Third Grade Updates - October 18th

Our Second Multiplication Math Unit

We are beginning our second multiplication unit on Monday, October 14th.  Be on the lookout for the family letter in your child's home/school folder.  Students will be learning the concepts of area measurement and how it relates to multiplication.  They will also learn to decompose larger shapes into smaller rectangles to find the total area.       

We are still putting a huge focus on students learning their multiplication fact families 0, 1, 2, 5, & 10!  Once they have these down, they will use them to start solving the trickier facts.

Please watch the video and read the family newsletter to learn ways to support your child's math learning at home.

Math Video

Classroom Update 9/27

Open House - Thursday September 19th

We are looking forward to welcoming families and friends into our classrooms on Thursday evening from 5:00-6:00.  Students are excited to share some of the things they've been working on so far this year, as well as all of their new favorite things in their classrooms.  Specials teachers will be available to meet and greet, too!

Plus, there will be a community dinner in the cafeteria from 5:30-7:00 pm.  Hope to see you there!

 

Classroom Update 9/16

Classroom Updates

 

See you soon -- First Day of School Monday, August 26th

 Our classrooms are cleaned and organized, the name tags have been prepared, and the schedule is on the board -- we're ready to welcome new smiling faces to third grade on Monday morning!

Be sure to bring a snack & lunch (or pick one up from the RES Cafe), a water bottle, and a good attitude!  Caregivers, make sure dismissal plans have been entered into PickUp Patrol to ease anxieties at the end of our first few days.  Make sure you eat a filling breakfast -- our lunch is at 12:35pm this year!  (We'll have a snack in the morning!)

Mrs. Ayer's class will have Spanish and Mrs. Girouard's class will have PE.

Mrs. Girouard's Classroom

Mrs. Ayer's Classroom

Welcome to the 2024-2025 School Year!

 July 2024

Dear Students and Families,

We hope you have been having a great summer and spending lots of quality time with each other!  We are excited to see everyone again as we begin our year together.  In the meantime, soak up these last days of summer vacation -- we are!

With our new school year just a few weeks away, we are getting really excited about this year! We’re looking forward to getting to know each of you and working as partners in education with our students and  families.

We will spend the first few weeks of school getting to know one another and building our classroom communities before we dig into our third grade curriculum.  Below is a brief outline of what we will study in 3rd grade this year. 

Reading & Writing

We will read a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts, often using what we read to help us become stronger writers.   We’ll read a variety of genres including mysteries, realistic fiction, and many types of nonfiction.  We’ll write narratives (stories),  nonfiction books, opinion pieces, research articles, and our own graphic novels!

We’ll be focusing on applying the word study skills we’ve been learning to our spelling and writing.  We’ll also learn how to use tools to make sure our words are spelled correctly.

Math

We will continue working with computation and number sense, getting into larger addition and subtraction problems (3- and 4-digit numbers), multiplication, and division. We will also continue and expand work on money, time, fractions, and geometry.   This year, we’re using a new problem-based math curriculum called “Illustrative Mathematics.”  We’re really excited for this change and hope it instills confidence in our mathematicians.

Science & Social Studies

Organisms (Plants & Animals), Independence,  Weather, and Force & Motion

World Geography & Civics

On the back is a list of supplies your child or our classroom needs to start off the year!

Supply List:

• 1 two-pocket folder, preferably heavier quality for durability (for Home-School Communication)

• Headphones to keep at school for use with Chromebooks
  (earbuds tend to break and/or bother students)

Please do not send in any “special” pens or pencils.    

Keep these at home to use for schoolwork!  

