Dec. 14-18, 2009

The last week of school for 2009! We have an eventful week ahead. No spelling packet will go home this week, just daily math homework.

Thursday is our holiday party that will be from 12:15-1:15. Mrs. Weeland and Mrs. Star have been organizing this. Thank you ladies!

Friday is our field trip to the Museum of Natural History. If you are a driver, please update your insurance information. Paperwork needs to be updated every trimester (it's a district policy). Thanks for sending in the $1.00 to cover the cost. I'm just waiting for 2 more permission forms from Joselle and Athena. Chaperones, please be on time at 9:30 (the tour is from 10:00-11:00). If it is raining you may want to come a few minutes to allow for traffic from Aptos to Santa Cruz.

Thanks again for all of your support and help this year. We really appreciate it. Happy Holidays and have a wonderful break! We'll update again in January.

Dec. 7-11, 2009

Tomorrow spelling packets for The Garden of Abdul Gasazi will go home.

We received most of the field trip forms to the Museum of Natural History last week. If your child hasn't turned it in yet with $1.00, please do so this week. We also have a field trip when we come back from break on Friday, January 29, to the Aptos Museum. Permission slips won't go home until January, but if you are interested in going, mark your calenders. This trip is fairly short from around 10-11:30.

Mrs. Star and Mrs. Weeland are organizing the holiday party for Thursday, December 17. Also, a reminder that next Tuesday, the 15th, is NOT a restructured day.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Nov. 30-Dec. 4

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends! Can't believe we have only 3 weeks until winter break.

We will begin Monday morning with the AM Assembly singing "This Land is Your Land." Spelling packets for Raising Dragons will go home Monday as well as a field trip form to the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History. This field trip will be on Friday, December 18 (the last day before vacation) from 9:30-11:30. If you are interested in driving, let us know. We'll need enough parents to drive 31 students. The cost of this field trip is $30 per class, so please send in $1.00 to cover the cost of the museum.

That's about all for now. Enjoy the rest of your vacation!

Nov. 16-20

This week the spelling packet for The Giant of Barletta will go home on Monday. Book orders are also due this Monday to Mrs. Koenig. There are many books to order at inexpensive prices, great for Christmas gifts! The kids really seem to enjoy Mad Libs. We've been doing a few in class and they're a great way to reinforce Grammar skills(verbs, nouns, adjectives, etc.) and give your child a good laugh. We appreciate all of the bonus points you earn for the class by ordering through Scholastic.

Please send report card envelopes back to school with your child on Monday. We will use these again throughout the school year. Since the 3rd grade team is doing rotations for Social Studies, Science, and Music/Art, we have decided to give only an effort grade. That is why the achievement grade was left blank.

Enjoy your weekend!

Nov. 9-13, 2009

Hope you are enjoying the nice fall weekend. This Wednesday our school will be closed due to the Veteran's holiday. Since our week is a bit shorter, we are giving a smaller spelling list of 12 words from Trickster Tales. Students are to write sentence for ALL words this week. We are also taking a little break from multiplication and moving into measurement. We will continue giving a timed multiplication test every Thursday. Each week many students are getting better and better at learning their facts. We can really see an improvement. Nice job!

Report cards will go home this Friday. Please sign and send back the envelope so we can reuse it for the next 2 trimesters.

Have a nice weekend!

Nov. 2-6, 2009

We hope your children had a safe and fun Halloween. What a treat to celebrate on a Saturday this year. Hopefully the energy will subside Monday morning and the candy has worn off a bit from the weekend.

The spelling packet for Dogzilla will go home tomorrow as well as the November reading log. Be sure to turn these in the end of every month.

Tomorrow our school will hold its Monday morning assembly with the flag salute and song. It was a success last week and students did a wonderful job. If your child is late to school, please be sure they meet the class at the upper playground. Last week there was a student waiting by the classroom as we returned back to class. Since there is no supervision at that time, they need find the class during the assembly.

Thanks for all of your help and support during the Halloween party. Students looked great in their costumes and were having fun.

