January 2010
Dear Parents,
Happy New Year! We hope everyone enjoyed the winter recess and all the
holiday celebrations. We extend our best wishes to all of you and once again,
thank you for your thoughtfulness, in remembering us with so many lovely gifts.
We hope everyone is well rested because we have so many exciting events to
look forward to in 2010! First of all, we want to welcome Ms. Caporale to our
class. She will be filling in for Mrs. DeBrino while she is out on her
maternity leave. We also want to welcome Michael DeBrino to the world!
Now let us share some our December accomplishments:
Mrs. Santosusso’s Math Group:
• Explored Algebra
• Reviewed addition and subtraction with and without regrouping
• Identified addition patterns
• Practiced estimating the sum and the difference by rounding
• Created “Glyphs”
• Identified coins
• Explored making change
• Added money
• Analyzed problem solving strategies and made investigations
(guess and check, working backwards, counting up, looking for a
pattern, using objects, mental math)
• Continued working on problem solving and identifying key concepts
Mrs. Santosusso’s Word Study Group:
• Focused on words with the short /u/ and short /i/sound
• Learned about homophones
• Reviewed parts of speech
• Made spelling connections
• Applied strategies for making and learning new words
• Practiced proofreading and editing for punctuation and capitalization
• Learned new vocabulary words
Mrs. Santosusso’s Reading Group:
• Continued our Author Study on Patricia Polacco and enjoyed many of
her stories
• Reviewed reading strategies
• Identified story elements
• Practiced Sequencing
• Compared and contrasted stories
• Explored characterization
• Studied “cause and effect”
• Explored figurative language in Patricia Polacco books (similes,
metaphors, idioms, personification, onomatopoeia words)
• Wrote couplets, acrostic poems, “I Am…”poems and list poems
• Shared holiday stories and book projects
• Wrote resolutions
• Continued Independent Reading
• Read for our Reading Logs
• Shared our “Nothing Books” with our families
Cursive for 3SAN/DEB:
• Practiced writing cursive letters – o, b
Science for 3SAN/DEB:
• Identified the parts of a flower
• Discussed plant products and the uses of plants
• Completed our first unit in science on Plants and Seeds
Social Studies for 3SAN/DEB:
• Reviewed Latitude and Longitude
• Explored Land and Water Forms
Technology for 3SAN/DEB:
• Used Microsoft Word to type poems
• Visited www.blackdog.net
• Practiced Keyboarding
In Addition:
• Celebrated the holidays with hot chocolate, donuts and a special
story read by Mrs. O’Shea
• Created Tube Sock Snowmen
• Made “Pysanky” Eggs and Paper Stars
• Learned about Georgia O’Keeffe and painted beautiful flowers
• Performed in our Winter Concert
• Participated in a Hand washing Workshop
• Had Pajama Day at Crompond
• Enjoyed a story read by Mrs. Schneider and played the Dreidel game
• Participated in workshops with Mrs. Murdock about bullying
• Watched a Holiday Movie
Coming Attractions:
“Author Study” Party
Multiplication
Jacob Burns
Electricity
Static Boxes
World Regions
Martin Luther King Jr.
Non-Fiction Reading
Biographies
Important Dates to Remember:
January 7th ~ Math Test chapter 3
January 13th ~ Trip to Jacob Burns
January 14th ~ Author Study Party
January 15th ~ School Spirit – 50’s Day
January 18th ~ Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Schools are closed
BIRTHDAYS:
Meaghan Mark – January 3rd
BEST WISHES!
DECEMBER’S STUDENT OF THE MONTH: Keep up the Great Work!
(Mrs. Santosusso’s Group) Carly Jacoby
(Mrs. DeBrino’s Group) Jagger Schienle
January’s Suggestion for Home Activities: “Homework Helpers”
Does your child misplace assignments, leave things until the last minute or
resist sitting down to do homework? Your child’s homework is important for
several reasons. Homework is a way to strengthen and extend skills and
concepts learned in school. Experience with homework at the primary grades
can also help your child develop good study habits for the upper grades, when
assignments may become more demanding. Learning to handle homework can help
your child become more organized and efficient, a plus in just about any area
of life. To help you child succeed with homework, consider these tips.
• Help you child set up a study space. Your child may have his or her own
desk. A corner of a counter and a box for holding materials will also do.
The key is to make it easy for your child to find necessary books, papers,
crayons and so on.
• Help your child schedule a time each day for homework. Right after school
may not be the best time, as your child may need to relax a bit. After dinner
may be too close to bedtime. A good time might be during dinner preparations,
when an adult is nearby to offer support.
• Turn off the TV and other distractions.
• Use a timer to help you child set goals and concentrate. For example, set
the timer for 15 minutes. When the buzzer goes off, let your child stretch
before setting the timer again. Adjust the time to meet your child’s needs.
• Allow your child to ask for help. Sometimes assignments that make sense
during school are unclear hours later at home. Ask your child to explain what
he or she can about the assignment, and then do you best to fill in the
blanks. Breaking up assignments into smaller chunks may also help. Remember
to provide guidance not answers.
• When your child does homework, you do homework too. Show your kids that the
skills they are learning are related to things you do as an adult. If your
child is reading, you read too. If your child is doing math, balance your
checkbook.
• Keep a calendar handy and have your child plan enough time each day to work
on long term assignments. This will allow them to take more ownership and
pride in their work.
• Plan a treat that your child can look forward to when homework is finished.
For example, a story you can read together or a game you can play.
• Finally, always remember to praise your child’s progress. This will promote
independence and responsibility!
Furthermore, we wanted to say thank you the donations and your support for The
Third Grade Toy Drive. We collected many new toys for those who are less
fortunate and even got our picture taken for The North County News. Enjoy
January!
Sincerely,
Lisa Santosusso, Sharon DeBrino and Jaclyn Caporale
