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

April 9 - 13

Hello Families,

Hopefully everyone had a relaxing and refreshing spring break! I was able to spend some extra time with my family and get a few more things crossed off my wedding planning checklist!

Here are a few pictures from last week:

Our class's Egg-Crack Off

  

Spring Celebration with our First Grade Buddies

Reminders/Updates

• Turn in permission forms and money for our school field trip to the PAC if you haven't yet!
• We took our first Wisconsin Forward test! If you want to practice with the online tools some more at home, you can click this link and click on Item Samplers Sign In or Online Tools Training - Grade 3 -  ELA or 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!
• Students will need to type their answers for the ELA portions. If your child would like to practice their typing at home, here is the link to Typing Club. They just need to enter their username (which does NOT include the @kaukaunasd.org) and password. Remind them that they can only move on to the next level if they get 5 stars! 
• Fang Reading Program: "Third Base" was due Friday, April 6. The last one is due April 20th. 
• Our Knowledge-A-Thon (KAT) is next week!!! 
• If you are  interested in volunteering, please sign up by clicking the link: 2018 Knowledge-A-Thon (KAT) Day

• The week of the KAT, we have some fun dress up days!
• Monday, April 9th: K - "Kozy" day - wear comfy clothes or PJs
• Tuesday, April 10th (No school)
• Wednesday, April 11th: A - "Answer" Dress up like an answer to a KAT question
• Thursday, April 12th: T - "Teacher" Dress up like a teacher
• Friday, April 13th: KAT! Dress like our grade's assigned Olympic color (each grade will come in one of the colors of the Olympic rings) 3rd Grade wears GREEN
• The school dance will be Friday, April 13, from 6:00-8:00 in the school gym. 
• If you're interested in volunteering for the dance, the signup is here: http://signup.com/go/SVDqrWT
• Running Club will start this week Thursday, April 12th! 
• If you haven't yet, please return your child's portfolio from conferences!

Upcoming Events

April 9: "Kozy" day  
April 10: NO SCHOOL
April 11: Dress like an answer to a KAT question
April 11: Forward Test - ELA 2 & 3 at 8:15
April 12: Dress like a teacher
April 12: Forward Test - ELA 4 at 8:15
April 13: KAT
April 13: 3rd Grade--Wear Green!
April 13: KAT Celebration Dance at 6:00PM

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

Curriculum Update

Math: This week we finished up Unit 5 and reviewed area, perimeter, and equivalent fractions by playing Jeopardy! Students started the Unit 5 test Friday, and we'll use Monday to finish up the test as well. Any students that finished the test Friday will work to fix up their mistakes on Monday. Our next unit will have a geometry focus--triangles, parallelograms, rectangles, squares, and rhombuses. We'll be talking about angles and deciding if they are a right angle (90 degrees) or greater than or less than a right angle. Challenge your child to find some right angles in your home! (windows, doors, ceiling tiles, picture frames, etc.)

Writing: We have been working on writing our best extended responses this week, which is what students needed to do on their first Forward exam. Even though an "extended response" sounds intimidating, we realized that it is just like writing a literary essay...and we're pros at that! We even demonstrated our expert knowledge and all that we have learned on Seesaw; check it out to see just how much your child knows as a writer. Our next unit that we will be jumping into goes with our current reading unit--we'll be writing about our reading research.

Word Study:  We started Unit 9 this week, practicing 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. This unit will take us three weeks with our shortened and crazy week coming up, so the word study packet will be due Friday, April 20th. If your child needs more time to finish it, that is absolutely fine. I would rather students be doing the work and thinking about the rules they learned rather than them rushing through it to get it in by the due date.

Reading: Reading at home is so important for students to continue to grow as readers. If you would like to know 10 benefits of reading click here! At school, we aim to read for at least 45 minutes a day. In the beginning of the school year, students started at only about 25-30 minutes. They have done such a great job building up their reading stamina. This past week we began our new research unit! Students are studying all about a certain animal. We began learning how to research by studying certain subtopics across many books. I am SO impressed with the teamwork and research these kiddos have been doing! This next week we will continue to research our animal! We will also learn to use the fancy vocabulary we are learning about our animals. Ask your child what they are learning about their animal!

Content: This week groups were able to dive deeper into stories from a certain country (India, Brazil, China, or Mexico.) We have been trying to notice any common themes from each country, jotting notes about any wonderings we have, and then answering those questions through research. Next week, we will read another Cinderella story from a different country to compare and contrast it with the Cinderella story that we know. We'll wrap up this unit by creating a poster on all that we learned about the country we read stories from.

