Dear Parents, Miss Ketschke

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Duane Sparks
5 years ago
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1 Dear Parents, My name is Miss Ketschke (Ketch-key), and I wanted to take a few moments to introduce myself to you as the new third grade teacher. I have just completed my undergraduate education from Franciscan University of Steubenville with a degree in both early childhood and special education. I am joining the Saint Francis family through the PACT (Providence Alliance of Catholic Teachers) program as part of Providence College where I will be studying to obtain a Master s degree in Educational Administration. Prior to my joining the PACT program I have served as a long term Kindergarten substitute teacher in Westport public schools, I have taught third grade English in Austria for a semester, and I have completed student teaching both in a first grade classroom and in a special education inclusion room with grades K-6. In addition, I have been a substitute teacher in both Catholic and public schools for over 2 years. I am blessed to be joining you at Saint Francis. I have had the joy of being on the staff of Summer Fun at SFX these past two summers, and through this opportunity I have grown to know some of your children and the larger SFX community. I am excited to join this school which commits itself to faith and academics, but I am even more eager to jump into third grade and to have the privilege of working with your children all year long. I am a huge believer in parent-teacher communication, so please feel free to me at hketschke@sfxacushnet.com if there is ever anything you need. I am anxiously awaiting the first day of school to begin this journey together. I did want to take a few moments to explain my expectations for summer work. I fully support doing academic work over the summer as it really helps avoid the summer-slump ; however, I understand that summer is meant to be a time of relaxation and fun. With an attitude of balance, I have assigned three summer assignments. 1) Read Third Grade Angels by Jerry Spinelli. Have your child complete the book report form. 2) Complete the booklet Summer Math Skills Sharpener. Please complete lessons 1-35 and the Math Fact Sharpener pages. There are manipulatives in the back of the book if your child needs them. Please do NOT let children use a calculator, and please have them SHOW THEIR WORK. 3) Keep a prayer journal and use the 4 given prompts to write in the journal. Prompts can be found on the letter to the students. All of these assignments were chosen intentionally. In third grade the focus of reading switches from learning to read to reading to learn. It is important that we work to make sure we are ready to make that jump together. In addition, math in third grade focuses heavily on multiplication and division. We need to make sure that we keep up our 2 nd grade foundation so we are ready to build higher skills. Lastly, in correspondence with the change in reading, writing is a huge standard in third grade. We will be writing a lot in the next year to come. Having them start a prayer journal will get them writing, and hopefully strengthen their friendship and love of God. This is something we will continue to do weekly as a class. As requested on the supply list, please make sure your child has a journal that can be used specifically as his/her prayer journal. Again, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Know that I am praying for you all during the summer. I wish you a blessed and fun few months and I look forward to seeing you on the first day! Miss Ketschke

2 Dear Third Graders! I want to wish you a happy summer vacation! I am already counting down the days until we begin our journey together in third grade! An important part of getting ready for the school year is doing our summer packets. Here is what I would like you to do before coming to school on the first day next year Reading: Read the book Third Grade Angels by Jerry Spinelli. Complete the book report form. Math: Complete the booklet Summer Math Skills Sharpener. Please complete lessons 1-35 and the Math Fact Sharpener pages. Remember to use your hundred chart and manipulatives (counting sticks) if you need. Please do NOT use a calculator- it is important that you practice these lessons for third grade. Writing/Religion: In third grade, we will be doing a lot of writing! So we are going to begin practicing now to get us ready. This summer I would like you to get a journal that you can use as a prayer journal. Just like we talked about on jump up day, our prayer journals are places that we can talk to God through our writing. Over the summer, I want you to use your prayer journal at least 4 times. I love writing in my prayer journal in Adoration, or in a quite spot where I can really talk to Jesus. Here is what I want you to talk about with Him: 1) Journal and talk to Him about whatever you would like to talk to Him about if you went for a walk, just YOU and JESUS, on the beach? What would you say to Jesus? What would you ask Him? 2) Journal and tell Jesus what you are thinking about being in third grade. Are you nervous, excited, happy? Tell Him all about it! 3) Journal and talk to Jesus about something that you need help doing. Maybe you need help being a better friend, paying attention better in Mass, or to stop fighting with your brothers or sisters and to be more loving. Whatever it is that you need help with- tell Jesus about it. 4) Tell Jesus everything you are thankful for! Are you thankful for the gift of His love? Are you thankful for going to SFX, your family, your friends. I am sure if you really take the time to talk to Jesus about all that you are thankful for you will realize just how blessed you are! Talk to Him about it! Each time you journal for the prompts I have given you please write (at least) 2 paragraphs with 5 sentences each. That means you should have 10 sentences. Please feel free to talk to Jesus anytime or as much as you want in your prayer journal. We will keep using these journals throughout the school year together. Boys and girls, I hope you know how much Jesus loves you this summer and every day. Know that I am praying for you please pray for me too! I can t wait to see you all on the first day. Stay close to Jesus heart! Miss Ketschke

