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