Shannon Maurer

Mrs. Maurer’s Mailbox

 

November, 2018

 

Whew!  We made it through Halloween!  I feel like the time is going to fly now until Winter Break, as we are starting several new units across the areas of curriculum.  Above all, students need to be practicing their math facts to the point of memorization, every night!  Here is what other subjects we are working on…

 

1.  Readers Workshop: We are deep into our “Mystery”unit.  Students are learning how to become deeper, more inquisitive readers by seeking and identifying suspects and clues within mystery books at their “just right” level.  We are learning to make “text-to-self” connections, making predictions and using the strategy of inference to anticipate what is going to happen next in our books.  

 

2.  Writers Workshop:  We have started our next unit, Opinion writing.  We are going to be writing a variety of opinion pieces, such as “The Best Pet” or “The Best Place to Visit” and moving from paragraph form to multiple-paragraph essays.

 

3.  Math:  We have started Module 3, which brings us back to multiplication and division practice with factors 0,1 and 6-10.  Again, students will find the assignments, especially word problems, much less challenging if they already have their math facts memorized, especially as we are starting to look at division problems in addition to multiplication problems. We will be continuing to ask for parent volunteers for our “Math Tile” time... 

 

4.  Social Studies:  Having learned about the various environments and physical characteristics that make up the different sections of the United States, we are now going to start learning about different Native American tribes that inhabited these areas.  Then, we will turn our learning to the tribe that lived in our area, the Miwoks.

 

5.  Science:  We have completed our first unit on Weather and Climate (Earth Science) and will be starting our next unit “Invisible Forces" (Physical Science.)

 

Thank you,

 

Shannon Maurer

 

 

September, 2018

Dear Parents,

It's hot, so I’m going to keep this short and sweet…here are a few things we have been working on in third grade lately…

 

1.  Spelling:  Our entire class earned 100% on their spelling tests this week so we earned a popsicle party today!

2.  Language Arts:  We are deep into our first class read-along/aloud story, The Courage of Sarah Noble, and we are continuing to read and chat with our reading partners regarding our “just right” books.

We have been working on identifying proper and common nouns and are continuing to develop healthy paragraphs (topic sentence, three detail sentences, and a conclusion sentence.    

3.  Math:  We have finished Module 1, which was our introduction to multiplication and division, arrays and tape diagrams.  We are now starting Module 2, which is all about place value, addition and                       subtraction review, rounding numbers and number lines.

4.  Social Studies:  We have finished talking about rivers, lakes, and oceans and will start Chapter 2 next week, focusing upon soil, trees, and grasses.

5.  Science:  This week in science we explored the mystery, “Why are some places always hot?” We learned about the idea of ‘climate’--that in every place on earth, the weather tends to act a certain way over the year. Your child learned how there are five basic climate zones: polar, temperate, mild, desert, and tropical. 

 

Future dates to remember:

 

*  Wednesday, September 26 - Math Tiles 1:00-1:40pm (Our last Wednesday Math Tile time!  Starting in October, the math tile day and time will be roughly every other Monday afternoon, 2:00-2:50.  The dates will be posted on our class website calendar shortly.

*  Wednesday, October 3 - Retake/ Class picture Day - If your child needs a retake, please send in original pictures with them.

*  Thursday, October 4 - Minimum Day/ Staff Dev’t. - 12:10pm dismissal

*  Friday, October 5 - No School/Teacher Work Day

*  Sunday, October 7 - Montair School Carnival

*  October 8-12 - Conference Week - 12:10pm  dismissal.  Confirmation of date/time slips went home yesterday, via red folders or green homework folders.  Email me if you need to double-check or change your time….looking forward to seeing everyone!

*  Monday, October 15 - Math Tiles - 2:00-2:50pm.

*  Wednesday, October 24 - Field trip to Forest Home Farm - 8:30-12:30pm.

*  Monday, October 29 -  Math Tiles - 2:00-2:50pm.

*  Wednesday, October 31 - Halloween Parade and class party - Minimum Day - 12:10 dismissal

*  Friday, November 2 - No school/Staff Dev’t. Day

 

Have a nice weekend!

 

Shannon Maurer

 

 

 

August, 2018

 

August 23, 2018

 

Dear Parents,
We have had another fun and productive week in Room 202!  Here is a little bit of what we have been up to….

