March 12-16

Hi Families,

What a busy week! It was great seeing most of you either at Culver's Night or at Author's Breakfast. Thank you so much for showing support for our school and your child!

As state testing will be here sooner than we know it, we have begun talking about some test taking tips and what the tests will be like. We're hoping that talking about this and practicing beforehand will help alleviate some stress that any kind of test can cause. If your child is feeling overly nervous about these tests, let me know! The best thing we can do is help them feel confident going into the test.

Reminders/Updates

• Fang Reading Program: "First Base" was due Friday, March 9th. You can turn in each Fang guy with your child on the due date, or you can keep them and turn all of them in at once on April 20th. Here are the rest of the due dates:
• Second base: March 23rd
• Third base: April 6th
• Home plate: April 20th
• Our Knowledge-A-Thon (KAT) will be here before we know it! If you are  interested in volunteering, please sign up by clicking the link: 2018 Knowledge-A-Thon (KAT) Day

• If you would like to volunteer, you will need to have a background check on file. If you do not have one yet, it could take 3 weeks to get approved. 

• Portfolio Conferences are coming soon! If you have not yet, please sign up for conferences. The link to sign up is here.
• Our 4K teacher, Mrs. Krueger, recently went to a training in New York and asked that we share this with our NDLC families:

Loose Parts

Many of the sessions that I attended in New York last week explained that play with open-ended materials encourages a child’s imagination and deepens their creativity.  I am looking to transition our classroom from traditional toys to more open-ended materials. I am hoping families can help with donations of items you may have around your house or you may also consider an inexpensive donation to our class.   I will be sharing this list with our school staff and also my friends and family. If you have any family members that are ‘collectors’ please consider asking them for donations to our 4K class as well.

Below you will find a list of possible ideas of items that can be used for this type of play.  Really, any ‘loose parts’ we would love to add to our classroom.

Large plastic buttons perler beads shape blocks wooden cubes glass stones mini erasers matchsticks felt shapes foam numbers river rocks different sizes sticks Empty boxes (from shoe to refrigerator sizes) Tape (variety of types) Fabric (variety of sizes) Nature recycled materials paper tubes, papers, ribbons, caps, lids, wood scraps, wire, foam, cardboard

Upcoming Events

March 15: Yoga
March 16: Wear Green
March 16: Homeless Connections presentation at Assembly
March 16: Beauty and the Beast performance
March 19: Badger Sports Wear
March 20: Portfolio Conferences
March 22: Portfolio Conferences
March 28: Early Dismissal (11:30)
March 29: NO SCHOOL
March 30: NO SCHOOL

Curriculum Update

Math: We wrapped up Unit 4 this week by taking the test! The next unit that we will start focuses on area, perimeter, and fractions. We'll start by first determining what area and perimeter are and how to find them. Students often will get area and perimeter mixed up and forget which one is which. We'll talk about how you can find area and perimeter if you know the side length, or how we can find the side length if you know area or perimeter. You can help students see that we use this stuff outside of math class by talking about when you might need to find the perimeter (garden fences, bulletin board borders, window frames) and area (painting a wall, floor in a bathroom, ceiling tiles, the space a pool would take up). 

Writing: Our writers created some amazing pieces of writing in this last unit! I was impressed with how engaged students were and the quality and quantity of work they were able to accomplish! Next week we will be starting a new unit: test prep. We really are going to be focusing on making sure we answer exactly what the question asks and take evidence right from the text to answer it. Students will be typing their answers to short response questions as well. They will be expected to answer the question with TWO pieces of textual evidence and with correct punctuation and capital letters, as that is how they will be graded on the state test.

Word Study: This week we learned more about prefixes and suffixes -- specifically the suffixes -ly, -y, and -ty. When y is a suffix, it always makes the long E sound. We will be wrapping up this unit (finally!) next week and taking the test. 

Reading: This past week we began our test prep unit. Students have been learning SO many test taking skills already. Here are some we learned for multiple choice questions:

• After reading a question, cover up the answers and see if YOU can guess the answer first. Then see if your answer is an option.

