5/12

5-17 Field Trip to Bethel Park
5-19 ALL LIBRARY BOOKS DUE
5-19 Citizen of the month assembly
5-22 Field Day5-24 Mini writing celebration after lunch

Service Learning Final Update

I am so happy to announce that the third graders meet their goal for the service learning project! Overall we raised a total of 2,780 dollars that will be going to the Make A Wish organization! Thank you to everyone who attended our event. It was a lot of fun and I know the kids really worked hard on it!

Library Books

This week was the last week students could check out library books. All books are due back by the end of next week (5/19)!  

End of the Year Writing Celebration

On Wednesday May 24^th, third grade is also having their final writing celebration. You are invited to come and eat lunch with your student in the cafeteria and then come back to the classroom for dessert. We are working hard on our poetry unit and the students will be able to show you the different poems they have been writing this month. There will also be a short video of all the pictures I have taken of the students this year as well as a classroom award for each student. I would love to see all of the families there!

Photos

I have been keeping all the photos I have taken from all our events in a google photo album. If you have any photos you would like to add please feel free to upload them here:https://goo.gl/photos/iQspmCqtzgrAfFN5A

4/7

It was great to come back to school after a week off and see all these smiling faces! We have been having a great week patiently awaiting the arrival of our chicks and playing with legos! Here are some updates!

Upcoming dates:4-12 PTA meeting at 6:304-19 Shakespeare's pizza night to benefit 3rd grade service learning project4-24 - 4-28 MAP testing!4-29 PTA carnival5-5 3rd grade Flash Dash5-8 Field trip to cattle farm5-9 Field trip to Runge in Jeff City5-17 Field trip to Bethel park5-19 Citizen of the month assembly5-22 Field Day

Lego tub

This week we were lucky enough to have our name drawn for the lego tub. We spent some time this week building lego creations and they are now in the trophy case in the main hallway of the school. Heres a sneak peak of the awesome creations we made!

Baby Chicks

On Monday we will hopefully have 12 new additions to our classroom! We should have 12 baby chicks hatching! The students are all so excited to be working on this and they are also working on writing a persuasive writing paragraph over why they should be allowed to take care of a chick. They have to research and describe some facts about the life cycle of a chicken, whats inside the egg, and how to care for a baby chicken. I am excited to see how their writing turns out!

Math

This week we are continuing to work with fractions. We have been making some cool fraction strip books and have been working noticing fractions of sets of objects as well!  Next week we will look at equivalent fractions and fractions on a number line! 

Hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the sun!

3/19

I hope that all our families have a safe and wonderful spring break!

Math:

We have just finished up our unit on area and perimeter and will began our unit over fractions this week! If you see opportunities to discuss real life fractions with your child, please do! I love when they are able to see math outside of school! We also were able to celebrate memorizing all of our multiplication facts with an ice cream sundae party! The student did some great work to deserve this sweet treat! We will be continuing our timed tests through the month of April. If you would like to practice these at home,  feel free to email me and I can send home more copies. 

Reading:

This next week we will learn how to identify the main idea in a fiction text. We are also focusing a lot on reading comprehension to prepare for the MAP test!

Writing:

We have been working on opinion writing and discussing strategies to use to persuade an audience to agree with our opinion. We have talked about the importance of having quality reasons, and evidence to support those reasons. This week we wrapped up writing pieces to persuade someone they should only eat one type of food a week! The students were very invested in these stories and it was cool to see what they came up with!

Health:

In health this week we learned about our body's defenses against germs. We did several interesting experiments! Next week we will be learning about what we can do to keep our bodies healthy and strong!

Chicks:

Starting the week after spring break we will be getting chicks in our classroom. They will come to us as eggs and we will be able to watch as they hatch and become little chicks! This should be a great experience for all students!

Service Learning Update:

Thank you to those of you who have purchased an ad for the back of our Flash Dash t-shirts. We still have some spots for more ads, so if you are interested/ know anyone who would be interested in purchasing one, please let me know! We will be sending t-shirt order forms home after Spring Break.

3/10

Upcoming Dates:
3/14-Math Night- 6:00-7:30pm

3/24- Six Flags reading logs due
3/27-3/31-Spring Break

MAP Testing:

Just as a reminder, MAP testing on the last week of April. It will consist of 3 math sections and 3 language arts sessions. We will be taking a different test each day that week and will be spending a large portion of April getting prepared. Because third grade is the first time students will be MAP testing, we will be talking about test taking strategies and practicing on the laptops. I will send out more information as we get closer to testing time.

Service Learning:

This we are sending home a form for those of you who are interested in purchasing an ad for the back of the "Flash Dash" t-shirts. The details of this project are slowly starting to come together, so we are excited to get the ball rolling!

Math:

Last week in math we took our divisions tests. These are also being sent home today in Friday folders. Please make sure to SIGN and return your students test! This way I can be sure you went over it with them and can see where they are at in math! We have moved onto Perimeter and Area in math now and will be working on this for the next couple of weeks!

