Classroom Happenings 4/22/19

What a glorious weekend we had. I hope you were all able to get outside and enjoy the sunshine and warmth. It is forecasted to be nice all week so we should be able to get outside and get some of our energy out. Yay!  😎

Math:  We started unit 7, which is all about fractions. The preview we had a few weeks ago must have really helped because the kids are catching on quickly. With any luck, we will buzz right through this unit and be ready for the M-Step.

Writing: We have started writing our paragraphs for our biographies and should finish the rough drafts by the end of this week. Some of the kids are a bit behind, so if they are not finished with their rough draft by Friday, you will see it coming home to work on over the weekend.

Spelling: Your child should have brought home his/her spelling words on Friday. This weeks words(Week 22) focus on adding ed and ing suffixes to words. The rules used here are if the vowel is short (bed) you need to double the consonant before you add ing (bedding).  The second rule is if the word ends with an e (bake) you need to drop the e before you add ing (baking). The list is posted below.

Social Studies: Our focus this week will be to learn the three branches of government: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. They will also learn who is in charge at each of these levels and what the job of each branch is.

Reading: The kids are doing a nice job with our social issues unit. They have read picture books and articles that focus on various social issues. They recorded the social issues they identified and used the text to support their answers. We will start reading a chapter book this week that also deals with a social issue. It is called The Jacket by Andrew Clements.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. It is best to contact me via email. I check that frequently, so will be able to respond in a more timely manner. nflory@hpseagles.net

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Classroom Happenings 4/15/19

Something is definitely wrong with this weather. I am quite certain the phrase is not April snow showers bring May flowers. Thankfully this weather won’t be lasting and we will be warming up later in the week. With any luck the rain will hold off enough so the kids can get outside. 

Math: We will test on Unit 6 on Monday, take a day or two to try some of the sample math questions on the MSTEP website and then start unit 7, which is all about fractions. We had a little preview of them during our MSTEP prep, so hopefully the kids will catch on quickly. 

 Writing: The kids are moving along in their note taking and this week we will start the rough drafts for our biographies. 

Spelling: Your child will be bringing home his/her spelling words on Monday. This weeks words(Week 21) focus on the “s” sound heard when the c is followed by and e,i, or y and the hard c sound. The list is posted below.

Social Studies: Our focus this week will be to learn the difference between state and local government and the levels of government. 

Reading: We started a social issues unit during our reading block. The kids have been paired up to read picture books and articles that focus on various social issues. They record the social issue they identify and use the text to support their answer. 

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. It is best to contact me via email. I check that frequently, so will be able to respond in a more timely manner. nflory@hpseagles.net

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Spring Break Fun Activity

Fling Into Spring at Critter Barn!

Come see the new life that Spring brings us.

 

  • Friday, March 29 – Saturday, April 6, 2019
  • Meet the Spring babies: Ducklings, Chicks, Bunnies, Lambs, Kids, and Calves!
  • Join us for bottle feeding.
  • Enjoy the heated rooms when the weather is chilly.
  • We will be open daily from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Critter Barn

9275 Adams Street

Zeeland 49464

https://www.critterbarn.org/spring-fling

 

 

 

 

Amy Duwe

Grand Valley State University

Mary Idema Pew Library

Library: 616.331.3500

duwea@gvsu.edu

 

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” -Aesop

 

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail!

 

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Classroom Happenings 3/25/19

A short four day week ahead before we head into spring break. Have a wonderful week with your children and safe travels to all who are leaving Michigan. Math: We have been working hard learning perimeter and area. As I said, it is a very hard concept for third graders. Mastery is not expected in the third grade. I was hoping to finish this unit before spring break, but it looks like we will need to come back to it again when we return. 

Writing: The kids wrote  On demand literary essays last week. Our next unit of study will be researching and writing informational reports. We will be choosing a person from history to read about and then write our own biography about that person. We will not start this until we return but instead be reading short stories and practicing answering questions about the stories and writing constructed responses to questions about the text.

Spelling: We will not have a spelling list this week due to the short week. Instead, we will be working on some more difficult word endings (suffixes) and doing activities with them.

Social Studies: The history unit is complete and our next unit will be Michigan government. We will be waiting until after the break to start this unit and will instead be using that time to prep for the M-step coming up the end of April. 

