Wilson School

Thanks to a Rotary Club grant that we were awarded, Room 2 students got to visit the SF Exploratorium earlier this month and now we have composed a podcsat script to accompany the digital photos we took. We have recorded the podcast and then it is streaming online at Youtube for you to have a look/listen, as well as on this school site. This is pretty exciting and our first attempt, so have a look! » read more...

We will be going as an entire school to see "Oceans" at the Petaluma Cinemas on Thursday, April 22nd. We still need drivers and many field trip permission slips have not yet been returned. Students who are not doing their work or turning in homework will not be allowed to attend. At this point all Room 2 students are egligible to atttend and I do not foresee that changing. We will visit the Redwood Empire Gymnastics show on May 21st as well. Drivers will be needed. » read more...

Room 2 Newsletter Mrs. Janice Garrigan Grade 3 Tuesday April 13, 2010 General I haven’t sent out a room 2 newsletter in some time so it’s going home today. Please note our pod cast is complete and can be viewed on Utube and also on the Wilson school web site. It was a new undertaking for me and turned out very nice. Thank you to Jacky Evans, Shannon Selstrom and Silke Anderson –without them there would have been no final product! Thanks, too, to all the parents who helped with the field trips, pictures, note taking, disks and writing of the scripts. State STAR testing begins the first week of May. We will spend these three weeks leading up to it engaged in much review in class, and for homework as well. Students will be working towards a party every Friday for practicing diligently and taking the review sessions seriously. This Friday we are shooting for a movie party. Curriculum: MATH We have moved into the geometry strand of measurement. This chapter, 27, can be difficult for students as it’s new to them in many ways. We are also doing much review of fractions, decimals, multiplication, division and word problem skills. Math vocabulary is an extremely important aspect of the third grade curriculum and one area that really separates third from second. Without knowledge of these words and their meanings, your child cannot do well on the test or in subsequent grades. We are working on a math vocabulary book in class, and this should help reinforce the terms, of which there are MANY! READING and GRAMMAR Grammar skills targeted this week are synonyms, run on sentences, and adjectives. Our story for this week, beginning our final theme of third grade is called Pepita Talks Twice. Room 2 students will also work on literature circles and centers work every day. WRITING Your student has finished many writing tasks that will be on display at Open house. The focus this week and next are on “voice”, the most difficult trait of the six traits of writing to both teach and learn. “Voice” cannot be mastered until the other six traits are second nature to a third grader. We are looking for personality and “alive” writing. TALENT SHOW Room 2 is going to “facilitate” the talent show. Your child will help decide from beginning to end what is needed to put on a whole school event. They will decide how to advertise for it, how to plan for it, set up, make fair audition judgments, entry forms, permission slips and the like. All work will be done by Room 2 third graders. It is a super opportunity for them to learn organization skills, making decisions and judgments, following through, mathematical calculations, logical reasoning and problem solving skills. They will also be working on collaboration, brainstorming and cause and effect along the way. Please keep your eyes open for a “manager’s” position that your child is hoping you will accept, with he or she as your “assistant manager”. That paperwork is attached to this newsletter, if your third grader expressed an interest in a job. Thanks again for your support and help. LAPATHON PLEASE help your child to get pledges to save our PE teacher. The First Annual Wilson School lapathon will be held Thursday, April 29th from noon to three pm. All proceeds are tax deductible and go towards saving our talented, devoted and experienced PE teacher, Jane Campbell. EARTH DAY/OCEANS MOVIE Most of the Wilson School classes will be attending the opening day showing of Oceans, a Disney production to celebrate Earth Day on April 22nd. Your permission slip will go home on Thursday. PLEASE NOTE problems with homework (on going) and/or finishing tasks in class will result in NOT attending this event. You will know in advance if your child is even remotely at risk for such a loss of a privelege. Dates to note: April 22nd- “Oceans” field trip –Petaluma cinemas April 29th – Lap-a-thon at school May 3- State testing week May 10 – Make ups for STAR testing May 13th – book fair plus open house May 17th and 18th – Talent show qualifying events (3-4pm_ May 27 – Talent show (7pm) June 3rd- Last Day of 3rd grade! » read more...

Room 2 is working on review of math concepts learned this year in preparation for STAR testing to begin May 3rd. Please make sure your child gets to school on time and well rested and well fed that week so that they can display their stellar intelligence and learning on that test. IF YOU CAN, please send treats and snacks for that week for the class for between tests. I like to give crackers, cheese and fruit, granola bars, etc. NOTHING that is sugar laden nor anything that has liquid that could spilled on testing materials (cereal, etc). Thank you for your help. For the first year, I'm going to allow gum chewing during the testing time. It serves many purposes, namely increased concentration (studies have shown) and also as a treat/motivator for the kids. If you can supply bubble gum for the class, please send sugar free and regular with your child. Otherwise, I will bring it to class. If you do not want your child chewing gum, please let me know. This is the first year I've tried this but have heard of it from other teachers both in this school and elsewhere with positive results. Gum will be disposed of before heading out to recess. Thanks » read more...

Room 2 is hosting a whole-school talent show to be held on Thursday, May 27th at 7pm at Wilson School. Your students are in charge of all aspects of this event, from the advertising, logistics, judging and qualifying, and the actual production itself. We hope you all can come and support us. it should be a lot of fun. If your child wanted to run a prodcution role that night, a permission slip went home with them to sign up with your help for that night. If they wanted to be on the qualifying team, a permission slip also went home for that. Thank you for signing and returning the slips to class so that we can get the "show on the road" as they say in show biz. A donation of one box/batch or serving of desserts will be needed from each chld (homemade or bought) to sell at the event. We will also sell waters and all proceeds will go to the PE program at Wilson School. » read more...