February 24

Upcoming Dates/Reminders:

• Reading Minutes are due on Monday
• Word Work will begin again on Monday with a test on Friday
• Math homework will come home on Monday and is due Friday
• March 1-  The Children's Advocacy Center will be coming to our room to give a lesson about keeping your child's body safe from inappropriate touches.  A blue letter came home last week explaining this program.  If you would like to attend the presentation, you are welcome to do so.  Just send me an email (lstielstra@hollandchristian.org) so I know who to plan on.  Our presentation time is from 12:40-1:40 p.m.
• March 9-  The 3rd graders have been invited to attend a dress rehearsal of the 8th grade play The Secret Case of Sherlock Holmes.  We will be at the Middle School watching this play from about 12:45-2:30.  
• March 10- Fun Night is scheduled from 5:30-8:00 at Pine Ridge!  We need lots of volunteers to make this night possible.  If you are able to help in any way please sign up at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090848abad2ea31-funnight.  It would also be appreciated if 3rd graders brought in regular size candy bars for game prizes.  These donations can be dropped off at the office anytime.
• March 17- End of the 3rd Quarter

Curriculum Highlights:

Devotions:  Emily led us this week with a wonderful devotion of abiding in the Lord and producing the fruits of the spirit.  The class loved the visual she used with her devotional.

Literacy:  This week we focused on finding information on the physical characteristics of the animal we are studying.  We did a lot of research, organized all of our information into paragraphs, created main idea sentences, and produced and edited our rough drafts!  This is a lot of work and everyone is so focused.  The students are spread all over the room with their supplies everywhere.  Learning in literacy may look messy but the kids are so productive.

Bible:  We finished studying the 10 plagues this week and saw God lead the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.  We began a journal where the students place themselves as an Israelite child and record the thoughts that they may have had if they were leaving the land of Egypt to go to the promised land.  I love the creativity that is coming through with these journals.  

We have finished Psalm 121 and will begin Matthew 28:1-10 next week.

Math:  Your child's Math test from our last unit came home today in the Friday folders.  We will begin fractions on Monday.

Blessings!

Lynae

February 16

Upcoming dates/Reminders:

• No School Friday due to staff development and no school Monday due to Winter Break.  
• Psalm 121- Our Bible memory will be due on February 24.  I will have students say it to me on that Friday if they have not turned in their sheet from home.
•  Reading minutes will be due on Tuesday.  
• No word work next week since we do not have school on Monday.
• Maker's Week- Our fun Maker's week activities are planned for each afternoon next week.  Due to this, we will not be studying Math or Social Studies.  In the mornings we will place our focus on our Nonfiction unit in Literacy and we will continue Bible.  
• The Children's Advocacy Center will be coming our 3rd grade classroom on March 1 to give a lesson about keeping your child's body safe from inappropriate touches.  A blue letter came home today explaining this program.  If you would like to attend the presentation, you are welcome to do so.  Just send me an email so I know who to plan on.  Our presentation time is from 12:40-1:40 p.m.

Photos of our Week:

Devotions: Thank you to Reuben, Lauryn and Cora for starting our days off with devotions and prayer this week.  

Valentine's Day:  We had such a fun time passing out our cards and celebrating with our friends on Tuesday.

Hemlock Crossings:  Our field trip on Wednesday was so informative as we became skull detectives and learned about animal adaptions.  The outdoor portion of our trip was COLD but the kids loved exploring for animal tracks.  

Have a wonderful winter break!

Lynae

February 10

Upcoming Dates/Reminders: 

• Hemlock Crossings: On Wednesday we will be heading to Hemlock Crossings in West Olive.  We will be out of the building from approximately 8:30-1:00.  We will be learning about animal adaptations, becoming skull detectives, and snow shoeing if we have enough snow!  Please dress your child for the weather and pack a bag lunch for him/her that day.  I only have one parent volunteer and can take one more.  If you care to join, please email me at lstielstra@hollandchristian.org.  
• Valentines Day:  We will be celebrating Valentines day on Tuesday afternoon by exchanging Valentine cards and having a small party.  Thank you to Sara Wierenga and Jamie Dannenberg for suppling the snack for our class.  I sent home a class list if your child cares to pass out Valentines.  This is not required but I do ask that your child give a valentine to everyone if they do choose to participate.  Your child is welcome to bring in stickers or some fun paper to use to decorate his/her valentine bag, .  We will be decorating our bags on Tuesday morning.
• Friday, February 17- No school due to staff development
• Monday, February 20- No school due to winter break
• Maker's week- Your child will be participating in various hands-on learning activities during Maker's week at Pine Ridge.  This will be held every afternoon from 12:40-3:00 from February 21-24.  
• Fun Night: Friday March 10 from 5:30-8:00.  A coral sheet came home today in your child's Friday folder with ways you can help out.
• Reading minutes are due on Monday.
• No word work this coming week due to our field trip and no school on Friday.
• Math test- Our Math test on Multi digit addition, subtraction, and estimating will be Thursday, February 16.  A review test came home this week for the students to practice.  The review test is due back on Monday, February 13.  

