Weekly Updates 9/26-9/30

NEWS/EVENTS

• Our rescheduled trip to the farm is Wednesday October 19th. If you are interested in chaperoning, please email Ms. Bouchard. More info to come next week!
• Next week we start our residency with Circle in the Square!
• Our first day of swim is tomorrow first period (remind kids)
• We started differentiated math groups this week!
• Family Friday is tomorrow! Come join us from 8:50-9:35 to learn how to use a narrative toolkit to help students lift the level of their writing.
• There is no school Monday and Tuesday in observance of Rosh Hashanah.

CURRICULUM:

Reading: This week we are moving into bend three of our current reading unit, which focuses on ways to challenge more complicated texts. We will study context clues and figurative language to determine meaning.

Writing: After brainstorming and focusing on a wide variety of pieces, we committed to one narrative piece to take through the writing process. After many oral rehearsals we are looking at ways to pull our audience into our stories and lift the level of our preliminary drafts.

Math: This week Ms. Mackenzie and I launched differentiated math. We studied student preassessment data and grouped students by areas of needs. This week all groups explored rounding. Next week our topic of focus is adding and subtracting with regrouping.

Social Studies: This week we focused on legends, keys, compasses, and other tools to read maps. Students engaged in a cross curricular activity of planning a trip on route 66 and using rounding to calculate the total distance with a partner.

Weekly Updates September 19th-23rd

Hi Everyone,

Each week I will post weekly class updates by Wednesday morning! A huge thanks to Courtney and Priya for helping our parents stay informed. Please double check the distribution list and let us know if anyone else should be added to emails.

NEWS/EVENTS

• Our farm trip date has changed to October 19th! More information about this is on the way in the upcoming weeks. Mark your calendars- we will not be home that day until around 5pm.
• Next Friday September 30th is Family Friday. I will be sending a note with further details next week with more specifics.
• Next Friday September 30th is 3-509's first day of swim class. Please send swim materials to school that day-towel, bathing suit, etc. Swim will be 4th period that day.
• Our weekly special schedule is the following:
• Monday: Computer
• Tuesday: Music
• Wednesday: Science
• Thursday: Science
• Friday: Gym (swim)

CURRICULUM

Reading: This week we are continuing to work on goal setting, building reading habits, and increasing stamina. We are also learning about ways to share ideas with others.

Writing: This week we are generating ideas for our writing pieces by making lists and then writing long about those ideas.

Math: This week students will use place value as a means to compare, order, and rank numbers.

Social Studies: We are continuing to learn about continents and major bodies of water.

IMPORTANT NEWS: NEW DATE FOR STONELEDGE FARM TRIP

Hi Everyone,

After carefully considering families that will be observing Yom Yippur, we decided to move our trip to Stoneledge Farm to Wednesday October 19th!

Please update your calendars!


Thank you!

Meet Ali Gabriele, Our Fantastic Teachers College Intern

Hello!  My name is Ms. Gabriele and I will be working with Ms. Bouchard throughout the next few months as her literacy intern.  I am a graduate student at Teachers College at Columbia University and I will be in the classroom about four times a week helping the students to become the best readers and writers that they can possibly be.  I am both excited and eager to work with this fantastic group of 3rd graders and watch them grow as learners! 

Some fun facts about Ms. Gabriele:

Favorite food: Mac and cheese

Favorite place I've traveled to:  Greece

Favorite sport: Lacrosse (I played in college and have been a coach!)

Favorite sports teams: Jets, Yankees, Islanders

Favorite book: Wonder by: RJ Palacio

Favorite singer: Billy Joel

Favorite movie: Forrest Gump

Favorite hobby: drawing and painting

Welcome to 3-509!

Welcome families! It was so nice to meet many of you this morning! For those of you that couldn't make it, I have attached a link to our presentation. 

Thank you again to Courtney and Priya for volunteering to be our class parents. We are working on a distribution list and will be in touch shortly. In the meantime, I look forward to a fantastic year.

A few important reminders:

• Return welcome packets at your earliest convenience
• Our first trip is this Tuesday September 20th! The cost of this trip is $8. Please return the trip slip and $8 amount ASAP.
• Our first farm stand date is tomorrow from 8-8:50!

Thank you!

Dear Families of 3-509,

It has been a privilege to work with you this year and watch our amazing kids grow and blossom. I can't thank you enough for your support- from chaperoning trips to volunteering to guest lecture, our class community would not be the same without your ongoing presence. Your collaboration has been the key to our students' success, and their eagerness to learn.

Thank you to Colette and Amanda for being the most amazing classroom parents. Our community was always informed of events and important information because of your efforts, and your organization of special events (book fairs, mystery readers, etc) has given everyone opportunities to get involved. You're amazing.

I was incredibly touched and moved by your thoughtful end of the year class gift. We are excited to use it towards some additional things to prepare for our little girl's arrival! Dev and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Please know that you are all my inspiration to be an amazing parent. Every day I watch you make parenting in New York City look exciting and an adventure that I am ready to partake in. It's not an easy place to live, but you have shown me that the best kids come from our incredible city, and now our little girl can be part of this unique crowd of kids that are so open to the world.

Please keep in touch- I would love to continue to hear about what your families have been up to!

A few last updates regarding the end of the year before I embark on my next adventure...

• Ms. Lampf and Ms. Mackenzie will be coordinating with Ms. Penn (and reaching out to Colette and Amanda) to set up an end of the year picnic for the kids at the water park on the river near 23rd street for June 22nd. Please keep your eyes open for information about this.
• All report cards and portfolio contents will be sent home on Friday June 24th. PLEASE RETURN PORTFOLIOS TO MS. PENN by next week!
• Next Friday June 17th is Field Day.
• Meet your new teacher day is Tuesday June 21st.
• The last day of school is Tuesday June 28th. This is a half day. Dismissal will be at 11:50.
• If you have questions or concerns please forward them to Ms. Penn via a handwritten note directly delivered by the kids, or call the main office.

Have a wonderful summer with your families, and take care!

Much love,

Aimee Bouchard

Meet Ms. Penn :)

Meet Ms. Penn!

I am absolutely thrilled to introduce you to Ms. Penn, the fantastic teacher that will be with our kids for the last 10.5 days of school! She will take the helm of 3-509 starting this upcoming Monday, June 13th. I have known Ms. Penn for quite some time now, and not only is she a pleasure to work with- she has an amazing connection with the kids.

A little background information about Ms. Penn:

She has subbed at PS 11 for the past three years. She has two masters degrees in Social Studies Education and Special Education, and has worked with a wide range of students of all abilities. In her spare time she loves photography (especially photos of her son), and loves to scrapbook. She enjoys vegan cooking and is interested in writing literature for children.

She is so excited to work with our class these last few days, and will be joining us on Wednesday and Friday for an amazing transition. Welcome, Ms. Penn!