 

Classroom Wish List Items (optional—only if families would like to donate)

• soft Kleenex/tissues for classroom use

• Cleaning wipes

First Day Of School

• For the first day of school, please bring in a water bottle, a healthy snack, a lunch (or you can order one from the cafeteria), 

• Update Pick-Up Patrol with your child’s end-of-day plans (see attached flier)

We are very excited about starting our year together! If you have any questions before school starts you can reach us by email, and once school starts you can also reach us by phone at 434-2461.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Marie Ayer               Mrs. Tonya Girouard

marie.ayer@mmuusd.org                                tonya.girouard@mmuusd.org 

PickUp Patrol

 

The RES Office is continuing to use PickUp Patrol for the 2024-2025 school year.  PickUp Patrol is an online platform that manages dismissal time more efficiently and safely.  Parents conveniently submit plan changes for their children using the free app.  The school is able to efficiently track absences, early dismissals, and end-of-day plans.  The system also helps speed up dismissal time and adds a layer of security for your children.

It CAN be helpful to also email your child's teacher to help us plan for absences or early dismissals as we won't know about them until the day they occur.

For more information and guides to help your set up your program, click HERE.

Shelburne Farms Field Trip

 

We had a wonderful time at Shelburne Farms.  Thank you to the chaperones who were able to help us make this field trip successful!

Math Video and Ways to Help Your Child at Home

 Dear Families,

Students are really digging into their understanding of multiplication.  We are in our second unit of math and learning about the area of a rectangle and how multiplication helps us to solve it.  Please review the video to learn about how your student is learning this concept and ways you can support them at home!

Math Unit 2 Video

Also, your child will also come home this week with a sheet showing more about the various math concepts being taught in this unit!

:)

Golf Field Trip

 

Earlier this month, we were able to take our golf skills from PE to the greens at Cedar Knoll Country Club in Hinesburg.  We had so much fun practicing our driving, pitching, chipping & putting on a real course.  We even got to "play" the 18th hole!

Many thanks to Mr. G for the skills practice, Mrs. Ayer & the Cedar Knoll family for letting us use the course, and all of the parent volunteers for helping to make it possible.

Direct Link to slideshow of Images

ClassLink at Home!

 

At school, students are accustomed to logging into school applications via the ClassLink webpage, which automatically opens on their district-issued Chromebooks.  This makes it easy for students as they don't need to enter a different username/password for each application.  

Now, this service is available to students at home, too!  From the RES webpage, click on "Students" and "ClassLink" (or go to the MMUUSD ClassLink directly) and login in with your students MMUUSD username and password (this is what they use to login to their Chromebooks in class).  This will allow students to access all of their school applications at home!  

If your student needs a reminder of their username and password, just reach out to your classroom teacher!

What Your Third Grader is Learning in Math

 Dear Families,

We are piloting a new math program in third grade.  We will be sending out videos that explain the math and how students will be learning it.  These will help you to ask questions at home and find ways to help support your mathematician!

Math Video for Unit 1

Also, we are currently working on graphs and below is an overview of the work we are doing now:

Section A: Interpret and Represent Data on Scaled Graphs

---

In this section, students make sense of and draw picture graphs and bar graphs. They see that each picture in a picture graph, or each step on a bar graph, can represent more than one object. They work with scales of 2, 5, and 10 (where each picture or step represents 2 objects, 5 objects, or 10 objects).

Students use the scaled bar graphs to solve “how many more” and “how many fewer” problems where the numbers are within 100.

                                   bar graph                                                                                  

scaled bar graph

             

As always, if you have any questions about math or further ways to support your children email your classroom teachers!

The Chicks are Hatching!

<a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/chick-hatching-egg_27547184.htm">Image by brgfx</a> on Freepik

 

For the last three weeks, we've been incubating chicken eggs from the UVM Extension Embryology program and this is the THE WEEK that they'll be hatching!  It's always an exciting time in school, so we've set up some LIVE cameras (via YouTube) to keep an eye on things, even when we aren't in the classroom!

Mrs. Ayer's Chick Cam

Mrs. Girouard's Chick Cam

When the chicks hatch and are moved into their brooders for the remainder of the week, we'll be sure to move our Live cameras too!

Looking forward to 4th Grade!

Clipart Courtesy: http://clipart-library.com/clipart/1121245.htm

It's that time of year again when we start looking toward the 2023-2024 school year! As our school teams look to make placement decisions for 4th grade, the following factors are considered when placing students in classes:

• Balanced Academic Ability:  An equal distribution of academic abilities in various areas.

