Holiday Party/ Gift Exchange/ Sitter for Zeus

Good Evening,

Next week, Monday December 21, we will be celebrating the holidays in class 3-203 at 1 pm.  Please send in any snacks, treats and drinks that you would like for our children to have during the celebration.

Also, we are having a gift exchange as well for the holidays.  I will be sending home a letter tomorrow with the children explaining everything in detail.  If you wish, your child does not have to participate. Please send back the permission slip ASAP with whether you would like your child to participate or not.

Lastly, we need a warm, loving and spacious home for our class pet, Zeus, the bearded dragon. I will also be sending home a letter advising you what the requirements are to take care of him.  Please return that slip ASAP.  Once, you give permission for your family and your child to babysit him for the holiday break, I will put all the children's names in a hat and pick one family to take him home.  That family and I will discuss a good time to come and pick him up, along with his belongings :-).

Once again, thank you for all your support.  I really appreciate all who contributed to my wish list for the book fair.  That was very generous of you.  I purchased all the books today!  They will soon be in our class library for your children to borrow for reading.

I hope everyone has a safe and joyful holiday break.  Happy New Year as well!

Ms. Sullivan

Book Fair Schedule

We will be attending the book fair on the following dates and times:

Friday, December 11, 2015 @ 10:15 am

Tuesday, December 15, 2015 @ 9:00 am

Please send in money with your children on these days if you would like to purchase anything.

Thank you.

Ms. Sullivan

Science HW assignment due tomorrow (For Bus children only!)

I'm so sorry for the inconvenience, but I forgot to hand out the science/writing assignment to the bus children before they left.

The other children in the class received the assignment.

I will take into consideration, if any of the bus children to do not receive this in time, in order to complete the HW for tomorrow.

Here is the assignment:

Write to the soda companies to inquire about the discrepancy between the can size and the advertised volume.  The customer service departments of such companies can provide an explanation for the air space.  

Thanks again and sorry for the inconvenience. 

Ms. Sullivan

Personal Narrative Publishing Party!

Good afternoon,

Class 3-203 is almost finished with their personal narratives!  We would like to invite you to join us in a celebration of their amazing work.

Thursday- December 10, 2015 @ 8:30 am in our classroom.

A formal invitation will be sent out shortly.

Hope you can all make it!

P.S.  If you would like to provide some sort of refreshments and a light snack for the children, that would be great!

Ms. Sullivan

Eduplace.com (Social Studies Textbook)- Accessing and Logging In

Eduplace.com

This is a website where we can access an online social studies textbook, since we do not have an actual text.
Everything on here follows along with the NYC scope and sequence, as well as, is aligned with the common core standards.

Step 1: Go to eduplace.com

Step 2: At the bottom of the page, click on eservices


Step 3: You will find the Log-in page.
Username- nycgrade3
Password- nyc

Then click, sign in.

Step 4: Click on the picture of the Social Studies text, World Communities Now and Long Ago.

Step 5: Once, you click on the text, you will then have access to the entire text and all the chapters.

* You may have to play around with the site to get used to it.  It can be glitchy, so understand that.

**  Due to the site being glitchy at times, I will take that into consideration.  Therefore, once I post the homework for an assignment, I will make sure the children have a few days to complete it.
Please also understand, that the site may not always work for me as well in class, so I may need a few days to go over the homework that was assigned.


P.S. You may need to clear your computers cache in order to proceed in using the website.  I have had to do that in the past.

Hope this helps!  Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Ms. Sullivan

Trip Update and Chaperones

Wednesday, November 18, 10:00 am - 12:30PM

MoMath

Topology: Mobius Madness Workshop

Chaperones: Preston, Kagan and Juan  (If you are unable to make it, please let me know so that I can ask someone else.  Thanks)

Chaperones please arrive at 9am.

Since, there's no place to eat at MoMath, it would be great if you could pack a snack for your child in case they are hungry before getting back to school. 

Tuesday, November 24

The Bronx Zoo

Natural Habitats for Africa

Please submit your permission slip by November 18

Chaperones: Chiara, Roisin, Alemu, Jack, Andrew S. and Andrew B.

