Final Post of 2017!

Hello Families,
It is unbelievable to me that this is the last week of 2017 with the kids in Room 23!  As always, things are moving along quickly.  We are learning a lot together and having fun along the way.  :-)

THANK YOU to Mrs. Siminovich and Mrs. Feld!  They visited our class (Mrs. Feld comes Tuesday - so no picture yet!) and taught us about the celebration of Hanukkah!  

Mrs. Siminovich reading about Hanukkah

This Thursday is the last day of the week, as Friday begins our holiday break.  On Thursday, I am planning a PJ and "Read In" day.  Kids should wear their cozy pajamas to school and bring some of their favorite books.  A blanket and favorite stuffed animal are good too (as long as they fit in a backpack!)  Kids will read together, alone, and with me.  There will be a little math and we will end our day with hot cocoa and a movie.  :-)

Curriculum Update:
Math: Unit 3 test is Tuesday.  We will do some other math activities Wed and Thursday and start Unit 4 after our break.  It covers measuring to the nearest inch, a review of quadrilaterals, and calculating area and perimeter of rectangles.

Evelyn and Delilah sharing reading strategies

Reading: We spent a week reading and comparing two texts, writing a claim from them and supporting it with evidence and reasoning!  Big thinking and big stuff!  :-)  We are alsoncontinuing to learn strategies for reading non- fiction text.
Writing: Persuasive writing has been our focus.  We are learning different ways elaborate on reasons that support an opinion including a micro-story and interviews.
Social Studies:  Using pizza as a focus, we are learning about the different products grown in MI and this week we will learn about the importance of location when developing a business, scarcity and opportunity cost.


Have a WONDERFUL holiday break!  Enjoy time with your friends and family and I look forward to seeing everyone in 2018!  

Week in Review, Dec. 4, 2017

Hello Families,
I'm looking forward to our meeting on Thursday, Dec. 14.  If you have not signed up for a conference time, please login to your skyward account and choose a time.  If you would like help, please let me know. I'm looking forward to discussing your child's strengths and goals for third grade! :-)

Commerce Elementary's Holiday Craft Night is on Dec 20.  Our classroom theme basket is "sports".  If you are willing to contribute a donation to the basket, please send it in with your child by Dec. 13.  Thank you! 


Curriculum Update:
Reading We practiced finding the main idea and details of an informational text.  
Writing: We analyzed different persuasive writing texts to prepare to write individual pieces.
Social Studies:  We finished up our unit on MI geography and prepared for the BA.  The BA is Wednesday.  
Math:  Our focus was on practicing different strategies to add and subtract multi digit numbers.

Practicing supporting an opinion with the "conversation game"

Go Noodle Brain Break 

Weeks in Review November 27, 2017

Dear Room 23 Families,

I hope you had a wonderful time with friends and family this Thanksgiving.  I had a GREAT time with mine and each year am reminded of how blessed I am.  I am thankful to be part of the Commerce Community and have the opportunity to work with your children every day!  

In addition to our regular learning last week, we had a visit from Science Alive.  The pictures below are a few highlights.  The kids always love this day, and we are thankful that our PTA provides us the opportunity to have the program visit each year. 

Making applesauce was a hit!  I'm happy to report that no one cut themselves on the plastic knives, the room smelled wonderful and the applesauce tasted delicious!  We enjoyed the applesauce before reading each others' finalized personal narrative pieces.  Ms. Carlin joined us and enjoyed reading the writing with us.  I will share your child's writing with you when we meet for conferences.

If you have not signed up for conferences, please login to your Skyward account and find a time that works for you.  Directions can be found in Ms Carlin's Commerce Connection.  Please let me know if you could use help with the sign up. 

Have a wonderful week!

Practicing Spelling Lists like "Michaelangelo"

Samantha and Isabelle practicing finding directions

More Michaelangelo Spellers

Science Alive!!!

Homemade Applesauce!

Week In Review November 12, 2017

Hello Families,

I hope you are all doing well.  We have been busy as always in Room 23!  I was really impressed with the learning that took place during our first science unit, Life Structures.  Thank you for reviewing the information with your child and helping them prepare for the BA.  They all did great!  