• Read ALL of the answers before deciding on one

• Eliminate obvious wrong answers

• ALWAYS go back in the text to make sure you can support your answer.

• Test makers might try to trick you with wording. Lesson can also be moral or central message.

• TRY your best!

• Take your time!

• ANNOTATE---jot and highlight parts that you know are important

Students have been doing SUCH a great job! We've done a lot of practice this past week with fiction passages. This coming week we will start looking at narrative nonfiction. These tend to be biographies and are tricky for students because they not only read it like an information book but they should also read it like a story. We will practice this and consider ALL of our skills we already know! Students are having a lot of fun trying to NOT let the test makers trick us. :)

Content: Students have been busy researching their Civil Rights leader or movement. Ask your child what they have learned! To showcase all of this new knowledge, students will be typing a biography about their person and decorating a poster to teach our classmates. I know students will be excited and interested to learn more about the brave and historic leaders of this movement!

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

Best,

Jenny

Week of March 5 - 9

Hi Families,

Wow, it was great to see such the overwhelming support for your child and our school at our Family Night this month! Students blew my socks off with their performance of their song. If you didn't get a chance to go, or if you'd just like to see it again, I have a video of them singing their song again on Seesaw!


Check out some pictures from our Book Character dress up day!

Reminders/Updates

• This week we have some extra fun things going on: Culver's Night is this Monday, our Symphony field trip to the PAC is Tuesday afternoon, Author's Breakfast Thursday morning, and an early dismissal on Friday!
• Our Knowledge-A-Thon (KAT) will be here before we know it! If you are  interested in volunteering, please sign up by clicking the link: 2018 Knowledge-A-Thon (KAT) Day

• If you would like to volunteer, you will need to have a background check on file. If you do not have one yet, it could take 3 weeks to get approved. 

• Portfolio Conferences are coming soon! An email should be coming to you soon to sign up for conferences. The link has been from "PTCFast," so be sure to check for that as I know it can be easy to look past! 

Upcoming Events

March 5: Culver's Night 5:00-8:00 (Ms. Feldkamp will be serving from 7-8!)
March 6: PAC Artistic Adventures field trip in the afternoon
March 8: Author's Breakfast
March 8: Unit 4 Math Test
March 9: Early Dismissal (11:30)
March 16: Wear Green
March 19: Badger Sports Wear
March 20: Portfolio Conferences
March 22: Portfolio Conferences
March 28: Early Dismissal (11:30)
March 29: NO SCHOOL
March 30: NO SCHOOL

Curriculum Update

Math: This week we reviewed time and also got into our last big concept of this unit: graphs! We interpreted and created our own bar graphs and pictographs. This is fun to do with data! Some students even asked if they could create their own graphs based on students' favorite pets or colors. This was awesome! Having students see that what they learn in school is something that they can use in other parts of their lives is exactly what I want to happen! Next week, we will be reviewing for our Unit 4 test. Continue having your child work on the review a little bit each night. I also put some more practice onto Think Central if your child is interested! Let me know if you have any questions regarding the test. We will take the test on Thursday. As always, the test will look VERY similar to the review.

Writing: Our writers have been doing their best to make their piece of writing their best yet! We have been improving our writing by providing and listening to feedback from our partners and using a checklist to be sure we have all the good writing moves in our current piece of writing! Next week, we'll talk about adjectives and then publish our writing. It will be perfect timing as we will then be able to showcase our published writing during our Author's Breakfast on Thursday!

Word Study: Students have been really thinking about how to spell each syllable in their words. We learned about prefixes; understanding what each prefix means can help us understand the entire word! Our trick words for next week will be night, carry, and something. When your child is practicing writing the trick words, it is ok and actually encouraged to let them see the trick word if they do not know how to spell it. We want to make sure they're spelling the trick words correctly each time it's written, as this helps them to write it correctly in the future. 