• Student Learning Styles: Matching teaching styles with individual student personalities.

• Established-Friendships and Opportunities for Relationship Building: Attempt to pair at least one or two friends from the current year to carry over into next year, while also considering opportunities to build new, positive friendships. 

• Family Input:  Although your child's current teacher has had the opportunity to get to know the strengths and needs of your child throughout the year, your family input is also an important part of this process as well. Please consider completing [THIS] optional My Child As A Learner form to share additional thoughts and information helpful for determining future classroom placement (Please complete one form for each student). If you do choose to complete an input form, it must be completed by Tuesday, April 18th, 2023.             

 

Your child’s class placement will be sent home on the last day of school. Please feel free to reach out to Jeremy Rector if you have any unanswered questions about this process or if you need assistance in completing the My Child As A Learner family form. 

Coming Soon: Parents Night Out

 

Upcoming Author Visit!

 Hello RES Community!

I’m excited to announce that we will be hosting Christina Soontornvat for a virtual author visit on December 8!  Students will meet in grade clusters to hear from Christina on what it is like to be a real author and learn about her very amazing books.  I have read almost all of her books and have loved every single one of them!  She is an amazing storyteller.  

Christina Soontornvat is the award-winning author of over a dozen books for children of all ages. Her picture books include The Ramble Shamble Children, illustrated by Caldecott Honoree Lauren Castillo, and To Change a Planet, illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell. She is the author of the beloved Diary of an Ice Princess chapter book series. Her recent works include the middle grade fantasy, A Wish in the Dark, which was named a 2021 Newbery Honor Book, All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys’ Soccer Team, which was also named a 2021 Newbery Honor Book. Her latest novel, The Last Mapmaker, published April 2022 from Candlewick Press.

Christina Soontornvat grew up behind the counter of her parents’ Thai restaurant in a small Texas town with her nose stuck in a book. She is very proud of both her Thai and her Texan roots, and makes regular trips to both Weatherford and Bangkok to see her beloved family members (and eat lots and lots of Thai food!). In addition to being an author, Christina holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s degree in Science Education. She spent a decade working in the science museum field, where she designed programs and exhibits to get kids excited about science. She is passionate about STEM (science, technology engineering, and math), and loves learning new things. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, two young children, and one old cat.

Christina’s books will be for sale from November 28- Dec 16th at RES.  Please use the order form that will be sent home with kids to pick out your next great read with your kiddos! This is a fundraiser, so money raised goes to help the school provide amazing opportunities such as this author visit. We THANK YOU for your support!

Sincerely,

Emily Wood

RES School Librarian

Options for Reading at Home

 

There are a couple of resources available for students to read and/or listen to e-books at home -- a great option for students to continue to build their reading lives to make reading a habit, not a chore!  Our goal is for students to be reading 20+ minutes a night, this means reading their own books, listening to an adult read, reading to a sibling, or listening to audiobooks.

1. RAZ Kids -- All third graders have been given an account (connected to their teacher) to read via RAZ Kids.  Students could read online at the website by logging on (www.kidsa-z.com) OR via apps on a phone or tablet.  Students have had practice doing this from school and will have login cards in their Book Bags to help with the login process.  As teachers, we work to make sure students are reading books at their "just right" level.  The books can be read to them, they can read them independently, and there is also an option for a quiz at the end.

2.  SORA -- (https://soraapp.com/welcome/login/202587) A virtual library of books (audio and ebooks) available for students to "check out."  Also available as an app for tablets & phones making it even easier!  Select "Mount Mansfield Unified Union School District" and sign in using Google login & password. 

3. Learning Ally -- An audiobook resource that uses real human voices to read current books.  Browse the collection and use an app to listen!!  Students use their Google email and passwords from school to login to the app.

 One of the best ways to see what's happening in our classrooms in real time is through our team Twitter account.  While we understand that not everyone wants to join this microblogging site, for our team it is a great way to share our learning AND stay connected with other students, schools, authors, etc. around the globe!

