Week of August 28th-30th

Good morning parents,

I hope you all are enjoying a great weekend. Last week we began to draft our personal narratives. Students made goals and it was great to see them meet those goals! This week will begin on a day 3. Students are excited to share at Morning Meeting. Ask your child what s/he will share next time.

Reading

Students have begun to set clear reading goals and track their progress towards these goals. Students will also learn how to work with their reading partner to become even better readers.

Writing

Students will learn that writers use descriptive details of movement, sounds, actions, etc. to show the story rather than tell it. Students will also write using a storyteller’s voice.

A storyteller’s voice shows not tells

-describing the actions that took place

-using dialogue

-describing what we saw, smelled, tasted or felt

-describes what the storyteller sees around him/ her

Math

Students will continue to practice time to the nearest minute as well as solve elapsed time word problems. One strategy is to use a number line with the start and end time.

Students have been introduced to Hooda Math and Prodigy as ways to practice math. You may access this at home as well.

Social Studies

Students will learn how to use map keys and the compass rose to interpret and gain information from various maps.

Please bookmark our ES Parent Learning Connection. Here you will find information and resources of our units in Mathematics and Literacy. You will notice that student blogs are linked on the right side of our class blog. We will start blogging this week or next. Please help your child to remember to complete home learning. They will bring home a new choice board each week on Monday.

If you were not able to attend Open House you can access the presentations in the class documents section of our blog.

IMWAYR2

Free Dress Day

This Friday is our first Free Dress Day...

As always we ask that the students bring RM5 as a donation to a local organization. This week's donation will be going to the Children's Cancer Hospital. 

We frequently donate to this hospital as it's a place where 5th grade Red Hats go to volunteer their time. 

The money goes to the nurses who work at the hospital and they, in turn, give it to patients in need of a little financial help. 

Your donation goes directly to those who need it most.

Thank you and know that you are making a difference in our local community.

Sincerely,

Max Mangelsdorf

Red Hat Coordinator

Week of August 21st

Good morning parents,

I hope you all had a relaxing weekend. Last week was a very busy week, building our reading and writing stamina and setting up our classroom agreements. It is great to see our community coming together. I hope to see you at Open House Monday evening. This week we have individual pictures on Monday (students may wear smart casual clothing) and class pictures on Wednesday (students wear a full uniform). This week we begin home learning (we will talk about it a bit at Open House). You can see the current week on the Home Learning tab if you want to have your child get a head start. Each Monday the Home Learning notebook will come home with a new choice board inside.

This week will begin on a day 4.

Reading

We have begun our first reading unit: Building a Reader’s Life. Students will learn to choose books that are just right for them and to monitor as they read so they can spend their time reading lots of books with accuracy and comprehension. Your child should be reading in English each evening (in addition to any other language they read).

Writing

We have started our first writing unit: Crafting True Stories. This week we continue to learn how to find ideas for stories. Students can think of an important person or place and list the moments that happened. Then students choose one of these moments and begin drafting their story. Students will also set clear goals and track their progress towards their goals.

Math

We will begin our first math unit on Measurement.

In this unit students will:

• Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes.
• Solve elapsed time, including word problems, by using a number line diagram.
• Reason about the units of mass and volume.

Please make sure your child practices basic math facts (addition and subtraction to 20) as needed. There are ideas for this on the parent learning page linked below.

Social Studies

Students will begin to learn about what makes a map and what tools help us to read a map such as a compass rose, map key, symbols (landforms), etc. If you have any maps at home that you would not mind the class looking at, please send them to school with your child to share.

Please take a minute to look at our ES Parent Learning Connection. Here you will find information and resources of our units in Mathematics and Literacy.

Great article from NYT on children and reading.

Do keep checking the photo tab for new photos.

