November 20

What's Happening in 3rd Grade:

Reading:  Our book clubs are going great!  The kids are so responsible for their daily reading assignments and they are doing a great job of digging deep into the text.  We will be finishing our first book in the series they are reading next week Tuesday and starting the second book when we return from Thanksgiving break.

Thank you Mrs. Rosencrans for coming in to read with us!

Word Work

Writing:  This week we talked about adding sensory details, transition words, and thoughts and feelings into our stories.  The class has done a great job of adding these items and then reading their story over and over again to the wall or a partner to see how it flows.  I love watching them write!

Reading our stories to the wall

Math:  We have begun a new unit on measurement.  This week we learned how to measure to the quarter inch.  We focused as well on liquid volume with gallons, half gallons, quarts, pints, cups, liters, and milliliters.  We also discussed weight dealing with pounds, ounces, grams and  kilograms.  Word problems are once again very important and we are reading carefully.  

Social Studies:  We have finished our first unit on Michigan Geography.  We went over a review sheet on Thursday and the students have taken it in their home folder to study.  The idea of studying for a test is fairly new so we talked about different ways we can do this at home.  Our test will be on Monday, November 23.  

Bible:  We have followed Abram as God has led him to a new land.  We traced his journey on a map this week and we saw how God blessed him along his journey.  We talked about how Abrams faith is not always perfect.  He doubted God when in Egypt and yet God shows him his love.  God makes a covenant with Abram to bless him with a son and make him into a great nation.  We have seen this week how God is faithful in his promises and loves us even when we sometimes doubt.  What a loving God we serve!

Upcoming Dates/Extra Info:

• Everyone in our class seems to have a cold.  :)  If you are willing to donate Kleenex, we could use them.  Thanks!
• Beth Klingenberg is going to lead our classroom Christmas party Thursday afternoon, December 17.  She is busy planning games and a fun craft for the class.  If you would like to help her plan and run the party, please contact her at bklingenberg@hollandchristian.org.  We are also asking for a few donations for the party.  We are in need of 11 rolls of green crate paper (can be purchased at the dollar store) and two or three bags of cotton balls.  Simply send the items into school and Beth will get them from there.  
• During the Christmas season at Pine Ridge, we would like to think of others.  Instead of buying gifts for our classmates, we encourage students to by for Positive Options (a service of Lakeshore Pregnancy Center) as a way of showing Christ's love.  As a school we try to collect many different baby items that we then give to this organization.  A green paper came home today with current needs at Positive Options.  
• Reading Minutes due Monday
• No School November 25- Staff Development
• No School November 25-27 Thanksgiving Break
• Gingerbread Houses- December 15 (See blog post below)
• Classroom Christmas Party- December 17
• No School- December 21-January 1 Christmas Break

Enjoy the snow this weekend!  :)

Lynae

Gingerbread Houses

On Tuesday afternoon, December 15, from 12:40 - 2:00, the third graders will be putting together gingerbread houses. We are excited about this annual Christmas project. Children will be taking home a gingerbread house of their very own. In order for this day to be successful we are asking for a few things. To make this as easy and organized as possible the teachers will collect the items needed for the construction of the houses. We will also have a special decorating icing ready to go at school.






If you have any spare and/or stale candy you are looking to get rid of, and would work well for the gingerbread houses, we would be willing to take that off your hands. We are also in need of any cake decorating equipment that you would be willing for us to use that day. Most importantly, we are looking for as many volunteers as we can get to help with the construction. Because volunteers will be assisting small groups of students, we are asking that no siblings be taken along.





If you are willing and able to help with such a challenge please let us know via the Signup Genius on the top of the blog so that we can plan on your help.

Thanks so much,

Lynae and Chris

November 13

It was a great week in our 3rd grade classroom.  Here is a look at what we have been doing!


Book Fair:  The book fair will be at Pine Ridge next week on Wednesday the 18th from 10-4, Thursday from 9-5, and Friday from 9-5.  You can also shop online at http://bookfairs.scholastic.com/homepage/pineridgesouthside.  Any purchases made from the book fair or from this online link benefit our schools.  Stop by and check out the great books.  They make wonderful Christmas gifts too.

Reading Volunteers:  Thank you to Kelsey Postema for coming in this week to read with one of our book clubs!  If you care to volunteer during our reading time click on the red link labeled "Reading Volunteers" at the top of the blog.  This will bring you to the signup genius.

Upcoming Events:

• Reading Minutes due Monday
• Psalm 100 Due November 20
• No School November 25 due to staff development
• No School November 26 and 27- Thanksgiving Recess

Reading:  We began our series book clubs.  All students are in a book club of 3-5 students and meet each day to discuss their book.  They have given themselves daily reading assignments and are busy writing down characters, settings, and issues that are occurring in their stories that they want to discuss.  I am impressed at the depth of discussion the class is bringing to this.  Their discussions are well thought out and they are doing a great job!

Writing:  We wrote our rough drafts this week for our second personal narrative.  Everyone has so much detail and feeling in this story.  We also focused on our lead this week and made sure we focued in very specifically to a small moment.