So...how can you follow us without your own Twitter account?  There are three pretty easy ways:

1)  Simply go to our Twitter page:  https://twitter.com/resgrade3

2) Use SMS Follow to receive Tweets via text message.  Visit Twitter Help to learn how!

3) Our Tweet Stream is always on our blog page, too!

We hope you'll follow us soon!

Bus Routes: 2022-2023

 

School Bus Routes 2022-2023

We are soooo excited to meet our new students in just a few days!  As a reminder, it is helpful for ALL of us to know your student's dismissal plans in advance to avoid miscommunication or confusion at the end of the school day.

Here is a letter from our MMUUSD Transportation director and the bus routes (& times) for both arrival & dismissal buses.

A couple of reminders:

• Provide your student's teacher a regular dismissal plan for each day of the week.  IF this plan is different for the first few days or school, please indicate that and provide the changes.  (It gets really confusing the 2nd week of school for students!)
• Please send in an to email resoffice@mmuusd.org AND your student's teacher with any changes from this routine plan.  If your student is riding a different bus home, please include the student they are riding home with the home address where they will be getting off of the bus.
• Please update this plan as necessary throughout the year.

Welcome to the 2022-2023 School Year!

Courtesy: <a href='https://pngtree.com/so/Back'>Back png from pngtree.com/</a>

August 2022

Dear Students and Families,

We hope you have been having a great summer and spending lots of quality time with each other!  We are excited to meet everyone as we begin our year together.  In the meantime, soak up these last days of summer vacation -- we are!

With our new school year just a few weeks away, we have been planning and getting really excited about this year! We’re really looking forward to getting to know each of you and working as partners in education with our students and  families. 

We will spend the first few weeks of school getting to know one another and building our classroom communities before we dig into our third grade curriculum.  Below is a brief outline of what we will study in 3rd grade this year. 

Science & Social Studies

Organisms (Plants & Animals), Independence,  Weather, and Force & Motion

World Geography & Cultures

Reading & Writing

We will read a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts, often using what we read to help us become stronger writers.   We’ll read a variety of genres including fairy tales, mysteries, historical fiction, realistic fiction, and many types of nonfiction.  We’ll write personal narratives (stories),  nonfiction books, opinion pieces, research articles, and fairy tales.

Math

We will continue working with computation and number sense, getting into larger addition and subtraction problems (3- and 4-digit numbers), multiplication, and division. We will also continue and expand work on money, time, fractions, and geometry. 

Technology

Technology is embedded throughout our third-grade curriculum, and we use it in many ways both to learn new things and to showcase and communicate what we’ve learned to others.  Each third grader will be assigned a Google Chromebook to use in school.

Supply List:

• 1  composition notebook with lined paper inside (hardcover, sewn-in pages, 100 sheets) -- We’ll be decorating the cover, so a plain & simple notebook is best.

• 1 two-pocket folder, preferably heavier quality for durability (for Home-School Communication)

• 1 box of #2 pencils for the classroom (we’ll collect & share throughout the year!)

• Headphones to keep at school for use with Chromebooks (earbuds tend to break and/or bother students)

Please do not send in any “special” pens or pencils.    Keep these at home to use for schoolwork!  

 

Classroom Wish List Items (optional—only if families would like to donate)

• soft Kleenex/tissues for classroom use

• Funky sticky notes (hearts, stars, animals, etc.)

• Skinny dry erase markers

• Black & Colored Sharpies  (various sizes)

• Large Expo Dry Erase markers

• Eraser Caps

First Day Of School

• For the first day of school, please bring in a healthy snack, a lunch (or you can order one from the cafeteria), and a note saying how you will get home after school for the first week.***

• Sunscreen, bug spray and clothing layers to be outside for longer periods of time

We are very excited about starting our year together! If you have any questions before school starts you can reach us by email, and once school starts you can also reach us by phone at 434-2461.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Marie Ayer               Mr. Carl Ellerkamp Mrs. Tonya Girouard

marie.ayer@mmuusd.org                 carl.ellerkamp@mmuusd.org               tonya.girouard@mmuusd.org