There will be a Math test on Wednesday covering Unit 2.  We are reviewing in class, and your child will bring home a completed and corrected review Monday night.  Thank you in advance for helping your child prepare for the math test.  

Curriculum Update:

Math: Division number stories, division arrays, frames and arrow patterns.

Science: Completed Life Structures unit and BA

Social Studies:  The geographer's theme of location, starting with our house and neighborhood

Reading: Finished our analyzing characters unit

Writing: revised and edited personal narratives

Please review your address and phone number with your child. Most of the kiddos didn't know either, and we talked about how important it is to know that safety information.  :-)

Coming soon will be an email to sign up for parent teacher conferences. They will be held on 

December 14. 

Have a wonderful week!

Week in Review November 5, 2017

Hello Families,

I want to give Laura Feld and our fantastic party committee a huge thank you! Our classroom Halloween celebration was a great success!  The kids had so much fun and it was a great way to follow up our school parade.  Mrs. Dubay has collect 9 full bins of candy to be donated to the troops!

We will finish the Science BA Review tomorrow and your child will bring home his/her Science Notebook and folder to have materials to review for the Science BA.  It is on Wednesday. Please remind your child to study for the test.


Curriculum Update:
Math:  Multiplication arrays and drawing pictures to help with division
Science: Bones of the human body, joints and muscles.  BA Review.
Reading: Analyzing Characters in our texts
Writing: Elaborating on events, and adding dialogue to personal narratives
Social Studies:  Writing letters to veterans

We still have a couple of crayfish looking for a new home.  If you would like one of them, email me ASAP.  They will go home on Wednesday with a teacher in the building who will release them in a nearby pond.

Our Veterans Day Project at Commerce is underway.  Please read Ms. Carlin's Commerce Connection for more information on how your family can contribute!  :-)  

Social Studies Request:  Please have your child memorize his/her address and one important phone number.  This safety information is part of our social studies unit and we will begin on Thursday of this week.

Have a wonderful week!  Don't forget....NO SCHOOL on Tuesday, November 7th.

Week in Review October 29, 2017

Hello Families,

I hope this update finds you doing well and with clean, running water!!!  I know the kids and I enjoyed our "snowless snowday" in October! :-)  

Tuesday is a half day, and it also Halloween.  Ms. Carlin sent an email with details about the day's events.  Your child should bring their costume to school to change into.  I will help the kids as much as I can, but with 27 of them, it would be helpful if they were able to get ready on their own.  :-)  Please see Ms. Carlin's email for more answers to common questions about the day. 

Curriculum Update:

Science:  We are finishing up our Life Structures Unit.  The BA will be on Wednesday November 8.  We will review in class this week and I will send home a review on Friday for you and your child to go over to prepare for the test.  
Math: Multi-step story problems were our focus last week, in addition to continuing to master the 2's, 5's, and 10's multiplication facts.  
Reading: We are analyzing characters in the books we are reading.  Small reading groups were started, and your child was placed in a group where he/she is learning specific skills and strategies at his/her reading level.
Writing:  The kids elaborated on their personal narrative stories, wrote engaging leads, and are adding language such as similes and transition words to make their writing as strong as possible.  
  

The end of Life Structures means a new home for our crayfish.  :-)  If you would like an addition to your family with one of our lovely crustaceans, please email me and let me know.  They are easy to care for, requiring water, and small tank, shelter, and fish food.

Have a wonderful week!  

Week in Review October 16, 2017

Hello Room 18 Families,

I hope you all had a great weekend, despite the crummy weather!  During our class meeting on Monday mornings, students share their most memorable event from the weekend.  It sounds like many of you had lots of fun! 

