December Snapshot of Events

Wow!   It's hard to believe that we're already three weeks into Trimester 2!   The kids have been working so hard and are starting to get deep into the routines of being 3rd grade learners.   

It was great being able to see many of you at our Curriculum Snapshot last Friday!  Be sure to enjoy the pictures from the event at the end of this blog.

Friday will be our last day of school before Winter Break.   In the morning, all students will be able to participate in an all school Holiday Sing.   In the afternoon, our class will gather again in the Commons to eat holiday cookies while listening to several stories read by our administrators.  Our day will conclude with watching the Polar Express.   Students are welcome to wear their pajamas to school that day!

I hope that you have a wonderful, safe, and restful holiday season and Winter Break with your families!   I look forward to continuing to work with your child in 2014!  :)  See you all back on January 6th.    

Here's what has been happening in our class:

Literacy Time:

Over the past month, we have been working on the CAFE comprehension literacy strategies of asking and generating questions throughout our reading, voracious reading, summarizing, distinguishing between fact and opinion, inferencing, and determining the cause and effect of a concept when we read.  Additionally, our class has been focusing on the reading fluency strategies of rereading text when we don't understand the meaning of what we read and adjusting and applying different reading rates to match text.

Grammar:

The students have been working with distinguishing between common and proper nouns, the rules of making a noun plural, and present and past-tense verbs.  

Writing:

Our class is nearing completion of our Personal Narrative Unit in writing.  During Writer's Express (WEX) time, our class continues to work hard learning about the important elements to include in a personal narrative. Together, our mini-lessons have been focusing on writing our paragraphs in a more logical and organized manner. In addition, we are continuing to make sure that our work focuses on a single moment in time. Our lessons have also been stressing the importance of having a logical structure that focuses on one event, utilizing strong verbs, good sensory detail, and proper sentence mechanics in our writing.  

Currently, the students have picked a final piece from all of their daily writing that they would like to perfect and enhance.   As a result, the students are typing their pieces into Googledocs. Afterwards, they will conference with me for suggestions of corrections and enhancements.  Our goal is to have our final pieces finished by break.  

Math:

The students just finished Unit 4 in math that focused on introducing multiplication and division fact strategies, using arrays to demonstrate the meaning of multiplication, working with multiplication and division word problems, determining the area of rectangular shapes, and collecting data to discuss the topic of probability and chance.

Last week the students had fun practicing their multiplication facts by creating multiplication array cities.   This week the students are having fun being architect designers.   The students are responsible for creating a blueprint design of their dream home.   With their designs, they need to calculate the perimeter and area of each room they add to their home.  

The students have been doing a spectacular job of practicing their math facts on Xtramath.org! I have certainly noticed quite a difference with quicker recall and memorization of their facts because of this practice.   I appreciate all of you parents making sure that they are practicing their facts at least 3 sessions a week.  Our goal is to have all students have their addition and subtraction facts mastered by the end of February so that they can begin to memorize their multiplication and division facts.  Your student is welcome to practice their facts over Winter Break, but please know it is not a requirement.

Science:

All of the third grade classes participated in a month long Solar System UBD research project.   At the beginning stages, each student was put into a specific planet group.   Using websites and books, each planet group researched information about their planet and posted their notes into Googledocs.   

Afterwards, each planet group chose two Solar Award Categories that they felt their planet could win. The Solar Award Categories were:

• Strangest Atmosphere
• Wildest Temperature/Weather
• Best Name
• Most Earth-like Planet
• Most Interesting Moons
• Scariest Planet
• Most Beautiful Planet
• Most Unique Planet

Once the categories were chosen, each planet group had to write a persuasive paragraph that proved why their planet should win that specific category award.    All paragraphs were submitted to an award selection committtee.  

Together with the entire third grade, students were divided into specific selection committees that gathered in the Commons.   (Ex.:  The Strangest Atmosphere Committee).   Each committee was responsible for reading the persuasive paragraphs and narrowing down each category to the top three planets that they felt deserved to win that specific category based off of the evidence that was given to them.   

