News from Grade Three

Relay for Life Luminaries

Dear Garrison Mill Families,

The Relay for Life team will be selling luminaries that will be used in the opening ceremony on Friday Night at the RFL Event at Jim Miller Park.  The luminaries are used to remember those we have lost, celebrate those that have battled and won and to give hope to those who still fight the battle with cancer.

The luminaries can be decorated by the family, they are $5.00 a piece. We will be selling them at reading night tonight, at the PTA meeting on Thursday or anytime this week in Mrs. Longyear's classroom. We will need all money and bags by 2:30 on Friday!

Thank you so much for your support!

Parent Workshop

All GM Parents are encouraged to attend a free parenting workshop this Thursday, April 16th, at 10:30 AM which will cover specific plans for parents to keep their children engaged and learning all summer. It is in the media center and it is for parents of students of all ages.

Boosterthon Fun Run

Dear Parents,

On behalf of everyone at Garrison Mill Elementary, I want to thank you for all your help in making this year's Boosterthon Fun Run a huge success!  Don't forget to come out tomorrow as your child runs for our school at 11:00 AM.  If we are rained out on Thursday, we will reschedule for Friday, April 3rd.

We are on track to make this a financially successful Fun Run, but WE NEED YOUR HELP over the next week in order to reach our financial goals.  The money for the Fun Run is due Tuesday, April 14th.  Please make checks payable to Garrison Mill Educational Foundation and place all money in your child's collection envelope.  Remember, all gifts are tax deductible!

Thank you again for all your support in making this year's Boosterthon Fun Run a tremendous success for our school.  Please feel free to contact me at anytime with questions regarding the Boosterthon Fun Run collection process!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Hungerbuhler
GMEF/3rd Grade Liaison
Phone:  770-518-1091
Email:  Jennifer.hungerbuhler@carat.com

Boosterthon Fun Run

Dear 3rd Grade Parents,

The Boosterthon Fun Run is in full swing and we are excited about how well the 3rd Grade students are doing!

Thank you so much for your support thus far. If you haven't had the opportunity to connect your students to potential sponsors yet, this weekend is a great time to get on board! We are offering a special "weekend challenge" prize.

As a reminder, here are some action steps you can take in order to help our school through the Boosterthon Fun Run:

1. Connect your child to multiple sponsors across the country who can pledge your student a dollar amount per lap (25-35 laps)

2. See how many states we can get for your class. The winning class will receive a party.

3. Remember to come to the Boosterthon Fun Run! Our class will be running on Thursday, April 2nd 11:15-12:30

Thank you again for all of your generous support and we hope to see you at the Fun Run next week!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Hungerbuhler 
GMEF/3rd Grade
Liaison Phone: 770-518-1091
Email: Jennifer.hungerbuhler@carat.com

Boosterthon Fun Run

Dear Parents,

Hello!  My name is Jennifer Hungerbuhler and I am excited about the opportunity to serve as the GM Foundation liaison for 3rd Grade.  It is my pleasure to introduce you all to the Boosterthon Fun Run, which kicked off today!  This will be the most fun event of our entire school year and with your help will also prove to be the most financially successful event of the year!  Please sit down with your child tonight and watch the "Gold Medal DVD" which explains the nature of this interactive program.

You are being asked to help in 3 specific ways:
1.  Connect your child to at least 10 different sponsors who can pledge them a dollar amount per lap (25-35 laps)
2.  See how many states you can get pledges from (the classroom with the most states will receive a Classroom Party!)
3.  Come to the Boosterthon Fun Run on Thursday, April 2nd from 11:15-12:30

I have met the Booster Team and their enthusiasm has already been a breath of fresh air to our teachers and students.  During their time on campus, they will be promoting FITNESS, EDUCATION, and CHARACTER to each of our children.  Be sure you ask your child about those Character traits!  If you have any questions about this program after watching the DVD and reading through your child's pledge book, please feel free to contact me at anytime.  Thank you so much for your generosity and we look forward to seeing you next week at the Fun Run!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Hungerbuhler
GMEF/3rd Grade Liaison
Phone:  770-518-1091
Email:  Jennifer.hungerbuhler@carat.com

March

  Well last month blew by quickly and March certainly came in like a lion yesterday. We will be as busy this month as last, thank goodness we have some extra days, we need them.  In March we will have our last visit from High Touch, High Tech; Wellstar will return; as will Chattahoochee. We have Health and Nutrition Week. For our Social Studies curriculum, we will have a program about Susan B. Anthony. If that's not enough, we will also have our Writing Assessments for the state due and the last week of March is Teacher Appreciation Week. Our class is doing a countdown to the end of school and there are only 54 days left. Whew!!

In Language Arts this month, we are still reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil Frankweiler.  They boys and girls are enjoying the adventures these two children are on in the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art. In Spelling we are reviewing some more difficult words and sounds. We have finished the cursive alphabet and are gradually switching over to cursive. We have been writing persuasive and narrative stories. I am gathering the children's best writing for the GA assessment report. Our author of the month is Dr. Seuss (Theodore Geisel) The boys and girls did a nice job on their Choosey-Doeys for Eve Bunting last month.

We are finishing up fractions this week and moving on to decimals. For calendar this month we are emphasizing the metric system. We will measure millimeters, milliliters, and celsius. Each day we will convert our numbers to decimals to see how the metric system is based on tens.

In Science we will revisit heat energy.  HTHT did a lesson on this in the fall. We have several investigations to do. This month HTHT will help us with the habitats of Georgia. It is a new program specifically designed to meet our standards on the subject.

Wellstar will visit during Health and Nutrition Week to help the children make good choices in their diets. We will also look at labels and talk about ways to improve what they eat.

