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!