Tuesday, December 8, 10am

Arts on Stage at Queens Borough Performing Arts Center, Bayside

Math+Science+Juggling = Fun 

Chaperones: Joy, Olam, Lauryn (Please let me know if you are unable to attend)

Children who still haven't returned the permission slip and money: Kacey, Kayla and Jack

Tuesday, December 22, 10:00 am -12:30 pm

Guggenheim

Workshop on working with materials

Chaperones: Rafael, Gibson, Andrew Smith and Alemu (Please let me know if you are unable to attend)

Permission slips will be distributed next week

P.S. Since we have gone through all the parents who have asked to attend trips, I will now be putting names in a hat and picking chaperones that way for future trips. This way it is fair for all.

Matter Project & UN Trip Chaperones

Good Evening!

I just wanted to apologize for all the posts that I have been putting up this month.  I promise it will lessen as the year goes on, at least I hope so :-)

Matter Project

The project was gone over thoroughly with the class the day it was given to them as well as, today, I went over the directions again and even modeled for them a sample of what the project should look like.  The entire class was in agreement that this was sufficient time for them to get it done.

All the directions are self explanatory on the sheet that the children received.  There may just be one confusion... Where it states there needs to be well written sentences about each category, that is exactly what should be done.  For ex: for the states of matter: 2 sentences about solids, 2 sentences about liquids and 2 sentences about gases, which would be a total of 6 sentences.
It would not be a total of 5-7 sentences for each state of matter.

Also, the project is due Monday, October 26. The children were given a week which is more than ample time to complete this project.

UN Trip Chaperones- Oct. 29th

There will be 3 chaperones for this trip:  Mrs. Zhu, Mr. Petrova and Mrs. Chaudhry.  Please bring a photo i.d., otherwise you will not be allowed into the building.
All parents have paid!
We are eating lunch there, so please have the children bring a bagged lunch.  If they cannot, school bagged lunch will be provided for them.

Thank you for all your continued support.

Ms. Sullivan

Organizational Skills

Good Evening!

The children, not all but most, are having quite a bit of difficulty getting organized.  They have a bunch of folders and notebooks that they need to keep track of.  This is why we have them color coded so that it is easier for your child to identify which books and folders they need.

We have been working through this matter together and it will be an ongoing work in progress,

Please remind your children frequently that they need to be organized.

They tend to be forgetting folders, notebooks and even homework on a daily basis.  This has and will result in grades being lowered due to things missing or not being turned in on time.  Now remember, we do have the late policy where if a child forgets a homework, they have a day to make it up without getting penalized.  However, if they still do not hand in the homework the next day, then they will receive a zero.

Some children have received zeroes already for missing homework and not making it up.

On another note, which has to do with being organized... Papers and packets and such being sent home (or even in class).  They are responsible for these papers and packets.  I make extra copies for everything, but it just seems to be getting out of control with the amount of papers the children are misplacing.  It then becomes an issue for me to make extra copies.  I am unable to make copies at the time of the missing papers because I do not have a copy machine. So this may take days for me to make another copy.

Please work with your children like I am and will continue to, to become more organized.

Thank you for your support.

Social Studies Project Update

All the directions are mainly on the front cover of the social studies packet.

There are just a few things that weren't included but were told to the children over the past week or more. These include:

1. The children must include 7 examples of each term. (In some cases there aren't 7 examples, for those just put as many as are possible).

ex:  Hemisphere- only 2 normally, but you can refer to 4

ex: Country- there are more than 7 countries in the U.S.

2. The children are also asked to include 7 geographical features on their made up map.

3. End product- They may do the project on the sheets provided or they go the extra mile and either:

- create a poster (not too large) to add to their packet

- create a powerpoint

- take all the items on the packet and create it into a book instead.

- create a 3-d model of their made up country

-etc.

These are just some examples...

Hope this clarifies some concerns that we had.

Can't wait to see what they come up with!

