3rd, 4th and 5th Grade Newsletter

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a great holiday and is well-rested.

Reading Homework, Fabulous Friday and Bingo!
We are starting something new for reading homework—we will be playing Reading Bingo! The game sheets are in the Red Folders. Students can record books of different genres on these sheets. Once they have a bingo (five in a row in any direction) they can bring their sheet in and receive a free book and Bear Bucks. They can bring in a bingo at any time. This is a great way for students to explore new genres. Please continue to record reading minutes in your child’s planner. For reading homework they are required to read 25 minutes four times a week. This reading also counts, and is required, for Fabulous Friday.

Geography and Spelling Bees
The Geography Bee is January 15th and the Spelling Bee is January 29th. All 4th-8th graders are required to participate in the Geography Bee and all 3rd-8th graders are required to participate in the Spelling Bee.

This month, for spelling words, students will have words from the official Spelling Bee list that will be used during our school bee. The entire list is in the Red Folder. The words at the Spelling Bee will start easy and then gradually get harder.

Science
We have new science books! We will be cracking them open for the first time tomorrow! On Friday we will be going to Glen’s Ditch to collect data for our year-long study on watersheds. We take a field trip every week—Glen’s Ditch every other week and then a different river, creek, or ditch within the Gustavus Flat’s Watershed on the alternating weeks.

Important Dates
Geography Bee—January 15th
Story Hour—January 18th
Spelling Bee—January 29th
Play (Goldilocks and the Three Bears)—February 26th 7pm

Paragraph a Week
There is no paragraph assignment this week.

Word of the Week: brackish