Dec. 17-20, 2012

Hello! I apologize for not updating the blog last week. I remember beginning it, but then moved onto something else and forgot to update the rest. I guess my brain is on vacation like many of us these days. Anyhoo, this will be a busy, yet fun week for the kids. We will continue working on Little Red Stories that are really coming along. We have a lot of creative writers in our class and they are enjoying this writing/art project. The homework packet for this week was sent home on Friday and will consist of a Dragon poem to memorize by Thursday, Dec. 20 as well as a math page and reading log. Last week was our last spelling packet for the year (2012 that is). We will resume with our normal packet when we return in January. Math homework will be given on Monday and Tuesday only. We are having a district math benchmark test on Wednesday, so no homework that night.

Our Holiday party is also this Thursday from 12:15-2:20. It will consist of 3 rotations between all 3rd grade classes. This is a new kind of party this year, so we'll see how it all turns out. Regardless, it should be fun for the kids. A reminder that Wednesday is NOT a restructured day. Students will be dismissed at 2:10.

If I don't see you this week, have a truly WONDERFUL Winter Break with your families. See you in 2013!

December 3-7, 2012

December already!  I don't know about you, but the holiday is quickly approaching and kids are definitely feeling it. We had a long talk about the "Elf on the Shelf" that has been appearing at the homes of many students. What a great idea! One child asked where to get one and someone said that it just appears. It's nice to see kids in the spirit.

A spelling packet for the Giant of Barletta will go home Monday and is due on Friday. We will have a spelling test on Friday as well. In math, we quickly went through basic measurement and will begin geometry this week. This is a fun unit. Please continue to practice multiplication facts. The kids had an untimed quiz on 1s-4's and most of them did well. They seem to be getting stuck on the higher numbers from 6-9's.

The last day of school before Winter Break is Thursday, December 20. We will have a party that day, so look for details to come soon from our room parent Shawnte.

Hope you are enjoying the rain!

Nov.26-30, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a wonderful week with your families. Report cards were sent home on Tuesday. Please return the signed envelope with your child. They will receive a pencil when they bring it back to me.

Here are some updates for when we return on November 26. A spelling packet will be sent home for DOGZILLA, due Friday, the 30th. A spelling test will also be held on that day. For math, we just finished up with multiplication and will take a small break with measurement. Please continue to practice the multiplication facts, as they are still important and not yet memorized. Students will continue to practice in class during math time with a quick 0-4 quiz on Friday.

A holiday Scholastic book order will also be sent home this week. If you are interested, please order on line or send in the order form with payment. Once ordered, it takes about a week for the books to be sent to the school.

Have a wonderful week!

November 13-17, 2012

Happy Veterans' Day! Being a short week, the spelling packet for Dancing Rainbows will not be due until Tuesday, November 20 (the day before vacation). If you plan on being out the whole week of Thanksgiving, please let me know and your child will need to turn in the packet by Friday. With that said, our spelling test will be on Tuesday the 20th (or Friday for those who are not here). We will continue to plug away at the multiplication facts. I will be giving short timed quizzes twice a month for multiplication to see how well your children are progressing. Please assist them at home with these facts, especially the 6's-9's.

Report cards will go home on Tuesday, November 20th. Please sign and return the envelope when the students return to school. We will continue to grade using the 5,4,3,2,1 model. 5=advanced, 4=proficient, 3=basic, 2=below basic and 1=far below basic.

Also, if you have any pencils and wipes to share with the class, we will surely use them. Have a wonderful weekend!

Nov 5-9, 2012

Hello Parents!

Can't believe it is already November...Our Halloween party was a hit. A big thanks to ALL of the parents who helped out on this day. I have to admit, I'm glad it's over though:)

This week a spelling packet for The Talking Cloth will go home and is due on Friday. Please be sure your child is completing ALL pages of the packet. Some pages are not attached and it makes it difficult for me to check when it's all is separate pieces. We will have a spelling test on Friday with these words.

We are also chipping away at multiplication. We have done 0's, 1's, 2's, 5's, 3's and 9's. We'll continue to work on these facts as well as new ones. We will have a test on these facts sometime during the week for Chapter 6.

That's all for now. Have a wonderful weekend!

Oct. 29-Nov. 2, 2012

Hello! This week a Theme 1-Spelling Review packet will be sent home with the reading log and multiplication facts page. This will be due Friday. Students will not have math homework the night of Halloween. They'll be happy about that! Our Halloween parade will begin at 8:15 in the upper grade playground. We will have our class party from 9:55-11:05. (Thank goodness for the short day!). If you would like to volunteer please let me know. We will have several "centers" going on; art, cookie decorating, spooky musical chairs, and one more activity. Students are allowed to wear their costumes to school. They are not allowed to bring anything that is inappropriate.