3 Third Grade Summer Assignments Reading: Read the book Third Grade Angels by Jerry Spinelli. Complete the book report form. Please see attached form. Math: Complete the booklet Summer Math Skills Sharpener. Please complete lessons 1-35 and the Math Fact Sharpener pages. Remember to use your hundred chart and manipulatives (counting sticks) if you need. Please do NOT use a calculator- it is important that you practice these lessons for third grade. Writing/Religion: In third grade, we will be doing a lot of writing! So we are going to begin practicing now to get us ready. This summer I would like you to get a journal that you can use as a prayer journal. Just like we talked about on jump up day, our prayer journals are places that we can talk to God through our writing. Over the summer, I want you to use your prayer journal at least 4 times. I love writing in my prayer journal in Adoration, or in a quite spot where I can really talk to Jesus. Here is what I want you to talk about with Him: 1) Journal and talk to Him about whatever you would like to talk to Him about if you went for a walk, just YOU and JESUS, on the beach? What would you say to Jesus? What would you ask Him? 2) Journal and tell Jesus what you are thinking about being in third grade. Are you nervous, excited, happy? Tell Him all about it! 3) Journal and talk to Jesus about something that you need help doing. Maybe you need help being a better friend, paying attention better in Mass, or to stop fighting with your brothers or sisters and to be more loving. Whatever it is that you need help with- tell Jesus about it. 4) Tell Jesus everything you are thankful for! Are you thankful for the gift of His love? Are you thankful for going to SFX, your family, your friends. I am sure if you really take the time to talk to Jesus about all that you are thankful for you will realize just how blessed you are! Talk to Him about it! Each time you journal for the prompts I have given you please write (at least) 2 paragraphs with 5 sentences each. That means you should have 10 sentences. Please feel free to talk to Jesus anytime or as much as you want in your prayer journal.

4 Thank you for downloading the Book Report Form from My Joy-Filled Life. These printables are provided for your personal use, FREE of charge. Please be honest when using and sharing these files and abide by the terms of use. Please DO: Download the printables/files to your computer and print them for your personal use. You are more than welcome to use these in a group setting. Link directly to my blog when sharing about the printables. Give proper credit to My Joy-Filled Life when blogging about the printables. Please DO NOT: Link directly to the PDF file; link to the blog post instead. Alter the files in any way. Sell or distribute the printables/files in any way. Host this file on your own website or upload it to a shared website. All the printables/files are the property of My Joy-Filled Life {Sarah Avila}. Thank You! 2013 My Joy-Filled Life (Sarah Avila)

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6 Who is the narrator? What questions would you ask your favorite character: Explain what part of the book was your favorite, and why. What changes would you make to the book? Rate this book; how many s? My Joy-Filled Life (Sarah Avila)

We hope this helps you in your ministry, while also saving you some time as well. I wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying having

We hope this helps you in your ministry, while also saving you some time as well. I wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying having 20 PARENT ENCOURAGEMENT NOTE TEMPLATES Explanation and Instructions May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that