May 21-25 AND May 28-June 1

Hi Families,

These next two weeks are shortened, so I thought I'd put the weeks together for the blog! We've been taking a chain off of our Countdown to Summer each day...it's hard to believe how short it's getting and how many few days are left of third grade!

Reminders/Updates

• Students don't have school this Friday or next Monday! Enjoy an extended Memorial Day weekend!
• Students will have a substitute teacher again on Tuesday, May 29th. Please remind them to be the kind and respectful kids that they are!

Upcoming Events

May 21: End of Year Math Test
May 22: Family Night: Tailgate 5:30
May 25: NO SCHOOL

May 28: NO SCHOOL
May 29: Ms. Feldkamp gone - Substitute Teacher all day
May 30: Unit 17 Word Study Test
May 31: Unit 6 Math Test

June 4: "B" = Bright Colors/Sunglasses
June 5: "Y" = You're Active/Workout Wear for Field Day
June 6: "E" = bE you! Wear whatever makes you, YOU!
June 6: 11:30 Dismissal and LAST day of school!

Curriculum Update

Math: I have been impressed with how closely students have been reading word problems! They have been circling and labeling important information, which is so important as story problems get more complex. We'll start next week by taking the End of the Year test...it's hard to believe students are ready to take that already! Then we'll be looking at two-step word problems, with a focus on writing equations that match. I sent an email with the Unit 6 Review information; let me know if you have any questions! I'll also add the Review to ThinkCentral. We will take the Unit 6 Test on Thursday, May 31st. 

Writing: This fairy tale unit is really letting students' creativity and uniqueness show! Students are adapting fairy tales to make them their own. We'll be working on making our stories come to life for our reader by adding in actions, inner thinking, and dialogue! Writers will publish their stories the last week of May.

Word Study:  We learned our last syllable type this week-- consonant - le. We'll continue to go over ALL the vowel teams each day and practice writing words with any of the six syllable types we have learned this year! The trick words are young, couple, and trouble. We will take our test on Wednesday, May 30th. 

Reading: This week we talked about some social issues and about how we can live our lives better by reading books and learning the lessons from them. We will continue to read books and explore different social issues and lessons. Each student is in a book club and they are setting high goals for homework, so make sure to ask your child if they met their book club assignment. We will also explore some nonfiction articles that discuss the social issues that students are reading about in their fiction books. It is a great way for students to explore their curiosities. If time, we will also work on a quick action project on sharing what they learned about some social issues they read about. Before the year is over we will also do some summer goal setting so we are ready to continue our reading lives into summer.

Content: We planted our Wisconsin Fast Plants this week! I was amazed at how well students were able to transfer their knowledge about selection into our new knowledge about these seeds! We'll be observing the plants for new growth each day! We also took a field trip to the NEW Zoo; these kids know so much about animals!! It was great to see how well this field trip connected with all they have been researching, reading, and writing about!

Know that you can always contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Jenny

May 14 - 18

Hi Families,

It has been an eventful week! Students finally finished ALL of the required state testing for third grade! I wanted to thank you greatly for writing encouragement letters to your child...they LOVED reading them before their tests, and I could tell it just gave them a little extra boost of confidence :) We also had our Animal Showcase where students were able to show off all that they know about the animals they researched. They put so much time and effort into these books so I appreciate you those of you who were able to come and be wowed by their knowledge! Check out the pictures below!

Students also were able to listen to a jazz and polka concert from KHS students. Check out the pictures to see our school polkaing! 

Reminders/Updates

• Our NEW Zoo Field Trip is this Tuesday, May 15th!
• Students had the Library Presentation this week to excite them for the "Libraries Rock" summer reading program. A brochure with more information on that came home this week. 
• I won't be here this next Friday. Remind your child to treat the substitute teacher with respect and to be the kind students that they are!

Upcoming Events

May 15: NEW Zoo Field trip 8:30-2:30
May 18: Ms. Feldkamp gone - Substitute Teacher all day

May 21: End of Year Math Test
May 22: Family Night: Tailgate 5:30
May 25: NO SCHOOL

May 28: NO SCHOOL
May 29: Ms. Feldkamp gone - Substitute Teacher all day
May 31: Unit 6 Math Test

June 4: "B" = Bright Colors/Sunglasses
June 5: "Y" = You're Active/Workout Wear for Field Day
June 6: "E" = bE you! Wear whatever makes you, YOU!
June 6: 11:30 Dismissal and LAST day of school!