Multiplication Sundaes

As you may know, students have been working hard to pass all of their times facts in order to earn a sundae party at the end. We still have a few students who are working on that goal, however, I believe we will be having our sundae party on Friday March 24^th. I am asking for help in donation of sundae toppings. I plan to provide the ice cream however if you are interesting in signing up please do so here

Reading Logs:

This month for our reading log, students will have a chance to earn a ticket to six flags in St. Louis. To earn this prize, students must read 6 hours and return the reading log I sent home at the beginning of the month. It must be signed by a parent in order for me to hand out the ticket! Please make sure to keep those students reading at all times! It will help them so much next year. Those reading logs are due Friday, March 24^th!

Health:

We have officially started our health unit and we are loving it!! We have been learning about diseases, germs, and what causes them. This week students had the chance 

2/7

Upcoming Dates:
2/10- Read to Succeed tickets due
2/10-Puzzle Day
2/13-Parent-Teacher conferences
2/14- Valentine's Party
2/16-Parent-Teacher Conferences
2/17-No School 
2/20-No School- President's Day

Conference Information:

In the Friday Folder, last week you should have seen a slip of paper with your conference time for this trimester. This year we scheduled the second trimester conferences the same time that you had your conference during the first trimester. Please let me know if the time slot you have does not work for you so we can find a better time! You can either email me or call the office and they can reschedule for you!

Service Learning

These past few weeks we have been working hard to finalize the details of a service learning project third grade will be doing this year at Beulah Ralph. Hopefully your child has shared some of our plans with you already but here are the details: 

When: Friday, May 5 after school 
What: third grade will be hosting a school wide fun run to benefit Make a Wish foundation. It will consist of several fun stations throughout the course and Kona Ice/food trucks at the end. We will also be selling t-shirts for admission. These t-shirts will also have business logos on the back for businesses to purchase an ad.
Who: The whole BEU community will be invited to participate in this fun run. 
Why: To help raise 2500 dollars to sponsor a wish of a child here in Columbia 
  
We are really looking forward to this event, but know we will need a lot of help and volunteers. I will be sharing more information at conference time, but we would love for you to put this date on your calendar now! Thanks!

Math:

In math, we are wrapping up our final multiplication unit. Please continue to have your child practice their multiplication facts at home daily. Again, it is essential that they have them memorized by the time they go to fourth grade. Even though we are finishing our multiplication unit, we will still be practicing our facts. Next we will be working on division!

Reading:

In reading we are continuing to study nonfiction books. This week we looked at how authors start and end their book to help us with our informational writing. We are also continuing to work on reading fluency, comprehension, and stamina. 

Writing:

In writing, we finished up our informational writing pieces. The books the students made look so great! I am excited to show them to you at parent teacher conferences. Soon we will begin our persuasive writing unit!

Science:

This past week we were able to have a local meteorologist come and talk to us all about sever weather. This week students will be working on a severe weather project to wrap up our unit over weather!

1/29

Upcoming dates:

January 31st- 100th day of school and Beulah Ralph's Birthday 
February 1st- Field trip to the public library
February 2nd- KOMU 8 Weather Presentation February 3rd- Neon color day, wear something bright!February 6th- School not in sessionFebruary 10th- Progress reports, Problem solver day- bring in a puzzle to completeFebruary 13th- parent/teacher conferencesFebruary 14th- Valentine's PartyFebruary 16th- parent/teacher conferencesFebruary 17th- school not in session

Math- Multiplication Flash Cards

In the Friday Folders this week I sent home a set of multiplication flash cards for each student to practice their math facts at home with.  Starting on Monday students can be quizzed over the different multiples (multiplies of 0, multiplies of 1, multiplies of 2) in order to gain a part of their multiplication sundae page. Each week students will be tracking their process with their facts. There is no time limit on the flashcard quiz, however, they must get every one right in order to move on to the next category.

Reading- Field Trip

This next week on Wednesday we will be taking a field trip to the Columbia Public Library. We will have the opportunity to tour the library, learn more about the books that are there, and listen to some stories. Students will also have the opportunity to get their own library card! I sent home the permission form last week but if you need another copy I have more as well.

Science- Weather Presenter

This week we also have the unique opportunity to have Kenton Gewecke, the local weatherman at KOMU 8, come to our class and talk to us about being a weather man. This will be wrapping up our current science unit over weather and it will be a great experience for the students to learn first hand how the weather man predict the weather and the tools they use at the station.

Writing

We are still working on our nonfiction writing unit! We are aiming to have our writing pieces finished for parent teacher conferences soon! The students are working hard turning their notes into sentences, and then turning those sentences into a structured paragraph.

Valentines Day Boxes

In third grade this year, we decided that instead of doing Valentines Day Boxes we would instead do Valentine Animal bags. The kids will make these in class the day before the Valentines Day party. We will work on the symmetry of hearts and how we can turn them into animals! The students can use different size and shapes of hearts to create their own animal and then place these onto paper bags where they will collect their valentines in. 

1/18

Here are a few updates to be made aware of!