Oct. 26 AM Assembly

A change in plans for the Monday morning assembly. Students are to line up in their regular spot on the primary playground. We will walk down as a class to the upper playground for the assembly.

Monday morning Rio del Mar will begin school with its first A.M. Assembly. Students are to report to the upper grade playground at 7:49 to be greeted by Mrs. Dorney and Mr. Coffin. This will be a quick assembly including a welcome message, flag salute, and singing to "You're a Grand Old Flag." These 5 minute assemblies will be held every Monday morning if the weather permits. If your child is late to school, have them check the classroom first and then head to the upper playground where our class will be lined up. We've been practicing the song in class so the students should be ready to sing!

The new spelling packet will go home for Dancing Rainbows on Monday. In math, we are still practicing multiplication and will have the Chapter 5 test this week. Please continue to practice the facts at home. When I gave the timed test on Thursday, so many kids had improved. It was wonderful to see growth in such a short time.

This Friday is the Halloween party at 9:40. If you haven't given Mrs. Star $3-5, you can still send that in this week.

Have a great weekend!

October 19-23, 2009

What a crazy week with the power outage on Tuesday and no school on Wednesday. I enjoyed the several conferences we had in the dark. It's nice to mix things up a bit. Thank you for all of your patience and flexibility.

On Monday we are back to the regular schedule. The spelling packet for The Talking Cloth will go home and is due on Friday. The book fair is extended 2 more days (Monday and Tuesday). Many thanks to all of the families who purchased books for the class. It's nice to have a new selection for students to choose from.

The landform projects were turned in on time, despite the rain, and turned out wonderful. Students were excited to see what others did and were excited to share with the class. We are both very proud of all the kids hard work. NICE JOB!

We would also like to thank Mrs. Star and Mrs. Weeland for organizing the Halloween party on Friday, October 30. The party will begin at 9:40, right after the morning recess. Look forward to seeing you then.

Oct. 12-16

Conferences begin this Monday, so if you didn't receive your time or are not sure of your conference, please contact us. If for some reason you can not make your assigned time, let us know ASAP so we can reschedule. Since we have 31 students this year, conferences are 20 minutes back to back. Please be on time.

The spelling packet this week is from Theme 2. It consists of 2 practice book pages back to back. Students will not be required to write sentences or do ABC order. Instead, students should do the finishing touches to their Landform Project that is due this Wednesday, October 14. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from parents about the project and am happy to hear that students are really enjoying it.

Last week we wrapped up subtraction and began multiplication. From now until the end of the school year, multiplication should be a focus at home. Weekly timed tests will be given and sent home for parents to see. If students can memorize the facts this year, it makes a world of difference for the upcoming grades. It helps with multiplication of larger numbers, division, and fractions.

Also, this week we'll begin Lit Circles. Every Tuesday, each student will be assigned a new book/chapter and job. Students will do most or all of the work in class. My hope is for each child to finish in class so they don't have additional homework. After Winter Break, Lit Circles will be done at home. If you signed up to volunteer for Lit Circles, please come this Tuesday at 8:00. We'll begin then.

As always, thanks again for all of your support and help this year. We'll see you this week!

Oct. 5-9

Tomorrow students will receive a new spelling packet for the week from the story Anthony Reynoso-Born to Rope. If you did not receive a monthly reading log for October, please let us know. Since there is a bit of an overlap from the past week, students will need to make 4 additional boxes on the back of the October reading log. This week we will wrap up subtraction and begin multiplication. Students are excited, but will need some support in practicing at home. It takes a lot of patience and memorization to learn multiplication facts 1-10s.

The Landform project is under way and will be due on Wednesday, October 14. Projects will not be accepted after this date. If you have any questions about the project don't hesitate to email us.

We just scheduled a field trip to the Museum of Natural History on Friday, December 18 (the last day before winter break). Paperwork won't go home until next month, but for those of you who are interested, I wanted to give you a heads up.