On October 22, our school began RTI. Things are going well so far and it's great having a smaller class during the reading block. Please be sure your child comes to school on time. Students come into the class at 7:55 and we begin right away until 9:00. Kids who have come in late seem a bit disoriented as we have already begun working.

Thank you to those who sent in wipes and pencils. With flu season approaching, it's nice to wipe down the desks on a regular basis. Lice is also going around again, so be sure to take precautions when play dates are scheduled.

Have a wonderful Halloween!

Oct. 22-26, 2012

This week RTI will begin Monday promptly at 8:00. If your child is late to school, please send them directly to their RTI class. Teachers will pass out tardy slips to give to the office. We are beginning with the story Anthony Reynoso, Born to Rope, so a spelling packet will be sent home and due on Friday the 26th.

I know many kids are excited for multiplication, and we will begin that on Monday as well. The spelling packets will soon have multiplication practice attached. Please work with your child at home on all facts from 2's through 10's. It's essential that students learn these facts in 3rd grade because they build up in the upper grades.

We will be having a Halloween party next Wednesday, October 31st in our class from 9:55-11:05. Please let me know if you'd like to help out. Kianna's mom and Jack's mom are getting this together for the class.

Wish list: pencils and hand wipes: flu season is on it's way:(

Have a great weekend!

October 15-19, 2012

It was nice having the chance to speak to you about your children this past week. Thanks to all who were able to conference either in person or on the phone:)

This week, a packet for The Keeping Quilt will be due on Friday. We will have a spelling test on Friday. We will also continue to practice subtracting larger numbers. The kids are beginning to get it. We'll keep plugging away. We are also starting choir on Thursday. This will be every Thursday for 50 minutes. I'm excited to see what song choices the students will learn this year.

Our field trip to the Museum of Natural is coming up on Friday, October 19. I'm short on drivers and need about 3 more to come along. Please let me know if you are available. We will leave school at approximately 9:30 and arrive back around 11:30. Also, driver paperwork needs to be turned in if you haven't done so already.

Have a great weekend!

Conference Week Oct 8-12

Hello Families,

Due to parent/teacher conferences, students will be dismissed at 12:20 all week. Homework club will resume on October 15 as well. Since we are having short days, the homework packet will include a Social Studies (Government) study guide, math facts practice and reading log. There will be no spelling test Friday, instead there will be a 10 point Government quiz. We are also beginning Chapter 4 in math, subtraction with regrouping. This skill can be especially challenging for 3rd graders, so please spend some time checking your child's math homework. They may need support with this.

Our field trip to the Museum of Natural History is coming up on Friday, October 19. Please be sure to turn in the permission form and $1.00 for your child. The 19th is also the Harvest Festival. A note was send home the other day asking for volunteers. Please turn the form into me or the office.

I look forward to meeting with you all again during conferences. Again, if the time scheduled doesn't work, let me know ASAP. I have only 20 minutes per conference and many are back to back.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Oct 1-5, 2012

Hello! The kids did a wonderful job memorizing the poems assigned to them last week. I was really impressed by how well they did. This week we are back to our normal spelling packet for The Waterfall. Students will have a spelling test for these words on Friday.

I'm sending a conference reminder sheet home with your child on Monday. It shows the day and time I have you scheduled. If the time doesn't work, please let me know ASAP so we can reschedule.

We have a field trip scheduled on October 19th to the Museum of Natural History near Seabright Beach. Please send in $1.00 to cover the cost of this trip. It is $30 per class, chaperones are free.

Have a great, sunny weekend! See you at conferences!

September 24-28, 2012

Hello! In lieu of a spelling packet this week, the homework packet will consist of 3 poems, a math page and a reading log. We are asking for all students to memorize 2 short poems by Friday.  This is good practice for public speaking and memory. Students will then be asked to recite the poems to the class by Friday. Please help your child practice this week.

In math, we are finishing up chapter 2 (ordering and rounding numbers) and will move on to chapter 3, addition. There may be a short quiz this week on chapter 2.

If you haven't signed up for a conference yet, please do so. I sent home a few reminders last week. I will also send home a confirmation next week or the week after with our scheduled time. Hope to see you all the week of Oct. 8-12.

Have a great weekend!

Sept. 17-21, 2012

Hello! It was great seeing you all at Back to School Night. I hope my presentation was clear and informative.  If you were unable to make it, I put a packet in your child's cubby for your review. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. I will also send home a copy of the conference list to everyone who signed up. If you did not sign up, I will send home a list of available times, so please pick your top 2 choices so I can fit you in. If you signed up for a time that has a conflict, let me know so we can reschedule. Conferences are October 8-12. That whole week students will be dismissed at 12:20.

