deb-btsn_pp_2017.pptx |
Thanks to all parents who attended Back-to-School Night last night. I'm sorry that we didn't get through all the material on the PowerPoint presentation. I will be posting comments on this blog, one slide a day (see below). Please let me know of any questions you have. For those who did not make it, please check your child's backpack for the BTSN folder. Note that there is a blue Student-Parent-Teacher Compact for you to sign and return.
It was a hot one today, and tomorrow is forecast to be more of the same. Please encourage your child to drink lots of water. We are having "walk and talk" morning recess (no balls or running) with many students taking out a book. Lunch recess was inside the classroom today, and likely will be tomorrow, as well. You might have to look around for us after school --- those little trees don't provide enough shade, so we're hanging out closer to the building. Our first field trip has been scheduled. We will join the third grade FLAG classes of Mrs. Oh and Mrs. Wong when we travel by bus to attend a children's theater production of The Music Man at the San Gabriel Mission Auditorium. Watch for paperwork to come home soon, but you may let me know now if you would like to join us as a parent chaperone: Friday, October 13, in the morning (we'll be back at school for lunch). BTSN PP - slide 9 Thanks to your generous contributions to the MKS Fund, we have four Resident Artists. You can view the video presentation here. You'll find your personal invitation to pledge in your folder. Please consider making a pledge of $100 this year, which can be paid over ten months at $10 per month. We have already begun our arts classes --- Theater with Mrs. Gilbert. We have ten weekly hour-long classes culminating in a performance at Hoover High School. I will publish the date and time as soon as I know it. In trimester 2 we will have ten weeks of visual art classes with Mrs. Zierhut, and we close out the year with ten weeks of Soh Goh Korean Drumming classes with Mrs. Kim, a special musical offering for all Keppel third graders. You'll receive advance notice of all studio days and performances. Please support the MKS Fund as you are able! I'll see you at 7:00pm in room 1321. If you are trying to cover two classes at the same time, do not worry about walking in late or leaving early. If you have any school forms to turn in, please bring them tonight. Just a reminder --- this is an adults-only evening. I'll be sure to have you on your way by 7:45pm. Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Back-to-School Night is coming up on Wednesday, so school will dismiss early, at 11:55am. Open House for Room 1321 is 7:00-7:45pm (along with other third, fourth, and fifth grade classes). The evening begins with presentations in kindergarten, first, and second grades. I look forward to seeing you on Wednesday. PLEASE NOTE that this is an adults-only evening.
Math - Today we worked on Counting Collections. Students worked in pairs or trios to first estimate the number of kidney beans in their cup, then decide how to group the beans to most efficiently count them. Some chose 2s since that's easy to count by, but were quickly overwhelmed when counting the groups --- it was hard to keep track of which groups had already been counted as there were more than 100 beans in the cup. Most partnerships chose 5s or 10s, and a couple tried groups of 20. Tonight, students are asked to explain Counting Collections to a parent, and try their own at home --- they have a copy of the sheet in their agenda/planner. Some ideas for objects: Legos, Hot Wheels, Shopkins --- something you have a lot of. Something from your kitchen would also work, like a bag of elbow macaroni. DON'T GO OUT AND BUY SOMETHING! Just use something you have around the house. Blue, White, Khaki - Great job, families, on the Keppel uniform! We're almost there! Remember, black does not count for navy blue, and gray does not count for khaki. Please try to avoid pictures/writing on clothing --- but any Keppel shirt of any color is perfect! Heat Wave - We're forecast to have triple digits for the rest of the week. We're drinking lots of water and (necessarily) going to the bathroom more. This makes it even more important to "start out on empty" --- please remind your child to use the toilet just before leaving the house in the morning. Thanks! Hurricane Harvey - Just as we followed and learned about the partial solar eclipse the first week of school, we are now following and learning about Hurricane Harvey. I subscribe to a service called Newsela, which takes articles from the press and (with permission) rewrites them to various reading levels. Usually the lowest reading level available is third grade, making it a great resource for our class. Tonight, part of your child's homework is to share the article about Hurricane Harvey and discuss what they know about hurricanes (we learned a bit about hurricanes on Friday in advance of the storm making landfall). First of all, I'm sorry that I did not post yesterday --- not even the homework! I do intend to post daily.
