Weekly Homework

1.  Practice spelling words or meanings of Greek / Latin root words nightly.  

2.   Practice math facts 5 minutes nightly.  Currently students should brush up on their multiplication facts.  Focus on a few facts a night and then add a couple more each day.  We want students to get away from counting on their fingers.  Remind your child of the strategies:  double x2s=x4s, double x4s=x8s, x10s - (one group)=x9s [9x7= (10x7)- (1x7)].  Practice skip counting by 3s as you go about daily chores or drive!  Work especially on x0s, x1s, x2s, x3s, x4s, x5s, x10s.  Ready for more?  Try x6s, x8s, x9s, and x7s!

3. Read for at least 20 minutes each school night.  Please read non-fiction three nights a week and fiction for 2 nights a week.  Graphic novels, Dogman, Big Nate, Diary of a Wimpy Kid type books are great for extra reading and weekend reading, but this year we are also going to dive into interesting non-fiction and good literature.  Books can be checked out from the school library and the Hennepin County libraries (hclib).

4. On Fridays students will be given a math assignment which will be due the following Wednesday.  Although some assignments will be from other sources, most will come from the Home Connection math book, sent home the week of 9/11.  I will list on this site the pages that should be completed, carefully torn out (adult help on the tearing, please), and returned to school. Due the week of May 20:  pp127,129,130.  Due the week after Memorial Day:  pp135,136. 

Special projects

We have library time on Mondays, right after our specialist time.  If you could use ideas, our librarians have come up with a list of books they recommend for our nightly reading homework.

Suggestions from Quarter 1 BLACK, New from Quarter 2 BLUE

NONFICTION

Likes to read a little
National Geographic "Everything" books (tons of topics including animals, space, etc)

• Little People, Big Dreams series

• Who Would Win series

• Weird but True series

• Just Joking series

• Turning Pages (Sonia Sotomayer autobio)

• Six Dots (bio of Louis Braille)

• National Geographic Kids Readers series  (all topics)

• FICTION
  Astrid & Apollo series (Bidania)

• Sadiq series (Nuurali)

• The Notebook of Doom series (Cummings)

• Mercy Watson series (DiCamillo)

• Bad Guys series (Blasey)

• Elephant & Piggie series (Willems)

• Frog & Toad series (Lobel)

• A to Z Mysteries series (Roberts)

• Lola Levine is Not Mean series (Brown)

Sort of  likes to read
Amazing Animals of the World series

• Who/What/Where Was/Is series (people, places, history, current events)

• Way Things Work (McCauley)

• Where the Sidewalk Ends (Silverstein, poetry)

• Unlikely Friendships animal series (Holland)

• Rad American Women A to Z (Schatz)

• 2023 Scholastic Year in Sports (Buckley)

• FICTION
  Best of Iggy series (Barrows)

• I Survived series (Tarshis)

• Ways to Make Sunshine series (Watson)

• Ivy & Bean (Barrows)

• Dog Diaries series (Klimo)

• Sports fiction series (Bowen)

• Frindle (Clements)

• Pippi Longstocking (Lindgren)

Loves to read a lot

• 
  DK Life Stories

• Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (Kingsley)

• My Life with Dogs (Paulsen)

• Reaching for the Moon (Johnson autobiography)

• Stories for Boys Who Dare to be Different (McMahon)

• Mistakes that Worked (Jones)

• FICTION
  City Spies series(Ponte)

• The Land of Stories series(Colfer)

• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series (Graber)

• Because of Winn Dixie or Flora & Ulysses (DiCamillo)

• Wild Robot series (Brown)

• When the Mountain Meets the Moon series (Lin)

• Comeback sports series (Lupica)

Schedule

Hi! 

 My name is Dawn Porter and I live in the Linden Hills neighborhood just east of Southwest High School.  My husband and I have 2 grown children.  Laura majored in wildlife ecology and biology and is pursuing a masters degree in conservation genetics in Maryland.   Her wildlife field intern experiences have taken her everywhere from the Yukon to Texas!  Christopher majored in statistics and now has an actuarial job in Des Moines.  

Although I've also taught Spanish at the elementary level, I've primarily taught 3rd grade.  I love the enthusiasm and positive, inquisitive mindset  students at this age bring into the classroom.  I also appreciate the way our families have raised their children to be empathetic and thoughtful.  To top it off, the 3rd grade curriculum is full of fascinating ideas and concepts, so I look forward to a fabulous year together!  

Outside of school I enjoy being outdoors, whether exploring our national parks or simply walking around the neighborhood.  Winter is my favorite season as I love to cross country ski.  I like to reach out to others in the community through volunteering, especially with my church, Bethlehem Lutheran.  This summer I was in Rockford, IL visiting with my mom at her retirement home (in person!).

 I'm excited about the coming year and look forward to getting to know each of you! My  tech skills are developing, so I am hopeful that you will be patient with me when I experience glitches along the way.  Thanks for staying in touch and teaming with me to help your child have a wonderful third grade experience!