Reading: This past week we finished up analyzing our poetry! Students did a great job reading deeply. This is a skill they should have for not only poetry, but anything they read. This coming week we will begin a new unit! This unit is TEST PREP! There was a letter that was sent home explaining it in more detail. Overall, the unit will remind students of skills they already know and teach them practical test taking tips! This is the first year of state testing for your children and this unit does a great job at making them prepared and LESS stressed! I did tell them there will be a big celebration after all the testing they are going to do. I think they were pretty excited! :) Let me know if you have any questions.

Content: We started our next Social Studies unit -- the Civil Rights Movement! We kicked this unit off by reading the book The Other Side and by getting a little background on the Civil Rights Movement. Students will be selecting a leader from that time to research deeper so that they can share that knowledge with all of us! Feel free to talk to your child about this era - we talked a lot this week but I'm sure there are some more lingering questions or comments!

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

Best,

Jenny

Week of February 26 - March 2

Hi Families,

Whew!  That was one quick week made even shorter by an early dismissal on Monday and closure on Tuesday! Hopefully you were able to spend some extra time with your family at some point during this week. I spent our day off on Tuesday catching up on projects I have for the classroom and making some overdue wedding planning decisions!

It's hard to believe that our 3rd Quarter Portfolio Conferences could be coming up in less than a month! Please do let me know if you have any concerns or celebrations to share before then.

Reminders/Updates

• The last day to turn in the Six Flags Read to Succeed Forms is on Monday.
• Our February Family Night is coming up next week!! Are you interested in donating cookies or serving cookies? We could use some help! It will be this Tuesday, February 27th
• Click here to sign up to serve cookies at the Family Night
• Click here to sign up to donate cookies

Upcoming Events

February 27: Family Night: Music and Munchies
March 2: Dress Like Your Favorite Dr. Seuss Book Character
March 5: Culver's Night 5:00-8:00 (Ms. Feldkamp will be serving from 7-8!)
March 6: PAC Artistic Adventures field trip in the afternoon
March 8: Author's Breakfast
March 9: Early Dismissal
March 16: Wear Green
March 19: Badger Sports Wear
March 20: Portfolio Conferences
March 22: Portfolio Conferences

Curriculum Update

Math: This week we worked on solving word problems involving time. Sometimes students need to find the end time of an activity, the start time, or the elapsed time. We have been closely reading (and rereading!) the word problems and highlighting/underlining the important information to help us determine what we are trying to find. Next week we'll discuss pictographs and bar graphs, creating our own graphs and interpreting the data. We're getting close to the end of this unit! I will be sending home the review for students work on a little each night. Having students go through the problems on the review will benefit them greatly on the test! I will also email the answer key to the review when I assign it as homework :) 

Writing: This short week we've been working on providing our partner with feedback that will make their piece of writing even better. Next week, we'll continue to investigate different types of sentences: simple, compound, and complex. The goal is for students to realize that there are different types of sentences, but all sentences MUST have a subject and predicate! We also will wrap up our independent writing projects and celebrate all that students have learned in each genre. 

Word Study: We are continuing to work with different types of syllables in two or more syllable words. This week students realized that if they know how to spell each syllable in a longer word, then they can put those together to spell the whole word correctly! This is exactly the purpose of teaching syllables! This can help us both in spelling words as we writing and reading those words.

Reading: This past short-week we began talking about the deep meaning of poems. We will continue that work into this coming week. We will pay close attention to the last lines of poems. We will also look at the overall theme of poems! I have been really impressed with the deep thinking the students are doing with this work! We have been learning a lot of poetry terms! Ask your child about what alliterations are! With the end of the year coming quick, please make sure your child is reading each night. This is SO important for them to work on stamina, comprehension, fluency, and just finding that joy of reading!

Content: We will be taking a final Motion and Design test to assess all that we have learned from this unit on Monday. We didn't get a chance to take it this week, but we were able to play a review game to prepare us for the test! Next week marks the start of our Social Studies unit: the Civil Rights Movement.