Reading: We are continuing with our biography unit. The kids are really enjoying reading about people in history.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. It is best to contact me via email. I check that frequently, so will be able to respond in a more timely manner. nflory@hpseagles.net

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Classroom Happenings 3/18/19

  I would guess many of you are wearing green for St. Patrick’s day today, but I hope you are wearing green to support MSU in the finals today. If you must wear blue then we’ll see if you’ll be blue in spirit too. Good luck to both teams!                                    Such a fun rivalry.

Math: We have completed our discussion of quadrilaterals and their attributes. Now we will move on to area and perimeter. This is always a difficult concept for third graders so if you have a chance to throw those words and their meanings out a few times it would be helpful.

 

 

 

Writing: We are set to write our final drafts of our literary essays. Next the kids will be given a new story and be asked to write a literary essay on their own using all they have learned.

Spelling: Your child should have brought home the Unit 20 words on Friday. This week’s focus is on silent letters in words containing (ge, gi, gy, and hard g  Below is the unit 20 list of words.

Social Studies: This week we will finish up our time line of Michigan’s road to statehood. Your child will be bringing home their timelines this week and having a quiz on the three things that were needed in order to become a state. We will then fill out the final history test review guide which will test the kids on all we have learned about the history of Michigan. 

Reading: We are having fun learning about people in history and why they have biographies written about them.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. It is best to contact me via email. I check that frequently, so will be able to respond in a more timely manner. nflory@hpseagles.net

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Classroom Happenings 3/11/19

Parent/Teacher conferences: will take place on Monday March 11 and Wednesday March 13. I’m looking forward to meeting with you to discuss your child’s progress. Winter Conference Schedule 2019

Classroom Management Change: the change has been quite successful. For only the second week in, we had no behavior slips sent home this week. The kids are really working hard to follow the classroom rules making it easier for everyone to work hard and learn well.

Math: We have started unit 6 which covers geometric shapes and their properties along with area and perimeter. This unit has loads of new vocabulary for the kids so we will be reviewing each day what we have already learned. The goal is to complete this unit before spring break.

Writing: The kids have all been assigned a partner and a book to read, choose a character and two character traits this character has. They will work together to find evidence in the text to support their claims and write their essay.

Spelling: Your child should have brought home the Unit 19 words on Friday. This week’s focus is on silent letters in words containing (mb, gn, wr, kn, stle)  Below is the unit 19 list of words.

Social Studies: We are just finishing up learning about the brave pioneers who traveled to Michigan to make it their home. Next we will learn the steps involved in becoming a state and the events that unfolded to make becoming a state happen for Michigan. 

 

Reading: This kids are well into their first biography book and learning how to look for the events in a person’s life that made them who they are/were.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. It is best to contact me via email. I check that frequently, so will be able to respond in a more timely manner. nflory@hpseagles.net

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Classroom Happenings 3/4/19

March has arrived, but it looks like winter is going to hang on for a while. Please make sure you continue to send your child with snow clothes and boots so they are prepared to go outside for their recesses.

Parent/Teacher conferences: will take place on Monday March 11 and Wednesday March 13. You should have received an email indicating the day and time of your conference. Please let me know right away if you are not certain of your conference appointment day and time.

Classroom Management Change: I made a slight change in classroom management last week. Although the kids have received tally marks whenever they broke a classroom rule all year, I felt they needed to be held accountable for behaving in a way that disrupts the class by making it hard for themselves and/or others to learn. Therefore, for each tally they receive, the student has to fill out a behavior contract slip and recite it to me before they go outside for recess. This usually only involves 2-3 minutes of their time, but lets them know the seriousness of their behavior. I let the kids know that if they receive 4 or fewer tallies during the week, I will simply throw the slips away at the end of the week for them to have a fresh start the following week.  However, when a student receives five or more tallies during the week then they receive a note for parents to sign attached to the behavior slips. If you have any further questions about this change please contact me. Below are the forms I am using.

Time to Think Behavior Contract Name: _________
Date: ______________
I apologize for my behavior because it makes it hard for my classmates and me to learn well.

From now on I will remember to

________________________________________
so my classmates and I are able to learn well.
Dear Parents,
You are receiving this note attached to your child’s weekly behavior contract slips because your child has received five or more behavior contracts this week. Please talk to your child about remembering to follow the classroom rules.
Please sign this slip and have your child return it to school on Monday.
Parent signature: _____________________________________________
Thank you,
Mrs. Flory
Classroom rules:
Rule #1: follow directions quickly
Rule #2: Raise your hand to speak
Rule #3: Raise your hand to leave your seat.
Rule #4: Make smart choices.

