We had a great Field Day, and the 3rd graders made some awesome dioramas!  Enjoy your summer!  Hope to see you at Summer Reading!!!

 

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Thanks again for your support of the Walk-a-Thon.  It was a super fun event!  The students had a lot of enthusiasm (and some good dance moves) during the walk, but I was most impressed with how they cheered on the 2nd graders afterwards.  This is a special group!  They are kind, encouraging and good to others.  I was really proud of them!

 

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NEXT WEEK IN 3rd GRADE

Math–We are finishing off the year with everyone’s favorite – two-step word problems!!!  I will try to make it fun as we solve these tricky problems with some carnival game incentives.  The 3rd graders have learned all the skills to solve these problems.  It just takes some extra effort to put all the skills together!  We will do it!

Writing/Reading– This week we will finish up our animal research chapters and transfer them to a Google Slideshow.  You will be able to view their fine work through Google classroom.  Ask your student to show you!  We will also be working on our animal habitat dioramas.  It should be a great way to finish up this unit!

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SPECIALS

Check the calendar on the back of your child’s Take Home Folder.  The whole month of May is right there for you! You can also click this link!

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UPCOMING DATES

M-STEP part 1 is complete!  The 3rd graders did a great job focusing and doing their best.  I am so proud of all of them! There were a lot of comments about how it was “easy” or “not as tough as we thought!”  From the preliminary scores, I have heard they all did well! We will take on the math portion this week.  I am very optimistic that they will rock this part, too!

Thank you for your support of Park Elementary through the Walk-A-Thon fundraiser!  As a school we reached over $5000 last week!  Our class has raised $545!  Thank you!  Donations are accepted through May 21.  There are fun raffle prizes to win for students who bring in donations.

Everyone will participate on Friday in our Walk-A-Thon!  It will be a fun all school event!  I’ll upload photos for you!

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NEXT WEEK IN 3rd GRADE

Math–We continue to review all we have learned in math this year!  As we finish up 3rd grade math, we will focus on those pesky two-step word problems!  We will take the Math portion of the M-STEP this week!

Writing/Reading– We continue our Animal Research and focus on making sense of the notes we take as we research!  Our Reading and Writing are combined as we research animals in our Research Clubs.  We are also becoming great observers!  I love to hear and read the thoughtful observations these students are making about the world (nature) around them!  We took a mini-field trip to Hughs Park to find interesting things in nature!  Then they wrote about all the observations we made about the object we found!  Good stuff!

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SPECIALS

Check the calendar on the back of your child’s Take Home Folder.  The whole month of May is right there for you! You can also click this link!

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UPCOMING DATES

I can’t believe it is May!  I hope you all enjoyed the nice weather!  We have a really different kind of week at school with the M-Step testing on Wednesday and Thursday.  Please, please encourage your child to just do their very best!  I hope this does not add any stress to anyone! If your child seems overly worried about this test, please let me know.  We don’t want that at all!  We will fill in the time between test taking times with fun activities. I am anticipating that we will have a great week!

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Walk-A-Thon

The kick-off for the Park Elementary Fundraiser starts today!  Sign up here to become a member for TEAM KUNZI!

There are prizes just for signing up!  The highest fundraising class gets a party, and there are other raffle prizes for those who raise any amount!  

The Park Parent Club is also purchasing t-shirts for all students to wear on the day of the Walk-A-Thon. Please send back your t-shirt size!  T-shirts are $7.00.  We will have a shirt for all students.  Please send in your child’s size even if you are not able to pay the $7.00.  

Park Elementary will be having a Walk-A-Thon on May 14 during the school day.  Students can raise donations to support their walking!

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NEXT WEEK IN 3rd GRADE

Math–We will review all we have learned in math this year for the next two weeks.  We will take the Math portion of the M-STEP next week!

Writing/Reading– We continue our Animal Research with NEW animals this week!  Students are becoming experts! Our Reading and Writing are combined as we research animals in our Research Clubs (ask you child what they have learned about their club’s animal.). In Writing, students are using their new-found knowledge to write about these animals.