Curriculum Update

Math: This week we started our FINAL unit on word problems! We'll continue next week in talking about comparison problems (these ask questions like "who had fewer/more?") Word problems can also have misleading information (or too much or not enough information!) so we'll be working on closely reading each problem to really understand what is going on. At home, you can help your child by encouraging them to draw out the story problem or even act it out! We also will be taking the End of Year Math Test the week after, on May 21 and 22. 

Writing: Students enjoyed writing their Who Would Win books and they worked SO incredibly hard on them!! It was a fun way to show off all they learned from their research but also all that they know about information writing. It was icing on top of the cake that they were able to share this all with NDLC families, students, and teachers at the showcase! Our last unit will be narrative and students will be writing adaptations of fairy tales!

Word Study:  Students took the Unit 10 test this week; I was pleasantly surprised at how well they did!! We will be skipping to Unit 17 for our next one because there are rules in that unit that I think would be beneficial for students' writing. Although we're moving ahead to this unit, we will be covering the rest of the vowel teams with our drills each day. In Unit 17, students learn about consonant-le endings like apple, puzzle, giggle, humble, etc. Look for the Unit 17 Word Study pack to come home Monday. 

Reading: WOW and WOW! Students were SO proud to show off their amazing work at the showcase! We had so many compliments so their hard work paid off! This week we will be starting our last unit. Unfortunately I will need to make it shorter than normal because time is running out. This unit is on Social Issues! We will be reading fiction books and thinking about what issues come up throughout the book and what lessons we can learn to make us better people. Some social issues we might discuss are poverty, bullying, homeless, divorce, etc! In the past students really have loved this unit and I think these kiddos will enjoy it as well!

*Scholastic forms will be due on Wednesday, May 16!

Content: This week we saw how selection isn’t always caused by human beings: sometimes other, non-human factors can cause selection to happen. We introduced the true story of two lizard species in Florida. (If you’re curious, you can read an adult-level version of the story here) The change in these lizards is an example of "natural selection"— a big idea that your child will revisit over the course of their science education. In our lesson we did not use the term "natural selection," but this example laid the foundation for later understanding of the concept. Our last science unit will focus on the plant life cycle!

Know that you can always contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Jenny

May 7 - May 11

Hi Families,

Wow we are getting close to the end of the year! This week, we were able to make a "countdown to summer" chain with one link for each person...meaning we're close to only 20 days of school left in third grade! Ah!!! We're reflecting a lot on how this year went and who we are becoming as learners and people, but also looking forward to summer and fourth grade. If your child is feeling nervous about next year, let me know so that I can answer any questions they have and hopefully get them feeling more excited.

Students had fun with play workshop! We had an assembly to discuss our different play personalities and then we played. Playing is beneficial for so many reasons. As children of all ages play, they are working on language, physical growth, self-confidence, social skills, gross motor skills, coping strategies, and more! Ask your child what play personality they think they are! I'm sure many of you will think of your child as you're reading one or two of the personalities :)

Reminders/Updates

• Field Trip permission slips were sent home this week for the NEW Zoo on May 15th! Please return the slip and money as soon as possible. Let me know if you need another copy. 
• We will be having our Animal Showcase on May 11th from 8:30-9:15 in the cafeteria. All are welcome!
• We finished ALL the Wisconsin Forward tests! To celebrate our class's hard work and effort, we'll be having an ice cream party! 
• The date of the party will be Friday, May 11th.
• Please bring in items that morning, if you signed up to bring something. (You can check the document here if you forgot what you signed up for!) 

Upcoming Events

May 8: Reading MAP test
May 10: Math MAP test
May 11: Animal Showcase 8:30-9:15 in cafeteria
May 11: Ice Cream Party Celebration

May 15: NEW Zoo Field trip 8:30-2:30
May 18: Ms. Feldkamp gone - Substitute Teacher all day

May 22: Family Night: Tailgate
May 25: NO SCHOOL

May 28: NO SCHOOL

June 4: "B" = Bright Colors/Sunglasses
June 5: "Y" = You're Active/Workout Wear for Field Day
June 6: "E" = bE you! Wear whatever makes you, YOU!
June 6: 11:30 Dismissal and LAST day of school!

Curriculum Update

Math: Mathematicians finished up this geometry and measurement unit and reviewed before the test on Friday. The next and FINAL math unit we'll begin next week focuses on story problems. This can be refreshing for some students, as they've been working on story problems for many years. However, now the tricky part is deciding what operation they need to use to solve the problem, if there is any extra or missing information, and if it is a two step problem. We'll start by talking about addition and subtraction word problems. As always, I'll be encouraging students to draw pictures to help them represent the problem and going back to check to be sure their answer makes sense. 

