Newsletter for February 12, 2012

What We Learned This Week

Word Study

This week's spelling words all include the silent e. They are: plane, became, eve, these, tube, prize, space, smiles, tired, drove, smoke and wrote. The five general categories for the sorting of the silent e words are long a, long e, long i, long o, and long u patterns. Students will learn to notice the vowel closest to the silent e has the long sound. These are largely auditory, but are fairly visual as well, with a few exceptions, e.g., tube makes an "oo" sound rather than a long u sound.

We will also be sorting words into parts-of-speech (nouns, verbs and adjectives)
Additional words you may want to use for at home spelling activities which support our generalizations include (see earlier post http://3rdgradehudson.blogspot.com/2011/09/parent-information-highlights.html): cape, ripe, tape, hide, hope, those, use, cute, knife, trade, flake, price, write, note, home, value, cases, homemade, twice, scribes, owe, spoke, flute, and fume.

You should be receiving your student's cursive writing samples daily. We will start writing our spelling tests in cursive soon. I find the tests are short enough that students can get applied practice without sacrificing too much time. I will start to write on the board in cursive in the fourth quarter as this is a 4th grade teacher practice and I want students to be prepared for reading cursive as well as writing it.

Science

Students brainstormed problems and then applied a second brainstorming exercise to help them develop multiple solutions to their problem, a key element in problem solving. The Invention Convention will take place at the Upper Arlington High School on April 21, 2012. You can learn more at http://www.just-think-inc.com/.

Important Dates and Reminders

Tom Trainer of the Upper Arlington Fire Department visited us last week and asked me to share these important reminders:

- Do not use frayed electrical cords

- Do not plug too many electrical cords in one outlet

- Cook only with adult supervision

- Keep electric heaters at least three feet from objects

- Never cover electrical appliances (including lamps)

- Have an escape plan

- Practice your escape plan from different parts of the house

- Make sure your student knows their address and phone number

- Know how to call 911 in an emergency

Websites you may want to use to review fire safety with your student are:

www.fdnya.com

www.sparky.org

www.coderedrover.org

www.usfa.fema.gov/kids

www.playsafebesafe.com

February 13 - 17: Jump Rope for Heart (Has been cancelled. Will update with new event.)

February 15 - 23: PTO Book Fair
This semi-annual event brings books galore to Windermere students. The Book Fair will be open to students and parents during the lunch period (11:)5011:50) and after school (2:50-3:50) Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with extended hours on Tuesday February 21st from 2:50-6:00 to accommodate our SACC families. The fair will be open on Thursday during the lunch hour only.

February 14th - Valentine's Day party at 2:00pm: Please refer to earlier post regarding collecting donations for the Ohio Wildlife Center.
(http://3rdgradehudson.blogspot.com/2011/10/ohio-wildlife-center-wish-list.html)

Please remind your student not to address their Valentines, but sign them. This makes passing out cards much faster and we will have more time for learning!

February 17 - School Spirit Day, students wear their Hawk-wear.