Starry Elementary

Welcome to winter, I think it is here to stay for a while. Just a reminder, please make sure you are sending your child to school with all the appropriate clothing each day. We have been giving kids lots of reminders to bring hats, coats, gloves, snowpants, and boots (when the snow starts flying.) Students are not allowed to play in the snow if they do not have snowpants and boots. It gets to be a pretty boring recess for the kids that have to stand on the blacktop.

Over the winter break don’t forget to practice multiplication facts as often as possible and keep your child reading. We are trying to improve on our highest number of minutes read, which was 5,800 minutes.

We will be reading stories about families and celebrations throughout the month of December.

We will be starting fractions in math. Students will work on naming fractions, finding equivalent fractions, mixed numbers, and decimals. This unit will take us up to the Christmas break.

December Students of the Week

12/5- Halen

12/12- Jacob

12/19- Penny

Mrs. Miller

Welcome to third grade at Starry Elementary. I am anticipating an enjoyable year with this class! To help things run smoothly, here are some standard procedures about my classroom.

When we have assignments in third grade the students will usually have time to start the work in class. If they do not finish during class time, it will be taken home as homework. Most assignments will not take more than 20-30 minutes to complete at home. Occasionally, I will send home reading comprehension pages or math review pages for the students to complete as homework. Please check your child’s Take Home Folder daily for homework.

The spelling curriculum at Starry will remain the same as it was in second grade. The students will bring home words that they need to practice sorting and writing. The goal is not to just memorize the spelling of the words, but rather to recognize the patterns of words. Please help your child study spelling words each night.

The students have daily planners at school that they fill out and parents sign. The students write down the work and/or assignments they have worked on that day in school. If they do not get their work done in the allotted time at school, it will be sent home as homework. The students will highlight any homework assignments. PARENTS MUST SIGN THE PLANNER EACH DAY.

The students will be bringing notes, papers, and homework in the take home folder. Please help them empty it daily and put it back in their planner.

I will send newsletters home periodically. These letters will contain information about the things we have been working on in the classroom, as well as other school information. Please be sure to check your child’s bag each night and read any information carefully.

On your child’s birthday or half-birthday (for summer birthdays) a special treat may be brought to help celebrate. Please send enough for 27 students. Also, send napkins or other supplies that students may need in order to eat their treat (paper plates, forks, etc.). Please do not send birthday invitations to school UNLESS you are inviting the entire class, all the boys, or all the girls. We often end up with hurt feelings if only select students are invited.

**IMPORTANT** No homemade treats are allowed. All treats must be purchased and in the original packaging from the place of purchase (store, bakery, etc.).

CONTACTING TEACHERS – If you need to contact me, please feel free to call, email, or send a note with your child. You can also write a note in your child’s planner (I check them daily). I will get back to you as soon as possible. I check email quite frequently during the day, so that is a very convenient way for me to communicate with parents.

EXTRA INFORMATION – Students are not allowed to play on the playground after school. They need to go immediately to their designated after school location (bus, walking home, car rider, Kid’s Inc., etc.)

If you have any questions please let me know. I’m looking forward to a great year!

ELP

Library

This year for our school wide reading program we are going to “Get Fired Up for Reading!” The kids will be excited to see a dragon grow in our library throughout the year. Each reading slip that is turned in will add a scale to our dragon’s body. How large will our dragon grow?

· Starting in September for every reading slip of 100 minutes that students turn in they will get their name written on a dragon scale. Every scale will be taped to the dragon in the library.

· At the end of the month all of the names of the students who turned in reading slips will be put in a tub and we will draw one name for each class. The students that are chosen will get to eat lunch in the library.

· Our goal is to make reading fun and for the students to take an adventure while reading books.

· If you have any questions please contact Michelle Walker, teacher librarian, mwalker@marion.k12.ia.us or call me at school.

Why is the reading wheel 100 minutes? Reading 20 minutes everyday improves academic performance. There is a strong correlation between a child’s ability to read and her/his academic performance. Because so much of our schooling relies on our abilities to read, children must have strong reading skills to succeed and thrive in school.

Mr. Dabroski

Mrs. Miller

ELP

Library