Week of October 2 - 6

Hello Families,

It was a fun week of dress up days and Homecoming Parade combined with the hard work of MAP testing. I was very proud of our third graders as they took their time on both the Reading and Math MAP tests and tried their best on challenging questions! 

Check out the pictures below! Students dressed up for Superhero Day and Kaukauna Spirit Colors. The class was also so respectful and quiet as their classmates finished up MAP testing, I had to capture the moment!

Reminders/Updates

• Monday will be Day 1. Tuesday - Day 2, Wednesday - Day 3, Thursday - Day 4, Friday - Day 5. 
• Our first service project this school year is Postcards for Seniors. Starting in early October students will have the opportunity to decorate postcards that will be delivered monthly to Meals on Wheels participants in Kaukauna.  We are in need of some supplies for this project.  If you have any of the items listed below at home and would like to donate please send them to school and drop off in the Postcards box in the office.
• new boxes of markers
• light colored card stock
• fun stickers
• Questions can be directed to Kristin McEneany at kristin.mceneany@gmail.com
• If you haven't yet, please send the field trip form for Artistic Adventures back ASAP. The field trip is coming up soon!
• We are happy to have yoga with Mrs. McEneany again this year! Please have your child bring a beach towel that can be used as a yoga mat and stay in their locker all year. 
• Typing Club - Some students were wondering if they could practice typing at home. Of course! They can go to feldkamp.typingclub.com and enter in their username and password (this is on a purple piece of paper that was sent home today. Their username does NOT include the @kaukaunasd.org) Remind them that they can only move on to the next level if they get 5 stars!
• In a Science lesson coming up, we will find ways to stop a stream by adding hills and barriers. To do this, we need 20 rocks about 2-3 inches in size. If you have rocks about this size available, please send in one or two with your child!
• NDLC's Ride to Read
• We invite you and your families to join us for our first Ride to Read, family biking event, on Sunday, October 8 from 10-1. 
• There will be activities for all ages and riding abilities at the event.  
• Please visit the link for more information and to register!  

Upcoming Events

October 3: Assembly
October 6: NDLC Wear

October 8: Ride to Read
October 10: Kaukauna fire department visits our classroom
October 12: Trout Museum of Art field trip in the afternoon
October 13: Third Grade Yoga at 2:30
October 16: Badger Sports Wear
October 17: Family Night: Grandfriends, Games, and Goodies
October 20: NDLC Wear
October 23: Wear Sweats and/or Team Apparel
October 24: Wear Neon/Bright Colors
October 25: Red Day! Be United Against Drugs
October 26 and 27: NO SCHOOL

Curriculum Update

Math: We have been working on determining the difference in multiplication equations. For example, 3 x 5 is read as 3 groups of five (I have three friends and give them each five cookies); whereas 5 x 3 is read as 5 groups of three (I have five friends and give them each three cookies.) This next week, we will continue with multiplication and division with 3 and learn about area. You can help your math students by playing a math game with the facts that they need the most help with. If you need an extra copy of any game boards, let me know! You can also help your child by asking how they solved a problem. If they say 5 x 6 is 30, ask "how do you know?" (Let them work to convince you!)

Writing: Students have been writing with more and more independence. We realized that we can go through the same process each time we write a new piece! (Find story ideas, write entries, pick an idea and rehearse it, draft with paragraphs, revise, and edit.) This week we will work on revision by adding a balance of dialogue, actions, and inner thinking and editing with punctuation. We will also choose our best piece this week and work to fix and fancy it up until it is ready to publish!

Word Study: Students learned about blends, digraph blends, and three-letter blends, and are becoming experts at finding these in words! We are starting to use more of our Word Study materials, including magnetic alphabet tiles to build words. We will work on spelling and writing sight words and learn about syllables this week. 