Curriculum Update
Readers' Workshop: We finished up what makes strong readers in third grade and are ready to begin a unit focusing on analyzing characters.  We also did some partner reading while looking for the theme of the story. 
Writers' Workshop: We continue to work on drafting our personal narratives by learning how to "show, not tell" about feelings in a story and to write as if there is a movie happening on the paper.
Math Workshop: We completed Unit 1 and took the first BA.  Unit 2 began covering number stories and the importance of analyzing a problem before attempting to solve it.  We have been learning and practicing strategies for multiplying by 2's, 5's, and 10's. 
Science:  We read about our amazing little crayfish and observed the closely to see body structures. We learned about the functions of the structures and how they help the animal survive in it's environment.

A Note about Math:  Last week, I sent home a family letter and homelinks for Unit 2.  This is for your information only.  It is a window for you to look ahead and see what we are covering in class.  If your child needs or would like extra practice, the homelinks are there for you.  ConnedEd is another resource to use if your child would like extra math practice. 

Pink Out!! This Thursday is Commerce Pink Out day!  Everyone is encouraged to wear pink on this day to show support for breast cancer research.  Every student that brings in $1.00 on Thursday will be given a special pink ribbon sticker.  

Have a wonderful week!

Week In Review October 8, 2017

Hello Families,
Wow!  What an AMAZING time we had at the Color Run on Friday!  It was so much fun seeing so many family members who were able to join us!  The kids had a blast!  Thank you to all who contributed to making the day such a tremendous success!

Reminder:  If you are ordering any books from Scholastic this month, your orders are due  by Friday, October 13.

Scholastic Book Club


Curriculum Update:

Reading: We continued to practice strong reading habits and began reading partnerships for talking about books and learning together.
Writing: We complete Iready testing.  This week we will get back to our personal narrative writing.
Math: We learned strategies for the basic multiplication facts for 2's, 5's, and 10's, how to make equal mass on a balance, and division as equal shares of a group.
Science: Observed and read about the germination process of the bean plant.  Crayfish observations! We also joined our garden club moms in the Commerce garden to save seeds and try fresh kale! 

Have a wonderful week!!!

Week in Review October 2, 2017

Hello Families,

Thank you to the families who have already turned in Color Run money!  PTA is asking that your donations are returned by this Wednesday, October 4.  On Friday, our class is scheduled for pictures at 1:55 with a warm up and run immediately following.  We will be done with our run at 2:35. Parent are welcome to meet us outside and join in the fun!  


Curriculum Update:
Reading:Strategies for solving unknown words and creating movies in our minds to improve comprehension
Writing: Our writer's workshop time was spent completing the Iready assessment for Reading.  We will do Math Iready this week.
Math: Bar graphs, multiplication strategies, new games to practice math skills
Science: Analyzed our bean seedlings, learned about germination, and the different structures of the seed and their functions.  Groups modified seeds found in our playground in order to disperse them in various ways.  Also, our crayfish were delivered!  Very exciting days in science this week!



BOOKS!! You can easily place Scholastic Book orders online using the link below.  Your child will bring home flyer today if you prefer to look at the flyer over the computer.  Orders will be delivered to our school and sent home with your child.  Orders are due October 13. 

                               Scholastic Book Club


                              

Have a wonderful week!
  

Week in Review September 22, 2017

Hello Families,

It's been really fun for me to see the excitement surrounding the Color Run at Commerce! Thank you to those who have already collected money for the run.  I'm looking forward to the big day!




As the class and I were discussing At Home Reading, someone mentioned a really cool book mark timer that they have.  It generated excitement for reading at home and many kids wanted to know where they could find one.  :-)  Here is an example of what we were talking about for anyone interested in purchasing one. Amazon, Target, and Meijer carried them at one point. 

Curriculum Update:
Reading: Developing strong reading habits
Writing:  Developing story ideas using various strategies
Math: Addition strategies, number lines, telling time and elapsed time
Science: Observing seeds, testing the effect water has on seeds, germination
Word Study: CVCe pattern (consonant, vowel, consonant, silent e) words

***The students are using a spiral notebook for word study.  If you have an extra you could send in, that would be great!

Have a great week!

