Parent-Teacher Conferences Sign Up Clarification

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry if my double communication was confusing. If you sent back the paper sign-up for conferences, that is all you need to do. I have highlighted the time I'm planning on seeing you and have written "see you then" in the yellow highlight.
If you would prefer to sign up online, follow the link in my last blog post. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to get in touch with me. Thanks,

Beth

Electronic Sign Up for Parent-Teacher Conferences

Dear Parents and Guardians,

You are now invited to sign up for your child’s conference.  Use the following information, to go onto a secure website to schedule your conference.  Please reserve the night times for families who are unable to attend during the afternoon.

Please remember when choosing a time online that the conferences are for 40 min from the start time listed. The site doesn’t allow me to book conferences on a staggered start. If you choose 1:30-1:50 please know that you will actually be conferencing from 1:30-2:10 as listed on the form sent home on Friday.

To pick a time slot:

1.     Click the link below or enter the URL into your browser: http://www.ptcfast.com/schools/Windham_Primary_School_1
(please note the “underscores _” in the address)

2.    Select a teacher from the list.

3.    A window will popup asking for some information: the child’s last name, first name, parent name, and the email you want all correspondence to go to.

4.    Submitting this information will generate a confirmation notice sent to the parent’s email (Please check spam, junk folders, it might end up there).

5.    In the first confirmation email will be an individualized code number and a new web address

6.    Going to the new web address it will ask for the individualized code number (this is a different code from last year).

7.    Once you fill in the code number it’s then the time schedule will appear so the parent can select the open slot they desire.

8.    After hitting the done button on the bottom of the page a second confirmation email is sent.  Confirming the date and time of the conference.

This is first come first serve, so please be timely so that you can get a conference time that works best for you.

I look forward to seeing you!

Beth Earle

Growth Mindset

I will be at a conference on Friday (tomorrow). The class had a discussion today about how they could have a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset when tackling a day with a sub. They all spent about 10 minutes reflecting today and wrote out some ways they can adopt a growth mindset to help them have a successful day. I was impressed with what they came up with. Feel free to talk to your student tonight about how they plan to tackle the day tomorrow.

Info coming next week about conferences. This has been a very hectic week and I haven't had time to communicate much. Sorry. I promise to get you information shortly. Thanks for your patience.

Beth

School Pictures, Windham Trip, Adjective Day and other class info.

Coming home tonight are school pictures and a flier about Adjective Day.

Students who purchased photos should have packages coming home tonight. If you know you ordered and didn't get one, please email me or call the school to let us know. Sometimes Lifetouch accidentally sends them to other classes. I can put out a call to other teachers if this is the case.

Adjective Day will be on Oct. 31. It is NOT a Halloween costume day. I am challenging kids to use things they already have at home and to not bug parents to buy things.  A lot of kids were interested in "athletic" as their adjective. When you are brainstorming, please try and come up with something unique so our day isn't just a sea of sports jerseys. We will do some brainstorming on Thursday or Friday as well. Hopefully we can have a large assortment of adjectives. We may even join other third grade classes for an adjective parade!

Reminder to get your permission slips and money in for the Windham Field Trip. We are going next Monday, October 28th and slips need to be here before students can go on the trips. I will send a second one home tomorrow for anyone who might need an extra. Money can come later if necessary, but the kids can't go unless we have signed permission.

We are finally getting into the swing of our normal schedule and the class is settling in really well. I'm so proud of the work they've done this year! Reading Workshop is taking shape nicely. Please ask them about the Options Board and some of the activities they are doing during this time. We have also started WIN time and are working on reading fluency. Also, our Math Switch time is beginning and students have been broken into groups to work on things they need extra help in as well. It's a busy time of year in third grade!

As always, thanks for your support!

Beth

Congratulations! NECAP Testing is Over!!

