Dear Parents,

I just wanted to let you know that, as a gala auction item, Mrs. Verma and I are offering a "Movie and Pizza."

This will be for the auction winner plus 3 guests. Approximately 2 hours after school in the classroom.  Date and time to be worked out between teacher and parents.

The Gala Auction will be held February 4, 2012 at Olde Towne Athletic Club from 7 to 11 PM. Tickets are on sale at http://gmefoundation.org - $35 and $45 at the door or you can Download 2012GALATicketformto purchase tickets in advance. Visit the website for a sample of items to bid on. All proceeds go back to GMEF.

The proceeds will be used to improve our school by providing funding for programs such as technology, educational curriculum and facility improvements. The GMEF will accumulate and distribute resources beyond those provided by Cobb County or the PTA, in order to further enhance, foster and enrich the educational experiences of all students at Garrison Mill.

Thank you for your support!

Dear Parents,

I wanted to extend a heartfelt thank you for the Target gift card you all gave me as a Christmas gift. I was able to purchase some DVD's of movies that I had been wanting to watch. It came in handy as I spent the second week of 2012 recovering from surgery. I have had a long-standing medical issue with my left kidney which has finally been resolved. I look forward to returning to the classroom tomorrow. Also, many wonderful individual gifts were given to me and hopefully you saw my thank you note in your child's folders. If not, I appreciate the many gift cards, baked goodies, etc.

Mrs. Verma and Mrs. Broaddus along with my substitute teacher, Mrs. Druhot have hit the ground running. The students completed our polygon unit in math. They have been working on HERO essays in writing. Science class has been focusing on HEAT. The students have been getting back in the swing of things quickly.

This coming week:

We will begin a unit on fractions in math.Committing multiplication facts through 12x tables will continue to be a priority. Informational writing will be our focus during this grading period. "New Year's Resolutions will be the topic of our first writing assignment. In grammar, we will focus on apostrophes this week. Reading groups will be working on obtaining facts, summarizing and answering comprehension questions on books about MLK, JR. We will continue learning about heat in science and end the week with an engaging High Touch High Tech in school field trip.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns as we move forward in the 2nd half of 3rd grade.

Hoping everyone had a wonderful holiday enjoying family time and a bit of rest!

Thanks for your continued support,

Audra James

Dear Parent(s),

Your children are working hard and staying focused as we complete our 2nd 9-week period Thursday, Dec. 22nd, so Mrs. Verma and I are planning some fun! It will, of course, be business as usual this week as we finish covering and re-assessing all the standards that are on the report card. We have been pleased with the progress we have seen, especially on our multiplication facts! Our week will be full of writing as we respond to two books we have read in class. Our final spelling test of 2011 will be given on Friday. In math, we will conclude our unit on geometry. Thank you for all your support at home!

Friday 12-16-11- Holiday Book Time

Students bring in your favorite holiday books for some extra reading time with your classmates. We will choose some for class read-aloud time too!

Monday 12-19-11-White Elephant

Bring in a book you have read and enjoyed to give to a classmate. Please wrap it for the holidays, and we will play a fun game to see who opens which package.

Tuesday 12-20-11- Class Auction

Please help your child find a gently used item (toy, book, etc.) that can be donated for the auction. Students have been earning class money for good work habits and behaviors throughout the grading period. They will have an opportunity to spend their money by bidding on these unwrapped items. Items can be brought in beginning this Thursday 12-15-11.

Wednesday 12-21-11- Holiday Party 9:55-10:50am

All are welcome! Please contact Paula Merrington for more details and to see how you can be involved.

Thursday 12-22-11- Polar Express and PJ Day with Book Buddies

Students can come to school in their pajamas to enjoy a movie with their first grade friends. We have music for specials, so slippers are allowed.

It is hard to believe that we have made it this far and the holidays are around the corner. It is a privilege to teach your children.

Have a safe and happy Winter Break,

Mrs. James and Mrs. Verma

Dear Parents:

I enjoyed conferencing  with you! I value the insight you were able to give me about your child, and it was wonderful to share with you their strengths and weaknesses as third graders thus far.

We are off and running with our busy curriculum! Writing and learning our multiplication facts will be a big focus! We have learned 0's through 5's. The homework given on Monday reflects that we have introduced the 6's, 7's and 8's. Our plan is to teach and memorize our facts 0-12. Mastery of any table of facts is diplayed visually as an ice cream scoop on our classroom cones.

 As we approach the holiday season, students have been writing about a favorite holiday memory. They are fun to read. In Science, we have begun a unit on Soil. There will be many activites and lots of vocabulary to learn. We even have a guest presenter coming in early Decemeber. Be looking for the related permission form. Your child begins work on a flip book tomorrow that will serve as a study guide.

Our Thanksgiving Luncheon and Program will take place next Thursday, November17th. We are looking forward to any parents, grandparents and special friends who want to join us. The schedule is as follows:

11:45-12:15  Program in the classroom #303

12:15-12:45  Lunch in the GM Cafe'

12:45-1:15    Book Fair, Veterans Display and Photos in the Media Center

Look forward to seeing you then,

Audra James and Pam Verma

Parents,

There will be club photos taken for the school's yearbook on the morning of Thursday, November 10th for any student who has participated in any after school club.

This may include:   Chorus, Art club, Young Rembrandts, Odyssey of the Mind, Drama Club, Chess Club, Golf Club, Spanish Club, Cheer Dance, Club Scientific, Cub Scouts, Student Council, Wee Deliver, News Crew, Safety Patrol, etc. Please be sure to make your child aware of this activity which is strictly voluntary.

