Hi All,
Whew! What a first week. After Tuesday's hot weather I sure was happy to see that Aptos fog roll in! The kids and I are all settling in, getting to know one and other. We have been working on routines and procedures this week. I have introduced two of the six Lit. Circle "jobs", and we've jumped right into the math curriculum. As you probably noticed, the math homework is quite rigorous. I appreciate the support I've seen parents giving their kids with this work. The quality has been good, and most students have returned their work each day, as expected. I do accept late homework, but I prefer the kids to keep up and develop the habits that they'll need throughout their school and work life. I'll explain more at Back-to-School Night on the 16th of September. A few students also need to bring in their Mystery Bags, which were due on Friday. We will look at 5 or 6 bags each day this week.

This coming week students will bring home a homework packet on Monday. This packet is due on Friday, but may be turned in sooner. There will be a test on Friday of each week that will include the words and sentences on the list. This week's spelling words are the months and days of the week, but there are no sentences to study. The packet also includes September's Reading Log. Children are to read OUT LOUD for 15 minutes each day and return the log to be stamped on Friday. This is an ORAL reading contract and doesn't include the hours of silent reading your child may do each week. Please sign the log each day, but your kid can fill out the rest.

On Monday students will also be bringing home a permission slip for our first field trip, to the SC County Fair. Please return these slips immediately, especially if you are volunteering to drive. The district is requiring us to hand in the Driver Forms well in advance of the actual field trip, on the 16th of September. The first six volunteers to return their slips will get free admission to the fair; all others will have to pay their own admission. Students get in free.

Several kids also brought home a second copy of the PVUSD Internet Agreement. Every child must have a copy on file before we can use the Computer Lab. If your child has a copy of this agreement in their folder, please send it in on Monday. In addition, please return your green forms and yellow cards if you have not already done so.

Thanks you for all the great support this week. The kids jumped right into their homework responsibilities, which will grow throughout these first few months. Clearly, they had great support and guidance at home. We also received many donations, both monetary and material, toward classroom supplies, and several donations for the classroom funds, which are more general.

I'm looking forward to a great year. As you can tell, the 16th will be a big day for the third grade, and a wonderful opportunity for me to meet you at the fair and Back-to-School Night.

Yours,
Carroll Mayer

Dear Parents and Students,

Welcome to Third Grade! We are going to have a great year. There are a few changes to the school schedule, with a slightly later start (7:55) and ending (2:10). I am very happy to have Wednesdays back for Restructured Days, although the first one is a full day.

A short supply list is posted. Please don't send pencil boxes, as they take up a great deal of space and are underused by the kids. I will have communal boxes with markers, colored pencils, and other supplies, which we will pull out as needed.
In addition, if you have copies of Charlotte's Web, please bring them as we will start reading this wonderful book on Monday. Apologies to last year's second graders, who have already read the book. I will try not to have you repeat a lot of activities, but I love this book and have read it many,many times myself!

We are also going to hit the ground running with math homework on Monday night. In addition there will be a Mystery Bag assignment that will be due on Friday.

I look forward to seeing you on Monday morning at 7:55. Have a great weekend!

Ms. Mayer