December Community Service: Blankets!
December 4, 2008 by James Hendricks
[Also posted online at www.teamhendricks.com]
Dear Families,
Community service is an important part of a theme we are exploring during the month of December. This month, we will complete a short community service project that will allow our class to create fleece blankets that will be donated to families in the Mansfield.
I will be purchasing fleece material to make these blankets. If you can spare a few dollars to help with this project, it would be extremely appreciated! Depending on the funding, we will make as many blankets as we can. Donation of money to the project is completely optional and all students will be able to participate in this project.
This is a great project that will allow your child to “give back” to our local community.
Best wishes,
Jamie Hendricks
First Week of November 2008
November 2, 2008 by James Hendricks
[This article is available at http://www.teamhendricks.com]
Welcome to November! Team Hendricks has been extremely busy over the past several weeks preparing for the Vote Southeast mock election. We researched candidates, set up our ballot, were poll workers, and analyzed results. Mrs. Brenda Sullivan from Mansfield Today came to interview students about Vote Southeast; links to her article are available at www.teamhendricks.com. Your child was extremely excited about our democracy in action. I hope that it continues throughout his or her life. If you have a chance to take your child to the polls tomorrow, please consider it. It is a great way to instill the “right to vote.”
In reading, we have started our second theme Celebrating Traditions. Students have read two stories: The Keeping Quilt and Anthony Reynoso: Born to Rope. Both of the stories provide insight into different cultures and how those families celebrate their heritage and traditions. We continue to read chapter books during reader’s workshop.
In writing, students are working on developing their own stories during writer’s workshop. Students create first drafts, revise using writing hint cards, conference with peers, and then with adults to create a finalized piece. The entire process takes awhile to complete, but as students finish they will have their own little book that has been word processed and illustrated. We are just starting to computerize some stories. Several students are working on wireless laptops in the classroom.
We continue to work in the new mathematics program. Over the past several weeks, students have been working with numbers in base five. Even though this seems like a high-level concept, students are able to “forget” misconceptions about our regular base ten number system and gain a deeper understanding of how number systems work. A green letter came home early last month about flexible groupings. Some students are working with our third grade mathematics interns and Mrs. Susan Irvine, our enrichment teacher. Other students remain in the classroom.
It really is hard to believe that we are coming up to the end of the first marking period. On October 31, 2008, I sent home a letter about scheduling parent conferences. Due to a scheduling conflict beyond my control, some conference will need to be scheduled outside of the normal school conference times. If you can use one of those other time blocks, it would be be greatly appreciated!
Informational articles, like this one, are placed online periodically. Please visit www.teamhendricks.com for more information. As always, please feel free to email or call me if you have any concerns or questions.
Have a great week! Jamie Hendricks
Vote Southeast Article and Team Hendricks Stars
October 31, 2008 by James Hendricks
Here is the link to Brenda Sullivan’s article about Vote Southeast. I am very proud of the Team Hendricks class for doing such a great job!
Classroom Update – September 15th
September 14, 2008 by James Hendricks
It really is hard to believe that we are in the fourth week of school already. We are already into the thick of many things!
Reading – We have finished reading two selections in our anthology: The Lost and Found and The Ballad of Mulan. Both of these selections have centered on the theme of adventure stories. We have worked on summarization and inferences in our reading focus. In addition, students have been working on making personal connections to our stories. In addition to our anthology, students began chapter book reading groups this week. These chapter books are geared toward your child’s reading ability and allow students to take the skills we have learned in anthology lessons and apply them to their chapter books. We will start this week off with another selection called The Waterfall by Jonathan London. Family newsletters have been posted by clicking on Reading above or by visiting http://www.teamhendricks.com/reading.
Spelling – We have just completed an assessment of the second grade muscle words. Students will receive a copy of their test this week and they will be required to write the words 10 times to practice them. In Cast-A-Spell, students are working on the vowel-consonant-e pattern. Some examples include close, late and fuse.
Math – In our first unit of Bridges in Mathematics, we are looking at addition strategies for mental math and patterns. Last week, students worked on repeating and growing patterns, an analysis of addition fact strategies, and working with calculators! Students will receive their first Math Home Connection Activity Pack on Monday. This pack reinforces the activities that we are completing in school. I urge you to spend time working with your child so that they can practice the math concepts we are working on.