Reading: This past week we learned different ways to understand a story. We can remember to retell before getting back into our books. We also practiced more predicting and envisioning as we read! We also finished our beloved read aloud, Stone Fox! ASK your child about it! It is an amazing book! This coming week we will look at strategies for figuring out tricky words in our book. We want to know how to decode them, BUT we also want to figure out what they mean. Ask your child throughout the week what strategies we are learning! :)

*Because of all the scholastic orders, we got about 30 FREE books for our classroom! Each student ALSO got to take a book home to keep! New orders will be sent home this week! They should be returned by October 20th! :) 

Content: We continued our experiments with our land models this week. We made a stream, examined dry and wet components in soil, and discovered where water goes after it rains. This week, we will learn more with our "stream tables" by identifying the different parts of a stream. We also will learn how slow and fast streams can affect land differently.
**In a lesson coming up, we will find ways to stop a stream by adding hills and barriers. To do this, we need 20 rocks about 2-3 inches in size. If you have rocks about this size available, please send in one or two with your child!


Know that you can always contact me with any questions or concerns!

Best,
Jenny

Week of September 25 - 29

Hello Families! 

Students are getting back into the swing of things as the third week of school comes to a close. We were busy with drills for Safety Week the past couple of days. A lot of students had questions about the evacuation drill, so feel free to talk to your child and answer any lingering questions they may have. Luckily, the evacuation drill was AFTER we took our pictures of Picture Day! Students were sure looking spiffy and showed their brightest smiles for the pictures. 

Reminders/Updates

• Monday will be Day 2. Tuesday - Day 3, Wednesday - Day 4, Thursday - Day 5, Friday - Day 6. 
• We will have MAP testing this next week. On Tuesday morning, students will complete the Reading MAP test and on Wednesday we will have our Math MAP test in the afternoon. 
• Our first service project this school year is Postcards for Seniors. Starting in early October students will have the opportunity to decorate postcards that will be delivered monthly to Meals on Wheels participants in Kaukauna.  We are in need of some supplies for this project.  If you have any of the items listed below at home and would like to donate please send them to school and drop off in the Postcards box in the office.
• new boxes of markers
• light colored card stock
• fun stickers
• Questions can be directed to Kristin McEneany at kristin.mceneany@gmail.com
• If you did not send in the form on Picture Day but would like to order pictures,  you still can! You can mail a check or pay online to Network to order your student's pictures. 
• We are excited to have the opportunity to have yoga with Mrs. McEneany again this year! We are planning to have yoga at the end of the day, from 2:30 to 3:00, on the second Friday of each month. Please send a towel with your child that can be used as a yoga mat throughout the year. 
• Please send the field trip form for Artistic Adventures back as soon as possible; if you need another copy, just let me know :)

Upcoming Events

September 25: Dress Up - Neon or Tie Dye
September 26 AND 27: MAP testing for 3rd grade

September 26: Dress Up - Superhero
September 27: Dress Up - NDLC Wear
September 27: Kaukauna Homecoming Parade
September 28: Dress Up - Sports Teams Wear
September 29: Dress Up - Kaukauna Spirit Colors

October 8: Ride to Read
October 10: Kaukauna fire department visits our classroom
October 12: Trout Museum field trip in the afternoon

Curriculum Update

Math: This past week we have been working to become more fluent with multiplication and division with 5 and 2. We also discussed good practices for solving problems (1. Interpret the problem. 2. Represent the situation. 3. Solve the problem. 4. Check that the answer makes sense.) Next week we will continue this work on multiplication and division with 10 and 9. Another math game will come home for homework -- feel free to keep these at home and play as much as you'd like! :)

Writing: Students have been writing fast and furious on their draft booklets! We have been working to add dialogue, feelings, actions, and the five senses to our stories so the reader feels like they were right there with us. We will start to work on revision to add more to our stories and to build suspense right before a story's problem. 

Word Study: Students are learning all about digraphs and enjoying leading the class with Baby Echo! As we continue with Word Study into next week, students will be building words with their magnetic letters and letterboards and practicing writing on their special Fundations whiteboards.

Reading: This past week we learned why it is so important to understand a story! We know that we can give ourselves a comprehension check after a chapter! This helps us realize if we are on the right track! After your child is done with a chapter you can ask them:

1. Who are the characters in this part?

2. What just happened in this part?

3. Does the part you just read fit with something earlier or is it new?

This next week we will talk about strong predictions and students will also get a reading log. We won't always have a reading log but this week I want students to track their reading habits so we can set goals from them!