Ms. Sullivan

UN Trip Update

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Due to the amount of security and such for the UN, we are only allowed to have 2 parent chaperons per class... right now I have 3, so I may have to cut one.  
I want to apologize to anyone who wanted to attend, but we have plenty of trips coming up and look forward to you joining on future trips!

Thank you for your consideration :-)

Ms. Sullivan

News and Concerns for Class 3-203

Good Evening!

Concerns:

It was brought to my attention that there have been a couple cases of items being 'stolen/taken' within the classroom.  I have spoken to the class about this matter and so far there has been no change.  Please speak to your children about this.  If this negative behavior continues, we will have to bring the guidance counselor in to speak to the class.  

News:

- UN trip slip was handed out on Friday, please hand in the money for the field trip in an envelope with your child's name.  If you are chaperoning, please include the money for the chaperon as well.
Money is due by this Thursday, October 15.  We have to give the money to them early. 

- Picture Day is this Wednesday, October 14.  Please be advised that our appointment is not until after lunch.  Make sure that you have handed in all necessary money and such for pictures.  Have students dressed appropriately. 

- Notebook- Have your child prepare a new notebook for writing (On the supply list, most children have an extra notebook but some do not). Please hand this in by Wednesday, October 14.   I will be asking them to personalize it on the cover with a design and/or things about themselves. You can add a picture if you'd like. 

Every weekend:            

Please have your child empty returned work from their red folders.  Also, sign and return additional forms.

Friday, October 16th

Weekly Enrichment Program begins.

Monday, October 19th

Weekly Global Language Program begins. The children will be learning Spanish.

Wednesday, October 21st         

Social Studies Geography Projects are due.

Studio in a School Weekly Art Program begins.

Thursday, October 29th

Trip to the United Nations

Friday, October 30th

P.S. 85 Character Parade

Towards the end of the month, the children will engage in examinations as we wrap up our units in Social Studies and Science. More information is forthcoming in next week's posting on my blog.

I want to take this time to express how much I appreciate your support. 

Have a wonderful week and Thank you for your cooperation in all matters.

Ms. Sullivan

Homework Routines

Welcome to Class 3-203!

Every night, the children will get homework in the following subjects:
1. Reading Log- read and log for 30 mins (Recently revised)
2. Math- depending on how they do during the lesson each day, the hw will vary and will be differentiated based on their performance during class.
3. Vocabulary- 10 words will be provided to the children each week, on Monday.  The following Monday, there will be an assessment on those words assigned the previous week. (work should be completed in their Vocabulary notebook.)

- Common Core Vocabulary Homework

Monday	Write each word 4 times each in your Vocabulary Notebook. Be sure to use your best handwriting.
Tuesday	Sentences- Write each of your vocabulary words in a sentence.  (You may change the form of the word ex: allow- My mom allowed me to play on the computer after I finished my homework.
Wednesday	Create a word search using the “graphic organizer”. -      Using all of your vocabulary words, write the words horizontally, vertically, or diagonally in the boxes. Then write the words in a word box at the bottom of the word search.  Finally, hide your words by filling in the empty boxes with random letters. DO NOT SOLVE.
Thursday	Match the Meaning, Synonyms and Antonyms: -      Look at the definition and match it to the correct word. -      Circle the word that is most nearly the same in meaning as the word or phrase in dark print. -      Circle the word that is most nearly the opposite in meaning as the word or phrase in dark print.
Friday	Definition Match- Using all your vocabulary words.  List these words on the left side of your paper.  Then write the definitions of each word on the right side of the paper but mix them up so a partner will be able to match the words and definitions.  DO NOT SOLVE. -      Study for your Vocabulary Test on Monday. -      Have mom or dad give you a practice test.

4. Science/ Social Studies-  Depending on what work was done in class, they may or may not get homework daily in these two subjects. (work should be completed in their Science/Social Studies notebook.)

5. Writing/Grammar- Depending on what work was done in class, they may or may not get homework daily in this subject. (work should be completed in their ELA notebook or otherwise advised.)

*  If your child forgets their notebook, this is not a problem. They can do it on looseleaf paper and glue it into the notebook upon their return the next day.

I am excited about working with your children! Thank you!