Vicki Stasiak, Ed.D.
Assistant Principal
Murdock Elementary
vicki.stasiak@cobbkk12.org

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams"
Henry David Thoreau

Dear Parent(s):

Please make a note that our lunch time has officially been changed:

 11:33-12:03

Thank you,

Audra James

Dear Parent(s):

Conference week, October 24-28, is around the corner. I would like to get some information from you before I begin assigning you randomly to a day/time.

Conferences will begin at 12:40 pm and last for 20 minutes. If you know of a day or time that will not work in your schedule, please email and let me know at audra.james@cobbk12.org.

I look forward to meeting with all of you.

Thank you in advance,

Audra James

Dear Parent(s):

I hope everyone has enjoyed the beautiful fall weather this weekend.

The students wrote down some important information in their agendas on Friday that I wanted to draw your attention to before a new week begins.

There are 3 weeks left in the quarter for the students to earn the required 8 AR points. You should have seen a printout in last Thursday's folder to alert you to their status. Happy Reading!

In grammar, we will be reviewing and assessing the student's knowledge of synonyms, antonyms, homophones, prefixes and suffixes throughout the coming week. They have a mini-book that should come home each day for study time.

In Social Studies, we will be finishing our unit on Greece and have a test on Friday. A graphic organizer will be coming home Monday and look for the textbook to come home with specific pages to review with your child.

In math, we will be taking a timed addition or subtraction test each day. Our goal is to reach 90 or above to exceed in this skill. The last addition timed test came home in Thursday's folder and you should look for the last subtraction timed test to come home in agendas tomorrow.

Congratulations to all our students who participated in the Fun Run: Evey Kirby, Sam Howard, Parker Moore and Reece Robertson. Great job!

Thank you for all your support at home!

Mrs. James

Dear Parents,

This week we will reach the 4 1/2 week mark in the first grading period. Progress reports will ONLY go home with students who are struggling. The learning environment is fun and interactive. I am especially impressed with the student's kindness towards one another.

The past two weeks in Language Arts we have been focusing on homonyms and antonyms. This week we will add prefixes, suffixes and base words to our  grammar mini-books. We organized our first narrative writing "My Most Embarrassing or Funniest Moment" into a graphic organizer and began rough drafts. This week we edit on Wednesday and complete our final drafts by the end of the week. We focused on characters in our reading and will look more closely at setting and plot development in the coming weeks. Cam Jansen: Mystery of the Diamond Thief and Cam Jansen: The Mystery of the Television Dog have been our text for this study. It allows us to also compare and contrast with a text to text connection.

In math, we finished up our unit on rounding numbers to the nearest 10 and 100. This week we are focusing on addition properties and sums with 3 digit and 4 digit addends. We will review/reteach the concept of regrouping with addition. Another addition timed test will be administered on Thursday. Practice at home using any of the math websites found on the GM Weblink Notebook.

In Science, we had a Mineral Identification Assessment last week. Interacting with real minerals to identify their attributes: hardness/softness, rough/smooth, color has been fun! The three types of rocks were discussed and now we are moving into the way weathering and erosion affect rocks. The students were asked to draw a picture showing each of these processes due Wed. For bonus points on their next science test, students can complete the InstaLab found on pg. 21 of the Science workbooks. (a clear, plastic cup was provided) and bring it in tomorrow. In the weeks to come we will study fossils.

In Social Studies, we will begin a unit on democracy as we study Greece (the birthplace of democracy). Previewing vocabulary in Social Studies and Science is always helpful. Look for notecards to come home in the near future for students to begin making vocabulary flipcards.

In Health, we are continuing to look at nutrition and the students will create their own balanced meal on a paper plate as we assess their comprehension of the subject.

Thank you for all your support!

Fondly,

Mrs. James

Dear Parent(s),

We have enjoyed a wonderful two weeks with your children. It was a pleasure to meet and speak with all of you during Sneak a Peek and Open House. The students are learning and settling into our classroom expectations and procedures.

The first week included many get to know you activities and data driven assessments for basic facts in math, writing about a summer memory and math problem solving/exemplars,

This week we learned and assessed the children's knowledge of synonyms and number sense. You will begin seeing graded work in their Thursday folders starting next week. Guided reading groups have formed and we have completed a Rock/Mineral book focusing on beginning, middle and end of the story.

Our social studies map skills assessment is planned for Tuesday, August 30th. Then, we will begin a unit in science covering Rocks and Minerals.

We visited the Media Center, Computer Lab and Mrs. Clark's 1st graders for Book Buddies this week.

Spelling City information : go to the GM website; click on Web Link Notebook; click on third grade and scroll down to the Spelling section; click on Spelling City_3rd. Note: Stacy Moore's name will appear and not ours. Scroll to Sort 2 for next week. This should work! Encourage your students to play the games to practice their words for the week. A test will be administered every Friday.

Behavior rewards have been offered on an individual and group basis. For example, 10 stickers this week equaled an invite a friend to lunch on Monday. Table points add up as the week progresses and a small treat is given each Friday. Continuing to impress upon the children that they are indeed classmates and not playmates should help us all to enjoy more rewards and fewer consequences. Thank you for your support!

It is a privilege to teach and nurture your child each day! Have a nice weekend!

Fondly,

Mrs. James and Mrs. Verma