Week of October 9-13

Hello Families,

It's hard to believe that we have already had a solid month of school! I have been enjoying the October/fall weather that we've had this week! We had an assembly this week where Mr. D (self described as "the guy who decides when we get to have snow days") talked to us about what it is to be Kaukauna Strong. It was also nice to see some families at Walk to School Day on Wednesday morning. Another exciting thing happened this week: our chrome book cords finally came in so we were able to log in to our OWN chrome books!!

Reminders/Updates

• Monday will be Day 2. Tuesday - Day 3, Wednesday - Day 4, Thursday - Day 5, Friday - Day 6.
• Since lunch is so early this year, I told students that they could have an afternoon snack around 2:30. Feel free to pack an extra afternoon snack if you'd like.
• Our class snack supply is starting to run low. If you are willing and able to bring a class box of snacks, that would be helpful for those times when someone forgets :) 
• We will not be having NDLC's Ride to Read this Sunday. It will be postponed to a date and time that will be more convenient to families. You'll be updated when that date is established!
• 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. 
• As it is starting to get chilly in mornings, please make sure your child has a sweatshirt to stay warm. 
• 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
• 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. 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!

Upcoming Events

October 10: Kaukauna fire department visits our classroom
October 12: Trout Museum of Art field trip in the afternoon
October 13: NDLC Wear
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
October 31: Wear Orange and Black

Curriculum Update

Math: Wow we are learning lots as mathematicians! Students continued to learn more about multiplication and division this week with 3's and 4's. We also worked to relate area of rectangles to multiplication. Another thing we started this week is XtraMath. This website helps students become more fluent with math facts. What I like about this website is that it focuses on a few facts at a time that your child hasn't mastered yet. Once they have those facts mastered, it moves on to other challenging facts. If your child would like to log on to XtraMath at home, feel free! (enter MY email--feldkampj@kaukaunasd.org, their first name, and their four-digit PIN number. If your child does not know their PIN number, email me and I'll get it to you!) This next week, we are going to work to become more fluent with groups of 2, 5, 10, 9, 3, 4, 0, and 1. Know that you are welcome to play any of the math games with your child at any time! If you misplaced a game board, or would just like an extra, let me know and I can get you another!! :)

Writing: Students have been improving their stories each day through revision and editing! We worked especially hard to write meaningful endings and punctuate our dialogue correctly. To make the most out of our writing time, we also tried designated writing spots for each writer in the room this week. This has helped students to get to their writing right away! Next week, we will publish our stories and celebrate our achievements! Our next unit will be informational writing :)

Word Study: We finished our first unit of Fundations this week! We learned that closed syllables have one vowel and are closed in by a letter or letters. We will start Unit 2 next week; look for the letter that will come home Monday for more information!

Reading: This past week we thought about different strategies on solving tricky words! We also talked about figurative language and how students need to figure-it-out! :) This coming week we are finishing up our first unit! We will talk about an important skill, summarizing a bit more! Then on Friday we will have our CELEBRATION of our hard work! This will entail watching the movie, Stone Fox. We finished reading this book as a read aloud and students LOVED it. We will watch the movie and compare the book and movie! Then our next unit will be a...."mystery..." :)
 Scholastic orders should be returned by October 20th! :) 

Content: This week our scientists learned about erosion, glaciers, and bodies of water. Next week, we will discover what happens to our land models when a rushing stream goes through. We also have a few exciting things planned during this time, including Typing Club on chromebooks, our field trip, a visit from the fire department, and yoga! Next week, we will be building dams in our land models. If you are able, please send in some rocks no larger than a size of a fist to help us create these dams!



As we make our way into our second month of school, please know that you are always welcome to contact me with any questions or concerns. If something about school is not feeling good for your child, let me know! I want to make this the best possible school year and learning environment for each and every student. 

Best,
Jenny