In no particular order . . . We had a fire drill this morning. It surprised us all --- Mrs. Worley does not tell the teachers, so it really is good practice for all of us. As you might expect, some things went well and some things need improvement. Please ask your child about our safety procedures. Thursday folders went home today. Please note that there is information about upcoming after-school classes. There is also a flyer about auditions for Keppel's Elite and Elite Prep Drill Teams. Mrs. Cris Neel, our Dance Artist-in-Residence, coaches these popular teams after school. PTA Membership - Keppel's PTA membership drive has begun! PTA supports our school in so many ways --- I urge you to support our PTA with your membership dues. Our class goal is at least one adult member from each family. While every parent is welcome to participate, please know that paying your dues does NOT obligate you for any further commitment --- though volunteers are always welcome! You'll find the membership envelope in today's Thursday folder. i-Ready - As your child may have mentioned, this week we began taking the i-Ready beginning-of-the-year diagnostic test in reading and math. A few students have finished both sections but most have not --- this is NOT a concern. These tests are not timed and students should take as much time as they need in order to do their best work. Once everyone has completed the tests, I will be sending home the parent report in the Thursday folder. Once a student has finished either math or reading, the lessons for that section are unlocked and your child may work on them at home. We will not be working on i-Ready lessons at school with the exception of the testing period --- students who have finished both parts will work on lessons while the rest of the class finishes. Student Online Accounts - Some of you have discovered the Student Logins page elsewhere on this site. A few things for you to keep in mind:
Bathroom Matters - No surprise and right on schedule, a whole LOT of students have needed to go to leave class to go to the bathroom the last couple of days. I will never deny a child a trip to the bathroom, but I only allow one student to leave class at a time. Third graders are expected to use the toilet during their morning and lunch recess breaks. Please remind your child to "make a stop" before leaving the house in the morning. That way, we can start on "empty." Uniforms & Free Dress - You should have received a phone call this evening from our principal, Ms. Siegal, reminding that tomorrow is a free dress day because it is the last Friday of the month. On all other school days, students are expected to be dressed in Keppel uniform colors (blue, khaki, white). I've posted details under the More... tab. Scholastic Book Orders - Watch for the first book order to come home tomorrow. After four days of "the eclipse" today was our first "regular" day. We're still in beginning-of-school mode, going over routines for our classroom and for Keppel in general. Part of your child's homework tonight is to share the third grade PBIS matrix with you. Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports is a program developed by the U.S. Department of Education which our district is using to address social, emotional, and behavioral areas. Keppel's PBIS team began their training last year, and this year we are beginning to implement this program school-wide. The matrix answers the question What does it look like to be safe, responsible, and respectful? You'll recognize them as the Keppel 3 B(e)s.
The third grade matrix was developed by the third grade team last spring. We're using it as our starting point for our own Room 1321 matrix, which will ultimately replace the grade-wide version. There is also a Keppel PBIS matrix that spells out expectations for for our common areas --- watch for that to come home later this week for your review. Hot Off the Press - This Friday, August 25, being the last Friday of the month, will be a Free Dress Day rather than a College Spirit Day. Thanks to all families who spent time over the weekend constructing a cereal box pinhole camera. We had so much fun viewing the eclipse not only through our eclipse glasses, but also through the cardstock cameras we made in class last week, the cameras made at home, and even colander cameras and cracker cameras!
