Science Gifts
End of Year Party
Sleeping Bag Day
Summer Ideas
I am often asked by parents, ‘What should I do this summer to help maintain and strengthen my child’s skills?” These are my suggestions:
Read: Read to your child, ask him/her to read to you, and read silently together. Read a variety of genres. There are also some great children’s magazines. Visit the public library.
Don’t forget to get your KRCS summer reading books.
Write: Keep a summer journal. Write letters to friends and family. Make lists.
Memorize all addition and subtraction facts and begin to memorize multiplication and division facts. Use Xtra Math.
Practice counting money and telling time on an analog clock. Compute elapsed time and give correct change.
Practice cursive.
Visit places in and outside Atlanta to increase vocabulary.
Play board games and do puzzles to develop problem solving skills.
I hope you have a safe, fun-filled summer. Make lots of memories!
Shaving Cream
Third Grade Visit
We visited with Ms. Reardon’s and Ms. Chandler’s third grade classes. Before we visited, we generated a list of questions that we wanted to ask the third grade experts. After our visit, we felt more confident about moving to third grade.
These are some of the questions we asked:
Why do you like third grade?
Do you have any class pets?
Is third grade a lot harder than second grade?
What do you study in science and social studies?
Can you bring your own device for “just right “reading?
How is third grade different from second grade?
Are you changing anything in third grade next year?
In second grade we fill up cards, what do you do for good behavior in third grade?
How many textbooks do you have in third grade?
Do you have class jobs?
Is there a Parent Spot?
Do you have any research papers?
How much homework do you have in third grade?
Do you write everything in cursive?
What can I do this summer to be ready for third grade?
Do you keep everything in a binder?
Do you switch classes?
How long do you have recess? Which game is the most popular?
Do you have a student of the week?
What field trips do you go on in third?
Which soup is your favorite?
Field Trip
We had a great time learning more about plants and animals at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. We are so blessed to have this wonderful place so close to us.
Division
I introduced division by reading the story The Doorbell Rang. In the story, a mother makes her two children a dozen cookies. After the children divide the cookies, the doorbell rings. Cousins and neighbors continue to join them, and they divide the cookies by three, four, six and then twelve. Finally, they each have one cookie, but the doorbell rings again. Click here to watch the story. This is a fun story to dramatize with real cookies!
We learned that sometimes a group cannot be divided equally and that we may have some left over (a remainder). The children enjoyed the story A Remainder of One.
We used magnets, counters, and unifix cubes to divide sets into equal smaller groups. Division is repeated subtraction.