Back in the classroom, the top three persuasive speeches for each category were read aloud.   After the speeches were read, the students voted online into a program called Survey Monkey for the planet they believe deserved to win.   They also had to provide a reason for why they felt the planet should win the specific category.   All of the third grade votes were tallied.  

For the last part of the project, the students will meet back in the LMC for the Solars Award Ceremony on Thursday where the winners will be revealed. 

A BIG THANK YOU goes out to all of our parent classroom volunteers!

• We would like to thank Mr. O'Keeffe, Mrs. Saunders, Mrs. Silvestri, Mrs. Osterlund, Mrs. Petrusonis, and Mrs. Rogers for coming in to assist with our Reader's Theater groups for the months of November and December.  
• I also greatly appreciate Mrs. Barnett, Mrs. Ciccone, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Petrusonis, Mrs. Rogers, and Mrs. Silvestri for for coming in to do all of our copying over the past several weeks. We greatly appreciate your time!
• Thank you Mr. Murray for conducting a wonderful Art Appreciation lesson on mosaics for the students.
• A big thanks goes out to Mrs. Petrusonis and Mrs. Silvestri for taking time out of their busy schedules this week to help take inventory of our Science Light Unit bins!   
• Congratulations goes out to Mrs. Murray for the birth of her fourth baby girl Amelia (Millie)! :)

WEX Curriculum Snapshot Pics

Holiday Shoppe is Saturday!

December 7, 2013

10th Annual Holiday Shoppe

10am – 1pm

Westgate Gym

 

Westgate’s 10th Annual Holiday Shoppe provides students with a fun and friendly opportunity to shop for affordable holiday gifts for their family, friends, and even pets.  Parents can enjoy some concessions while helper “elves” assist their children with selecting, buying, and even wrapping their gifts!

Everybody Counts

Our class had a great time becoming acquainted with what it's like to have a reading, math, or writing disabilities during Everybody Counts today.   We would like to thank Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Murray, and Mrs. Silvestri for coming into our classroom to conduct simulation lessons with us.  

November Art Appreciation

We would like to thank Mr. Murray for coming into our classroom last week to conduct a wonderful Art Appreciation lesson about mosaics.  The students had a great time making their own mosaic designs.  

Learning About Diwali: Festival of Lights

Mrs. Maletira, Mohini's mom in Mrs. Darby's class, kindly came in today to talk about Diwali to all of our third grade classes.  Diwali is a Indian holiday that is known as the "Festival of Lights" that actually starts today.

The Diwali celebration can last up to five days.   Each region of the country celebrates the triumph of good over evil in a uniquely regional way.

Celebrations include:

• Lighting of Diyas or earthen lamps in every corner of homes.
• Decoration of homes in multi-colored and floral design. (Rangoli)
• Visits to the temples and offering to Lakshmi, the Good of Spiritual Prosperity
• Purchasing of new clothes
• Exchanging sweets with neighbors

Enjoy some pictures from our event:

Fall Parent/Teacher Conference Sign-Up

Parents,

Please click on this link to access our classroom's page for Fall Parent/Teacher Conferences via Sign-Up Genius:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D45A9AD2EA0FD0-mrs16http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0D45A9AD2EA0FD0-mrs16

Red Ribbon Week

Tuesday, October 29th is “Sock it to Drugs” day and students may wear the craziest or mismatched pairs of socks. 

Wednesday, October 30th is “Raise our Hands against Bullying” day.  Throughout the week, students may donate either a pair of socks or gloves/mittens in a bin located within the front doors of Westgate.  These items will be distributed to  local shelters in need.

 Thursday, October 31st is “Say Boo to Bullying and Drugs” day and students will receive an individually wrapped Twizzler stick that says “Don’t Let Drugs Twist your Mind.”    

Friday, November 1st is “Show Good Character” day and students can wear red.  

