Wax Museum, Friday, March 4

Dear Families,

We finished up our Kate Messner projects and letters to her on Friday.  We are now moving into our biography work.  Each third grader has chosen a famous African American to focus on.  Students will be reading a book on their chosen person, writing a report and preparing for a presentation.  On Friday, March 4, you are invited to join us for the 3-5th Grade Wax Museum.  This is what we are asking students to do in preparation for the Wax Museum Project.

It would be appreciated if you could help your student print off 3-5 pictures from the internet related to their biography subject this week.  This will help your child get started on his/her backdrop.

On Tuesday, we will be attending a performance about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at Middlebury College.  If you have not sent in your child's permission form, please send it as soon as possible.

Wax Museum Project

                        The Wax Museum is scheduled to take place on

Friday, March 4, 2016 at 1:00 in the gym at school. 

Families are invited!

 Here’s what you will be expected to have:

·      Research Report (done mostly at school) Due: 3/1/2016

·      Backdrop (will make in class) Due: 3/3/2016

·      Costume to dress up as your person (gathered at home) Due: 3/3/2016

·      Short 4– 6 sentence memorized speech which explains who you are and why you are important (written at school/memorized at home) Due: 3/4/2016

The Research:

You will be able to do some of your research at school but you will also be asked to do more at home.  You will be asked to print off 3-5 pictures from the Internet that relate to your subject. These will be used on your backdrop.  You will also be asked to practice your speech at home so that you a prepared for the museum on Friday, March 4^th. 

The Costume: 

You will need to wear clothing that your subject would have worn.  You can bring in props related to your character as well.  All props need to be appropriate for school!  The costume can be simple and shouldn’t cost your family anything!  Be sure to let your teachers know if you are hoping for something in particular because we may be able to help you.

We will be finishing up Unit 4 in math this week and having a final test at the end of the week.  Here is information about our next math unit.

Math Unit 5

We will be celebrating Valentine's Day on Wednesday, February 10.  Your child is invited to bring in Valentine's Day Cards for his/her classmates.  If your child decides to participate in the card exchange, I ask that he/she brings a card for everyone in the class.  A list of names will go home with your child on Monday.

Mrs. Morrissey and I moved our Valentine Celebrations to Wednesday, because she and I will be traveling to Portland, Oregon to attend a Bridges Math Leadership Conference as part of our ACSU Math Leadership.  We thought it would be easier for everyone, to do our party before we leave.

Since there is often a lot of sweets in the cards that are exchanged,  I would like to serve a healthy snack of tortilla chips, salsa and fruit for our celebration.  If you would like to contribute an item for our snack please email me or send a note to school.

On Thursday, February 4, Kathy Clarke (Addison's Grandmother) will be joining Mrs. Jenkins to teach students about clay sculpting.  Students are encourage to wear old clothes to art class for their clay work.

I have received a few items for the Grade 3, Ice Cream Sundae basket.  We would appreciate any contributions you can make by Friday.  The school is hoping to be able to display the baskets at the Fishing Derby this weekend.

Don't forget that the Salisbury School News Letter and lunch menu is posted on the Salisbury Website.  To find these items, please follow the link below.  You need to scroll down and find "quick links" at the bottom left of the page.

Salisbury School Information

Field Trip on Tuesday, February 2nd

Dear Families,

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  On Friday, your child should have brought home a permission form for a field trip to the Middlebury College Center for the Performing Arts.  The third and fourth graders will be attending a performance on, The Life of Dr. King.  Please have your child return his/her permission form no later than Friday, January 29.

Last week, we had a wonderful visit with the author Kate Messner. It was really exciting to hear how she got her ideas for her books and the number of times she had to revise her stories before having them published.  She was very impressed with the number of her books that our class had read.

Kate Messner talking to Grades 3/4

Students enjoying the presentation!

Third graders need to complete their chosen Kate Messner book by this Wednesday.  The completed Kate Messner book project form is due at school by Friday, January 29.   We will be using these forms to write letters to Kate in class.  Students who have completed their Kate Messner books will have the opportunity to choose their February book project book from a selection of biographies of famous African Americans.

A few of the biography choices.

In addition to the regular homework this week, students are being asked to complete a telling time packet that they started in class.  The packets are due back at school on Friday.

Once again, each class will be participating in designing a basket for the annual basket raffle that supports the 5/6 grade fundraising for Keewaydin and Boston.  The third grade theme is "Ice Cream Sundae Basket"  Ideas for the basket include ice cream sauces, cherries, toppings, cones, dishes, ice cream scoop and any other ideas you and your child may come up with.  Your child may bring in basket contributions at any time!

Ice Cream basket ideas!

Progress reports will be sent home this Friday.  Please look for them in your child's backpack.  As always, call or email with any questions or concerns you may have.

Here is a link to Salisbury page on the ACSU web page.  If you scroll down to the bottom left of the page, you will find the school newsletter and the lunch menu under "Quick Links".
Link to school newsletter and lunch menu!

*We need empty cereal boxes to make Valentine Boxes.  Please send any boxes you might have to school with your student as soon as possible.

Math Fun!

