The 2nd/3rd grade field trip is almost here and I am still missing a bunch of permission slips and fees. The date is Tuesday, November 10th. The cost is $5. We will leave in the morning and return around lunch time. Children will need a cold lunch that day since we will return after the cafeteria has closed. Please print out the Diocesan permission slip, fill it out, sign it, and return the form to school as soon as possible. Please remind your child that he/she will be representing St. Lawrence. Therefore, best behavior is expected. Any children who misbehave to the point of distraction will be sent home. If you are interested in chaperoning, please email me at your earliest convenience.

Open House will be upon us before long. The informational postcards are going home. Look for them in your students' backpacks.

I am noticing that several students are not turning in homework assignments. They have all kinds of excuses. Please explain the importance of doing their homework every night to the best of their abilities. Students MUST take home their homework materials, complete ALL assignments at home, and bring their homework to school the next day. I am required to stay within the Diocesan guidelines of 30-45 minutes per night. If you feel that this is not enough, by all means have your child do more work. Some good ways to pump up the workload are to increase the reading time to 30 minutes, have your child write an entire paragraph every night in their reading log, and practice with flashcards 3-4 times a week for 15 minutes.

SLEMS has gone paperless.  You will no longer see the brown Wednesday envelopes.  The password-protected Connection Extension is now on-line.  Your user name is the same as last year.  Parents should have received information from the office on how to access the site. 

3rd graders will continue to bring home Friday envelopes.  However, we are also trying to send home fewer papers so students will not be bringing home their envelopes every Friday, more like once or twice a month.  Rest assured, if your child is having difficulty with a particular subject, I will be in touch.

When 3rd grade orders books from Scholastic, you can either fill out the form or order on-line.  Simply go to http://www.scholastic.com/clubsordering or http://www.scholastic.com and click on the parent link.  The username is LynneLongsClass; the password is pizza.  No one else will be able to view your personal information.   If you have a second grader in this school as well you can order books for both students from the 3rd grade scholastic web page and everything will be sent to SLEMS and then sorted.

If you are looking for ways to help your child succeed in the 3rd grade, there are several things you can do to help.  Students should read for 20 minutes every night.  Parents can ask comprehension questions that go beyond basic recall.  The goal is not only to develop reading fluency but to use higher level thinking skills. 

Writing is also extremely important.  Students should practice all types of writing:  diary-style, paragraphs (multiple paragraphs), short stories, poetry (does not need to rhyme), essays.  Students should use proper grammar, spelling, sentence structure, etc.

Multiplication is one of the major math standards that 3rd graders need to master.  Parents can assist by quizzing their children with flash cards.  Students should work for 10-15 minutes.  They should write out every fact they get wrong three times.  Guessing is NOT allowed.  The goal is to learn the basic math facts through repetition.  When children guess, they are not really learning.  Therefore, every time a child guesses there should be some type of consequence.

Lastly, I am very open to parent/teacher communications.  Please feel free to contact me with all of your questions and concerns.  Email is best because I have easy access to it.  I will certainly call you if there is something that needs to be verbally addressed.  Should you wish to set up a face-to-face meeting, just drop me an email and we can schedule an appointment.  Please remember, we are a team.  Together, we can make sure that the children have the most successful and challenging year possible.

REMINDER:  ALL CLASSROOM AND FIELD TRIP VOLUNTEERS MUST BE FINGERPRINTED.

Monday

• Math--Write out the 11 & 12 multiplication tables
• Reading--20 minutes
• Writing--Reading log due on Friday
• Science--Ecosystem notes due tomorrow (If your child is still researching--he/she might try www.discoveryeducation.com. Username--spartan3 Password--garden. Mrs. Varnau was kind enough to set up an account for us.)
• TURN IN FIELD TRIP PERMISSION SLIP & $5 fee

Tuesday

• Math--
• Reading--20 minutes
• Writing--Reading log due Friday

Wednesday

• Math--
• Reading--20 minutes
• Writing--Reading log due Friday
• Spelling--

Thursday

• Math--
• Reading--20 minutes
• Writing--Reading log due tomorrow
• Spelling--