October Classroom Snapshot of Events

Here's what has been happening in our classroom:

Reading:
Throughout whole group CAFE strategy lessons, our class has been working with the comprehension strategies of  determining the author's purpose for writing (to persuade, inform, or entertain the reader); learning how to generate questions when we read; and learning how to summarize a passage.   Additionally, we have been learning how to be more accurate and fluent readers by reviewing the various strategies of  being a voracious reader; learning how to read appropriate level texts that are a good fit; and being able to cross-check what we read for understanding or to skip a word we don't know and come back to it or substitute another word that makes sense.    

Throughout our extended vocabulary time, the students have been working with homographs. These are words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings. Additionally, the students have also been using the website called Dictionary.com to learn how to find the various definitions of words having multiple meanings.  

The students are beginning to settle into the routines and practices of literature circle groups.  I have placed your child in a group and provided them with an appropriate novel that I feel matches their reading strengths and capabilities. Our guided reading time involves assigning students chapters to read independently, having them complete a literature response activity about their book, and meeting with their group for a novel group discussion. Afterwards, they can complete one of their Weekly 5 assigned activities.  Throughout the year, your child may be moved to a different guided reading group depending on their needs. If your child has a difficult time finishing their guided reading assignment during the scheduled 60 minute literacy period, they may be asked to finish it that night for homework.

I will now begin to conference with your student individually while having them read to me orally and asking them comprehension questions along the way.   Through our conference together, we will establish a reading strategy goal that I believe that they need to work upon throughout their individual reading time, literature circle time, and Weekly 5 routine time.   Each week we will try to meet to see if their goal has been reached.   Once the goals have been mastered, a new goal will be established for your student to individual work upon.   All of the goals will be set in either the area of comprehension, accuracy, fluency, or extended vocabulary (CAFE).   

Grammar:

Over the past several weeks, the students have been working on determining the difference between finding the subject and predicate in a sentence. We also have been learning the proper way to combine two sentences that are alike by using a comma and the words "but" or "and" to make one compound sentence. Additionally, we have been working on learning how to capitalize proper nouns and the rules for making words plural.  

During literacy time, the students had fun practicing these skills with the following web pages. Feel free to lick on these links to view and play the web site games at home: Rags to Riches , Compound Sentences, Rats, and The Plural Girls.  

Spelling:

I appreciate all of the hard work that each student gives to spelling each evening. Please continue to make sure that they are sorting their words correctly into their various spelling categories. The goal of our spelling program is for the students to learn and retain the spelling rules and word patterns for future use in their writing. The nightly spelling sorts and activities will help your student to reach this goal.

Writing:

Throughout Writer's Express (WEX) time, our class continues to work hard learning about the important elements to include in a personal narrative. Together, our mini-lessons have been focusing on writing our paragraphs in a more logical and organized manner. In addition, we are continuing to make sure that our work focuses on a single moment in time. Our lessons have been stressing the importance of utilizing strong verbs, good sensory detail, and proper sentence mechanics in our writing.

During conference time, parents will be able to view all of our stories in our WEX binder. Parents will also get to read our first published personal narrative that are currently writing,  revising, conferencing, and editing over the next week in a program called Googledocs.  

Math:

Last week our class just finished up Unit 2 in math that involved adding and subtracting whole numbers. The students have been working hard learning about fact families, extensions of addition and subtraction facts, two and three digit addition and subtraction problems, "What's My Rule?" problems, parts-and-total number stories, and comparision number stories.   We just started Unit 3 last week that involves learning about both the U.S. Customary and metric forms of measurement.  

A BIG THANKS goes out to all of the parents that helped your child to start an Xtramath.org account.   Everyone did a great job with logging into the program and settling into the routine of practicing their math facts.   I appreciate all of the help and assistance with making sure your child completes at least three rounds of math practice a week.  