NO FRIDAY FOLDERS

Since I will be out this Thursday and Friday I will not be sending home Friday Folders this week!

Reading Log-

Recently I have been having the students turn in their Reading Logs on a Daily Basis. I am not looking for a parent signature every day, I am only looking to see what book and how long the students are reading every night.  I just want to make sure that the kids are reading every single night! This will be very important going into fourth grade! We have also started to keep a reading log in class as well. Each student records the pages and titles of the books they are reading each day. This way they are held accountable during their “Read to self” time. If you have any questions about this please feel free to email me!

Spelling Bee

Our school spelling bee will be this this Friday at 9:30 AM. We have two students from our classroom representing us this year! Brooke and David will be going up against other students in third, forth, and fifth grade! I know they will do great!

Beulah Ralph Birthday Celebration

On January 31^st Beulah Ralph would have turned 90 years old! To celebrate her birthday and all the incredible things she has done for the Columbia Public School district, we will be holding an assembly to honor her. Monica Naylor, Mrs. Ralph’s daughter, will speak at the assembly and share some memories of her mother. We will also sing Happy Birthday to Mrs. Ralph and celebrate with cupcakes. In honor of Mrs. Ralph, we will be collecting personal care items to donate to the Turning Point Day Center (to help the homeless of Columbia). Here is a list of what each grade level is expected to bring.

a.       Kindergarten – Toothpaste

b.       1st grade – Deodorant

c.       2nd grade – Shampoo and Conditioner

d.       3rd grade – Chapstick or soap

e.       4th grade – Adult socks

f.       5th grade – Toothbrushes

Career Day

Next week we are celebrating responsibility here at Beulah Ralph. To do so we will be talking about jobs we want to have when we grow up! On Friday students will be encouraged to dress up like their future career choice! We will also have parents come and present about their jobs at a Career Day!

Donating Games!
During these cold winter months we have been experiencing several indoor class recesses. As a first year teacher the downside to this is that I do not have enough board games for all the students to play! If you have any old, used, or worn out games that you would like to donate for our class to use during indoor recess time please send them in! If you also know of a place that would sell games at a discount let me know! I know the kids will greatly appreciate it!

January Classroom Update

Happy New Year! I hope that each of you had a wonderful holiday season! I know that it was tough coming back to school this week (especially with all this snow) However, the kids are doing great and I have loved getting to see them again! As we start of the New Year I thought it would be useful if I update you all about what is going on in our classroom!

Math- In math we are continuing to learn about multiplication. We are currently working on the defining multiplication concepts. Specifically we are learning how to look at and create multiplication problems using arrays. Yesterday and today we learned two new math games! Ask you students how to play circles and stars and I am sure they will be able to teach you! The directions are as follows: 

Circles and Stars

1. Each person takes a recording sheet and a dice

2. Take turns…

3. Player 1 rolls the dice.

a. The first roll is the number of circles you draw

b. The second roll is the number of stars you draw

4. Write the multiplication sentence for your pictures

a. Remember...the number of circles is the first number!

5. Then Player 2 does the same.

6. After your board is filled, add up your score - who won?

Science- We are continuing our weather unit! We just finished learning about the different forms of precipitation and next week we will start learning about wind and how it affects the weather!

Reading- We are getting back into the groove of school and with that, we are getting back into reading! On Thursday we worked on picking better chapter books for us to read! We also got to use our new check it out board! Here the students will be able to look at what books other kids are reading and decide if they would like the book as well! It has worked well so far and the kids are really excited to recommend books to other friends as well!

We are starting our new read aloud book next week! This month our book will be “Shiloh” written by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. This book is about a boy and his dog. It does get sad at times so you may want to ask your students opinion about the book! I am sure they would love to share their feelings.

Writing- Throughout the month of Janurary we still be working on our nonfiction writing. Before break students wrote a piece about something they were “experts” on. Starting next week we will begin researching facts about the topic the students want to learn more about. To help get their brains thinking of ideas I created a wonder board in the classroom. Here students can post questions, or “wonders”, that they have about life, the world, or anything they can think of! Then in the morning before the 8:20 school bell rings starts they can try to research information to help solve other students wonders. We have had some pretty interesting wonders such as “What happens to gum when you swallow it?” “Why is the statue of liberty green” and “What is a spleen?” If you would like to come in before school and check out our board, or post any of your own wonders, feel free to do so!

Snacks- Just a friendly reminder that students ARE allowed to bring snacks for the morning! As long as it is small enough to stay at their table spot and is a healthy choice.  In addition, we are once again in need of DONATIONS for our snack bin. I try to only give out snacks to students who did not get breakfast or who are in need of a snack before lunch. Therefore if you would like to donate snacks we will gladly love some crackers, pretzels, gold fish, or any other healthy, pre-packaged snack!

Coats- In these cold winter months please make sure that your student is wearing a heavy winter coat to school! Because of the cold temperatures we don’t get to make it outside that often but if we have a chance to I will only let students with coats go outside.

Miss Rutledge

krutledge@cpsk12.org