Math: We will test on unit 4 on Monday and then move into unit 6 which is our geometry unit. This is a more difficult unit, so we thought we would complete this unit first to make sure the kids understand all of the geometry vocabulary and how to determine area and perimeter before we head off to spring break.

Writing: We have been working hard learning how to write a literary essay. We completed one together and next the kids will work in pairs to read a book, determine the character traits, and write a literary essay together.

Spelling: Your child should have brought home the Unit 18 words on Friday. This week’s focus is on the consonant digraphs (gh,ph, and f) Below is the Unit 18 list of words.

Social Studies: Your child will test on the British in Michigan on Monday and then we will move on to the pioneers that started making their way to Michigan to settle here and build a home for their family. 

Reading: This week we will start our biography unit. The kids will be reading several biography books and eventually choosing the person who most interested them to write a biography report about.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. It is best to contact me via email. I check that frequently, so will be able to respond in a more timely manner. nflory@hpseagles.net

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Classroom Happenings 2/25/19

Bitmoji ImageHoping the post is finding you safe and secure in your homes. The wind is pretty strong and scary out there. Hold on to your little ones tightly.

Math: This week we will use our addition and subtraction skills to answer one and two step word problems. We should finish the unit this week and test by early next week. Please make sure your child is practicing their math facts on Mobymax. Just five minutes each night would be fantastic!

Writing: We have finished our realistic fiction writing and will begin writing literary essays by determining characteristics shown in a story and supporting them with details from the text.

Spelling: Your child should have brought home the Unit 17 words on Friday. This week’s focus is on the consonant blends (spr, shr, str, squ, scr, spl, and thr) Below is the Unit 17 list of words.

 

Social Studies: This week the kids will be learning why we speak English instead of French. That’s right – “The British are coming!”  By the end of the week the United States will be a country, but Michigan will not quite be a state.  Look for a study guide to come home sometime this week on the British in Michigan. 

 

Reading: We will continue reading fiction and nonfiction articles learning how to answer questions about the readings and write constructive response answers.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. It is best to contact me via email. I check that frequently, so will be able to respond in a more timely manner. nflory@hpseagles.net

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Classroom Happenings 2/18/19

Bitmoji ImageLet’s try again for a full week of school. Whew! This has been some winter. In a little more than two weeks I will be handing out report cards and meeting with all of you for conferences again. Check your email this Friday for your day and time. Your day and time will be the same as the fall schedule except the dates will be March 11 and March 13.

Math: We are still working on adding three digit numbers. Please don’t worry about using the methods I have been teaching them in class. If you are use to the traditional method of adding then feel free to work with your child using that method. We only show them the other methods so they are able to choose the method that makes sense to them. We will start subtracting three digit numbers this week with and without borrowing or as we call it, (ungrouping) the 100s or 10s.

Writing: On Friday we began typing our Realistic Fiction stories. It is a slow process, so I told the kids that if they are able to work on it at home at all it would be fantastic. They are typing them on a Google document which are webbed based making it accessible from any computer that has internet. Just open up Google Chrome and have your child log in to his/her Google account. Their emails are just their school username followed by @hpsstudents.net and their passwords are their school passwords.  Next open up Google Drive and click on my documents. Your child’s writing piece should be there. : )

Spelling: Your child should have brought home the Unit 16 words on Friday. This week’s focus is on the consonant blends (ch and tch) Below is the Unit 16 list of words.

Social Studies: Hopefully your child has told you a little about the French coming to Michigan to trade furs with the Native Americans. Next week we will learn about some other French who came to Michigan and then fill out a study guide for a test on the French in Michigan. There is a lot of information for the history of Michigan, so I will be giving quizzes on shorter sections instead of waiting until the end where the amount of information would be overwhelming. Look for a study guide to come home sometime this week. 

Reading: Hopefully your child was able to finish up his/her chapter book this weekend. With all of the snow days, we are really behind. Next week we will begin reading fiction and nonfiction articles learning how to answer questions about the readings and write constructive response answers.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. It is best to contact me via email. I check that frequently, so will be able to respond in a more timely manner. nflory@hpseagles.net

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