Writing: This past week we finished editing our second animal book. We also started to plan out our "Who Would Win" books! This week we will continue working hard on these books. Students will be making these books on the computer. We are working really hard at using mentor texts to help us remember what we need. On Friday, May 11 we will have our last informational writing on-demand. This is where students get 45 minutes to write a book using all the techniques and strategies they know. I will give students a few options for this:

1. Students can research a topic they want to write about and take notes and use these notes for their on-demand.
2. Students can use their current notes on their animals and write a book about their animal.
3. Use what they know about another topic and write an informational book about that.

Word Study:  In this unit, we worked on writing words with double vowels, or two vowels that together make one sound (like plAY or bAIt). We also had some fun writing sentences using homophones (words that sound the same but are spelled different, like "main" and "mane"). The trick words for next week are America, school, and thought. We'll take the Unit 10 test on Thursday. 

Reading: This week students dived a little deeper into the animal kingdom. They researched some evidence-based theories and did some more comparing and contrasting. This week we will be working hard on our showcases! Students will be creating their poster, slideshow, etc! We can't wait for you to see it!

*Scholastic forms were sent home! They will be due on Wednesday, May 16!

Content: In science this week we learned about how people create new breeds of animals by selecting certain traits and only having those animals have babies. Your child learned in particular how the earliest dogs were medium-sized and wolf-like, but using selective breeding, we managed to get the many different dog breeds, from small dogs to big dogs, spotted dogs to plain dogs. What makes selection possible is the fact that no two individuals are ever exactly alike--there are always small differences, and yet parents do pass on most of their traits to their offspring. You can help reinforce this learning at home by helping your child to notice these small differences in physical traits between siblings, cousins, and other family members, as well as to contemplate which traits have been passed on from one generation to the next.

Know that you can always contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Jenny

April 20 - May 4

Hi Families,

So it is crazy as I title this post that I'm actually writing May...it will be May next week already!! It's hard to believe that we are getting so close to the end of the school year. As we are nearing the end of this year, there are many exciting events coming up -- including a NEW Zoo Field Trip and Animal Showcase!

Reminders/Updates

• Field Trip permission slips were sent home this week for the NEW Zoo on May 15th! Please return the slip and money as soon as possible. Let me know if you need another copy. 
• We will be having our Animal Showcase on May 11th from 8:30-9:15 in the cafeteria. All are welcome!
• We finished ALL the Wisconsin Forward tests! To celebrate our class's hard work and effort, we'll be having an ice cream party! 
• The date of the party will be Friday, May 11th.
• If you are interested in bringing a topping, you can sign up here

Upcoming Events

May 8: Reading MAP test
May 10: Math MAP test
May 11: Animal Showcase 8:30-9:15 in cafeteria
May 11: Ice Cream Party Celebration

May 15: NEW Zoo Field trip 8:30-2:30
May 18: Ms. Feldkamp gone - Substitute Teacher all day

May 22: Family Night: Tailgate
May 25: NO SCHOOL

May 28: NO SCHOOL

June 4: "B" = Bright Colors/Sunglasses
June 5: "Y" = You're Active/Workout Wear for Field Day
June 6: "E" = bE you! Wear whatever makes you, YOU!
June 6: 11:30 Dismissal and LAST day of school!

Curriculum Update

Math: Mathematicians have been enjoying this measurement unit! They have been asking so many good questions about units (is a quart the same as a liter? Which is bigger-a milliliter or an ounce? Are metric units listed on our bottles?) I've been encouraging them to be on the lookout at home for containers that have their measurements listed on them (soup cans, milk jugs, a bag of chips, storage containers, etc.) We'll continue working with word problems with liquid volume and weight in both the customary and metric systems. We'll take this unit's test on Friday, May 4th. Let me know if you have any questions or problems with the review! I also added a review to Think Central if you'd like extra practice. 

Writing: Our writers started their second informational book about their second animal...they know SO much already! We've been working on elaborating by explaining facts and adding in our own ideas to interest our readers. Next week, students will edit their book and complete their draft booklet. We'll start our final informational book: a "Who Would Win" book comparing and contrasting the two animals they're experts on! 

Word Study:  We started a new unit this week - Unit 10! I'll send the Unit 10 Word Study packets home Monday. This is a two week unit, so they will be due (flexibly) on May 11th. In this unit, we'll be working on writing words with double vowels, or two vowels that together make one sound (like plAY or bAIt). The trick words this week are great, country, and away. 