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

Best,

Jenny

Week of February 19 - 21

Hi Families,

Wow! I was showered with chocolates, candies, gifts, and thoughtful letters on Valentine's Day! Thank you all so much. I am lucky to be surrounded by such a great group of kids and families!

100th Day of School -- Dressing as 100 Year Old's!

When I asked, "What do 100 year olds do?" students replied with, "They read the newspaper!!"

 Pictures from our Valentine's Celebration with our First Grade Buddies

Reminders/Updates

• The Six Flags Read to Succeed Forms are due on Wednesday, February 21. 
• Our February Family Night is coming up soon!! Are you interested in donating cookies or serving cookies at our next Family Night? It will be February 27th!
• Click here to sign up to serve cookies at the Family Night
• Click here to sign up to donate cookies

Upcoming Events

February 22: NO SCHOOL
February 22: NDLC Night at Funset 
February 23: NO SCHOOL
February 27: Family Night: Music and Munchies
March 2: Dress Like Your Favorite Book Character
March 5: Culver's Night 5:00-8:00 (Ms. Feldkamp will be serving from 7-8!)
March 6: PAC Artistic Adventures field trip in the afternoon
March 8: Author's Breakfast
March 9: Early Dismissal

Curriculum Update

Math: This week we worked on telling time to the minute! We also studied elapsed time. This is a fun skill for students to practice at home, as this is used every day in our lives! You could ask your child to keep track of the time they start reading at night, and what time they should stop if they are going to read for 20 minutes. Or, if a TV show starts at 7:00, how much time until it will start? Getting students to see that they use this stuff all the time will help them be motivated to be able to do this! Next week, we'll solve word problems involving time and also read and create bar graphs and pictographs. 

Writing: Students were able which type of writing they want to work on--narrative, opinion, or information! So far there are some captivating mysteries, some knowledgeable all about books, some mystical fairytales, and some convincing letters! We also set deadlines for ourselves and planned out what we are going to do in our writing each day until the end of the unit. This was very powerful for students to see! Some have been bringing home their writing if they didn't meet their deadline or if they just want to. :) Next week, we'll work to add simple and compound sentences to our writing. I noticed that students are not always writing in complete sentences, so focusing on sentence structure should help to correct this.

Word Study: We have been studying words with open syllables. We'll continue in Unit 7 next week by practicing with words that have more than one syllable type (open, closed, and vowel-consonant-silent e). The trick words for this week will be city, every, and family. Continue to do a little of the Unit 7 Word Study packet each day!

Reading: This past week we began analyzing poetry. Each student has a poetry packet with a variety of poems. Some short, long, more difficult, some rhyme, etc. Each day students are rereading their poems and analyzing them in a new lens! For example, we read to find the deeper meaning, rhymes, alliteration, etc. Students should be bringing home fiction to read each night! :) This coming week we are going to figure out the true meaning of the poems we read. We will also start paying attention to the words that help paint an image in our minds as we read. These images will help us understand the poems even better!

Content: This week we worked on our final design challenge: creating a vehicle based upon certain requirements! We tested out our vehicles to check if they met all the necessary requirements. As we are coming to an end of this unit, next week we'll play a game to review and then take the test to assess all we learned in our Motion and Design unit.

Check out the pictures below of students designing their vehicles! Pictures of the final product will be on Seesaw!

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

Best,

Jenny

Week of February 12 - 16

Hi Families,

If you are planning on watching the Winter Olympics, be sure to check out how France, our class's country, is doing! We'll be keeping a metal count in our classroom!

As we look forward to state testing and as our students are becoming older third graders, I am going to start giving them more responsibility and independence. One way I am going to do this is by encouraging them to really work to interpret and understand the directions given. In the past, I would read tests aloud for the class, going over the directions and the questions. Because I want students to take ownership of their own learning, and because I will not be able to do this for state testing, I will be pulling back from this. I want to equip students with the skills they need in order to closely follow directions and answer all parts of a question. I think this will be a useful skill not just for tests, but in their daily life! This is important when having conversations with friends or family or when given a task to do.