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

Best,

Jenny

TWO Weeks: March 26-28 AND April 3-6

Hello Families,

Wow -- this seems to be a busy time of year. I can tell because my blog is getting longer and longer! Since these next two weeks are shorter, I thought I would just put in information for both of these weeks. We do have some new and exciting things coming up-- Egg crack-off, spring break, Forward tests, KAT...keep reading for more information on that!

It was wonderful seeing you for our portfolio conferences. It's always a great time to celebrate students' growth and to see just how far they have come! If you have any lingering questions or thoughts, feel free to contact me. I know those 15 minutes can go by so quick!

Reminders/Updates

• We are starting to practice for the Wisconsin Forward test. Since this is the first time students will be taking this, we went over a practice test in reading and math to have students practice using the tools. If you want to practice some more at home, you can click this link and click on Item Samplers Sign In or Online Tools Training - Grade 3 -  ELA or Math. We gave students the answers to each question so that they can really focus on getting comfortable and confident using the different tools available. 
• A letter went home describing the Forward tests and the dates when students will take them. I also have them listed in the blog. Since we are taking these tests right away in the morning, it will be important for students to get a good night's rest the night before and to have a hearty breakfast that morning!
• Students will need to type their answers for the ELA portions. If your child would like to practice their typing at home, here is the link to Typing Club. They just need to enter their username (which does NOT include the @kaukaunasd.org) and password. Remind them that they can only move on to the next level if they get 5 stars! 
• Fang Reading Program: "Second Base" was due Friday, March 23. 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:
• 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. 
• The week of the KAT, we have some fun dress up days!
• Monday, April 9th: K - "Kozy" day - wear comfy clothes or PJs
• Tuesday, April 10th (No school)
• Wednesday, April 11th: A - "Answer" Dress up like an answer to a KAT question
• Thursday, April 12th: T - "Teacher" Dress up like a teacher
• Friday, April 13th: KAT! Dress like our grade's assigned Olympic color (each grade will come in one of the colors of the Olympic rings) 3rd Grade wears GREEN
• We will have our egg crack-off on Wednesday, March 28th, right before break! Please have your child bring one hard boiled egg to school that morning. 

Upcoming Events

March 28: Early Dismissal (11:30)
March 28: Egg Crack-Off! Bring one hard-boiled egg to school
March 29: NO SCHOOL
March 30: NO SCHOOL

April 2: NO SCHOOL
April 3: Wear Odd Clothes
April 5: First Forward Test - ELA 1

April 9: "Kozy" day  
April 10: NO SCHOOL
April 11: Dress like an answer to a KAT question
April 12: Dress like a teacher
April 13: KAT
April 13: 3rd Grade--Wear Green!

April 18: School trip to the PAC
April 19: Forward Test - Math 1
April 19: Family Night
April 20: Forward Test - Math 2

April 24: Forward Test - ELA 2 & 3
April 25: Forward Test - ELA 4

Curriculum Update

Math: Our mathematicians dived deep into area and perimeter! Be sure to go over your child's quiz with them to celebrate all they have learned and the mistakes they fixed up. This helps to solidify their knowledge! Just have them tell you how they solved the problem (they get to be the teacher!) The last thing we will be going over in this unit is fractions and equivalence. Students will be putting fractions on a number line and using fraction strips to understand that some fractions have the same value (1/2 = 2/4 = 3/6 = 4/8, etc.) These are called equivalent fractions. Right now, I'm looking at having the Unit 5 test be at the end of the first week in April, most likely April 5th or 6th. I'll send an email when the Unit 5 review goes home to let you know and to also provide the answer key for your sake! 

Writing: This week we continued to work on making short response answers a RADD answer--ask your child what that means. :) Many students were doing some of the things we talked about, but not all of them...yet! We worked with a checklist and our partners to provide and receive feedback to make our answer the best it could be. One common fix up was to make sure that we reread our answer so it makes sense and add correct punctuation and spelling. The next two weeks we will explore writing longer responses. This is one part of the Forward test. Students are expected to read a passage and answer a question in an essay format. They need to have a solid introduction, good evidence that is specific, and a strong conclusion. I don't know what the question will be but based on the Forward support sampler, I do know that it quite possibly could be on identifying a theme/lesson or analyzing a character or an event. We will work hard these next two weeks to make sure we are prepared and use ALL of our skills!