Week in Review September 17, 2017

Hello Third Grade Families,

It was great seeing so many people last Wednesday for our curriculum night!  I zoomed through a lot of material!  If you were unable to come and would like some of the information given out that night, please let me know.  I will send it home with your child.

Curriculum Update:
Last week, Room 23 started learning about strong reading habits and ways that writers come up with story ideas.  In math we reviewed telling time, using number grids and number lines as math tools to help with counting, computation and rounding numbers.  We analyzed different strategies for adding numbers and we played a few games (as we will do everyday in math) that reinforce skills learned.  Our Life Structures science unit started out by investigating the inside of fruits (thank you for sending them in for us to use!).  We learned about the pod protecting the seeds of the fruits and were surprised that green peppers and tomatoes were actually not vegetables, but fruits!

PTA Membership
Last week, our PTA sent home information about all the amazing things they do for our school and how you can help!  Our goal is to have 100% of our families become members this year.  If you have not sent in $10 for your membership, please consider joining this week!  

First Week Back

Families,
What a great first week we had in Room 23!  Your children were respectful, hard working, and are eager to learn!  Some of the many highlights of our week included completing a STEM challenge activity building marshmallow towers with spaghetti noodles, thinking and writing about what makes us UNIQUE, working together to learn more about each other, sorting numbers in interesting ways, and so much more.

As we look ahead to next week, we will be diving into our first units in math, reading, writing, and science.  Please join me this Wednesday at 6:30 for curriculum night where you can learn more about what to expect this year in third grade.  :-)

Your child is your best resource for learning about what we do each day!  He/she will write our lessons in their planner and bring it home each night.  My hope is that they have an opportunity to share it with you daily.

Please contact me at katherineknapp@wlcsd.org anytime!

Have a wonderful week!  I look forward to seeing you in Room 23 this Wednesday at 6:30!  :-)

Request for Supplies and Kids Helping Kids

It was great to see so many of you at our Meet and Greet!  

I have a request...if you have any old newspapers laying around, we could use them in class next week for a math activity.  Please send in anything you have on Tuesday.  We will be cutting out numbers from the paper and sorting them. 

Commerce Elementary is collecting monetary donations to provide new books for a school that has been affected by Hurricane Harvey.  Our Kids helping Kids program will begin on the first day of school.  Kids can start bringing in coins right away!! Parents are also welcome to write checks made out to Commerce Elementary, noting in the memo section that it's for Hurricane Harvey.  Collections will run through Sept. 18th

I'm so very thankful to be part of such a kind, giving school community.  It's going to be a great year!  

Welcome to Third Grade!!!

Welcome Back Families!

I am looking forward to meeting you all very soon and getting to know your third grader!

I wanted to write a brief letter introducing myself to you.  I have taught elementary students for 19 years, the last l5 of which have been in Walled Lake Schools.  This is my second year teaching at Commerce and I am really excited to get started! I received both my undergraduate and master's degrees from Michigan State University.  GO GREEN!

While at MSU I was lucky enough to meet my husband, Scott, and together we have 2 daughters.  Abby (17) and Sam (15) are in 10th and 12th grade at Milford High School.

As we begin our journey through third grade together, please contact me with questions, concerns, and comments you may have.  I truly believe that we are partners in your child's education and open communication between us will ensure that he/she has a fantastic year full of a lot of learning and a lot of fun! 😃 

The BEST way to reach me is via email at katherineknapp@wlcsd.org. I check my email often and will respond quickly.  If you would like to meet in person or talk on the phone, please leave a message with the office and I will return your call as soon as possible to schedule a time that is convenient for both of us.  

I hope to meet many of your families on Monday, August 27 during our Back to School Meet and Greet!  I will be in our classroom, Room 23, from 3:30 - 4:30pm. Please bring in any school supplies you may have during that time. It will lighten the load for your third grader on Tuesday! In addition, the students will have desks this year, and therefore, most of the supplies that you graciously purchase will belong to your child (not a community supply). Feel free to label anything that you would like.  :-) 

**Please have your child bring a favorite book and a family picture to school on the first day.  We will be sharing both during the first week of school!

Have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,
Kathy Knapp