Social Studies:

Currently, the students have been put into research groups to work on our "Weekend in Chicago" podcasts.   Within their group, their job is to research and plan a weekend in the Windy City.    Through the research, the groups are taking notes on attractions and activities they want to visit,  restaurants they want to eat in, and finding a hotel they want to stay in. (Please click here to view the websites that the students are researching from.)  After they have researched and planned their weekend, their group will be creating a podcast to share with the rest of the class about their fun-filled weekend.   Once our podcasts are finished, we will post them on our webpage for all to view.   

A BIG THANK YOU goes to all of our parent classroom volunteers!

We would like to thank Mrs. Murray for sending out weekly email reminders to the volunteers for their upcoming duties. 

I would also like to thank Mrs. Barnett, Mrs. Ciccone, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Petrusonis, Mrs. Rogers, and Mrs. Silvestri for coming in this past month to make copies for our class.    

We were able to have our first Reader's Theater last week. This is where the students are put into a small group with a parent and are asked to read aloud from a short play script. We certainly appreciate Mr. Murray, Mrs. Osterlund, Mrs. Rogers, and Mrs. Hammond for coming in to assist and monitor each of our groups!  

Our class was also able to experience our first Art Appreciation this month.   We would like to thank Mrs. Petrusonis and Mrs. Saunders for conducting a wonderful art lesson with the artist Edward Munch.   

We also would personally like to thank Mrs. Silvestri and Mrs. Petrusonis for taking time out of our busy schedules to take inventory on our Science boxes that just arrived!

Art Appreciation

We would like to thank Mrs. Petrusonis and Mrs. Saunders for coming into our classroom to conduct a wonderful Art Appreciation lesson and learning about the artwork of the artist Edvard Munch.

October 21st-25th is Character Counts Week!

Monday, October 21st - Wear Blue for Trustworthiness!  

Tuesday, October 22nd - Wear Yellow for Respect! 

Wednesday, October 23rd - Wear Green for Responsibility! 

Thursday, October 24th - Wear Orange for Fairness!  

Friday, October 25th - Wear Red or Purple for Caring/Citizenship! 

Reader's Theater

We would like to thank Mr. Murray, Mrs. Osterlund, Mrs. Rogers, and Mrs. Hammond for coming into our classroom today to do Reader's Theater!

Halloween at Westgate

We are planning our annual Halloween extravaganza for the afternoon of Thursday, October 31st. Students will be in costume (in the afternoon) to celebrate the special day! Teachers and parents are planning a fun afternoon of games and activities! Although most children take part in the costume parade and parties, their participation is completely voluntary. As you are planning your child’s costume, please remember we are a kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary school. Students remaining in school during lunch should plan on costumes with limited make-up accessories. We are requesting your cooperation in selecting school-appropriate costumes that avoid violence, sharp objects, weapons, unnecessary gore, etc. At the discretion of the principal, students with inappropriate costumes will not be able to participate in the parade. If you are unsure of the appropriateness of your child’s costume, please contact the office.

The costume parade will start at 1:45 PM (please note lunch changes below for Halloween). Weather permitting; the parade will begin outside on the sidewalk. Students in grades 1st and 2nd will exit the building using the Primary Doors and line up on the sidewalk along Dwyer Street. Students in kindergarten and 3rd grade will exit the building using the Main Doors and line up on the sidewalk in front of school. Students in grade 4th through 5th will exit the Grove Street door and line up on the sidewalk along Grove Street west of Dwyer Street. The office team will lead the parade and students will parade in the following order: Kindergarten, 3rd , 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th grades. 

The parade will walk north on the west side of Dwyer Street to Sigwalt, and then return to Westgate walking south on the east side of Dwyer Street. Parents are welcome to line the parade route outside along Dwyer Street. (Students will exit the Primary Door, Main Door, and Grove Street Door. The entire school will meet on the southwest corner of Grove Street and Dwyer Street.) In the event of inclement weather, we will either reduce the length of the route or cancel the parade.

