Newsletter and Spelling List, 6.6

The Buzz in Ms. B’s Class

Issue #35: May 27, 2014

thebuzzinmsbsclass.blogspot.com

abutts@mesquiteisd.org

I cannot believe that we only have two more weeks left!  This year has flown by faster than any of my past years of teaching – it is crazy!

Reminders:

-       --- I will be out this Tuesday (today) as well as this Thursday (the 29^th).

-       ---- STAAR scores were sent home today.  I have not had a chance to tell your child their scores yet and will do so on Wednesday.  You are more than welcome to share their scores with them if you would like, or you can wait to discuss with them on Wednesday afternoon after I discuss with them.  I am proud of all of them!  Please, visit my blog to read my heart on the matter of STAAR.  This is NOT the “be-all-end-all” of their third grade career – simply another assessment.

-      ----  Our End of the Year Ceremony will be next Wednesday the 4^th at 10:00 am in our classroom.  More details to come soon.

-       ---- If you have ANY pictures that you took throughout the year at events (field trip, Play Day, etc.) that you would not mind sharing, please email them to me at the email address above.  I would love to have as many pictures from our year together as possible for our slideshow.

        What is my child learning this week?

Spelling: this is our LAST spelling unit!

REVIEW WEEK: branches, colors, classes, things, party, baby, fairies, parties, hotter, latest, hottest, sadder, hourly, really, monthly, shortly, afternoon, nobody, everything, without

English/Reading:

-       - We are reviewing summary, sequence, cause and effect this week.

-       - We will be reading books aloud, in partners, and independently while practicing these reading concepts.

-      -  We will take our LAST reading checkpoint on Wednesday!!

Math:

-     -  We are continuing our unit on fractions and then moving into elapsed time on Friday.

-      - We will take our LAST math checkpoint on Thursday!!

Social Studies

-       -We are learning about the world this week!

-       -We will be able to locate the continents and certain countries.

-      - We will also be learning the names of the states of the United States – students always have a very fun time with this!

-       -We will take our LAST social studies checkpoint on Thursday!!

Science

-       -We are continuing our unit on mixtures this week!  We will be making another mixture this week that will also allow us to discuss solids and liquids. 

-       -I hope you all enjoyed the flubber and got to play with it a bit J  The recipe can be found on the blog!

 Have a wonderful week!

Ms. Butts

                                               SPELLING LIST

STAAR Scores

STAAR scores have come in and I am sure you are all anxious to see how your child has done!  I know that I am beyond proud of how far my students have come this year and could not be prouder of how hard they worked on the two days of testing.  With that said, there will be cases when a student has not passed one or both of the tests.  It is important to understand that not meeting the standard of passing does NOT mean that your child is a failure or that they will not advance to fourth grade.  Not passing does not mean that your child has remained stagnant throughout the year.  In my class, we discuss reasons that a grade may not have met the standard: had a bad morning, fell asleep, still have areas to work on, etc.  I also like to focus on the positive.  "You may have missed half of the questions, but you got half right as well!" or "You got 25 right - that is wonderful!"  These tests are difficult (checkpoints and STAAR), much more so than when I was a student, and my students rise to the occasion every time, whether they pass or fail.  They are diligent, hard-working children who I am extremely proud to claim as my third grade students.  I have loved each and every day with your children and will miss the day when I am no longer their teacher.  Their score on the STAAR test, whether advanced or not having met the standard, changes nothing about the way I view your child.  I see your child as the wonderful, bright, sweet third grader that I know and love.  I see your child as the student that can now quickly find the rule of a table, answer triple step math problems, and infer from reading passages with "the best of the 'em."  I am SO proud.  The scores show areas that can be improved upon, but by no means show that children are failures.  On the same note, I hope that the score, advanced or not meeting standard, does not change the way you view me as your child's teacher.  There is so much more to a school year than a test score collected from two days of testing in April.

I feel that Paul Jones, the superintendent of Paris ISD, said it best:

"These results should be considered as one of many instruments used to measure your child's growth, not the end-all of your child's learning for the year. These assessments do not reflect the quality of teaching or learning in our classrooms. Instead, they reflect a punitive; one size fits all test-driven system. Our students are much more than a once-a-year pencil and bubble sheet test. Your child means immeasurably more than just a number generated in Austin. There is no test that can assess all of what makes each child unique. The state mandated assessments are used by the state to score and rank our campuses and our district; however, this is not the only assessment we use.