Week of August 14

Week of August 14th

Good morning 3EV Parents,

I hope you all are enjoying a relaxing weekend. We had a fabulous first week of school. I saw students making new friends and showing so much enthusiasm for being in third grade! This second week of school we will continue to discuss the Melawati Way and delve into the SLRs (Schoolwide Learning Results). We continue to build our classroom communities and routines. Also this week, students will have MAP testing.

This week we begin on Day 5.

Reading: Students will learn that readers make plans to set themselves up for the best possible reading lives, and then they put those plans into action. We will build our stamina in reading as well as passion! Students should be reading at home each evening.

Writing: Students will build their stamina, writing across pages with details, facts, and opinions.

Students will begin to learn about the writing process that includes: Planning/Rehearsing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing. Our first unit of writing will be Personal Narrative. Students will begin to develop personal narratives based on real experiences/events from their lives.

Math: Students will continue to establish math routines and expectations that will prepare students for the mathematics classroom. The focus will be on developing a growth mindset towards mathematics and setting norms for group work.

Social Studies: We will begin our Mapping unit. Students learn about map features, the types of maps and how to read them. They will also explore how landforms impact the lives of people in the area.

Please take a minute to look at our ES Parent Learning Connection. Here you will find information and resources of the upcoming units in Mathematics and Literacy.

I hope your child has shared some of our events of the past week. You can find a few pictures by following the link on the photo tab of the class blog, with oobleck being particularly picture-worthy.

Thank you very much for returning the AUP and parent survey so promptly! Our class is still in search of a room parent. In third grade the job is not a huge one, but we really need a class liaison to the PTA Grade Level Coordinator. Please let me know if you can take on this role.

We will be adding to writing notebooks this week. Your child may want to bring in photos or other flat mementos s/he can glue on/inside the cover.

Have a great week ahead!

Best,

Erika

Welcome

                                                                                                                                      August 8, 2017
 Dear 3EV Families,

 I am so excited to be able to learn with your family this year! Please know that parents are an important part of our learning community and I welcome your participation. I hope you will feel welcome at school and should you have time to volunteer on a regular basis (or occasionally), please let me know.

This is my fourth year in third grade at ISKL. Before that for 11 of the previous 12 years I was teaching in Berlin, Germany. I have also taught in India, Poland, the Netherlands, and the US. I am originally from the US and call the Boston area home. My sons (Jason and Curtis) graduated from an international school in Berlin and attended university in the US. Jason is currently teaching English in South Korea, while Curtis is about to begin law school. My cat, Pele, is my only family in Kuala Lumpur. You will quickly find out that I am a book lover and I am always happy to recommend books! In my free time, I also love to travel and learn about different cultures. I enjoy connecting with people all over the world, so explore new technologies this way too.

 Each Sunday you will find an update in the announcement section of our class blog. Please make it a habit to check here for information about what is going on in class. You can simplify this by subscribing to the blog so that you will get a notification each time it is updated. There will not be whole class emails from me this year, all whole class communication will be via the class blog. In a few weeks the students will also begin blogging. More information about this will follow, but know that everyone LOVES comments!

Third grade is an exciting year and I am lucky to be able to work with your children this year. I hope you will be able to come in for a brief “Getting to Know You” chat. I am happy to schedule these 10 minute appointments before or after school. Please email me some times you are available and I will confirm. I can also meet during specialist classes (except days 3 when I have regular meetings). You are your child’s first teacher and this is a chance for me to learn from you more about teaching your child. More information about the third grade program will be shared at Back to School Night (August 21st for grade 3 parents).

Please feel free to contact me throughout the year if you have questions or concerns. The easiest way to reach me is via email (evictor@iskl.edu.my). Thank you for loaning me your child for the year. Best,
Erika

Dear 3EV Families,
 I am excited for a great year ahead in 3EV. This year all class communication will be via this blog, so please look on the right-hand side of this screen to see where you can subscribe via email so that you will always get notifications when information is posted. I look forward to a fantastic year of learning with the 3EV students. You can reach me via email at evictor@iskl.edu.my
Best,
Erika