Again, thank you for all of your support and we look forward to seeing you at conferences.

Sept. 28-Oct. 2

Hope you are all enjoying the wonderful weather this weekend. Here are the latest updates for the week. Spelling packet for The Keeping Quilt will go home Monday due on Friday. Please check your child's work before it is turned in to be sure that sentences begin with a capital and end with the correct punctuation. Mrs. Sandman has been correcting the homework and has found numerous mistakes throughout the spelling packet. Also, as mentioned at Back to School Night, students should write sentences neatly on binder paper. We agreed that parents would attach binder paper from home.

We began subtraction of 3-4 digit numbers last week. This seems to be an area of weakness for many 3rd graders, so students may need additional support at home. I have parent volunteers coming in for math and will have some students pulled into small groups to receive help and additional instruction. Subtraction will be an area that we will revisit throughout the year.

That's about all for now. Looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks for conferences.

Sept. 21-25

A big thank you to the parents who chaperoned on our trip to the fair. We had a wonderful time looking at the different animals and other exhibits.

This week a new spelling packet will be sent home for The Waterfall. The packet will be due this Friday. In math we will finish addition and move to subtraction of 4 digit numbers. Subtraction, especially borrowing, can be a challenge for many 3rd graders. I encourage you to help at home by giving a few problems a night to solve. I will begin with a quick subtraction fact quiz to see where everyone is at and we'll go from there.

Scholastic Book orders will be due this Friday as well. It's a great opportunity to purchase books at a reasonable price and earn bonus points for the class. Mrs. Koenig has volunteered to take on this job, so feel free to contact her if you have any questions regarding your order.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Sept. 14-18

A reminder that spelling packets for The Ballad of Mulan will be due this Friday the 18th. Students will also be given their spelling test for the words on Friday. Please be sure to write the words down at home before your child turns in the completed packet.

The field trip to the County Fair is also this week on Wednesday. If you are driving, make sure you have your insurance info on file with the office. Due to the economic recession, the fair has only given our class 7 paid tickets this year. Additional tickets and parking are $5.00. Please let us know if this will be a hardship and we will come up with a way to cover the cost. In the past, students are not allowed to buy food at the fair, so be sure to pack a sack lunch and plenty of water.

Look forward to seeing you very soon and thank you again for your help and support!

Sept. 8-11

I hope you are all having a fabulous Labor Day weekend! It's great having an extra day off. On Tuesday the new spelling packet will go home for the Ballad of Mulan. This spelling list will be for the next 2 weeks, due on Friday September 18. With the shortened 4 day week and field trip next week, we need to make it through all of the grammar skills for this story in the Houghton Mifflin anthology. I'm sure the students will be relieved to have a break in homework.

I have received many chaperone forms for the upcoming field trip to the SC County Fair. I may buddy up a few parents if we have too many drivers. The cost of parking is $5.00 per car (it was last year). Please be sure to pack a lunch and plenty of water for the fair. We discourage purchasing food from the vendors as this is an educational field trip. A big thanks to all who can make it that day!

See you soon!

August 31-Sept 4

It was great meeting you all at Back to School Night. I hope all of your questions were answered. Remember, feel free to email us if you have any further questions. Those of you who signed up to volunteer, you can begin this week. The volunteers who will not begin will be those of you who are helping with Lit Circles on Tuesday morning. We'll let you know when to come in a few weeks.

Chapter 1 math tests (Place Value) were corrected over the weekend and will be sent home Monday or Tuesday. Most of the students did pretty well. Half of the class received a score of 90% and above. These tests will be reviewed by the students and then sent home for your review.

If you are interested in chaperoning for the upcoming County Fair field trip, be sure to get the driver paperwork signed in the office. Permission slips will go home soon.

Thanks again for all of your help and support this year. We REALLY appreciate!