Your child's achievements must be measured by a multitude of accomplishments throughout the year. Your individual child's academic growth is what is important, and we assess your child's growth from the start of the school year to the end of the school year. In contrast, your child is assessed by the state with a criterion-referenced test (STAAR), which assesses how your child performs on a single day and uses those results to compare your child to a predetermined standard set by bureaucrats in Austin and a testing company headquartered in London, England. We all know students do not master skills at the same rate; each individual child has their strengths and weaknesses. This single test cannot measure what we know about your child.

The data from this assessment will help us know when to offer enrichment or intervention, we will use the state assessment for the purpose the original assessment system was created--a diagnostic tool for identifying areas of concern as well as strengths.

Let's not let the STAAR test overshadow what is truly important--each individual child. Let us not forget to celebrate the vast and numerous accomplishments and successes of the students.”

Scores will be sent home on Tuesday and if your child did not meet the passing standard, I will contact you on Tuesday afternoon.  Again, I am so proud of all of my students.  I cannot explain my pride in their growth and I cannot wait to see what my sweet students do in the future.

The Proudest Third Grade Teacher in All of Texas,

Ms. Butts

Mixtures!

We are learning about mixtures in science! A mixture is a combination two or more different substances which are mixed but are not combined chemically. 

In order to have the concept stick, we are doing experiments - so we made flubber today!!  Flubber is a mixture of water (both hot and cold), classroom glue (Elmer's), and borax (which is found in the laundry detergent section for an extremely affordable price!).

I am including the website link for Flubber so if you need a fun weekend/summer/after school activity, you can make it at home :)

http://www.livecrafteat.com/craft/homemade-flubber-for-kids/

Have fun mixing!

Ms. Butts

Newsletter, Spelling List, and Chaperone Letter

Our copiers were out of order yesterday so I was not able to send anything home.  The papers are coming home today (including RAH RAH Reading) and I am also posting them here so that you will be able to access them.

Have a great week!

Cheers,

Ms. Butts
                                                                                    SPELLING LIST

CHAPERONE LETTER

Chaperones,

Thank you so much for volunteering to come to the field trip.  I know some of you are not in charge of a small group, but I am sending you the letter so that you will know the procedure.

We will be departing the school at 9:00am.  You may either arrive at the school and follow the bus to the zoo or you may meet us at the Dallas Zoo at 9:30.  We will go in as a group; I have informed them that you have already paid at the $5.00 rate with the school.  If you have not paid, you may pay the reduced rate at the gate. 

We will meet as a grade level for lunch around 12:00.  More information will be provided on the day of the trip.  I will give you the list of students in your group as well as the time and location of lunch.

We will depart the zoo at 2:00 in order to arrive back at school by 2:30.  If you would like to take your child home from the zoo I will have a sign out sheet with me. There is no need to return to the school; so if you would like to drive your child home, you may absolutely do so.

Thank you for all you do!  I am so excited to spend a fun-filled day at the zoo!

Sincerely,

Ms. Butts

                                                NEWSLETTER

The Buzz in Ms. B’s Class

Issue #33: May 12, 2014

thebuzzinmsbsclass.blogspot.com

abutts@mesquiteisd.org

This week is full of fun!!  We have two field trips!  We will visit the planetarium on Wednesday followed by the zoo on Thursday.  The planetarium is free for students in Mesquite ISD to go with their class and no permission slip is needed.  If you would NOT like your child to visit, please let me know.

Reminders:

-       Planetarium Field Trip on Wednesday!  It is FREE for students and no permission slip is needed.

-       Dallas Zoo Field Trip on Thursday!  Chaperones, you will receive a note today!

        What is my child learning this week?

Spelling: words ending in ly - slowly, mainly, badly, hourly, suddenly, lately, partly, closely, really, lastly, plainly, closely, really, lastly, plainly, loudly, shortly, monthly, softly

English/Reading:

-       We are reviewing summary, sequence, cause and effect this week.

-       We will be reading books aloud, in partners, and independently while practicing these reading concepts.

Math:

-       We are learning about metric capacity (liters and milliliters) this week!  They have done so well with the Gallon Kingdom and I am excited to introduce the metric side of capacity.

-       We are also learning new TEKS in math this week on fractions!  We will learn about number lines to the 1/8 and manipulate fractions in a more higher order method.

Social Studies

-       We are learning about the world this week!

-       We will be able to locate the continents and certain countries.

-       We will also be learning the names of the states of the United States – students always have a very fun time with this!

Science

-       We are continuing to learn about habitats in preparation for our zoo trip!

-       We will also learn about mixtures this week, which will be a lot of fun!

Have a wonderful week!

Ms. Butts