Beginning-of-the-Year Assessments – During the month of September, third grade students take several different assessments to assist students with the development of classroom instruction. As was previously stated, students have taken a traditional spelling test of the 100 second grade muscle words. Last week, students took something called the DRP test. DRP stands for Degrees of Reading Power and this test gives teachers a look at how well students read with difficult vocabulary. The DRP has passages on a topic and students fill-in missing words from a multiple choice selection. This week, students will take a comprehension test which includes multiple choice and open-ended questions on two passages that they will read. In addition, students will complete a writing prompt where they write on a specific topic and it will be scored by third grade teachers across the district. All of these assessments give me a good idea of how your child learns in the area of langauge arts.
Constitution Day – Saturday, September 20th is Constitution Day. We will participate in some activities to learn about the United States Constitution.
That should be it for now! I hope that you have a great week! Jamie Hendricks
Reading Theme 1: Off to Adventure
September 1, 2008 by James Hendricks
Information about our first reading theme has been posted in addition to the first selection The Lost and Found. For more information, please visit http://teamhendricks.com/reading/.
Week #1 – Done!
August 29, 2008 by James Hendricks
It has been a great first week of school. I have enjoyed meeting and learning about your children. They all have stepped up to new expectations, which can be tough for new third graders to do!
Weekly Friday notices include:
- Mileage Club
- 22nd Know Your Towns Fair 2008
- Mansfield Parks and Rec Youth Basketball
- 2 Southeast School Library Notices
I hope that your child has found that third grade is a really great place to learn! Enjoy the three day weekend.
Welcome to 2008-2009!
August 3, 2008 by James Hendricks
I would like to welcome you to the 2008-2009 school year in the Team Hendricks classroom. It should be an exciting year! There many things on tap for the school year. With the transition from the lower elementary wing to the upper elementary wing comes new things for your child. We expect students to be more independent with their learning and day-to-day school responsibilities. It is my intention to keep this web site updated on a semi-regular basis so that you can see some of the things we are working on in the classroom. In addition, homework will be posted on a regular schedule so that you can review the things that should be worked on at home.
If you have any questions, I urge you to contact me at school. Email is the best way to get in touch, but I can get back to you by telephone as well. All of that information is available by clicking on the “About” link at the top of the page.
I enjoyed meeting your child on the last day of school and look forward to learning with them this coming school year! See you on August 27th at 8:55 AM!
Jamie Hendricks
Mansfield Public Schools – Emergency Closing – June 9, 2008
June 9, 2008 by James Hendricks
The Mansfield Public Schools are closing early due to the excessive heat and heat index. Southeast Elementary School will dismiss students at 12:45 PM. This will not add another day to our school calendar. There is a good possibility that we will close early tomorrow. Please check local media outlets for updated information.
Lots of Things On Tap This Week!
May 25, 2008 by James Hendricks
As we wind down the school year, the number of end of the year activities begin to increase. We have a lot of things planned this week. The biggest event is our yearly field trip to Mystic Seaport. Students really like this trip (after we convince them that they aren’t going to see fish in the aquarium!). The trip will take place this coming Thursday, May 29. I would like to thank Mrs. Hartman, Mrs. Thompson, and Mrs. Tripoli for taking time out of their busy schedules to help us chaperone the field trip.
In addition to our field trip, the third installment of our enrichment clusters is on Friday. Students have been having a lot of fun learning in activities that they chose. After last Friday, I know that they are really interested in their workshops because they come back “buzzing” with excitement.
Next week’s activities will bring Mrs. Harrington back to third grade for a third science mini-workshop, the Scholastic Book Fair, and the PTO Ice Cream Social. Enjoy your week!
Bowling Done, Mystic Chaperones Selected, Clusters Start!
May 13, 2008 by James Hendricks
We had a great time bowling at Lucky Strikes Lane on Friday afternoon. It really was a blast when “Rock and Bowl” started. The music came on, the lights went out, and the kids’ energy exploded. It was spectacular to see our class work with students from Vinton and Goodwin in a cooperative math and physical education activity. Good job, Team Hendricks!
Chaperones have been selected for the Mystic Seaport trip. Notification has been sent to all parents who offered to come. To those who will be attending the trip with us, please send in your slip and $15.00 as soon as you can. This will allow us to get the deposit to Mystic as soon as possible.
Enrichment clusters start this week. The selection process was different from past years. Mrs. Irvine came around to each class and presented a PowerPoint presentation and students selected clusters in-class. This was a new selection method and it seems to have worked well. If you are a parent who is presenting a cluster, it is extremely appreciated. Students will find out their clusters soon.
I was out on sick Monday and it looks as if the “stomach bug” is starting to hit the room. Several of our team members are out today. Please keep a close eye on your child’s health over the next couple of days. This stomach bug has gotten to many of our students!
Have a wonderful week.
