January 28- February 1

Hi Families,

January is just about over and we still have a lot to do this year.  Here are a few important upcoming dates:
Feb. 7th--International Festival- Taste Fest and music program
        Students will need to bring a food to school that day (60-90 bite-size samples) that represents their country, as well as, wear clothing that would be worn in that country.

Feb. 12th-- Valentine's Day Party-- This will be our third, and final party, of the year.  Students will exchange valentines and have some treats. We will make a Valentine holder in class, so it is NOT required for your child to bring a decorated box into class from home.  (If they want to that is fine with me.) 

Feb. 12th-- Field Trip to the Symphony (no parent volunteers will be necessary for this trip)

Feb. 13th and 14th-- Student Led Confences- please make sure to visit the school website so that you can sign up for a time that fits your schedule.  They will be given on a first come, first serve basis.  Keep in mind as you are plannng this, that your child will need to attend this confence with you. 

Feb. 15-18--President's Weekend--No School

March (beginning of the month)--DAD'S DOOR!!!!  I still need one of you amazingly creative fathers to volunteer to decorate our classroom door for the month of March.  I already have a couple of helper dad's for you, I just need ONE who will lead the pack!

March 5-7-- Reading State Assessments

March 15-24-- Spring Break!!!

Here is what we are doing this week:
Reading-

We will complete our novel study this week. The students will also be practicing how to compare and contrast different texts.

Spelling- Prefixes- week #2
This week we will review the prefixes we practiced last week, as well as, add two new prefixes to the list.  The final test will be on Friday.
  pre- = before
  mis- = wrong
  un- = not
  re- = again
  pro- = for, in favor of

Math-  Money and Measures of Central Tendency
We have taken a 2 week detour away from the EnVision program so that we can learn about money, which will appear on State Assessments.  We will also spend some time this week learning how to find the central value from a group of numbers in a variety of ways:
   *mode--  the most often
   *median-- the middle number
   *range-- the difference between the largest number and the smallest number

(Note:  We will also learn about the mean, or average, however, this is not a required standard for 3rd graders to know).

Social Studies and Writing-
International Festival update-- Students are just about finished typing their paragraphs.  Thank you all VERY much for helping to edit your child's work.  We are also completing our posters and finalizing our fact packets.  This week the students will be creating tissue paper flags.