Wow! Only six weeks left to the school year. We have a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time. This week the kids will take the MSTEP. We will be testing from 9:00 to Noon on Tuesday and Thursday of this week. Pleases make sure your child is well rested, has a good breakfast with protein, brings two snacks and a water bottle for test days.

 Your child should have brought home a note about our field trip to Meijer Garden on May 28. Please send in your child’s $2.00 by this Friday as well as the note indicating whether you would like to be in the drawing for parents that would like to join us a chaperone. Unfortunately, we can only select four parents for the trip to Meijer Garden, but if you are not chosen for that part of the trip, you are still welcome to join us at Hagar Park for lunch and play time if the weather permits.

Math:  We will finish up our fraction unit this week and test the first of next week. We will then go back to unit 5, which we skipped earlier. This unit will involve solving one and two step word problems with all four operations.

Writing: Many of the kids are just about ready to start their final drafts for their biography, but still others are a bit behind. I will be checking in with all of them this week to see if they will need to finish them up at home.

Spelling: Your child should have brought home his/her spelling words on Friday. This weeks words(Week 23) focus on adding ly, less, ness, ful, and ily suffixes to words.  The list is posted below.

Social Studies: Our government unit will conclude with learning about citizens individual rights and responsibilities. Look for a study guide to come home for our Government final test.

Reading: We are working our way through the book The Jacket identifying the social issue, and answering comprehension questions about the text.

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

 Mrs. Flory

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

Mrs. Flory

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

Mrs. Flory

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

Mrs. Flory

  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

Mrs. Flory

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

Mrs. Flory

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

Mrs. Flory

Hoping 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

Mrs. Flory