Its hard to believe that to-

morrow is the last day of

September. We have now
been in school for 4 weeks
and starting our 5th week.
Students are starting to
learn the routines and expec-
tations of 3rd grade. As you
know, your child has started
filling out a Homework and
Highlights sheet every
night. This sheet will tell you
what weve done in class, if
theres any homework and
how your childs behavior has
been for the day. Remember
everyone starts on green
(ready to learn), they can
then either clip up to Great
Day, Great Choices or Out-
standing Day. They can also
clip down to warning, Teach-
ers Choice and Parent Con-
tact. Please help your child
by looking this over with
them, initialing it, and re-
minding them to put it back
in their folder. This should
come back to school every
day for that week. On Mon-
day, I collect these and look
them over. This homework
and highlights sheet is part
of their homework grade
for responsibility. You have
probably also noticed that
Friday folders are going
home. These need to come
back on Monday. You may
keep the work that is in them
and return the empty folder.
We are still working hard at
following our classroom rules.
We are trying to work on
listening actively as a class.
Many times students are in-
terrupting and talking when
others are talking. We also
had a classroom meeting on
how to take care of books. I
have been finding books
shoved in the shelves and
with pages ripped out. I have
asked the students to keep
and eye out and let me know
who is misusing our books. :(

We are almost done with
math Unit 1. We will take a
quick assessment check this
week and move on to Unit 2.
Please go over your childs
homework with them and
have them correct any er-
rors. This will help to rein-
force concepts learned in
class. Thanks!

In science we will be learning
all about rocks. We have
learned about different kids
of rocks, minerals and other
earth materials. We will fin-
ish up this week. Look for a
review sheet next Monday to
come home.

In Language Arts we have
learned some comprehension
strategies to help us become
better readers. We have
learned metacognition, fix up
strategies and connections.
These strategies help us to
connect deeper with the
text. There are 7 Keys to
comprehension; Visualizing,
Mental Images, Schema, Con-
nections, Fix Up Strategies,
Inferring and Determining
Importance.

We will be starting Michigan
Geography next week. We
will first start big with the
world and go down to our
state, Michigan. We will
learn how Michigan was
formed and read legends
that explain things about
our state.

Please make sure and check
out our classroom blog at
www.michelebatesclassroom.
blogspot.com for updates on
our classroom!



Whats Happening In Our Class?
Dont forget to check out: www.michelebatesclassroom.blogspot.com
for weekly updates
September, 2014
mbates@rockfordschools.org
863-6363 ext. 4707
Third Grades A Hoot!
Mrs. Bates
3rd Grade Class
Please remember to
write me a note or e
-mail me if you are
picking up your
child early. Also,
please remember to
arrive a little early
so your child has
time to gather their
things.
If you ever need to con-
tact me with questions,
please dont hesitate to
call or e-mail me. To-
gether we can make this
a great year for your
child!

I will be asking for vol-
unteers soon. I will have
a sign up at sign up geni-
us as soon as our class is
ready for volunteers to
come in. Also, please
make sure that you
have filled out a volun-
teer consent form.