On Monday a new spelling homework packet will go home for The Ballad of Mulan. This will be due on Friday. We are also beginning a new chapter in math (Chapter 2-Ordering numbers). On Friday, students were tested on Chapter 1 for place value, so this test will go home early in the week for your review. A reminder that Tuesday is library day for our class. 3rd graders are able to check out 2 books at a time. Students are free to renew their books, but need to return them when they are finished. Students who have a hard time remembering will only get to check one book out at a time.

A big thank you to the driver/chaperones who came to the fair on Thursday. It was an eventful, yet tiring field trip. That's all for now. Hope you are having a fabulous, sunny weekend!

Sept 10-14, 2012

Hello! This week students will receive a spelling homework packet for The Lost and Found. Students will be tested on all 20 words as well as the 5 sentences on the back on Friday. There will be nightly math from Chapter 1, Place Value. Students are to choose any 3 problems on the back. They can do all if they would like a challenge.

Thursday is our field trip to the SC County Fair. We'll be gone from around 8:30-1:30. All kids should bring a sack lunch and wear sunscreen. This field trip is free except for a $10 parking fee. Thank you to the chaperones who signed up. Be sure to update your driver form in the office. Thursday is also Back to School Night. If you can't make it, let me know so I can send home some info to you. Hope to see you then!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Email list

Hello again! I forgot to ask if you can send me your email if you check my blog weekly. I'm trying to see who is checking and get an email list started. Also, we have a field trip coming up on September 13th to the Santa Cruz County Fair. Permission forms will go home this week. Let me know if you are interested in driving. You will need to update your insurance info in the office. Hope you are having a nice long weekend!

Sept. 4-7, 2012

Dear Families in Room 21,

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! Here are some updates for the week of Sept. 4-7. On Tuesday, students will receive a spelling homework packet including one spelling page, reading log (you can cross off Monday for the holiday), and subtraction facts practice. This is due on Friday. We will also have a spelling test on Friday, which will include the 12 words as well as students being able to spell their full name. We have realized that many don't know how to spell their middle name. Students will have their first math test on Wednesday reviewing the concepts of graphing and probability that have been covered in class. There will be no math homework Wednesday night. They get a little break after the test:)

Please remind your child that we go to the library on Tuesday. If they'd like to renew a book or check one out, they'll need to bring their book to class. We have library every Tuesday from 9:15-9:35.

The Rio del Mar Classroom Volunteer Survey was sent home last week. It had volunteer positions for Room Parent, Yearbook, and other misc. jobs. Please send in by this Tuesday.

That's all for now! Again, have a nice, restful weekend.

August 27-31, 2012

Dear Parents,

Whew! What a great week back! It was wonderful getting a chance to meet some of you and getting to know your kids this week. They were all very sweet and seemed happy to be back at Rio. Thank you for all of the supplies and wish list items you sent in. They will come in handy throughout the year.

On Monday, students will be receiving a reading log/math subtraction facts packet that will be due on Friday. You may be wondering why the subtraction seems so easy? Since these skills become rusty over the summer we like the students to practice daily before moving on to multiplication in a few months. They will also have nightly math homework Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights that go along with our Houghton Mifflin curriculum. Although we do check the nightly math in class, please be sure your child is doing their work carefully and correctly.

This time of year we are also beginning the Innisbrook fundraiser. A packet will be coming home with your child on Monday.

That's all for now! Have a wonderful, restful weekend!

Welcome!

Dear Parents and Students,

       Welcome to 3rd grade in Room 21! It's hard to believe that summer has come to an end. But as one adventure ends, a new one begins. I look forward to meeting all of you (and your smiling faces) bright and early Monday morning.

     Below you will find a list of school supplies, some optional, as well as a wish list. I'll be looking for a parent volunteer the first week of school to come in and take pictures of the students. I would also LOVE some help pulling pages from our Houghton Mifflin Math and ELA practice books. If you are free to help please email me at: athena_maraldo@pvusd.net

See you soon!

Sincerely, Athena Maraldo

Room 21 Supply List

Sturdy folder for homework

Manual pencil sharpener

2 Expo markers (write name on it) and eraser or sock

Copy of Charlotte’s Web (if you already have one, I have enough for the class)

A dozen sharpened pencils to share with the class (Ticonderoga)

Pack of end cap erasers to share with the class

Headphones (optional; we will use these once a week in the computer lab. They should be in a zip lock bag with student’s name and room number)

Flash drive (optional)

Weekly Planner to write down daily homework (optional)

A labeled reusable water bottle to keep in backpack

Wish List

Tissues

Baby wipes/antibacterial wipes

Staples gift card

Donations to classroom funds

Items for prize box

Ink Cartridge for HP printer (see me for details)