Reading: This week students continued researching their second animal. We have a room full of experts on our hands! Students also started finding BIG theories they are noticing not just about one animal, but many animals. We will continue this higher-level thinking work this coming week. We will also start comparing and contrasting our two animals that we are experts on! Doing all of this work will help students begin the process of creating their animal "booth!" They are already SO excited about this!

*Scholastic forms were sent home! They will be due on Wednesday, May 16!

Content: The topic of this week’s science mystery is dinosaurs: how do we know what they looked like on the outside, when all we have of them are fossil bones? Why are we always depicting them as scaly lizards? Your child will learn how we can infer what the outside of an animal looks like, by using clues about their skeleton. We are also exploring how the structure of an animal’s teeth say something about what kind of food the animal preferred to eat (i.e. meat, plants, or both). Dinosaurs are very exciting and so are likely to be a topic on your child’s mind these next few weeks. You can continue to stoke this interest by choosing to watch an educational program on dinosaurs together, such as Walking with Dinosaurs. If you have any toothed pets, such as a cat, dog, or even hamster, you can also invite your child to classify these living animals as herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore by observing their teeth.

Know that you can always contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Jenny

April 23-27

Hi Families,

It looks like spring will finally be coming with this weekend and the next week! I'm looking forward to warmer days and not seeing white outside. :)

As we were researching this week, we had a chance to talk about sources and making sure that we are reading credible sources if we are researching online. Students have a hard time believing that something they read online could actually be not true, so we talked about how we can determine if it is a good source to use (like databases, nonfiction books recommended by our librarian, websites like culturegrams that are approved by teachers, etc.) As students are growing up in this technology world, it's important that they think before they believe everything they read!

Reminders/Updates

• I sent home a blank envelope and piece of paper for you (or someone from your child's life) to write them a surprise letter of encouragement to keep pushing through all of these end of year tests! 
• Please return them next week, by April 27th
• Some students were wondering what the envelopes with their names on it are for, so I told them it just is a form I need for their lunch account. Hopefully this will prevent them from ripping open the envelopes before they turn them in :) 
• We finished ALL the Wisconsin Forward tests! To celebrate our class's hard work and effort, we'll be having an ice cream party! 
• The date of the party will be Friday, May 11th.
• If you are interested in bringing a topping, you can sign up here
• If you haven't yet, please return your child's portfolio from conferences!

Upcoming Events

April 26: Movie Star Day Wear
May 8: Reading MAP test
May 10: Math MAP test
May 11: Ice Cream Party Celebration

Curriculum Update

Math: This week we dived right into Geometry! Some students seem to be enjoying this unit as it is a little bit of a change of pace. We came up with definitions for quadrilaterals, parallelograms, rectangles, squares, rhombuses, and trapezoids and worked to label shapes with as many words as possible. Challenge your child to find different shapes at home (is the window a quadrilateral? rectangle? square? How do you know?) Next week, we'll be classifying shapes into categories and will start the second half of this unit, which is on measurement. We'll first go over customary (cup, pint, quart, gallon) and metric units (liter, milliliter) of liquid volume. 

Writing: Writers have been excited to write a book with their group! We began planning and drafting the chapters to the books. Each student is writing two chapters for their group's animal book. Next week, students will be writing another all-about book as a club, this time about the second animal they are studying in reading. The goal is for students to be writing this book with more independence and elaborating on their facts and ideas.

Word Study:  We've been practicing writing words and syllables with ER, IR, and UR. This can be tricky as they all make the same sound; students are encouraged to write the word with each r-controlled sound, choosing the one that looks right. If we can't decide, then that is when we can look to a dictionary. Our Unit 9 test will be next week - the trick words this week are mother, brother and father. The new Unit 10 Word Study packet will be sent home towards the end of the week. Unit 10 is a two week unit, so the packet will be due May 4th. If If your child needs more time to finish it, that is fine.  

Reading: This week research clubs were given another animal to research. They are doing this with much more independence and also doing their research quicker! Ask them what they are learning about their animal. This next week we will dive into different text structures that authors use to organize their writing. We already know about main idea/details and sequential, but we will learn about compare/contrast, cause/effect, and problem/solution. Since we are doing a lot of nonfiction work during school, please make sure your child is reading at least 25 minutes each night. This means about 20-25 pages out of their books. If your child is bringing home too easy of books please let me know and I will make sure they are bringing home something more appropriate.