If a student asks me, for example, to read a story problem to them, I will absolutely do that. If a student is unsure what a word is, I will by all means tell them. However, I'm going to put that responsibility on them to ask me rather than automatically having each part read to them. I have stated these expectations to students, and I know they ARE capable of doing this.

To prepare students for this, we did a little directions activity on Friday. If your child hasn't already told you about it, make sure to ask! I won't tell exactly what we did because a few students wanted to try it out on parents and siblings at home :) 

Reminders/Updates

• Please return the Field Trip forms for Beauty and the Beast. It is coming up soon!
• Valentine's Day is next Wednesday! A note went home with student names if you are filling out Valentines. 
• Are you interested in donating cookies or serving cookies at our next Family Night? It will be February 27th!
• Click here to sign up to serve cookies at the Family Night
• Click here to sign up to donate cookies
• As the flu bug is going around, please remind your child to be washing their hands frequently!

Upcoming Events

February 12: 100th Day of School! Students can dress like a 100 year old :)
February 14: Wear Pink/Red
February 16: Funky Friday Wear
February 22: NO SCHOOL
February 22: NDLC Night at Funset 
February 23: NO SCHOOL
February 27: Family Night: Music and Munchies
March 2: Dress Like Your Favorite Book Character
March 5: Culver's Night 5:00-8:00 (Ms. Feldkamp will be serving from 7-8!)

Curriculum Update

Math: Mathematicians continued to build their understanding of fractions this week. We also discussed customary units of length--students came up with 21 different units of measurement all on their own!! Next week, we'll dive into telling time. Students in third grade are expected to read and write time to the hour, half-hour, quarter-hour, 5 minutes, and 1 minute. Students did this last year, but telling time to the nearest minute will be new for third grade. We also tell time before or after the hour. For example, we could say 11:45 is forty-five minutes after eleven or fifteen minutes before twelve. We'll also look at elapsed time, using our fingers or an open number line to track how much time has passed. Please continue these conversations at home! Practicing in another setting is always beneficial in helping to solidify students' understandings. 

Writing: Our essayists published their FINAL essay of this literary essay unit! Check out Seesaw to see the students saying their essay as a speech. We also took a final assessment as this is our last unit for opinion writing. Next week, we will begin a short unit in which students will be working on an independent writing project. I'm excited to start this unit as students will be able to choose which type of writing they want to work on--narrative, opinion, or information! Students will use all that they learned from each genre to help guide them to generate ideas, plan, and draft. 

Word Study: We finished up Unit 6 this week and took the Unit 6 test. Go over the test with your child and see if  they can tell you why a word is spelled the way it is! Next week, we'll start a new three-week unit. Word study packets will go home on Monday--students can work on a little bit each night. This unit focuses on open syllables, which are syllables that have only one vowel that is the last letter in the syllable (GO, ME, SHY.) The vowel sound is long in an open syllable, and Y often works as a vowel in open syllables. 

Reading: This past week we finished our Character Studies unit! Students learned SO much! Our celebration was a great success! Students had so much fun comparing the book to the movie. This coming week we will be beginning a mini unit on analyzing poetry! Students will have a packet of poetry with a range of different characteristics. They will be learning different poetry techniques and working hard to interpret the deeper meaning of poems. With this there will also be some songs we will be analyzing! I am excited! Make sure students are continuing to read fiction each night at home to help them build their stamina!

Content: This week we set up a falling weight system to demonstrate how gravity can move our vehicles. We also investigated how carrying a load on their vehicle affects the time and speed and the effects of friction. Next week we'll be closely reading an article on lunar rovers to prepare us for our final design challenge: building our own lunar rovers!

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

Best,

Jenny

Week of February 5-9

Hi Families,

Well, it's February! The groundhog DID see his shadow, so I guess we have 6 more weeks of winter. Our class also voted on which country we'd like to keep track of during the Winter Olympics. France won! So if your child has a special interest in how France is doing during the Olympics, that might be why. :) 

Enrollment for the 2018-2019 school year is underway and we have a few spots available in Kindergarten! We find that word of mouth is the best way to market our school.

