April 27

Upcoming Dates/Reminders:

• Our Math test will be given on Tuesday, May 2. 
• Bible Memory (Acts 2:1-4) is due on Wednesday.  I will have your child say it to me on that day if they prefer that option instead of turning in a form from home.
• Discovery Assessments- I will need to give these next week to the class.  We will take the reading portion on Wednesday morning and the math on Thursday morning.  Make sure your child is well rested and ready to go.  
• May 10 and 11 (Wednesday and Thursday)- Tulip Time parades.  We will be dismissing at 11:30 on both days.  I will be sending a letter home next week with the line-up of our class as well as all of the details you will need for the children's parade.
• All Star Reading:  This reading incentive will continue until the end of May when we will have a baseball game against the HC Varsity Team.  We are getting a lot of MVP players in our room as students complete 5 innings!

Curriculum Highlights:

Reading:  This week we wrapped up our book clubs.  We compared the books in our series and looked at the clues, red herrings, suspects, and victims in our mysteries.  Next week we will begin our biography reading unit.

Writing:  We began a personal essay this week.  As a class we read several different reading selections and looked at the big idea the author is trying to teach us and the evidence they give to support that idea.  Next week we will take the big ideas we have found and come up with evidence to support our writing in our own lives.

Math: We wrapped up our story problem unit this week.  All students are working independently and have two equations, a variable, an answer, and a label for each problem.  Monday afternoon we will review for our test that we will take on Tuesday.  We will then begin our final unit dealing with geometry, area, and perimeter.

Bible:  This week we finished looking at the 10 commandments.  We learned how God desires for us to try and follow these commandments as we walk with him, but we all fall short.  He has such love and grace for us and wants His children to come to Him!  We also read about the Israelites creating a golden calf and how God still forgives.

Social Studies:  We read another legend this week and then began talking about how the French voyageurs came to Michigan.  We will do a bit of "voyageur math" next week with the trading of beaver furs.  :)

Have a wonderful weekend!
Lynae

April 21

Upcoming Dates/Reminders:

• April 25 (Tuesday)- Hayden Stancill would like to provide the class with a pizza lunch in honor of his birthday.  His mom will be bringing in Dominos pizza, juice boxes or water, and a small dessert.  If your child does not care for pizza they are still more than welcome to bring their own lunch or purchase one from school.  
• April 25 (Tuesday)- We will be out of the building all afternoon so that we can have a dress rehearsal at the High School for the spring program.
• April 25 (Tuesday)- The spring program will be occurring at the high school gym at 6:30.  Please bring your child to Main Street in the High School between 6:05-6:15 so I can line them up for the program.  We have been busy practicing and it is going to be a great night!
• April 26 (Wednesday)- POD Service Project.  All POD groups will be going to the organization that they went to in the fall to serve once again in our community.  We will be out of the building all afternoon.  This is an afternoon where we look forward to using our discipleship practices of servant living and community growing.
• Book Orders:  I will be placing the book order by Monday morning.  Feel free to order books by using the Scholastic link located at the upper right hand corner of the blog.  You are able to order from any grade/book level.
• May 10 and 11 (Tulip time)-  Mark your calendars that we will be dismissing at 11:30 on both of these days.  I will be sending a detailed letter about Thursday's parade home soon with your child.
• All Star Reading:  This reading incentive will continue until the end of May.  Completing five innings makes your child a MVP player and allows them to compete in the varsity baseball game.  Everyone is very motivated and busy reading!
• Our next Math test will be given on Tuesday, May 2.  A review will come home next week.  
• Acts 2:1-4 is our new Bible Memory.  This will be due on Wednesday, May 3.

Curriculum Highlights:
Reading:  This week we continued to meet with our mystery book clubs and look at suspects, clues, settings, and red herrings.  We have focused a lot on writing detailed post-it notes to enrich our discussions in our book clubs.

Writing:  We finished drafting, editing, and publishing our "How I Know God is Real" writing this week.  Everyone gave a lot of thought to this and I am really impressed with the final products the students have written.

Bible:  This week we talked about the Israelites at Mount Sinai and reviewed the 10 commandments.  We also began our new Bible memory of Acts 2:1-4.

Math:  We are busy reading carefully and solving two step story problems.  Each problem requires two equations, a variable, and a label.  Homework next week will be a review test in preparation for our Math assessment on this unit.  I will be giving the Math assessment on Tuesday, May 2.

Social Studies:  We continued studying the Native Americans this week.  We read several articles on the Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Ojibway tribes.  We also learned about legends and how they were shared from one generation to the next as a way of teaching lessons.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Lynae

April 14

Upcoming Dates/Reminders:

• All Star Reading-  We are busy working our way to a baseball game against the HC Varsity team!  Books read for reading minutes count for this as well.  
• April 19 (Wednesday)- Chapel.  All of the 3rd grade class (my room and Mrs. DeZwaan's) will be leading chapel.  A few students have speaking parts and will be leading in prayer or scripture verses.  The rest of the time we will be singing praise and worship songs with the school.  Feel free to join us if you are able.  Chapel is at 10:20 a.m.  
• April 25 (Tuesday)- Spring Program at the High School gym starting at 6:30.  Please bring your child to Main Street in the High School between 6:05-6:15 so I can line them up for the program.  We have been busy practicing at school and it is going to be a great night!
• April 26 (Wednesday)- POD service project.  All POD groups will be going to the organization they volunteered at in the fall to serve in our community.  We will be out of the building for the afternoon that day.  This is an afternoon that we look forward to using our discipleship practices of servant living and community growing.  
• Book Orders:  I sent home two new flyers today and plan on placing one last order for the year on April 24.  Feel free to look at different grade levels online as well.  Just click on the Scholastic link on the top right hand corner of the blog.  All payments can be done online or you can write a check to Scholastic, send in the order, and I will place it for you.  
• May 10 and 11 (Wednesday and Thursday)- We will be dismissing at 11:30 for Tulip Time.  Thursday is the day we walk in the parade and will stay at school for lunch and then take a school bus to the parade route.  More information will be coming home soon about this.

Curriculum Highlights:
Devotions:  Several friends ended our student led devotions.  We had great reminders of God's love from Hayden F., Hayden D., Taylor, and Micah.  This students loved leading devotions and I am incredibly proud of all of them.

Reading:  We have begun mystery book clubs.  Each day students are busy discussing witnesses, suspects, clues, and even red herrings that are occurring in their books.  If the assigned reading is not completed in class you will see the book come home.  Any book club reading that is done at home may count for the 125 reading minutes for the week.  This will also work to complete the mystery inning for all star baseball.

Writing:  This week we worked on a faith based writing called How I know God is Real.  We brainstormed and wrote down ideas on how we see God in nature, scripture, and our lives.  We have narrowed down what we want to focus on in our writing and will be working on our rough drafts next week.

Math:  We have begun a new unit dealing with story problems.  We are reading carefully to determine which operation we need to use and to decipher exactly what the question is asking of us.  We are working our way into two step problems.  This week we drew a lot of pictures to help us understand the problems.

Bible:  All of our lessons this week focused on Jesus' walk to the cross.  Take some time to review the Easter poster your child created in class this week and discuss the importance of each event.  This was very meaningful for so many students.

Social Studies:  We are learning about the history of Michigan.  This week we talked about historians and how they use clues and artifacts to help them learn more about history.  We began discussing the Hopewell tribe and will continue next week with the tribes of the three fires.

May you have a blessed Easter weekend,
Lynae