9/30/13

• Read 20 minutes
• Spelling Monday
• 
  

  mercy	heavy	spray	honey	brief
  field	street	alley	plain	turkey
  east	day	week	year	claim
  timidly	despair

9/27/13

• Read 20 minutes each night
• Spelling- Friday
• Parent sign behavior chart
• Dear Mr. Robertson letter

We had a lot of trouble last week remembering the letter and the behavior chart. Please help you child be responsible. Thank you.

9/25/13

• Read 20 minutes
• Spelling Weds.
• Unfinished Comparing Numbers worksheets

9/24/13

• Read 20 minutes
• Spelling- Tuesday
• GREAT job on the poems today!

9/23/13

• Read 20 minutes
• Practice poem
• DUE TOMORROW
• Spelling- Monday
• 
  

  she’d	we’ll	haven’t	wasn’t	aren’t
  wouldn’t	doesn’t	that’s	page	cube
  moment	strike	basic	human	cellar
  o’clock	shouldn’t

   

9/18/13

• Read 20 minutes
• Spelling Wednesday
• Practice Poem
• Due Tuesday 9/24

9/13/13

• Read 20 minutes each night
• Spelling Friday
• Missed words 5x
• Practice Poem
• Dear Mr. Robertson Letter
• Parent sign behavior chart

EXTRA

• What do our group names have in common?
• Seuss
• Cleary
• White
• Dahl
• Snicket
• Rowling

9/11/13

• Read 20 minutes
• Spelling Wednesday
• Practice Poem

9/10/13

• Read 20 Minutes
• Practice Poem
• Spelling Tuesday
• Remember- Early Release Wednesday

Poems

I have assigned each student a poem of their choosing. The student must memorize his or her poem over the next two weeks and be prepared to recite it for the class on the due date. The recitation will be done without the poem in the student's hands.

Memorizing a poem is not difficult given the amount of time the students have. I went over with them the best ways to memorize something.

• Say it Out Loud
• Stand when saying it
• Recite it many times when you practice each day
• Find the music in the poem to help you remember how it flows
• Key into the rhyming words so help get from line to line
• Recite with expression

On the due date each student will stand in front of the class to recite his or her poem. I would like the students to speak with expression, practically acting out the poem. That doesn't mean dancing or shouting, but putting feeling into the words. Basically, I do not want the student to sound like a robot. This is practice public speaking, something each child will be doing a lot of this year. We are starting off with something that will make the children nervous, but through this with our help each child will being to conquer that fear and become a more confident speaker and presenter. 

This is an assignment and it is homework, so please help your student practice each night. And morning. And in the car. The more times the words come out of your child's mouth the more comfortable your child will be with them.

9/9/13

• Read 20 minutes
• Practice Poems 
• DUE 9/23
•  Complete unfinished weekend work

9/6/13

• Read at least 20 minutes each night
• Dear Mr. Robertson letter
• Parent sign behavior chart

9/5/13

Language Arts

• Read 20 minutes

Social Studies

• Walk through house, planning to draw it as a map

Welcome to 3rd Grade!

Welcome to Mr. Robertson’s

3rd Grade Class

Students and parents,

I would like to welcome you to our class. My name is Mr. Robertson and I will be your child’s teacher this year. I have been teaching for seven years, the last six of which in Hawaii, where I taught third, fourth, and sixth grade. In Hawaii I lived on the island of Oahu and was very active in my school, coaching and leading many activities. Before moving to Hawaii I taught third grade in my hometown in Southern California.

I love teaching and want nothing more than to help guide my students to be positive, successful student-citizens. My classroom is meant to be a positive, safe environment for experimenting, failing, and learning from those failures without fear. My wife, baby son, and I are new to Oregon this year and we look forward to being part of the community.  

-Some important notes for our class-

- There will be some type of homework every night. Sometimes this will only be reading for 20-30 minutes. Most of the time it will be reading, spelling, and math. Unfinished class work might also show up.

-Homework will be written down in a planner every day. You can also check the class homework website. That address is: http://mrrobertsonshomework.blogspot.com/ Homework and important assignments and dates will be posted there on a daily basis. Please use this resource to check up on the goings on in our class.

- You may communicate with me through notes in the homework planner, a phone call to school, comments on the homework blog (http://mrrobertsonshomework.blogspot.com/), or by coming in to the classroom. If you are coming in or calling to ask questions please be mindful of the time as I will be teaching from 7:45-2:15, except on Weds when school gets out at 1:00.

- Please ask your child questions about their reading. Who, what, when, where, and especially why will aid their comprehension. Be involved and you will see wonderful growth. Asking your child to read aloud will also help them, as reading fluency (how smoothly they read)  influences reading comprehension.

-Please let me know at least a day beforehand if you plan on sending in treats for birthdays and holidays. I will only distribute treats at the very end of the day, so if you bring in cupcakes at lunch they will be covered in ants and melted by the time I am ready to hand them out.

-This year there may be field trips for which I will be asking for chaperones. I choose chaperones on a first come basis, so be on the lookout for those request forms later in the year if you are interested.

-Please don’t forget school starts at 7:45 every day and lets out at 2:15 everyday except 1:00 on Wednesdays. It is important for your child to be in class on time and while third grade means extra responsibilities are expected of them, some of our students still need help. If tardiness becomes an issue I will contact you to see what we can do to help.

- The normal way I will communicate with you is through notes in the homework planner. This is another reason I need you to check it every night, and then sign. If it is an emergency or a pressing matter then I will call home as well, so please be sure to list current, working contact numbers on the emergency cards.

I am looking forward to this year. I think working together as teacher, students, and parents, we are going to have a great one.

- Doug Robertson