Word Study:  We have been practicing reading and writing words with the r-controlled sounds AR and OR (like FORT, PART, ORBIT.) Our Unit 8 test will be on Tuesday so the word study packet can be turned in any time before then. The trick words from this unit are world, answer, and different. We'll start Unit 9 the week of April 3rd. We'll be practicing words with the r-controlled sounds ER, IR, and UR. The Unit 9 word study packet will go home the week of April 3rd. This is a two week unit, so students can be shooting for getting the Unit 9 packet finished about two weeks after that. 

Reading: This past week we reminded ourselves of what we can do when we are reading nonfiction passages. It is important to think about how the author structured the passage and to of course, think of the main idea! This coming week we will practice with a variety of unique passages. These might include interviews, recipes, step-by-step directions, etc. It is very important that your child is reading EACH night at home for at least 20 minutes. They should be reading the same book between school and home. This helps their comprehension if they are sticking with one book at a time and comprehension is critical! If you would like to have your child practice the tools some more at home you can click here. However, don't worry as much about the correct answers. We don't want to stress them out. I would rather have them feel confident navigating through this new test format.

Content: We started our last social studies unit for the year, Folktales Around the World. This unit focuses on the reading of folktales as a way for students to develop their reading skills while also learning about cultures around the world. We began by discussing the difference between folktales, fables, myth, legends, fairy tales, and tall tales. We then read one of each and determined which it was! Next week, students will read more stories from different countries and notice any common themes from each country.

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

Best,

Jenny

March 19-23

Hi Families,

I can tell that spring will be here soon! It has been nice having more hours of sunlight in the day with moving our clocks forward. As the temperatures start to warm up, please be sure to check the weather in the morning so your child is dressed appropriately for two twenty-minute recesses outside!

Reminders/Updates

• Conferences are already next week!! Here are some sign ups if you are interested and available:
• 2018 Spring Conference Teacher Meals
• 2018 Spring Book Fair
• We are starting to practice for the Wisconsin Forward test. Since this is the first time students will be taking this, we went over a practice test in reading and math to have students practice using the tools. If you want to practice some more at home, you can click this link and click on Item Samplers Sign In or Online Tools Training - Grade 3 -  ELA or Math. We gave students the answers to each question so that they can really focus on getting comfortable using the different tools available. 
• 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. 

Upcoming Events

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
April 2: NO SCHOOL
April 3: Wear Odd Clothes
April 6: NO SCHOOL
April 13: KAT

Curriculum Update

Math: We began talking about area and perimeter this week. Our mathematicians even helped me design a garden where I'd need the least amount of fencing (perimeter) but have the greatest amount of space to plant my vegetables (area)! We also started to talk about the Wisconsin Forward test and took a practice test on Friday. I just want students to be comfortable with the tools available so that they can focus on the content when the test comes. Next week, we'll find the area and perimeter of shapes made up of rectangles and solve word problems. It can be tricky to know if we're looking for the area, perimeter, or side length so we'll practice reading each problem closely! Continue talking to your child about where they might see area and perimeter outside of school! :)  

Writing: This week we worked to write RADD answers to short response questions! To write a RADD answer, we need to: restate the question, answer the question, write a specific detail from the text, and write a second specific detail from the text. To improve our how our writing looks, next week we will focus on when to capitalize words, correct punctuation, and common misspelled words. We'll pull this all together at the end of the week and type our best response yet, using all that we have learned. As testing is coming up soon, I am trying to get students to see that they CAN do this work, and they ARE doing it, so they feel confident and are able to show off their best work!

Word Study: We will be starting a new unit this week. This will be a short one! We will be reading and writing words with the r-controlled sounds AR and OR (like FORT, PART, ORBIT.) Our trick words will be world, answer, and different. 

Reading: This past week we continued going over test-taking tips. We practiced discussing and answering questions in a different genre, narrative nonfiction. Students are doing a great job! We also watched the Wisconsin Forward test taking tutorials. We even practiced taking the practice test to manipulate the tools they will be able to use on the test. If you would like to have your child practice the tools some more at home you can click here. However, don't worry as much about the correct answers. We don't want to stress them out. I would rather have them feel confident navigating through this new test format. This next week we will venture into nonfiction and remember all of the strategies we already know. Students are continuing to learn so many practical test-taking strategies. I am hoping this is easing their minds and making them feel more confident!

Content: It was AMAZING to hear (and see!) students give their presentations as if they were a Civil Rights leader! Students seemed to enjoy this unit and learning more about our leaders who fought for equality. Next unit will be Folktales Around the World. This social studies unit focuses on the reading of folktales as a way for students to develop their reading skills while also learning about cultures around the world.

Check out Seesaw for some more pictures!

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

Best,

Jenny

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