Content: We started our experiments with land and water! Students made a model of land and saw the affects of "rain" on the soil. Students will see how land and water interact with and affect one another. Next, we will create a stream in our land model and examine soil types and groundwater.



I hope you enjoy this long weekend and get the most of this "summer" weather!

Jenny

Week of September 18-22

Hello Families,

Hopefully you all have a beautiful weekend!

We made it through our first full week of school together! As a class, we created our very own rules:

1. Be safe
2. Treat others the way you want to be treated
3. Be responsible
4. Mistakes help us improve

We then worked in groups to design a poster for each rule to be hung in our classroom. Below are some pictures of the poster-making process!

Reminders/Updates

• Monday will be Day 4. Tuesday - Day 5, Wednesday - Day 6, Thursday - Day 1, Friday - NO SCHOOL. We have will have Art Monday. If you student does not have an art shirt yet, please send one! Mrs. Siegel mentioned that they will need them in these next weeks. 

• If you haven't yet, sign up for the Remind app. No downloading is necessary, just text "@feldkam" to 81010 to receive text messages about last minute reminders.
• Our first service project this school year is Postcards for Seniors. Starting in early October students will have the opportunity to decorate postcards that will be delivered monthly to Meals on Wheels participants in Kaukauna.  We are in need of some supplies for this project.  If you have any of the items listed below at home and would like to donate please send them to school and drop off in the Postcards box in the office.
• new boxes of markers
• light colored card stock
• fun stickers
• Questions can be directed to Kristin McEneany at kristin.mceneany@gmail.com
• We are excited to have the opportunity to have yoga with Mrs. McEneany again this year! We are planning to have yoga at the end of the day, from 2:30 to 3:00, on the second Friday of each month. Please send a towel with your child that can be used as a yoga mat throughout the year. 
• Field trip forms went home this week! Please send them back as soon as possible; if you need another copy, just let me know :)
•  This week is Safety Week, so we will be practicing fire drills, tornado drills, and an evacuation. 
• We are beginning our Land and Water Science unit next week. As Miss Kabara and I were opening the kits, we realized that we need some 2-liter empty (cleaned) bottles to use. If anybody is finishing up some bottles over the weekend or early next week, could you please donate them to our third grade class?
• Your child will have a substitute on Tuesday, September 19th. I will be here to get the class settled in the morning, but will head out for a training for the rest of the day. (But, I will be back that night for Family Night!)

Upcoming Events

September 19: Family Night- Hot Dogs and How to Help

September 20: Picture Day

September 22: Fox Cities Fun Run

September 22: No School
September 25: Dress Up - Badger Sports Wear
September 26 AND 27: MAP testing for 3rd grade
September 27: Dress Up - NDLC Wear
September 27: Homecoming Parade
September 28: Dress Up - Packer Wear
September 29: Dress Up - Kaukauna Colors

October 8: Ride to Read
October 10: Kaukauna fire department visits our classroom
October 12: Trout Museum field trip in the afternoon

Curriculum Update

Math: Last week we worked to develop an understanding of multiplication by using different strategies, such as count by's, equal groups, and arrays, to solve problems (see the chart we made!) This next week we will continue to work on multiplication and division with 5, 10, and 2. You can help your child think about these problems by asking "three groups of five is how many?" (3x5=?) or "15 is how many groups of 5?" (15/5=?). This helps children understand what multiplication and division mean! Students are also encouraged to draw pictures or use cubes to explain their thinking as they work through these problems.

Writing: Students have been writing lots of small moment stories in their writer's notebooks. This week, students will choose their best story and develop that in a draft booklet. We will take this story idea through the entire writing process!

Reading: This past week we learned ways to build our reading lives. We talked about how we can give book recommendations, set goals, and talk with our reading partners.This coming week we will start talking about how we need to comprehend what we read. We can do this by giving ourselves a comprehension check. We will also start doing some heavy predicting! :)

Ask your child about our new class read aloud! (Stone Fox) Students are LOVING it!