Curriculum Highlights:

Devotions: Thanks to Hayden S. and Ellery for leading us in devotions this week!

Wacky Wednesday: Pajama day!  The class loved curling up with a good book, eating their snack, and snuggling with the stuffed animals and blankets they brought in!

Literacy:  Each child has picked an animal of interest that they want to research.  This week we started looking through books, articles, and different online sites for information about our animal's habitat.  There is a lot of reading and note-taking happening in our classroom.

Math:  We learned how to subtracted across zeros this week and also moved into story problems involving multi digit addition, subtraction, and estimation.  Most students are now confident and no longer need to draw a picture to help them with their work.  

Bible:  This week we continued to look at the life of Moses.  We saw how God gave Moses and Aaron signs to show Pharaoh that He was God but Pharaoh had a hard heart.  We talked about our own hearts and how we need to keep them soft so God can use us.

Social Studies:  We have begun our new The Economy of Michigan.  This week we learned what economics is and how we use limited resources everyday.  We looked at how the Michigan economy is dependent on these limited resources.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Lynae

February 3

Upcoming Dates/ Reminders:

• We are getting low on Clorox wipes.  If you are able to buy some for our classroom, I would greatly appreciate it!  We have been pretty healthy in our room and I think cleaning the desks everyday helps.
• Hemlock Crossings: On February 15 we will be going on a field trip to Hemlock Crossings in West Olive.  We will be learning about animal adaptations, becoming skull detectives, and snowshoeing.  We will be leaving first thing in the morning and returning around 1:00. Chris DeZwaan an I are both able to take 2 volunteers with us, however you will need to carpool since we don't have enough room on the bus for all of the parents.  Volunteers can meet at school that morning to ride together and follow the bus.  Please email me at lstielstra@hollandchristian.org if you care to come along.  Make sure your child is dressed for the weather and has a bag lunch that day.  
• Crayfish:  Care for a new pet?!?  Every child in the classroom wants the crayfish, but I have told them they need parent permission.  :)  If you are interested in taking these creatures, let me know!
• Reading Minutes are due Monday.
• We began Psalm 121 and will practice it in class for the next few weeks.  It is due on February 17.  
• Wacky Wednesdays have been a huge hit!  February 8 will be pajama day.
• Valentine's day- I plan on having a small party with the kids on February 14.  A class list of names came home so your child can give a valentine to everyone in the class.  Thank you to Sara Wieringa and Jamie Dannenberg for providing the snack for our class.
• Makers Week Supplies
  Do you have any old toasters, phones or small appliances hanging around the house? We are in the middle of preparations for Makers Week and we are looking forward to another "Take Apart" session! We need your old and/or broken small appliances in order for us to take them apart and create something new!  Please drop these off at the Front Office. 

Curriculum Highlights:

Devotions:  Thank you to Ryan for leading devotions this week.

Wacky Wednesdays:  As you can see, we had some creativity with wacky hair day!

Literacy:  We have been exploring different text features this week.  We focused on cause and effect, sequential order with flowcharts and timelines, and comparison charts.  All of our work was done with a partner as we read articles and figured out what text feature to use in our note taking.

Math: We focused on creating new groups this week as we added multi digit numbers.  We have moved into story problems and reading graphs as we add.  We also began subtracting multi digit numbers and next week we will move into subtracting across zeros.

Science: This week we took all of our information on our beetles and crayfish and created a popplet on our ipads.  This has been a big project as we organize our information and place it into the correct subheadings.

Bible: We have moved into the book of Exodus.  We saw how God uses people who we would least expect to do great things for Him.  We saw how God protected Moses as a baby and how he called him to free the Israelites from slavery.  We talked about Moses' heart and how he was not very willing to listen to God's call but rather had a lot of excuses.  We talked about times in life where we may act the same way, and yet God is calling us to great things!

Blessings to you!

Lynae