Dear Families,

We have had a great week in third grade.  We are currently working on finding the mass of objects using balance scales and finding the liquid volume of a variety of containers.  We managed to estimate and find actual measurements of a variety of containers without getting too wet!

Third graders have been doing an excellent job remember to bring their Kate Messner books to and from school!  We are working hard to finish our books by her visit on January 20th!  Students have been invited to fill out an application to have lunch with Kate Messner on the 20th.  I have received application from several third graders.


Everyone has a lot to pack up at the end of the day now that it is boot, snow pants, hats and mitten time.  Often, third grades do not want to put on all of their gear at the end of the day.  Luke has an excellent idea for transporting his gear to and from school.  I encourage everyone to pack a reusable bag, since it is hard to fit all of the winter items into the backpacks!

A reusable bag makes hauling winter items easy!

Book orders were sent home today.  If you child wishes to order, please return his/her order to school by Friday, January 15.  Please do not send cash.  You may pay for the entire order with one check made out to Scholastic Reading Club.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Kate Messner is Visiting Salisbury School

We had a great first day back after vacation.  Everyone seemed to have a restful, fun vacation and be ready to be back in school.  In Literacy, we started to prepare for the January 20th visit by the Vermont author, Kate Messner.  Prior to vacation, each student chose a a Kate Messner book to read for their January book project.  Students are going to try to complete as much of their book as possible prior to her arrival.  As a follow up to reading the book, we will be writing letters to the author in class.  Below is a link to Kate Messner's web site.  You can read more about her and see some of the books that she has written.  In addition to third graders reading their chosen Kate Messner book, we are reading aloud her book, All The Answers.

                                                    Kate Messner's Web Site
                                                                 Kate Messner

*Please help your student remember to bring his/her Kate Messner book to school each day, so that we can try to finish the books before the 20th!


Today, we stared our biography unit. The essential question for the third grade unit is how does perseverance help a person overcome obstacles and contribute to the world?  As part of this unit, we will be using children's biographies to study slavery and the Civil Rights Movement.  As we read, we will be thinking deeply and discussing how these famous people used perseverance and courage to over come obstacles.  Tomorrow, we will be reading a nonfiction book called The Amistad, The Story of a Slave Ship by Patricia C. McKissack.  Over the next two weeks, students will read biographies about Harriet Tubman, Henry Box Brown and George Washington Carver.  Students are very interested in this unit!

Vacation Updates

Dear Families,

I hope the everyone has a restful and relaxing vacation and a Happy New Year.  I will look forward to seeing all of the third graders in 2016.  We have invited all of the K-6 grade students at Salisbury School to once again participate in the Great Escape Reading Challenge.  Third graders were given reading logs today.  Any student that wishes to participate needs to read a minimum of 6 hours (360 minutes) over vacation and log his/her reading in the provided reading log.  The logs need to be returned the week after vacation with a parent/guardian signature.  Students who participate will earn a free ticket to the Great Escape during the summer of 2016.  I hope the all of the third graders will take on this vacation reading challenge!

A reminder that we will be having a cookie exchange on Friday.  Students are invited to bring in 15 cookies.  They will place their cookies on the "cookie buffet table" and have a turn to choose 15 cookies from the incredible variety in front of them.

In math, we have started a unit on measurement, time and fractions.  We played a fun telling time game today.  Many students asked for the link to the game.  Here is the link to the telling time game!

Clock Game

Cookie Exchange

Dear Families,

We are planning a special afternoon for Friday, December 18h.  The third, fourth and fifth grade will be having a craft afternoon and cookie exchange.  We are hoping that each student will bring 15 cookies that they can exchange with classmates.  We will also have several craft stations.  If parents have a craft idea and would like to run a craft session from 1:00-2:00 p.m., we would love to have you join us. 

Thanks, 

Lili Foster

December 8, Update

It is hard to believe that there are eight more school days until our December Vacation.  Students are hard at work on their book projects and their non-fiction reading.  Book projects are due Friday, December 18.  Here is a sample of a completed one.  Please check to see how your student is doing with completing his/her chosen book.

Completed December book projected.

Third Graders are very excited about learning cursive.  Everyone is working hard to learn the letters and to write their name in cursive.  Here are a few pictures of third graders working in their cursive books.

On Thursday, Jessica Lynch will be video taping a literacy lesson as part of my National Board Teaching Certification.  The lesson will be used to analyze and reflect on my instruction.  Students will be discussing a problem and solution text.  It is great to see how far all of the students have come in their ability to  find evidence and key details from the text to support their comprehension and discussions.

On Friday, we will be taking an end of unit math assessment.  Students have been working on estimating reasonable answers using their knowledge of rounding and adding and subtracting with multiple strategies.  Everyone has been introduced to the traditional algorithms for addition and subtraction.   Our next unit is a Measurement and Fractions Unit.  Below, you will find information about what your child will be learning in this upcoming math unit.

Unit 4: Measurement and Fractions Information

Today, is the last day that our Middlebury College Intern will be with us.  We presented Claire with a homemade pot of flowers with all of the students faces on them, cards and we had an ice cream celebration in her honor.  We will miss having her in our classroom on Monday and Tuesday afternoons.

Flowers with our photos on them.

Cards for Claire