News

ELA

Dear Families of 3-Fitzgerald,

Our class is working hard in our Halloween Fun Fair committees. The Games Committee has been busy planning and gathering materials for their creations. The Education Committee has worked together to write a script for their newscast that will be a part of the Fun Fair Educational DVD. The Promotions Committee has worked to create a catchy phrase and design advertisements to be placed around the school. Ask your child to share what his/her role is during the committee work times.

We are in need of small toys or prizes to be sent in to use the day of the Fun Fair. In the interest of donating money to UNICEF, recycling small toys such as McDonald's Happy Meal toys, or something similar would work just fine. In addition to the toys, you could also choose to send in candy for the Fair. Any items can be brought into school by your child and I will store them until the Fair.

Thank you for your support in helping our Halloween Fun Fair be a success!

Our beginning of the year reading assessments are wrapping up this week. Students have been practicing the idea that "Reading is thinking" by looking for connections to their books. Ask your child about what they are reading.

Book Orders for October

Math

am sending home the October Scholastic book club flyers. There are three this month. The “Lucky” flyer is for reading levels of grade 2-3, while “Arrow” is for reading levels of grade 4-6 (with great books to read with your child), and there is also a “Just Read” special edition flyer I thought you might be interested in.

You can order online now! Go to:
www.scholastic.com/bookclubs

Our class User Name is: 3Fitz
Our class Password is: Reading4Fun

You can order right up until the due date (October 19). There are also more titles online and online specials. Each time you order online, our classroom receives a free book. Your item will be shipped to school and I will send it home with your child.

Our class has now read 57 books toward our goal of 100 books for Team Eli and Classrooms Care! Way to go!!

We began Unit 2 this week. We practiced different strategies to strengthen our addition skills. Ask your child to share with you some of the "What's My Rule" function machines. Children familiarized themselves with many variations in class and should be excited to share their knowledge with you at home.

Students practiced fact extensions. Although this may be different from how you and I learned addition, it does offer students a different approach to number sense. Encourage your student to tell you what they are thinking about when they're doing a fact extension such as: 3+4=7, so 13+4=17, and therefore 53+14=67. Because fact extensions stem from the basic facts, it is important to continue practicing those mad minutes!

Unit 2 Everyday Math Family Letter

Taking Care of Business

10/12 No School
10/14 Class Pictures (10:30 am)
10/22 1/2 Day (Conferences)
10/28 1/2 Day (Conferences)
11/3 No School for Students (Conferences)

Communication:
Please feel free to email me at: fitzgeraldm@guilderlandschools.org. Please note that I will be able to check my email only from home during the first month of school while we wait patiently to have our network running at school. A better way to reach me during the day would be to leave a message on my voicemail: 357-2770 x4105. I will return your call as soon as possible. Thanks!

Book Orders:
The October Scholastic book order closing date is Monday, October 19th. I see some of you have chosen to order online. That is great! If you prefer to send in the paper copy, please just send it to me on Monday and I will order as usual. You can expect to receive your books relatively quickly.

Halloween Fun Fair Cafe Goods:
Our class is in charge of paper goods. Please send in paper cups, plates, utensils, tablecloths, napkins, and anything else you think we might need. We're expecting around 350 students (although each student won't necessarily require all of the paper goods, depending on which snacks they purchase.)

Conferences:
As Parent-Teacher Conferences approach, I have sent home a reminder of your date and time along with a short questionnaire highlighting any areas you may want to discuss during our conference. I ask that you return these as soon as you are able in order for me to gather any resources necessary to address these concerns/comments.