Gingerbread Houses

On Wednesday morning, December 21, from 8:30-10:00, 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 let me know via the Signup Genius on the top of the blog so that Chris and I can plan on your help.

Thanks so much,

Lynae

November 11

Upcoming Dates/Events:

• Book Order- I will submit the class book order on November 18.  If you care to order simply click on the Scholastic link at the top of the blog.  It will allow you to order at any grade level.  Please let me know if you want the books for a Christmas gift and I will be sure to not send the books home with your child. :)
• November 16 (Wednesday)- We will be singing to the Residents at Resthaven on 40th.  We will be signing from 1:00- 1:30 (approximently).  Feel free to meet us there and sing along!
• November 23 (Wednesday) - No School due to Staff Development
• November 24-25- Thanksgiving Break
• December 5-16- Swimming lessons at the Aquatic Center.  We will be swimming from 1:25-2:10.
• Reading Minutes due Monday.
• New Word Work will be given on Monday with a test on Friday.
• Book Fair 2016!! Come to Pine Ridge and get some Christmas shopping done early and support our schools libraries!!! The book fair will be held Wednesday the 16th from 10-4, Thursday the 17th from 9-4, and Friday the 18th from 9-4. Credit cards, Checks, and cash are all accepted. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Val Nyhof @ valnyhof@hotmail.com Thank you so much for supporting our young readers and library!!
• Positive Options:  Instead of a student gift exchange for Christmas, Pine Ridge has chosen to collect baby items to give to Positive Options.  A list of items that are needed came home today.  We will hold a special chapel in December where we bless this organization with the items we have collected.

Curriculum Highlights:

Reading:  This week we did a lot of work with post-it notes and becoming more detailed in our "stop and jots."  We created a bookmark to help us remember how to use post-it notes and then spent time practicing this skill.  We also did some comparing/contrasting with the two different read aloud books we have read in class.  

Writing:  We have finished trying on stories for our second personal narrative and committed to a story that we want to write.  Each student has completed a story mountain and will bring this home on Monday.  Have them share his/her story with you with as much detail as possible.  The more we tell our stories, the more we will remember and have to write!

Math:  Measurement has taken over in Math!  We learned how to measure to the 1/4 inch, and now we are busy learning about liquid volume and weight.  Words like pints, gallons, ounces, milliliters, and grams are becoming common words in our classroom.  Our Math is very "hands-on" as we learn what these words mean.  All of this measurement comes back to word problems and we continue to read carefully.

Social Studies: We focused on natural resources this week.  We learned about how we use natural resources in Michigan dealing with land, water, and vegetation.  We looked at places like the salt mines in Detroit and the iron mine up north on Google Earth and talked about the positive and negative consequences of using the natural resources in Michigan. 

Bible: Abraham and Sarah were given Isaac this week in our Bible reading!  We see how God was faithful to Abraham and Sarah and we also see how he kept his promises to Hagar and Ishmael.  We read about Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed and talked about how God desires for a close relationship with us, but we are given the choice to choose this.  We saw how our lives are so much fuller when we spend time with God and choose to let him lead us.  

Have a wonderful weekend!
Lynae

November 4

Upcoming Dates/Reminders:

• Book Orders- I sent home a couple of flyers today in case you are interested in ordering.  If you want the books for a Christmas gift, let me know and I will make sure not to send them home with our child.  You may send a check to school (made out to Scholastic) or order online by using the Scholastic link at the top of the blog.  Ordering online will offer you more choices as well as the option to order from different grade levels.
• Clorox Wipes- We are starting to run low on these.  If you are willing to pick up some for our class, I would greatly appreciate it!
• Conferences- I look forward to meeting with all of you this coming week. I will do my best to carefully follow the time slots you signed up for so everyone's time is respected.
• Resthaven Singing- The 3rd graders will be walking to Resthaven on 40th Street on Wednesday, November 16 to sing to the residents.  Feel free to come join us!  We will be there from 1:30-2:00.
• Word Work-New words will come home on Monday with a test on Friday.
• Reading Minutes- Due Monday
• Psalm 100- Many students have already said this.  If your child still needs to do so, I will have them say it to me by Friday, November 11.
• November 23- No school due to Staff Development
• Noevember 24 and 25- No School for Thanksgiving Break
• Swimming Lessons- December 5-16.  We will be at the pool from 1:25-2:10.

Curriculum Highlights:

Reading: We finished reading our read aloud Because of Winn-Dixie this week and have been busy relating to the characters in the story.  We have also compared and contrasted this book to another book written by the same author.  Everyone is GROWING as a reader and in how they respond to their book!

Writing:  We have been brainstorming topics for our next personal narrative.  The students have looked at several different types of writing and have a good idea of what they want to try in their next writing piece.  We also had a writing share with  Mrs. DeZwaan's class.

Math:  We took our Math test on Tuesday!  Our next unit is on measurement, time, and graphs.  We began measurement this week by measuring to the nearest 1/4 inch.  Keep practicing those Math facts at home!  They will be coming back with multistep word problems!

Bible:  We continue to follow Abram as he moves to the land of Canaan.  We see his deep faith and trust in God.  This week we learned how God changed Abram's name to Abraham and we learned the importance of this.  We also looked up the meanings of our own names and created a keynote on them.  

Social Studies: We learned this week about natural characteristics of Michigan with the different bodies of water.  We also looked a human characteristics of Michigan by examining bridges, tunnels, and highways that are in Michigan.

Blessings,
Lynae

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