Thanks also to all family members who were able to join us today for our viewing party. Your presence enhanced our experience and certainly helped me! Back-to-School Forms - Thanks for all the school forms you've returned so far, both paper and online. Forms # 1-4 and 7 are required of all students. Forms 5, 6, 8, and 9 will apply to some students and not to others. As you know, the District is encouraging parents to complete many forms online. But others must be filled out on paper: the two blue cards and one white card. All families are asked to fill out the lunch application form. If you choose not to apply for free or reduced lunch, just fill out Step 1, sign in Step 4, and check the box in the upper right corner indicating that you do not wish to apply for benefits. You can complete this form online by clicking here. Solar Eclipse Celebration - Please check your child's backpack for a half-sheet about our plans for Monday's partial solar eclipse. Today we successfully constructed our pinhole cameras with cardstock, foil, and tape. At home this weekend, I hope that you will have time to assist your child in making a cereal box pinhole camera. After watching video one and video two, I demonstrated making one, and then we went outside to try out both cameras. PLEASE ask your child to tell you all about it.
As I let you know in my Wednesday post, I've got a class set of eclipse glasses from American Paper Optics that conform to Eclipse fever is catching at Keppel, but not every class has studied as much as we have this week, so our class decided to make some posters to teach others when we're all outside on Monday morning. Some of our posters are complete and others need finishing touches on Monday, but perhaps the best thing we can do for our schoolmates is to show how to use a pinhole camera and share our cameras with them. Please join us on Monday if your are able --- sign in first at the front office to get your visitor's badge. All students should remember to:
It's not too late to check out some of the links I've posted under the More/Links tab. (Hint: I'm adding new links at the top) Blue, Khaki, White - Ms. Siegal and Mrs. Worley stopped by our third grade class (on the third floor!) this afternoon to remind us about our three uniform colors: blue, khaki, and white. Any shade of blue is fine, and shoes and jackets for outside may be any color. But tops and bottoms must conform to our uniform colors --- blue, khaki, and white. Fridays are College Spirit Days when students are encouraged to wear a shirt from a college or university (any color!) but bottoms must still be blue, khaki, or white. Students who do not choose to wear a college shirt must wear a top in our uniform colors. Thanks in advance for your support!
Congratulations! We're on a two-day streak --- everyone at school on time. Keep up the good work!
By now you have probably figured out that we are ALL about the upcoming solar eclipse! Today we read an information sheet and a Newsela article. Part of your child's homework is to share the those with their family. I've uploaded both of the PowerPoints that we viewed in class yesterday (see above). The first one is about solar eclipses in general, and the second one is specifically about Monday's partial solar eclipse. Both PPs have many embedded hyperlinks with even more information. We will be constructing a very basic pinhole camera with a piece of cardstock, but this link will show you how to make a super camera obscura with a cereal box at home this weekend. Here's another link that goes into more detail on the cereal box pinhole camera. Your child can bring it to school on Monday morning to use! If you are able, I hope that you will join us on Monday morning as we observe and celebrate the partial solar eclipse! Thursday Folder - As usual, this first Thursday folder is full of important forms for parents to complete and return to school promptly. This year, the District is encouraging parents to complete many of these forms online. The yellow sheet gives you detailed instructions on how to access these forms. Please note the white half-sheet stapled to the yellow sheet. On it you will indicate either that you have completed the forms online OR that you wish for me to send home paper copies. Either format, online or paper, is fine, but you must complete the forms. There are some forms that must be filled out on paper: the white emergency card and the TWO blue emergency cards. Please note the there is a front and back side on these, and each requires a parent signature. New this year --- the lunch application form is required for every student, either online or paper, BUT there is a box in the top right corner of the front side that you can check if you do not wish to apply for the free/reduced lunch program. Please remember to fill our your child's name, even if you do not wish to apply, before returning this form. (I don't know what the online version looks like, but there is also an option online to indicate that you do not wish to apply. |
AuthorDebbie Bamberger is thrilled to be a part of the Keppel team and honored to share this year with twenty-six amazing children. Archives
May 2024
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