August 24-28

Hello again! I tend to update the blog once a week, so please check for up coming events. As you all know, Back to School Night will be this Thursday at 6:15. Please arrive on time so we can begin promptly at 6:15. We will have a packet for you outlining this year in 3rd grade. A volunteer sign up sheet will also be passed around at that time. We'll need help in the classroom for Literature Circles (Tuesday morning), computer lab (Wednesday before lunch), and during math time a couple days a week. It looks like we'll have a student teacher who will be in the classroom twice a week as well. We will also need volunteers to pull out pages from the Math and Language Arts practice books, staple spelling packets for homework, and photo copying. We would like to have a parent in charge of scholastic book orders (usually 4 times during the year). As you can see, there are many opportunities to get involved. We appreciate all the help this year.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

August 17-21

Hello! The first week of school was a great success. Students seemed happy to see their friends and get back into the swing of things. It was great to meet many of you on the first day of school. I'll have a sign up sheet at Back to School Night next week for parent volunteers. I know many of you are eager to get into the classroom, so we'll look forward to your help soon.

This week we'll send home our first spelling packet including words for months of the year and days of the week. Students will need to write sentences and study the words for the spelling test on Friday. Also, we will begin using the Houghton Mifflin math program this week. Chapter 1 includes place value and homework will be sent home Monday through Thursday. The front page of math is computation and the back includes word problems. Students can choose 3 of the 6 word problems to do. Please be sure to check your child's work and make sure it is turned in on time. Also, reading logs will be checked every Friday by Mrs. Sandman.

Thanks for all of your support and donations this past week. They are greatly appreciated. I look forward to a great year ahead!

Welcome Back!

Hello Rio Parents and welcome to 3rd grade! After nearly 6 months of maternity leave, Mrs. Sandman and I are back this year. Having a baby has been a whirlwind with many fun, exciting, and challenging developments. Our little boys are growing so fast. I don't know where the time has gone. We will both be at school on Wednesday to welcome both the students and parents into our class. At back to School Night we will have a sign up sheet for volunteers, but if you are eager to help out before then, let us know. I'd like to get weekly homework packets assembled ahead of time.

Due to budget cuts this year, we will have larger classes in 3rd grade (30 students) and are requesting many supplies. Please see the supply list posted to the right. If for any reason you are unable to purchase all of the items, please let us know.

Homework assignment for the first day of school: please have your child bring in a family photo taken this summer (if you have one). Also, as an effort to communicate and save paper this year, I will be updating this blog weekly to inform you of homework assignments and upcoming events.

If you need to contact me ahead of time my email address is athena_maraldo@pvusd.net. I know the students will be eager to see us, but please refrain from stopping by on the 11th as we will be busy with meetings and setting up the classroom.

See you bright and early at 7:49 on Wednesday!

Updates

Due to the back to back 3 day weekends, students will have the spelling homework packet for 2 weeks due on February 20. With Valentine's Day coming up, we will pass out cards on Friday the 13th. I will try to send home a list of student names with your child early this week. Be sure that your child does not exclude anyone from receiving a Valentine.

On Friday, most students gave me the name of the famous American they would like to research for the Biography project. Due to the limited computers in my classroom and only 30 minutes per week in the computer lab, I encourage you to help find and print out kid friendly research for your child. Most of the written portion will be done in class. When kids don't have information they can refer to, it makes the project very difficult to do. Students can also check out books from the library to pull information from.

I'd like to applaud many students for learning their multiplication facts. As you know, a timed test is given every week in class. I have seen incredible growth and confidence as students are passing and beating their goal. Keep up the good work and continue practicing throughout the year.

One last note, Ms. Landmann has been working on a blog to post when I am off on maternity leave. She would like to put pictures on her site only with your permission. If you haven't sent in the form, please do ASAP. If you would not like your child's picture on her site, send the form back regardless and just write a note stating that you do not want their picture on the blog.

Thanks again for all your support and I will miss the kids when I am gone!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!

I'm sure you are all relaxing and enjoying this beautiful day in February. I sure am! Last week was pretty eventful with a full week and 2 field trips in a row. Mrs. Landman joined the class at the MAH and is really excited to take over the class soon. She was happy to have met some of the parents along the way.