Homework:  Homework started officially this week…thank you for helping your child remember to bring their planner and green Homework folder back and forth to school each day!  As I said at Back to School Night, the most important homework I will be assigning are our daily math lessons…it starts off kind of slowly, but will become more challenging quickly, so please make sure that is completed and returned to school.

Reading:  We have started a small unit on Folktales and Fairytales.  I will be assessing the current reading level of each child next week and we will be ready to launch our Reader’s Workshop program.  Meanwhile, the students seem to be enjoying exploring our classroom library.

Writing:  We are kicking off the year with our first unit, which I affectionately call “How to Write a Decent Paragraph!”  We then will start learning about what makes up descriptive paragraph writing, and then move on to the other styles of writing.  Please look for your child’s Writer’s Workshop notebook toward the end of next week.  I will be sending them home for a week to allow your child time to decorate it and then they will need to be returned to school by Friday, September 7, decorated or not!  A note with complete directions will accompany the notebook.

Math:  We have started our Eureka Math program and even took our first quiz today.  I was terribly pleased with the student scores…this would be a great time to start having your child practice their multiplication facts.  We will be focusing on each set of facts a little later in the year, but we have already started learning about the fundamentals of multiplication and will start division tomorrow.  Students have started a few bonus math packets for “Early Finishers.”  Math Tiles will start next Wednesday, 12:50-1:30.

Science:  We are starting the year with Earth Science: A study of Weather and Climate.  This week in science we explored the mystery, “Where do clouds come from?” Your child observed important clues, such as the fact that water changes from a liquid to a gas (even without boiling!). You can continue to support your child’s curiosity by pointing out water vapor whenever you see it rising off hot water in the kitchen or bath, or pointing out tiny droplets of water forming on a mirror, windows, or glasses. Engage their minds by asking, “Wow, why do you think this is happening?”

Social Studies:  We have completed our first lessons in our larger Geography unit, and are looking forward to some fun projects coming up.  This week we learned about the important parts of a map, how to read a map grid, and started talking about the continents.  Next week we’ll be onto the hemispheres and then a fun "Continents Project.”

Our schedule has finally settled into place…
Library - Every other Tuesday, starting Sept. 4 - 2:10-2:50
Computer Lab - Tuesdays - 11:10-12:00
Science Lab - Thursdays - 2:00-2:50
P.E. - Wednesdays 11:10-12:00 and Fridays 2:00-2:50

Field trips:
1.  Forest Home Farm “Farm Life” - Wednesday, October 24, 2018 - 9:00am -12:00pm
2.  Tassajara One-Room Schoolhouse - Friday, March 1, 2019 - 8:30am -12:30pm
3.  Glass House Museum “Victorian Life” - Wednesday, March 6 - 9:30am -11:00am
***  We are working to pull together one more field trip that focuses on the Native American tribes that lived in our area…

Thank you and please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions!

Shannon Maurer

 

      *************************************************************************

 

August 14, 2018

 

Dear Room 202 Families, 

 

Welcome to third grade and welcome to the 2018-2019 School year!  My name is Shannon Burton Maurer and I am thrilled to be your child's teacher.   When I first meet my students, I tell them "Mrs. Maurer, rhymes with flower!"  I then get called Mrs. Flower for a few days, but that's part of the fun of it!  

I am a fifth generation Californian and have lived in Danville for almost 16 years.  My husband, Steve, and I have been married for 21 years and we have three kids...Matthew is almost 18 and starting his senior year at San Ramon Valley High School, Michael is 16 and a sophomore at San Ramon Valley High School, and Emily is 13, and will be entering eighth grade at Charlotte Wood Middle School.

  This year is going to be a wonderful collection of academic and social experiences for your children.  We will delve into some challenging and interesting curriculum while building collaborative relationships with fellow classmates.  I look forward to getting to know both you and your child over the course of the school year.  Third grade is a lot of fun and a time of personal growth and independence.  We're all going to have a great time.

          I will elaborate on third grade in general and classroom-specific procedures at Back to School Night on Thursday, August 16, 5:30-6:30pm.  I look forward to seeing you then.  

                                                                                                                         Sincerely, 

                                                                                                                                Mrs. Shannon Maurer

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