** Scholastic money forms are due this TUESDAY! :)

Word Study: This week we started our new program, Fundations. Students seem to love it! Next week we will work more with letters and sounds -- students will learn about digraphs (two letters that together make one sound, like "ch").

Content: We are finally starting our Land and Water Unit! Students will discuss what they already know and what they would like to know about land and water. We will look at pictures of national land forms and see how they have been affected from water. Students will also be working in groups to create their own land model and do some experiments with that!



As always, please let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Jenny Feldkamp

Week of September 11-15

Wow, I can't believe how quickly the first week of school flew by! I enjoyed getting to know each one of your children so much. I feel so incredibly lucky to get to share this entire school year with them.

I also am proud to announce that each student has officially gotten hired with a classroom job! They each filled out an application, wrote why they should get the job(s), and learned which job they will be fulfilling on Friday. If they haven't already told you what their job is, make sure to ask! :)

Here is a picture from the first week of 3rd grade! Students decided that they wanted to take the picture by the Writing and Reading bulletin boards, in front of everything they have already learned. I couldn't have come up with a better spot myself!

Reminders/Updates:

• Our agendas are here! They came at the end of the day on Friday, but they will be ready for students on Monday.
• Monday is Day 5 of our rotation. Tuesday - Day 6, Wednesday - Day 1, Thursday - Day 2, Friday - Day 3.
• Some students who did not decorate Writer's Notebook decided that they would like to add some pictures when they saw their classmates' decked out notebooks. This is fine by me! Having pictures of special people in their lives or moments from vacations can sometimes help students to think of a story to write about too! If your child would like to decorate his/her notebook, just please return it the next day :)
• Book orders went home with students; feel free to look through them with your child, whether you decide to order or not
• If you haven't yet, sign up for the Remind app. No downloading is necessary, just text "@feldkam" to 81010 to receive text messages about last minute reminders.
• If you haven't yet turned in all beginning of the year forms, please fill them out and turn them as soon as you can
• Postcards for Seniors


• Our first service project this school year is Postcards for Seniors. Starting in early October students will have the opportunity to decorate postcards that will be delivered monthly to Meals on Wheels participants in Kaukauna.  We are in need of some supplies for this project.  If you have any of the items listed below at home and would like to donate please send them to school and drop off in the Postcards box in the office.
• new boxes of markers
• light colored card stock
• fun stickers
• Questions can be directed to Kristin McEneany at kristin.mceneany@gmail.com

Upcoming Events:

September 19: Family Night: Hot Dogs and How to Help

September 20: Picture Day

September 22: Fox Cities Fun Run

September 22: No School

September 27: Homecoming Parade

October 8: Ride to Read

Curriculum Update:

Math: This week we will dive right into multiplication and division. We start with multiplying by 5 using count-by's (5, 10, 15, 20...) and using drawings and arrays (rows and columns) to represent the multiplication problem. We will explore different strategies for finding the answer; students will be encouraged to use more than just one! These are big math ideas that we will continue to build on throughout the rest of the year!

Writing: Last week we began Writer's Workshop and started to think of how we can find ideas for a small moment story. Many students set goals of writing long and strong during Writer's Workshop; third graders are expected to write about one page a day. We will work on making our pieces of writing stronger by telling the story bit by bit and editing as we go.

Reading: This week we will learn new ways on how to build our reading lives and make them the BEST they can be! Students should start this week with reading 20 minutes every night, Monday-Thursday!

Word Study: I'm excited to begin our new word study program, Fundations, this week! Students will learn what materials we will use and start practicing our letters and letter sounds.

Content: This week we will use Content time to share our hopes and dreams, create our own classroom rules, and discuss logical consequences. I'm also hoping we will be able to practice logging onto our Chromebooks by the end of the week (our brand new class set was in the office on Friday!!) We will begin Content next week with our first Science unit, Land and Water.



I look forward to this week! Please let me know if you have any concerns or questions.

Miss Jenny Feldkamp