March 23, 2018

Upcoming Dates: Reminders:

• We will take next week off from reading minutes, math homework and word work.
• All Star Reading:  Your child brought home a letter explaining all star reading this week.  The kids are really excited about this and everyone is working to complete at least 5 innings to attend a baseball game with the Varsity Baseball team. 
• March 26 and 28:  Conferences from 4-8 p.m.  Time slots are 15 minutes and I will do my best to stay on time.  
• March 30-April 6:  Spring Break
• April 11 (Wednesday):  Outdoor Discovery Center.  We will be learning about Native American Lifeways and Voyageurs.  We will be leaving school around 8:30 in the morning and returning around 2:30.  Students will be spending most of the day outdoors and will need to be dressed appropriately.  They will also need a sack lunch and drink.  I am still able to take one more parent volunteer along.  Let me know if you are interested in joining us.

Curriculum Highlights:
Devotions: Aaron, Alyssa, Leila, Gavin, and Gabe led us this week in our morning devotions.  We have enjoyed a lot of creative ways to spend time with God.

Bible:  We have been looking at the story of Easter and taking a couple of weeks to review the stories that led Jesus to the cross.   Each day we do a small craft on an Easter poster, talk about the story, and sing praises as we work.

Literacy:  We are almost done with our nonfiction animal books.  This week we wrote a chapter on how we see God in our animal.  We also wrote our conclusions,  a chapter about the author, and worked on the glossary.  I look forward to sharing these books with you at conferences.

Math: We have begun a new unit on fractions.  This week we began talking about how a fraction is part of a whole, looking at fractions that are larger than one, and identifying fractions on number lines.

Social Studies:  We continue to study the economy of Michigan.  This week we talked about specialization of items Michigan makes as well as interdependence on other states/countries to get goods we need.

MUSIC NOTE FROM MRS. BOER - This is what we have learned this quarter....

  *Three Songs of the Month - Come Now, O Prince of Peace; O Day of Peace, and 

                                                   May the Lord, Mighty God.

  *We learned the elements of reading music (the musical alphabet, lines & spaces, a poem for the lines of treble clef, quarter notes and rests, half notes and rests).

  *We began playing recorders (notes A, B, G) and learned how to take care of them.

  *We learned about the discipline of learning an instrument and practicing (3X3).

  On Sunday, March 25 the Holland Symphony will perform Peter and the Wolf at the DeWitt Performing Arts Center, Zeeland East High School. Pre-concert activities will begin at 2:30 and the concert will begin at 3:30. Tickets are $5 for students Kdg.-college and $20 for adults.

Have a great weekend!
Lynae

March 16, 2018

Upcoming Dates/Reminders:

• We are out of Kleenex!  Well, we are using the school brand, but everyone prefers the kind that mom buys.  :)  Everyone is healthy but we seem to have a lot of colds.  If you are willing to provide a box of soft Kleenex, it would be greatly appreciated.  
• Third quarter ended today.  Report cards will come home next week Friday.
• March 26 and 28:  Conferences run from 4-8 each night.  The time increments are 15 minutes long and I will do my best to stick to the time frame so that you can stay on schedule for any other conferences you may have booked.  I look forward to meeting with all of you!
• March 30-April 6:  Spring Break
• April 11 (Wednesday):  Outdoor Discovery Center.  We will be learning about Native American Lifeways and Voyageurs.  We will be leaving school around 8:30 in the morning and returning around 2:30.  Students will be spending most of the day outdoors and will need to be dressed appropriately.  They will also need a sack lunch and drink.  I am still able to take one more parent volunteer along.  Let me know if you are interested in joining us!
• Reading minutes are due Monday.  Math homework is due Friday and our word work test will be given on Friday as well.

Curriculum Highlights:
Devotions: This week Michael, Charlie, Landon and Wesley led us in devotions.

Literacy:  We are getting there with our animal nonfiction research.  We wrote our interesting facts chapter, created our title page, and wrote our introductions this week.  The kids are working so hard on this and the final product will be worth it!

Math: We have wrapped up our multistep word problem unit and taken the final assessment.  I will go over your child's test with you at conferences.  Next week we will begin fractions.

Bible:  We have followed the Israelites as they go through the desert.  We saw how God cares for his people by providing them with manna and quail and we tried to make some manna of our own.  We wrote as Israelite children about what it would be like to travel in the desert and see Moses get water for the people from a rock.  Over and over we see God's goodness to the Israelites and we talk about how He care for us like this too.