Traditionally, many students go home for lunch on Halloween to change into a costume. However, in recent years, more children remain at school for recess and lunch. To ensure all children will be able to go home and return for the Halloween parade at the same time, the lunch time for ALL grades will be from 12:30 -1:30PM as follows:

PRIMARY (1-2) Lunch 12:30-1:00/Recess 1:00-1:30PM
INTERMEDIATE (3-5) Recess 12:30-1:00/Lunch 1:00-1:30PM

If your child is in grades 1-5, then please complete the portion below and return to your child’s teacher by Wednesday, October 24th. 

Students leaving the school for lunch will use the following exits: Main Door (Door #1), Primary Door (Door #2), and 5th Grade Door (Door #16.) The Cab Doors (adjacent to the North Parking Lot, Door #13 ) will not be used for lunch dismissal. 

Remember: Students leaving for lunch should not return to school prior to 1:30PM. Returning students should line up at the Main Entrance (Door #1.) There will be no supervision prior to 1:25PM. Students may not enter the building until 1:30PM

Children who stay at school for lunch will have the opportunity to change into their costumes during the lunch hour. The second shift students will be getting into their costumes during the first shift and then vice-versa. There will be limited adult assistance for costume preparations and it is advisable to keep the costume simple. 

Marty McGuire Global Read Aloud

Last week the students started to learn what it truly means to be global.   To begin our discussion,  we read an online story called What Does It Mean To Be Global? by Rana DiOrio. Through reading the book we learned that being global is........

• .....being curious about other parts of the world.
• .....recognizing that your language is just one of thousands spoken on our Earth.
• .....listening to all different kinds of music.
• .....traveling to places near and far and appreciating how special they are.  
• .....trying all types of food.
• .....experiencing other traditions.  
• .....learning about other religions.
• .....respecting that others may have different values than you do.
• ....celebrating diversity in people.
• .....understanding how your actions affect another person's experience.
• .....living respectfully and peacefully with one another.
• .....opening your mind to new possibilities.
• .....being a citizen of the world.

Throughout the school year we will continue to integrate our curriculum with being global.  Our first step involves all of the third grade classes participating in the "Global Read Aloud Program" that runs from September 30--November 8th.   Together, all of us will be reading aloud a book called Marty McGuire to the students.   Each class then partners up with another third grade class across the nation that is also participating in the Global Read Aloud.  Together, the partnering classes plan various activities and literature discussions throughout the read aloud experience.

Our Global Read Aloud partner is a Miss Pantalena's Third Grade Class from Korn Elementary School in Durham, Connecticut.   (You can visit their webpage at: misspantalena.weebly.com. )  Last week our class was able to meet with them via Skype.   The students had the opportunity to ask questions about each other's classrooms and learn more about our cultures.   Over the next month, we will continue to read aloud Marty McGuire to each of our classes.  Our class will also hook up with Miss Pantalena's class via Edmodo to answer literature response questions.  

Please be sure to  have your student log into their Edmodo accounts at home to update you on our classroom experiences with our partnering class!   You can also learn more about Global Read Aloud through visiting this webpage:  http://www.globalreadaloud.com/p/faq.html

Chicago Wendella Boat Tour

We had such a wonderful time touring around the beautiful city of Chicago on our Wendella Boat Tour last Friday.   We would like to thank our chaperones Mrs. Rogers, Mrs. Silvestri, and Mrs. Riley for helping to make it such a successful trip!

Feel free to go to our classroom webpage to view pics from our trip:
http://hynekclass.weebly.com/wendella-boat-trip.html

Rolling Meadows Football and Cheerleading Team Visit Our Classroom!

Today the Rolling Meadows Football and Cheerleading Team visited Westgate!  We had a good time having them read us stories and answering questions.

Tonight is Westgate Night at the RMHS Football Game!   Game time starts at 7:00 pm.   They hope to see you all there!

