October 28

Upcoming Dates/Reminders:

• November 2:  Our P.O.D. groups will be heading out to serve in our community.  Your child will be out of the building from approximately 12:35-2:30.  
• November 7-10:  Conferences.  I look forward to meeting with all of you! Feel free to come a bit early so you can scan the QR code on your child's locker and see his/her book review.  I will have ipads sitting out so you can use our QR scanners in you need one.  
• November 23: No school due to Staff Development
• November 24-25:  Thanksgiving break
• December 5-16:  Swimming lessons at Holland Aquatic Center.  We will be at the pool from 1:25-2:10 p.m.
• December 26-January 8:  Christmas Break
• Reading Minutes are due Monday.
• New Work work will be given Monday with a test on Friday.  We practice our words each day in class but some students may need additional practice at home.
• Our Math test has been moved to Tuesday due to the fact that we needed a few extra days to practice. :)
• Girls on the Run- This program begins in 3rd grade.  A letter came home today explaining the details.

Curriculum Highlights:

Reading:  We continue to relate to characters in our stories.  As we read each day the students respond to a teaching point in their journals.  This week we focused on revising our ideas about our characters as our stories progress.  We are able to understand challenges our characters face and explain why our characters are acting certain ways.  

Writing:  This week everyone was busy publishing the final copy of his/her personal narrative.  There was a lot of work in remembering the importance of complete sentences, looking up correct spelling in the dictionary, remembering to indent, and still write neatly!

Math:  We have moved into two step story problems.  This requires very careful reading and a lot of perseverance!  We also learned how to multiply with multiples of 10 (Ex. 8x60=480).  We have been busy reviewing as well and decided as a class to take our next unit test on Tuesday so we had a few extra days to review.

Bible: We have moved on to the stories of God calling Abram.  This week we traced the path that Abram took when God called him to the land of Canaan.  We see how God promises to make him into a great nation and we talked about how Abram had a heart that desired to serve God.  We also saw how God loves his children even when we doubt in Him.  

Social Studies:  We have begun our first unit called "The Geography of Michigan".  This week we learned about the location of Michigan as well as many of the natural characteristics that make Michigan unique.  We spent a lot of time talking about peninsulas, dunes, islands, and mountain ranges in Michigan and then looking them up on Google Earth.  We also researched different bodies of water in Michigan.  What a blast!

Blessings,

Lynae

October 14

Upcoming Dates/Reminders:

• Conferences sign-ups are happening now!  Click here to reserve your time slot.  The master password is "gohc".  I am looking forward to meeting with all of you!
• School pictures came home today.
• Reading Minutes are due on Monday.  
• No word work this coming week.
• Math homework will come home on Monday.  This will be due back by Wednesday.
• Psalm 23- Most students have completed this.  If your child still needs to say it I will have them do so on Wednesday, October 19.
• Report cards will come home on Wednesday, October 19.
• No School on October 20 or 21 due to the CEA Convention

Curriculum Highlights:

Field trip:  We had so much fun today!  Be sure to click on the "Class Photos" link to see some of our adventure!  

Reading: We have been digging deep in our unit called "Following Characters into Meaning."  As we read we are trying to empathize with our characters and notice details about them that we didn't see before.  As a class we are reading the book Because of Winn Dixie to model our teaching points.  

Writing:  This week we completed editing our personal narratives and we began writing our final drafts.  This will take us into next week as we remember to incorporate all that we have learned!

Math: We have officially learned how to multiply and divide from 0-11!  Keep on having your child practice their facts at home to make them more fluent.  We also learned about square numbers and how to write our own multiplication and division problems.  

Science:  We completed our keynote presentations this week and had a lot of fun sharing them to both the class and our grandparents.  You should have received an email from your child with his/her presentation.

Bible:  This week we saw how sin entered the world and God's people begin to make some poor choices.  We studied the stories of Cain and Abel, discusses genealogies, and moved into the story of the flood.  We talked a lot about God's plan of salvation and how we see His faithfulness to His people over and over again.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Lynae

Grandparents Day!

This is always a favorite day of mine.  I love listening to the kids and their grandparents sing praises to the Lord.  I love seeing the kids show off everything they are doing in 3rd grade.  I love seeing the pride of the grandparents as they spend time with their grandchild.  Today was just such a blessing!

October 7

Upcoming Dates/Reminders:

• Grandparents day- Thursday, October 13 at 12:45 in the gym
• October 14- End of Quarter 1 
• October 19- Report cards go home
• No School on October 20 or 21 due to the CEA convention
• Swimming Lessons- We are scheduled to take swimming lessons at the Aquatic Center from December 5-16 at the time slot of 1:25-2:10.  A permission slip came home with your child today.  Please return this to school next week.  
• Reading Minutes are due Monday.  The expectation is 125 minutes with at least 4 days of reading.
• Word work will be given on Monday with a test on Friday.
• Math homework comes home on Monday and is due back by Friday.
• Conferences:  November 7-9 from 3:40-5:40 and November 10 from 5-7.  An email will be coming out on October 10 telling you how to sign up and allowing you to pick your time slot.

Curriculum Highlights:

Reading:  We worked on writing book reviews this week and then recording our review on imovie.  These will be placed with a QR code which the kids will be able to view next week!  I will have the reviews hanging on lockers as well for you to enjoy during conferences. 

Writing:  We wrote our leads and endings for our personal narratives this week.  We also began editing our work for capitalization and punctuation.  Much of this work involved discussion and practice on what makes a complete sentence.  

Bible:  This week we completed the story of creation and talked about the importance of the seventh day when God rested.  We see how he has set an example for us of the importance in taking a day of rest in our Savior.  We played "Creation Jeopardy" to review this unit (which the class just loved!) and then dove into our next unit dealing with the fall.  Our Bible memory is a review of Psalm 23.

Math:  Your child brought his/her math test home this week.  I was very pleased with how well the class did.  You will notice that students do receive letter grades in Math in 3rd grade.  We have moved on to our next unit where we learned how to multiply and divide by 6's and 8's this week.  We also did many story problems dealing with finding area when given the length and width.  

Science:  Each child was assigned a topic this week on earth changes.  The class spent much of the week researching their topic and taking notes on what they learned.  We then spent several days placing all of this information into complete sentences (tying this into Writing!) and making a keynote presentation.  This has been a HUGE deal and everyone has risen to the challenge!  We will present our projects next week.

Blessings!
Lynae