Math:  On Thursday we took our Math test.  Everyone did their personal best and I am very proud of them.  Next week we will begin a new unit on measurement, time and graphs.  Continue to have your child practice their math facts at home!

Social Studies: This week we looked at natural and human characteristics that are special to the state of Michigan.  We also looked at Michigan's natural resources and talked about our responsibility to care for what God has given us.  The class specifically enjoyed learning about the Mackinaw bridge, the Detroit Windsor Tunnel, Michigan's many different lighthouses, and how pollution has greatly affected Lake Erie.

Bible:  This week we looked at how God remains faithful to his people.  We see his love shown to Noah through the covenant with the rainbow.  We also looked at how the people decided to build a tower to reach up to heaven.  Our discussion centered on how God has given us a way to heaven- His son!  We reviewed the stories of the Bible from Adam to the tower of Babel and took an assessment on this on Friday.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Lynae

November 6, 2015

Reading Volunteers:  If you would like to read with the kids, please click on the red link at the top of the blog that says "Reading Volunteers".  This will take you to a signup genius page where you can volunteer on Thursday mornings to read with several students for a half-hour.  Thank you to Melanie Huisman for volunteering this past week!

Math:  We spent this week solving two step story problems and also learning about the correct order of operations when we have multiple steps.  (Parenthesis first, then multiply/divide, and lastly to add/subtract).  The math problems are tricky and we are reading very slowly to make sure we understand what the question is asking.  The students have been working with partners for many of these problems.  We will be having our Math test on this unit next week Thursday.  I have sent home the student review test this weekend.  The review is due back on Wednesday as we will go over it in class.  If your child is struggling on a problem, have them circle it and I will reteach that concept to them.

Reading:  We finished our unit this week of following characters into meaning.  The students have done a wonderful job of relating to the characters in their individual books and being able to show me how certain events in a story can influence a main or secondary character.  Our teaching points are deep and cause great discussions in our class.  Next week we will start looking at how book clubs work and each child will be placed in a book club of their own.

Writing:  Each child committed to a story this week for a new personal narrative.  This narrative is focusing on a "heart" moment where a lot of feeling and detail will be told.  Your child came home with a story map this weekend about their heart moment.  Have them share this story with you verbally.  The more details they can remember, the better for when we start writing next week!

Bible:  This week we saw how sin quickly came into the world and caused pain.  We studied  Cain and Abel and saw the differences in their hearts as they brought their offerings before the Lord.  We also saw how God blesses Adam and Eve with Seth after the death of Abel.  The class loved learning that Jesus would eventually come from this family line.  We also studied the flood this week.  The students acted out this story with a readers theatre and then we had a discussion on the covenant God makes with the rainbow.  We have also begun reviewing Psalm 100 as a class.

Social Studies:  We continue to look at natural characteristics in Michigan.  This week we studied Michigan's bodies of water, landforms, climate, vegetation, and also our state symbols.  We do a lot of research on our ipads to help us see different maps of our state as well.

Upcoming Dates:

• Reading Minutes due Monday
• Math Review Due Wednesday
• Math TEST on Thursday
• No School November - Staff development
• No School November - Thanksgiving Recess

Have a wonderful weekend!

Lynae

November 1, 2015

Reading Volunteers  This class is a group that just LOVES to read.  Our Reading Workshop time is rich with growth right now and I would love to have each child read out loud to an adult each week.  I am finding that I come really close to getting each child in every week but I would love some help in this area.  So, I have created a sign-up genius for you to volunteer if you are able.  The times are on Thursdays from 9:00-9:30.  Your job is simply to show up and let three or four students take turns reading out loud to you.  The kids love to share what they are reading with adults.  Trust me, you will love this time!!

Reading Workshop:  We are continuing to follow our characters into meaning during our Reading Workshop time.  The class is loving the book Because of Winn-Dixie and we are having rich discussions about the characters.  I am so impressed with how this group of students is able to relate the teaching point to their own books.  I just love reading with them!

Writing Workshop:  This week we began raising the quality of our personal narratives.  We created lists of first and last time moments that we could write a new story about.  We also spent time reviewing others writing and coming up with ideas of what we would like to try in our next stories.

Bible:  This week we finished the story of creation and began to talk about the fall into sin.  We had great discussions in class about how God doesn't force us to love Him but wants us to choose Him.  We talked about how much richer our life is when we choose to walk with God and live a life for Him and how sin is not what God desires for his people.  What a loving God we serve!

Math:  We now know all of our multiplication and division facts 0-10!  We have been building fluency with these facts and will begin working with two-step story problems next week.

Social Studies:  We have begun a study of the geography of Michigan.  This week we spent time becoming geographers and looking at different maps of Michigan.  We learned about different landforms and the different types of bodies of water found in our state.  We also focused on absolute (address) verses relative (N,S,W,E) location.

Upcoming Dates:

• Reading Minutes due Monday
• November 25- No School.  Staff Development
• November 26-27  No School.  Thanksgiving Recess
• December 18  End of 2nd Quarter
• Dec. 21-Jan. 1  Christmas Vacation

Blessings,
Lynae