September Classroom Snapshots

Here's a snapshot of classroom events:

Literacy:

Our class has really been taking off with our CAFE Literacy Program that focuses on important  reading strategies that we should  be implementing everyday in our reading.  Together, our class has been reading various stories where we analyze how to find the story structure of a book that involves discussing the genre, characters, plot, setting, problem, and solution of a book.  Additionally, through our discussions and independent reading assignments, the students have been working on the reading strategies of summarizing the important events in a story and attempting to find the main idea and details of a story.  Moreover, we have been talking about the importance of pausing in our reading every once and a while to check for understanding of what we have read and remembering to back up and reread a passage when we do not comprehend what it says.

Throughout the past two weeks.  I've also been individually assessing your child in the areas of fluency and comprehension.  We hope to have guided reading groups formed soon!  In the meantime, the students are utilizing this testing time working on various reading strategies and Weekly 5 routines. 

Through the reading benchmarking assessments, I will be able to place your child in a guided reading group and provide them with an appropriate novel that I feel matches their reading strengths and capabilities. Guided reading time involves assigning students chapters to read independently, having them answer comprehension questions about their book, and meeting with their group for a novel group discussion. Throughout the year, your child may be moved to a different guided reading group depending on their needs. If your child has a difficult time finishing their guided reading assignment during the schedule 60 minute guided reading period, they will be asked to finish it that night for homework.

Writing:

Our class is really starting to get used to the format and routines our new WEX Writing Program. Over the past couple of weeks we have been learning about the writing concept of focus. Throughout our lessons, the students have been learning that when we focus on one moment, setting, sound, or object in our writing, it results in more interesting words, unique perspectives, and surprising fun-to-read details.

Additionally, the students have also been working hard making sure that they are "showing details" in their writing. Showing is the skill of using precise observations, descriptive details, and expressive language to demonstrate emotion, create images, and present evidence within our writing. The students have been learning the difference between telling the reader what is happening in their writing versus "showing" the reader. For example, instead of telling the reader "I was cold", the students have learned that they can better show how the person is feeling by saying, "I was shivering outside on my front porch as I zipped up my coat". Thus, we are learning how to write details in our work that are more precise and authentic to the reader.

Spelling:

A big thanks goes out to all of the parents that are working with their student on spelling each evening this week with our "Words Their Way" Program!   Please continue to make sure that they are sorting their words correctly into their various spelling categories. The goal of our spelling program is for the students to learn and retain the spelling rules and word patterns for future use in their writing and not to just memorize the words for the test and forget them by the next week.   The nightly spelling sorts and activities will help your student to reach this goal.

Grammar:

Over the past several weeks, the students have been working on determining if a sentence is considered complete and when they should use a period or an exclamation mark in their sentences. We also have been discussing how in order for a sentence to be considered a complete sentence, it must always contain a subject. Throughout literacy time, the students had fun practicing these skills with the following web pages. Feel free to on these links to view and play the web site games at home: Sentence Clubhouse, Penguins on Ice, What's the Subject?, and Rags to Riches.

Math:

The students just finished up with Unit 1 that reviewed some of the concepts that they learned already in 2nd grade. Our lessons  involved analyzing data and plotting it into various kinds of graphs, finding equivalent names for a given number, discussing the concept of chance, learning how to utilize our new calculators, and counting money. 

Our Unit 1 Test went home today.   Please have your students make any corrections to the test, sign the cover sheet, and return the test back to school on Wednesday.   (Even if your child didn't have any corrections to make, please still sign and return the test.)

Social Studies:

The class has been having a fun time learning all about Chicago.   Together, we have been discussing about the meaning of the parts of the Chicago flag and learned about the first settlers that moved into the Chicago area.   In addition, the students have been divided into research groups to learn more about events that happened in Chicago's history involving Fort Dearborn, the Chicago River, the Chicago Fire, the Century of Progress, and the Chicago World's Fair.   Throughout research time, the students log into an Edmodo account.    Once on the page, an assignment is posted for them to complete with their group to learn more about a topic.   (Usually the assignments involve reading a webpage, watching a short movie, or watching a slideshow about the subject they are researching that day).   Afterwards, the student groups post a few sentences in Edmodo about what they have read. Together as a whole group, we discuss our findings.     Feel free to view their postings by going to:   www.Edmodo.com.    Once on the site, your child can log into their account to show you their postings!  