Hi Families,

Please congratulate your third grader tonight for the job well done on the NECAP testing. I saw some amazingly hard workers over the past 6 testing days! You should be very proud! On top of sitting and testing for so long, they did a beautiful job of rolling with a completely upside down schedule of specials and classes.
In the middle of it all we did some great work learning about different types of wetlands and wetland creatures and vegetation. We will continue this work next week leading up to our field trip on the 17th. Please be sure to dress your child in weather appropriate clothing. Just a reminder that we will be back for lunchtime that day. Pack a light snack that we can eat in the park.
We also worked a lot with different types of nouns this week. Some students are still struggling with the differences in proper nouns and common nouns. We will continue this work, but any extra conversation you can have around the topic would be welcomed.

Please remember that Monday is Columbus Day and we will have no school.

Coming home in backpacks is:

• a gift from Lieutenant Rogers from the Windham Fire Dept
• a St. Joe's basketball clinic sign up
• Windham PTA fundraiser form

Have a wonderful and safe long weekend!

Beth Earle

SMENCIL SALES

Go Green for Technology ~ Dollars for Tech Scholars 
 On sale at WPS this Friday and then the 1st Friday of each month for the remainder of the year from 8:00-8:20am - Gourmet Scented Smencils

Help WPS and the environment at the same time!
Smencils are made by rolling sheets of newspaper tightly around #2 graphite writing cores until pencils of typical thickness are formed. Then they're hardened and soaked with gourmet liquid scents. Once they're dry, erasers are attached and the stickers that identify which scent was infused into each Smencil are applied around them. Lastly, each Original Smencil is placed into its own corn-based biodegradable Freshness Tube

Recycling Facts: An average sized cedar tree will make about 172,000 wood pencils. 172,000 Smencils can be made from 430 newspapers.
All Smencil are $1 and sales go towards purchasing technology, like SMARTboards for Windham Primary Students!
If your child would like to PRE-ORDER please send money to Mrs. Earle during the week leading up to the 1st Friday each month and I will pick them up before school that Friday morning. This is helpful to students who are on later buses and can't wait in line.

In Today's Backpacks. . .Field Trip notice

Hi Everyone,

Coming home to everyone today:

Field trip permission slip for a trip to Maine Wildlife Park. We'll be studying wetlands this year and will take a trip to learn more about what a freshwater wetland is like. The tour we will take is called Wetland Metaphors and is on Oct. 17th. Please get permission slips back quickly. We will also be taking our annual Tour of Windham on Oct. 28th--slip coming soon. If you can't chaperone for one, maybe you can for the other. In the spring we'll take our trip to Scarborough Marsh and Pine Point beach--date will be planned later in the year. I can generally take 4 parents per trip, but the last trip is open to all parents.

There is a blue 1/2 sheet outlining how we will be meeting academic needs for all students this year. Let me know if you have any questions about it.

Everyone will also get a packet for the school's flu clinic that will occur on October 18th. Please send back if you wish for your child to get their flu shot here at WPS.

The SchoolStore.com fundraiser is back. See the info envelope for more participation information. I have received a few hundred dollars in gift certificates in the last few years through student participation in this fundraiser. I always use the certificates to update my magazine subscriptions. I currently have Ranger Rick, Cobblestone, Discovery Kids, Highlights and Sports Illustrated kids on the shelf. The kids really love reading them when they come in in the morning.

NECAP testing New England Common Assessment Program) is also starting next week. I'll send a copy of a letter that all third grade teachers helped draft. Let me know if you have any questions. Students will be allowed to chew gum during this testing. I have a decent amount of gum on hand, but am running a bit low on mint flavors and bubblegum flavor. Feel free to donate if you can.

Chorus is starting soon. You will see a flier from Mrs. Cash-Cobb explaining what it's all about.

The last thing coming to everyone is my classroom directory. The information on this sheet was what you all wrote down on the beginning of year class directory form.

Those asking for paper copies of everything will also receive the October lunch menu. You can access it electronically through our website.

Have a great weekend! Many kids have thoughts of the Cumberland Fair this week! I've enjoyed hearing their stories.

As always, thanks for all of your support!
Beth Earle