Content: This week we will begin a new science program called Mystery Science. Students will get to investigate mysteries or questions that they have relating to animals. Miss Kabara and I went through the unit together and we're excited to try this our with our classes! The first unit is called “Animals Through Time.” In our first Mystery we will explore the idea that the rock under our feet sometimes contains fossils. Those fossils reveal how habitats have changed through time. For example, fossil shark teeth and fossil starfish found in the center of North America are evidence that what is grassland today must have been an ocean in the ancient past. You can help support your child’s learning by striking up a conversation about an exotic habitat you might have visited on vacation. If possible, consider visiting the nearest science museum and/or quarry to see any local fossils that have been found in our region.

Know that you can always contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Jenny

April 16 - 20

Hi Families,

Whew, testing is well underway! It's crazy to think that our students have already finished four out of the six Forward tests. I know this is A LOT for third grade, but they have been doing their best and keep pushing through! As I told them, this is my first time doing these tests too! They were very patient and respectful as I was figuring out what needed to be done, and they took their time on the tests. This shows me that they really are trying their best and want to show off just how much they learn at their school :)

To celebrate all of the testing that they had to work through this year, Miss Kabara's and our class will be having an ice cream party! The date is TBD, but it will be after the spring MAP tests in early May. I'll be sending a document to sign up for toppings as the date gets closer if you are interested.

Reminders/Updates

• Turn in permission forms and money for our school field trip to the PAC if you haven't yet! The field trip is this week Wednesday in the afternoon!
• I sent home a blank envelope and piece of paper for you (or someone from your child's life) to write them a surprise letter of encouragement to keep pushing through all of these end of year tests! Please return them by April 27th :) 
• We finished all the ELA Wisconsin Forward tests this week! Next week, we will take the two Math Forward tests (and then we'll be done with the state testing!) 
• If you want to practice with the math online tools some more at home, you can click this link and click on Item Samplers Sign In or Online Tools Training - Grade 3 -  Math. 
• We are taking these tests right away in the morning, so it is important for students to get a good night's rest the night before!
• Fang Reading Program: The Fang guy is due April 20th. 

• If you haven't yet, please return your child's portfolio from conferences!

Upcoming Events

April 18: School trip to the PAC
April 19: Forward Test - Math 1 at 8:15
April 19: Family Night at 5:30PM - Community Projects
April 20: Forward Test - Math 2 at 8:15
April 20: Earth Day - Wear green and blue

April 26: Movie Star Day Wear



May 8: Reading MAP test
May 10: Math MAP test

Curriculum Update

Math: Students received their Unit 5 Math tests back this week -- this was a challenging test! There are many parts to each question. Go over the test with your child; even if you're not sure how to do the problem, sometimes just encouraging them to reread the problem, highlighting the important information and figuring out what they need to do is enough for them to find their mistake. We also started our Geometry unit. Next week, we'll continue to talk about different shapes and get in a lot of vocabulary (polygon, parallelogram, trapezoid, right angle, rhombus, and more!) We will also be taking the final two math Forward tests. Keep encouraging your child to do their best :)

Writing: Students have been doing GREAT with our nonfiction writing unit that ties very closely with their current reading unit. We've been working on growing our ideas from pictures and videos. Next week, we'll build our table of contents, organizing our book into chapters. Students will be writing one book with their animal group, so each person will contribute two chapters to the book!

Word Study:  We've been practicing reading and writing words with the r-controlled sounds ER, IR, and UR. They make the same sound, so we've been working on figuring out which r-controlled sound looks right in the word. Our trick words for next week will be mother, brother, and father. The Unit 9 Word Study packet is due Friday, April 20th. If your child needs more time to finish it, that is absolutely fine.

Reading: This past week in reading students did amazing research. We really dived into synthesizing, which is reading a book on a subtopic and then going to the next to learn more about that particular subtopic and adding onto our notes. We even talked about using the expert language we are learning on our animals. This coming week we will finish up researching this animal and then transition into choosing a NEW animal and researching all about that animal. Students will also learn different ways authors structure their books. We will learn that we can take notes based on these structures to help us stay organized. We are doing a lot of nonfiction work during school so please make sure your child is reading at least 25 minutes each night. This means about 20-25 pages out of their books. If your child is bringing home too easy of books please let me know and I will make sure they are bringing home something more appropriate.

Content: We're coming to the end of this Folktales Around the World unit! It has been amazing seeing the work that students did comparing and contrasting Cinderellas from different countries. They were able to learn more about the countries each Cinderella is from by really reading closely and jotting any noticeable differences. We will wrap up this unit by creating a poster each person's country and what they have learned by reading stories and researching that country.

Know that you can always contact me with any questions or concerns. Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,

Jenny