This week we're back to business as usual. Spelling packets go home tomorrow and will be due on Friday. A new reading log for February will go home as well. Please be sure to turn in the log from Dec/Jan. Yearbook sales will continue until the end of the month. If you are interested you can send in a check for $15 with your child. The price usually goes up if you wait until June. Scholastic Book orders are due by Friday. There are some nice deals this month on Biographies. Make sure your child has been thinking about who they would like to research. We will begin this project soon.

Have a great week!

Thank You!

A big thank you to Mrs. Spinelli and Mrs. Gaeckle for organizing a baby shower on Friday with the class. They had a wonderful time and I have to say, this has been a special group of kids. I appreciate the Ergo Baby Carrier you all pitched in for. Once our little boy is ready to venture out, I'll stop by the school to show him off.

Here are a few reminders for the upcoming week:

Monday, we'll begin talking about Famous American Biographies. Students should start THINKING about who they would like to research. They have to choose a famous American (whom is no longer alive) that has contributed to our country as a whole. All 3rd grade classes will complete this project. The final project will include: a research report (typed), a poster, and an oral presentation. Most of the work will be done in class using an outline generated by the 3rd grade teachers. The speech, however, will need to be practiced at home. Many students last year memorized their speech and/or used note cards. A letter will be sent home outlining the requirements of this project within the next few weeks.

Tuesday, all 1st-3rd grade classes are going to see a play at the Mello Center in Watsonville. If you haven't sent in $7.75 for this trip, please do so ASAP so I can give the money to Parent Alliance.

Thursday our class is going to the MAH in Downtown Santa Cruz. We will leave Rio by 8:30 sharp and arrive back at school by 11:30.

Spelling packets this week will consist of 12 frequently misspelled words due by Friday. Also due on Friday is the December/January reading log. If you've misplaced it, please have your child ask me for a new one or just use a piece of binder paper to log the books they have read.

Weekly reports were sent home on Friday. I don't include the Excel math pages because most of this is done and corrected in class. If it isn't, then your child should bring it home for your review. Also, if you would like to see your child's math or spelling tests, ask your child to bring them home. I pass them out each week to every student.

That's all for now! Have a great week!

Welcome Back and Happy New Year!

First of all, I'd like to thank you for the generous gifts you gave me for Christmas. I truly appreciate it.

As much as I enjoyed my time off to relax, it was nice to see the smiling faces of your children on Tuesday morning. The week went well and students seemed excited to get back into the groove of learning. We were off to slow start, but now that we're back, we have a lot to do.

Spelling packets were sent home but aren't due until Friday, January 23. I have made a few changes to the Houghton Mifflin math homework. On Tuesday/Thursday when I send this home, the students are to choose 3 problems on the back for them to do. These problems begin easy and get very hard as you have noticed. A few parents commented on the difficulty and frustration, so I have made adjustments based on your child's math level. Everyone needs to continue memorizing their times tables. This is a 3rd grade standard and if kids don't learn them this year, it makes 4th grade even harder. Most of the students are on their way, but now that we have begun division, it's apparent that most of the kids don't have these facts memorized yet. I'll continue giving timed tests once a week.

As you are well aware, we have 2 field trips in the same week coming up. The first is to the Mello Center on Tuesday, January 27. All classes 1st-3rd will be attending and taking the school bus to Watsonville. Parent chaperones are encouraged to carpool since the parking is limited. This field trip costs $7.75. We are allowing 3 parents per class to chaperone and their admission is free.

The next trip is to the MAH (Museum of Art History) in Downtown Santa Cruz on Thursday, January 29. When we collected $11.00 earlier this year, that covered the cost of this trip(not the Mello Center). So there is no need to send in money. Ms. Landman will accompany our class as well. This will be a nice opportunity for her to meet the kids and parents who attend.

I hope you are enjoying this lovely 3 day weekend. I can't believe it's the middle of winter. What a way to begin the school year!