If you have friends or family with upcoming Kindergarten-aged students, please share what you love about our school! We will be having an open house to see Kindergarten in action on Thursday, February 8th from 8:15-9:00 or 2:15-3:00. Feel free to invite any families that have expressed interest in our school.  

As always, families can also call Mrs. Frischmann at 766-6116 to set up individual tours. 

Reminders/Updates

• As a flu bug has been going around, please remind your child to be washing their hands and coughing into their arm. If you are willing to donate some disinfecting wipes to our classroom, we would greatly appreciate it as we go through a lot during this season!
• When you finish going over your child's Unit 3 Math test, please send them back in so we can put the test in their portfolios. 
• Also, return the Field Trip forms for Beauty and the Beast
• Report cards and MAP test scores went home this week. If you haven't seen them, check your child's backpack or let me know if you can't find them!
• Students will be having a reading celebration next Friday. Please bring in your item, if you signed up for one, on Friday!

Upcoming Events

February 9: Reading Celebration
February 14: Wear Pink/Red
February 16: Funky Friday Wear
February 22: NO SCHOOL
February 23: NO SCHOOL
February 27: Family Night: Music and Munchies
March 2: Dress Like Your Favorite Book Character

Curriculum Update

Math: This week we started our unit on fractions! We learned about unit fractions (just one equal sized-part of the whole, for example 1/4 or 1/6) and putting fractions on a number line so students understand that fractions ARE numbers! Next week, we'll continue locating fractions on a number line and compare fractions to help students understand the size of fractions. Feel free to continue these conversations at home! Students are learning what fractions are and what they are not. See if you can find fractions at home! Some examples might include:

• the third quarter (3/4) of the Super Bowl
• A fraction of their dresser drawers that are open
• How many slices of pizza dad ate as a fraction of the whole pizza
• A row of brownies as a fraction of the whole pan
• A fraction of the fruit snacks in the bag that are red

Writing: Our essayists have been busy improving their literary essays by adding introductions, conclusions, and topic sentences. We started our final essay of this unit: students get to choose an essay to write (character trait, character relationship, character change, or compare/contrast) and they'll be using all that they learned to make it their best essay yet! In fact, these essays will be going in our hallway so we want to show off all that we know. :) If students want to, they are more than welcome to continue publishing their pieces at home!

Word Study: We've been working on words with a v-e (vowel-consonant-silent e) syllable and exceptions to this rule (like GIVE or OLIVE). Next week, we'll finish up Unit 6 and take the test in the middle of the week. You can practice the trick words at home with your child (only, house, move, right place, together) or practice breaking words apart into syllables (thank-ful, vow-el, in-vite) to prepare for the test! 

Reading: This past week in Reading we finished the book Because of Winn Dixie and WOW did the students blow me away with their insights! The lessons they came up with were so profound I was SO impressed! We also started reading another book called, Make Way for Diamonde Daniel. We began comparing and contrasting the characters across these books. Students are even trying to do it within their own books. This coming week we will finish up this unit! We will continue to compare and contrast different story elements across books. We will look at how the main characters react to their problems and we will compare the lessons the main characters learn in books. We will also end the week with a post-assessment AND our celebration of all of the student's hard work! If you signed up to bring something in for the party, please send it with your child by this Friday.

Content: This week we read and annotated an article on a female drag racer. We were also able to Video Chat with a pit crew member on Friday! We took a virtual field trip to see what an Indy 500 car looks like! We asked questions like what how fast he can put on a tire and why he likes to do his job. Check out Seesaw for a video or click here to see some more pictures. Next week, we'll set up a falling weight system to move our model vehicles and investigate how carrying a load on their vehicle affects the time and speed. We'll be reading about lunar rovers to prepare us for our final design challenge: building our own lunar rovers!

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

Best,

Jenny