Social Studies: This week we learned about scarcity, opportunity cost (your 2nd choice), incentives,  specialization of Michigan products, and interdependence on other states and countries for things we need.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Lynae

March 9, 2018

Upcoming Dates/Reminders:

• Fun night is TONIGHT at Pine Ridge!  
• March 16: 3rd quarter ends
• March 23:  Report Cards go home
• Conferences:  You are now able to sign up online for your child's conference.  These will be held on March 26 and March 28 from 4-8 p.m. in 15 minute increments.  I look forward to meeting with all of you.
• March 30-April 6:  Spring Break
• April 11 (Wednesday):  Outdoor Discovery Center. We will be learning about Native American Lifeways and Voyageurs.  We will be leaving school around 8:30 in the morning and returning around 2:30.  Students will be spending the majority of the day outdoors and will need to be dressed appropriately.  They will also need a sack lunch and drink.  I am able to take 3 parents volunteers along.  Please let me know if you would like to come.  
• Reading minutes are due Monday.  Math homework is due Friday and our word work test will also be given on Friday.

Curriculum Highlights:
Devotions:  This week we were led by Brooke, Micah, and Clara.  Thanks for starting our morning off with time with God.

Literacy: I am feeling a bit repetitive, but we are busy plugging away on our nonfiction animal books.  This week we finished our physical characteristics chapter.  We then researched for behaviors and defenses of our animal, wrote the main idea sentences for each of our paragraphs, and began our rough drafts.  We are SO busy with this and the final product will be awesome!

Bible: We wrapped up the Israelites leaving Egypt by playing a Jeopardy review game for our final assessment.  This kids just loved this!  We continue see God's goodness to his people as he leads them to Marah and then to Elim.  We talked about how the Israelites have put their trust in God.  We continue to memorize Matthew 28:1-10.

Math:  We are reading carefully as we solve two step story problems.  Often the wording of the problems is tricky and we need to be sure we understand what the question is asking.  We will be wrapping up this unit next week.

Science:  We finished our Changes in Motion unit by doing a fun experiment involving a race track, mass, friction, gravity, and a few different variables!  This unit was a ton of fun and the kids loved it.

Social Studies: This week we began studying the economy of Michigan.  We have learned about natural resources, capital resources, human resources, economics, and entrepreneurs.  This unit has a lot of terminology so I do my best to make it "real" to the kids.

Hope to see many of you at fun night!
Lynae

March 2, 2018

Upcoming Dates/Reminder:

• Reading minutes are due on Monday.  Math homework is due on Friday.  
• You may have noticed Spanish homework this week.  Our new Spanish teacher, Mr. Westendorp, is sending a bit home from time to time.  We will record this in our homework folders.  
• March 9 (Friday)- Family Fun Night.  A green form went home today explaining the evening and what you can expect.  Third graders are asked to contribute full size candy bars for prizes for games that evening if you are able.  If you are able to help in other ways, please sign up at http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090848abad2ea31-funnight1
• March 16 (Friday)- End of the 3rd quarter
• March 23 (Friday)- Report cards go home.
• Conferences:  You will be able to sign up for conferences starting on Monday, March 5.  Conferences will be held on Monday, March 26 and Wednesday, March 28 from 4:00-8:00.  Time slots are in 15 minute increments.  I look forward to meeting with all of you!
• March 30- Spring Break begins

Curriculum Highlights:

Bible: This week we became Israelite children and started keeping a journal of our journey from Egypt to Canaan.  We are busy recording what it was like to leave Egypt and experience the passover.  We also did a reader's theater about crossing the Red Sea.  Our new Bible memory is Matthew 28:1-10.

Literacy:  We are so busy gathering research on our animals, placing this information into a correct graphic organizer, writing a rough draft of a chapter, editing, and then completing a final chapter.  This is a HUGE process and the entire book is going to take us up to spring break.  So much reading and writing is occurring all morning long and it truly is amazing to watch.

Science:  This week we talked about Isaac Newton and his laws of motion.  We experimented with his theories a bit by coming up with several experiments dealing with mass, variables, force, and friction.  We had so much fun!

Math:  We are busy working through word problems in math.  We are figuring out what operation we need to use, how to write equations with variables, and starting to notice extra or hidden information.

Devotions:  Thank you to Ezra and Brooke for leading us this week.

Hemlock Crossing:  We had a great day with awesome weather!  We went on a fun nature hike, became skull detectives, and even ate lunch outdoors.  Enjoy the photos!

Have a great weekend!

Lynae