The children are really liking the new biographies that accompany our Social Studies series. We just finished Thurgood Marshall and next we will read about Frederick Douglas. We have finished government.  Since this grade level will miss Georgia, I will try to include facts about our state as we look at the habitats in science.

I think we need those three extra days this month. The year is flying  by and I still enjoy every day. Thank you for such wonderful children. They make teaching a pleasure.

February

 Sorry about last month, they changed how to enter the blog site and I finally figured it out by the end of January. A belated Happy New Year.

February may be the shortest month, but we are full of activities the entire time.  We have performances to go to, High Touch, High Tech and CNC coming to present lessons to us. Then we have Valentines Day with our Book Buddies and President's Day. We have Wellstar coming to talk about our teeth and we are Jumping Rope for Heart also. I'm tired just typing these events.

In Language Arts this month we are reading From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweilerby E.L. Konigsburg. It is a Newberry Award Winner and a fun story about two siblings that run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It was written several years ago and it will be fun to compare the differences between the times. We will also continue to learn about prepositions and direct objects in Shurley sentences.  We have just about finished the cursive alphabet and will begin to do our Spelling homework in cursive and some class assignments.

We have been studying geometry in Math.  We looked at shapes, angles, lines and measurement in inches and centimeters. Right now we are learning about perimeter and area.  At the same time, we are adding more division facts for 6,7,8,9, and 10.  We did an exemplar with perimeter and next week we will use manipulatives to explore the areas of shapes and objects.  We have quite a few students who have passed all four time tests and know their facts very well.  Ask your child if they have earned their stickers on the paw prints in our room.

For Science, High Touch High Tech will visit us this coming week to show us all about magnets.  We will then do several activities to cover the standards for third grade. This same week, CNC will come to tell us about Pollution Solutions. We have already begun to recycle things with the fifth graders who come every week to pick our recyclables. Perhaps we will add more items to the list we can reuse. 

Last month in Social Studies we started to learn about our different types of government. It fit right in with President Obama's Inauguration. We have discussed how the three branches of government work together and also check each other to have a balance of power.  One of our biographies is President Lyndon B. Johnson, his Civil Rights Act and belief in equality also went along with the inauguration. Next we will look at state and local governments.

For Healthin February, Wellstar will come and do a wonderful demonstration of proper care of our teeth. Mrs. Britton will also finish up our program about bullying.

Add in the 200th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, Valentines Day, a trip to the Cobb Civic Center to see a program about Paul Revere and all the other activities and you can see we need at least two or three more days in February. Maybe we'll just add a few ourselves!!

Conferences went very well. It was nice to sit and discuss your child's progress this year. Thank you for coming. If you have any questions, you know how to contact me.

Important Dates for this month:

February 9 - High Touch High Tech (10:15 - 11:45) Lunch 11:57

February 12 - Chattahoochee Nature Center 12:00 - 1:00

February  13 - Carnation Sale and Jump Rope for Heart

February 16 - NO SCHOOL for Students

February 17 - Smile Power with WellStar

February 18 - Trip to Cobb Civic Center for Paul Revere

February 24 - Picture Day

February 27 - Talent Show at Mabry Middle School 7:00 pm

                                                

December

  The holidays are fast approaching and we are almost at the end of this grading period.  We are all looking forward to the Winter Break and spending time with our families. I wish you a very Happy Holiday and a restful vacation. I'll see everyone back at school on January 6, 2009.

All our academic news for this month is covered in my newsletter that is in your child's Monday folder for December 15, 2009.

Don't forget our Holiday Party is Thursday, December 18,2009 from 12:30 to 1:30 pm.  On Friday the 19th, we will have pajama day and watch The Polar Express with our Book Buddies. 

Test

Feedburner Test by Schulman

November

  We started November with a wonderful performance Thursday night with Ms. Zarin. The boys and girls practiced hard the first week in November and it resulted in a great job on stage for all three performances.  Thank you to  all the parents who helped make this production a success. Thank you also for having all 100% of the class here for the evening show. I know how difficult it can be after school.

We are continuing with our Ramona the Pest book in reading. Our rehearsals interrupted the book for a short while. Ramona gets into all kinds of trouble as a kindergartener and we are enjoying her antics. Our writing of fall stories are now on display in the hall. Please read them when you come for our Friends and Grandparents Luncheon on Nov. 19th. We are also completing our informational reports on rocks and minerals on the computer with an insert. Hopefully they will be up too.

In Math we are moving through multiplication very nicely. The class is beginning to remember some of their facts and doing well on the time tests. We are on Chapter 10 with facts for 9 and 10. After this we will explore the world of division. In calendar we are doing fact families with multiplication and division and they are making the connection between the two. Groups are now doing the Number of the day and Problem of the day on our Promethean board. We are enjoying having this new technology in our room.

Soil is our next topic in Science. We have begun with some observations and will continue to learn the different types of soil we have here in Georgia. We also had another visit from High Touch, High Tech to talk about Heat Energy. We will do this area of science later in the winter.

Health has been our focus with units in Safety and Drug Awareness. We will finish these up this week.  Look for their packets about drug and alcohol awareness in their folders next week.

Reservations have been coming in for our luncheon on November 19. If anyone has any questions about this please e-mail me or write a note this week. It is a wonderful time for family and friends. Consider having your pictures made that day. They are great presents for folks at the holidays.I hope to see you all there on that Wednesday.

Can't believe we are coming up on Thanksgiving already. I am certainly thankful for all my students and parents this year. You have made my year a pleasure with all your helpfulness and kindness. I hope you each get to enjoy this holiday with your families.