Author: DASD

Dallastown Area School District

In This issue

Room 213

Volume 6

February 2011

PSSA	1
Math	2
Science/SS	3
Reading	4
Writing	5
Closing	6

Flow Charts
Please take pictures with your child showing the steps of their flow chart. Load them on the flash drive and send to school by Monday (14th)!

Items Wanted

We could use the following items in our classroom:
*Soft Tissues– it’s still sneezing season!
*Please remember, the PSSA is March 15-25. Please do not plan any trips during those dates.

Winter Continues

Dates to remember:
February 9– 100th day of school!
February 11– Spring Picture Retake Day
February 16– Field Trip (9-10:45)
February 14– We will have a small party– if you’d like to send in Valentines cards please be sure there is one for each student in the class
February 14-16– See your spirit calendar for Jump Rope For Heart spirit days!
February 17– We have SCHOOL
February 18, 21– No School

PSSA
As we move into the month of February we will begin practicing for the PSSA coming up in March. We introduce it early on so that we can practice once a week rather than cram a lot of practice into the few weeks before the PSSA. You will see practice papers coming home along with a parent signature slip. Please sign and return the page. The practice packet is for you to be able to see the type of practice your child is completing.
Math
Students have started with their Marking Period 3 math teachers and will be focusing on geometry. Solid figures, lines, polygons, and more will be studied this marking period. We will also look at measurement. Please continue to practice multiplication facts with your child at home. We will be looking into division at the end of the third marking period and beginning of the fourth marking period.
Science/Social Studies
We will be going on a field trip on February 16th (that’s next Wednesday!) to Wolfgang’s Chocolate Factory. We are studying products and consumers and focusing on manufacturing companies operate in our state of Pennsylvania. It is also great for students to see a how to process.
Reading
In small group students will be reading How To books to tie our reading with our social studies and to our flow chart projects in writing. We are looking at reading and writing directions and how important it is to be specific and follow each step!

Have a wonderful February!

Writing
The students in room 213 continue to amaze me with their excellent writing! We will be finishing our How To flow charts this week and collecting pictures to put into a Photo Story presentation on the computer. Please take pictures of your child’s steps and send them into school on a flash drive by Monday, February 14th. There will also be lessons on commas, style, letter writing, and sentence structure to continue to build strong writing practices coming in the next several weeks.

Closing
Thank you for working with your child at home on the many projects they have been doing. Most research shows that we learn best by doing– and the students in room 213 have been doing A LOT! Thank you for your continued support!

Happy Birthday!
Yusileidi Ortiz– 2/14

This story can fit 100-150 words.
The subject matter that appears in newsletters is virtually endless. You can include stories that focus on current technologies or innovations in your field.
You may also want to note business or economic trends, or make predictions for your customers or clients.
If the newsletter is distributed internally, you might comment upon new procedures or improvements to the business. Sales figures or earnings will show how your business is growing.
Some newsletters include a column that is updated every issue, for instance, an advice column, a book review, a letter from the president, or an editorial. You can also profile new employees or top customers or vendors.

This story can fit 150-200 words.
One benefit of using your newsletter as a promotional tool is that you can reuse content from other marketing materials, such as press releases, market studies, and reports.
While your main goal of distributing a newsletter might be to sell your product or service, the key to a successful newsletter is making it useful to your readers.
A great way to add useful content to your newsletter is to develop and write your own articles, or include a calendar of upcoming events or a special offer that promotes a new product.
You can also research articles or find “filler” articles by accessing the World Wide Web. You can write about a variety of topics but try to keep your articles short.
Much of the content you put in your newsletter can also be used for your Web site. Microsoft Publisher offers a simple way to convert your newsletter to a Web publication. So, when you’re finished writing your newsletter, convert it to a Web site and post it.

This story can fit 75-125 words.
Selecting pictures or graphics is an important part of adding content to your newsletter.
Think about your article and ask yourself if the picture supports or enhances the message you’re trying to convey. Avoid selecting images that appear to be out of context.
Microsoft Publisher includes thousands of clip art images from which you can choose and import into your newsletter. There are also several tools you can use to draw shapes and symbols.
Once you have chosen an image, place it close to the article. Be sure to place the caption of the image near the image.

Room 216

This story can fit 100-150 words.
The subject matter that appears in newsletters is virtually endless. You can include stories that focus on current technologies or innovations in your field.
You may also want to note business or economic trends, or make predictions for your customers or clients.
If the newsletter is distributed internally, you might comment upon new procedures or improvements to the business. Sales figures or earnings will show how your business is growing.
Some newsletters include a column that is updated every issue, for instance, an advice column, a book review, a letter from the president, or an editorial. You can also profile new employees or top customers or vendors.

This story can fit 150-200 words.
One benefit of using your newsletter as a promotional tool is that you can reuse content from other marketing materials, such as press releases, market studies, and reports.
While your main goal of distributing a newsletter might be to sell your product or service, the key to a successful newsletter is making it useful to your readers.
A great way to add useful content to your newsletter is to develop and write your own articles, or include a calendar of upcoming events or a special offer that promotes a new product.
You can also research articles or find “filler” articles by accessing the World Wide Web. You can write about a variety of topics but try to keep your articles short.
Much of the content you put in your newsletter can also be used for your Web site. Microsoft Publisher offers a simple way to convert your newsletter to a Web publication. So, when you’re finished writing your newsletter, convert it to a Web site and post it.

This story can fit 75-125 words.
Selecting pictures or graphics is an important part of adding content to your newsletter.
Think about your article and ask yourself if the picture supports or enhances the message you’re trying to convey. Avoid selecting images that appear to be out of context.
Microsoft Publisher includes thousands of clip art images from which you can choose and import into your newsletter. There are also several tools you can use to draw shapes and symbols.
Once you have chosen an image, place it close to the article. Be sure to place the caption of the image near the image.

Section 5
For writing we will spend a lot of time setting up our writing workshop. This involves discussing the writing process (gathering ideas, prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing), the differences between a sentence and a fragment, the use of capital letters and punctuation, as well as paragraph structure. Another area we will work on is focusing our writing and how to narrow down to one idea and develop that idea into a story.
Section 6
In social studies we will begin the year by discussing what a community is and how we can effectively build our classroom community. We will look at the role of each member of a community and the concepts of responsibility and respect. New to the social studies curriculum this year is Pennsylvania history. We will be learning about how Pennsylvania contributes to the United States by looking at different products and places in Pennsylvania. It is my goal for the students to experience Pennsylvania in a whole new way!

Section 7
I am looking forward to a great year with you and your child. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns at any point during the year. If you are not able to access a computer or the internet from home, please let me know so I can provide paper copies of important documents that will be posted on our website.

Closing

Phone: 717-741-2881
Extension: 6213
E-mail: brittany.smith@dallastown.net

Dive Into Third Grade!

Room 213

Dallastown Area School District

Check out our classroom website!
www.smiththirdgrade.weebly.com