend with your sweet kids!

LIFESKILL of the week:  The LIFESKILL of the week is integrity!  Discuss examples of integrity with your child and celebrate moments of using this LIFESKILL.  

NEW SAFETY PROCEDURE:  If you enter the building, for any reason (even morning drop off between 7:30-8:00), you must have a Lobbyguard sticker.  If you would still like to walk your child into school, you will need to park in the back parking lot (bus loop) and walk your child around to the front to check in with Lobbyguard.  Please be sure to exit the front of the building, after signing out of Lobbyguard when you leave.  This procedure will ensure the safety of our school community!  

Social Studies study guide:  Just a reminder that your child's social studies study guide is due Wednesday, September 12 (It was issued Wednesday, September 5).  The children will take the unit test in two parts - they will have a vocabulary test September 13 (on the vocabulary words in their fact file, which are the same words on the study guide) and they will have a unit test September 14.  In order to be successful on this unit assessment, students will need to review the study guide, chapter one in their book, as well as all items in their fact file.   They will need to know how to label a South Carolina map with the regions, river systems, fall line, and bordering states and ocean. They will not need to memorize the major cities' exact locations, but should be comfortable with where they are in our state. Please know as the year goes on, that the students will be asked to be responsible for knowing what to study, but since it is their first BIG third grade test, I wanted to give you a bit of guidance.  Also, please note:  Students must return their textbook and fact file each day.  Please make sure your child does not leave these resources at home!  The fact file will be turned in the day of the unit test for a grade.

Communication Folders:  Students will be receiving their first set of graded papers in their communication folders.  Please sign the communication log and leave it in your child's communication folder.  You only need to sign the log once each week.  You may keep his/her graded work after reviewing it with your child.

Field Trip payments:  Students will be enjoying their first "Being HERE Experience" before we know it!  Please sign and return the form that went home in last week's communication folder.  You may make the payment(s) online through Parent Portal.

Looking ahead to next week:  Students wrap up their first social studies unit with assessments.  Their study guide (which went home Wednesday, September 5) is due Wednesday, September 12 (the day we will go over it in class).  As mathematicians, the children will continue learning about addition and subtraction.  Be sure to check out our Topic 2 family letter below (We will not be doing lessons 2-3 and 2-4).  In reading, students will be continue building their reading stamina and discussing how to choose a "just right" book.  They will also practice reading in partnerships.  The children will also review elements of a story, focusing on characters and setting.  As writers, students will continue studying basic writing skills and learning parts of speech through mentor sentences.  Students will also kick off a narrative unit in writing.   

Our class blog:  Please make sure you view the desktop version of our class blog each week.  I know many of us check the blog out on our phones.  If you scroll down, please choose the other version, so you may see the important dates section.

Open House:  I hope you'll be able to join me at Open House, Thursday, September 6 (6:00 - 6:45).  I will be highlighting some important points from my Open House booklet.  If are unable to make it, no worries!  You'll receive a paper copy in your child's communication folder Thursday, September 13.  Please note that our Breakers program will offer child care for school-aged children, while we have Open House.

Thank you again for all of your support and enthusiasm!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!