Last Week of School June 4-8

Hello parents! Can't believe it's already that time of year to say goodbye. As we end our last week, I hope that all of your children have a chance to reflect on what they've learned in 3rd grade. It's been a pleasure teaching them this year even though I was on maternity leave. They have all grown and matured so much since August. Tomorrow, Monday, we will have a small class talent show. If you'd like to come it begins at 10:00. Studentd will receive yearbooks if they ordered them in the morning. Also this Wednesday is our end of the year party at Seacliff. Please send in your permission forms and $5.00 if you haven't yet. We are in need of 2 more drivers. Friday dismissal will be at 10:50. I will send report cards home with your child. If there is any outstanding balance with library, I can leave the report card in the office to pick up. A big thank you to all of the parents who volunteered in one way or another this year. You truly are a gift and I appreciate all you do. I wish you all well this summer! Best Regards, Athena Maraldo

May 29-June 1, 2012

Hope you are all having a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! Thanks to all the parents who were able to drive on the field trip to the Agricultural History Museum. It was a fun one and I'm glad the kids didn't miss out. Mrs. Nigh is looking for volunteers to help set up for the end of the year party at Seacliff Beach on June 6. If you can help out please let me know. We also need more drivers for this trip as well. It is from 10:00-1:30. As the year winds down quickly, please let me know if your child will be leaving school before June 8. I'm in the midst of report cards and want you to receive it if your child is not here the last day of school. Also, be sure all library books are turned in by this week. If any are lost, they will need to be paid for to the librarian. Have a wonderful week!

May 21-25, 2012

Hello! Here are the updates for the week: Our field trip to the Agricultural History Museum is this Friday, May 25th. We are still in need of drivers, probably 3 more will do. If you can chaperone, please let me know ASAP. The cost of this field trip is $4.00 per child, parents are free of course. We also have the end of the year party to Seacliff Beach on Wednesday, June 6th. We are asking for $5.00 to cover the cost of food for the students and parents. Students will have a homework packet due Friday as well as nightly math. We will continue to work on long division as this can be challenging for most 3rd graders. That's all for now. The year is definitely winding down. Have a great week!

May 14-18, 2012

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!Hope you had a great day with your family and enjoyed a little pampering. A big thanks to all who came to Open House. It was great seeing you and the kids were excited to show off some of their work. Here are some updates for the week: A homework packet will go home Monday and is due on Friday.Students will revisit long division and get into dividing 3 digit numbers. We will also have weekly multiplication quizzes to monitor progress of these facts. Several students have gotten their papers on the wall for exceptional times. Each week, students should try to decrease their time from the week before. If these facts are not mastered, I recommend practicing over the summer to get ready for 4th grade. We have 2 field trips coming up soon. The first is to the Agricultural History Museum at the County Fairgrounds on Friday, May 25. The cost is $4.00 per student. About 10 students still haven't turned in this form. I sent home an extra copy on Friday. I'm in need of extra drivers, so please let me know if you can come. Our end of the year trip to Seacliff Beach is also coming up on Wednesday, June 6. The permission form will go home Monday. We are asking that each student contribute $5.00 for the cost of food. As we are winding down the school year, please remind your children to follow school rules. As I mentioned last week, we will be having class meetings until the end of the school to address some problems on the playground. There have also been some "crushes" going around so that will be addressed as well. Hope you all had a nice, restful weekend!

May 7-11, 2012

Hello! I'm back to blogging! Here are some updates for this week: Famous American speeches are this Monday and Tuesday morning beginning around 8:30. I sent home a schedule with your child's name highlighted as to when they were giving their speech. If you never received this or are unaware of this, please ask your child. I know they have worked hard and look forward to hearing their speeches. Part of their grade is not only what they turn in, but also if they are a good listener to others. There will be a 20 point rubric that will be used to determine their grade on this project. A weekly homework packet will go home Monday with a reading log and multiplication practice due on Friday. There will be no math page Monday, but nightly math homework will resume on Tuesday. I have also started giving weekly multiplication quizzes on Fridays. Most students should really have these facts memorized and need to power through the next few months before entering 4th grade. We have a field trip on May 25 to the Agricultural History Museum. Please send in $4.00 to cover the cost. The end of the year party will be at Seacliff Beach on Wednesday, June 6. Permission forms will be sent home soon. On another note, as the year comes to a close, behaviors start to decline and students get Spring fever. We have had some incidences with name-calling and people's feelings getting hurt by their friends, so weekly class meetings will be held to discuss these issues for the remainder of the school year. I know we are all antsy for summer vacation, but still have 5 weeks of learning to go. This Thursday is Open House from 6:30-8:00. Hope to see there! Wish List: kleenex and pencils