We're excited to go on our Wendella Boat ride field trip that has been rescheduled for next Friday, October 4th.   More information about the trip will be sent home to you that week.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Picture Day on Tuesday!

As a reminder, our school pictures will be taken on Tuesday morning. Our class will be taking them at 9:10 am, so please be sure that your student arrives at school on time.   Please also make sure that your child's order form is brought into me by Tuesday morning before pictures are taken.  

Students are not obligated to purchase a picture package, however every student will take a picture so that they can be in the yearbook.   

Religious Holiday Exemption

I would like to try and respect any religious holidays that your family may practice. If your child participates in the religious holiday of Rosh Hashanah this week, they are excused from having to complete any type of homework assignments that evening.

This same rule goes into effect for any other type of religious holidays that are practiced throughout the year. Sometimes I may not be aware of all of the religious holidays that are practiced by individual students in our classroom, so please let me know in an email or note if your student needs to be excused from an assignment.

Please also let me know if your religion may require your student to fast that day. Together, we can certainly come up with an alternative supervised location for them to spend their lunch period so that they do not have to feel uncomfortable of being around other children that are eating.

I appreciate your help with this!

There is No "I" in Team!

Wow! It was so great to be able to meet many of you last week at Curriculum Night. If for some reason you were not able to attend our classroom session, do not worry. Last week, I sent home our packet of information home with your child. Feel free to contact me with any questions that you may have.

My objective for this school year is to help your student have a positive and successful 3rd grade year.   In order to make this happen, it is vital for students, parents, teachers, and administrators to work together as a TEAM.   Without a doubt, as parents, you are your child's most important teacher.   As a result, your input and support is so appreciated throughout the year.  

Having good and effective parent/ teacher communication is extremely important for getting to know your child and to having a successful school year. The best way to get a hold of me is through email (Dhynek@sd25.org). I try very hard to read my e-mail at least once in the morning and once after school.

Because my number one priority during the school day is working with your child, please understand that I cannot always answer your e-mail during school hours. If you have a message that needs to get to your child before the end of the school day, be sure to direct those requests to the office first (ex.: Johnny needs to go home with Mr. Jones today; Ellie's gym shoes are in the office, etc.). The office staff will then happily direct your message to me before the end of the day.

If ever you would like me to contact you over the phone, please send me an e-mail of the various times that I can get a hold of you both before and after school. I will try my best to be able to call you within 24 hours during school week hours.

Although it's sometimes easy to do, I would greatly appreciate it if parents do not make unexpected "drop-ins" to our classroom during school hours. This rule needs to also be respected before and after school. Many times when parents do this, I may be in the middle of preparing and setting up the classroom for the school day, in the middle of a lesson with students, or on my way to a meeting or school duty. In addition, it it important to me to respect the privacy of your child. As a result, I do not feel comfortable discussing any concerns you may have about them in front of their classmates. If you have a major concern about your child, I am always more willing to schedule a before or after school appointment with you. Please feel free to contact me through e-mail to make an appointment.

I appreciate your help with open communication about your student. Here's to a great 3rd grade year!

Parent Night is Thursday, August 29th!

I hope that your child had a terrific first week in third grade! As a reminder, Westgate's Parent Night will be next Thursday, August 29th. During this time, I will be discussing our classroom's curriculum, daily routines, yearly events, and answer any questions you may have.

Listed below is the evening's agenda. I look forward to seeing you on Thursday!

5:45PM

Doors Open

6:00-6:30PM

Odyssey Program Meeting in the LMC

Meet the PE, Art, Music, Resource Teachers & LMC Teachers

6:30-7:15PM

Grades 3, 4, 4/5, 5 and PM Kindergarten

7:15-7:45PM

Principal Welcome and Introductions

7:45-8:30PM

Grades 1, 1/2 , 2, and AM Kindergarten