March 26, 2008

 

Dear Parents,

        I hope you all enjoyed your Spring Break (or what there was of one!).  We will be starting an intense review of what we’ve learned so far in order to prepare for the Spring Achievement Tests.  These tests will take place for the 3rd grade on Monday, April 28th (Reading) and Tuesday, April 29th (Math).  During this time, we will work on test-taking strategies to help us prepare for this.  We will also spend the next few weeks doing a variety of mini lessons in Reading/Language Arts and Math.  Some of these will be review, but many of these lessons (especially the ones in Math) will be covering some new topics.  We will be covering a lot of material, but most of this is information which is only touched on briefly in the Achievement Tests.  (We will go into these topics in much more detail the remaining 2 months of school.) Please don’t panic about these tests!  Just be encouraging and positive when discussing these with your child.  We are looking at the Achievement Tests as an opportunity to show off how much we have learned this year!

        Thanks for all the assistance with the President reports.  They were awesome!  Our slides were fantastic, too!  I am going to try to add the entire class power point to the web page for you to enjoy.  They really are informative.

        For the last grading period, your child will still need to read books and take tests, but we will be using the AR system instead of Reading Counts.  This will help prepare them for fourth grade, since this is the system used by all the fourth grade teachers.  Our point system for this quarter will be:

        12 points – A+ and Teacher’s treat                      7 points - C

        9 points – A                                                       6 points - D

        8 points – B

        This may actually seem like less points, but the AR program gives less points for books than does the Reading Counts program.  For example, a book on Lexile that is worth 3 points is only worth ½ a point on AR.  This will require students to read more books.  The beginning points expected in 4th grade are: 

        20 points – A+ and Teacher’s Treat             10 points – C

        12 points – A                                              9 points – D

        11 points – B

So, as you can see, the expectations will be much higher next year, and it will be more difficult because students only have one chance at a test.  Points will be due May 16th, so students need to get started as soon as possible.  One advantage of using AR is that, because it is online, we can go to the computer lab to allow all students to test on their books at the same time.  Our goal is for everyone to earn Teacher’s Treat the last nine weeks!!

        Next Wednesday, the third grade will be attending a performance at the Renaissance Theater.  The cost of this is $3.50 per student.  There is a note coming home today with more information.

        On a final note, during the changing Spring weather, please make sure your child has a jacket for recess.  If it is warm enough, the recess teachers will allow the students to go out without their coats, but most of the days, students will need a jacket in order to go outside.  Thanks for helping with this!

HAPPY SPRING!

 

                        -Mrs. Tagg