Test Prep – We are prepped and ready! 

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SPECIALS

Check the calendar on the back of your child’s Take Home Folder.  The whole month of May is right there for you!

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UPCOMING DATES

Please note:  I made a mistake on our M-STEP dates in the last blog post.  They are correct at the bottom of this page.  Sorry for any inconvenience!

The kick-off for the Park Elementary Fundraiser starts today!  Sign up here to become a member for TEAM KUNZI!

Park Elementary will be having a Walk-A-Thon on May 14 during the school day.  Students can raise donations to support their walking!  More information came home with students today!

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ANIMAL RESEARCH

During Reading and Writing this week, students have spent time researching an animal.  We took a little break today from reading and writing to learn to DRAW the animals!  They turned out great!  ArtHub on YouTube has so many fun directed drawings!

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NEXT WEEK IN 3rd GRADE

Math– Students will continue to solve problems using area and perimeter.  This week will focus more on word problems!  Your kids are ready to plot out your summer garden!

Writing/Reading– We continue our Animal Research with NEW animals this week!  Students are becoming experts! Our Reading and Writing are combined as we research animals in our Research Clubs (ask you child what they have learned about their club’s animal.). In Writing, students are using their new-found knowledge to write about these animals.

Test Prep – As we prepare for the M-STEP test in May, we will spend time the next few weeks reviewing test strategies.  This will be incorporated into our reading time as students practice the strategies in their own reading.  We hope this reduces any stress about taking the M-STEP and provides life-long test taking strategies!

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SPECIALS

Check the calendar on the back of your child’s Take Home Folder.  The whole month of April is right there for you!

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UPCOMING DATES

Did you hear about our March Madness Book Battle?  We pitted 16 picture books against each other and battled (voted)  it out for a winner.  The books were all fun!  Some were just funny, some taught us about amazing, brave people, and our winner taught us how special we each are and how amazing our world is!  Ask your child which book was their favorite and why!

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NEXT WEEK IN 3rd GRADE

Math– Last week students learned about different geometric shapes.  This week we will learn how to find the AREA and PERIMETER of those geometric shapes. We will have a qui on Friday to check for understanding of Area and Perimeter.

Writing/Reading– Our Reading and Writing are combined as we research animals in our Research Clubs (ask you child what they have learned about their club’s animal.). In Writing, students are using their new-found knowledge to write about these animals.

Test Prep – As we prepare for the M-Step test in May, we will spend time the next few weeks reviewing test strategies.  This will be incorporated into our reading time as students practice the strategies in their own reading.

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SPECIALS

Check the calendar on the back of your child’s Take Home Folder.  The whole month of April is right there for you!

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UPCOMING DATES

You should have received a letter home with your child about the upcoming M-STEP test for 3rd graders in May.  We hope to make this testing experience as stress-free as possible! The test has two parts – ELA and Math.  We will divide up the test into two weeks to spread our the testing times.  We will only test for two days a week and even those days we will resume regular school activities.  Encourage your child to show what they know on those testing days, but please do not worry about the test!  Feel free to email me with any further questions.

Have your heard about our Desk Pets???  Student earn “Michigan Bucks” throughout the day for their hard work, kindness, and for being respectful and responsible!  On Fridays, students can spend their “bucks” in the Pet Store!  It has been lots of fun!  Take a look!

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                                            HOMEWORK THIS WEEK

Homework will be coming home this week on Monday.  It will be Fraction Practice!!!  It will be due Friday!

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                                            DONATIONS NEEDED

We will be having a Winn Dixie Celebration March 31 to celebrate the end of our Reading Unit and the end of the book Because of Winn Dixie.  We will be watching the movie and eating some snacks that we read about in the story.

If you would like to contribute to the party, please sign up using this link!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0C4AAEAB22A1F49-because

Please send in donations by Monday, March 29!  Thank you!!!

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NEXT WEEK IN 3rd GRADE

Math– We working hard at understanding fractions!  Next week we will work on comparing fractions!

Writing– We are using all we know about Literacy Essays to now write essays about Non-fictions texts.  Students are doing great!!!

Reading- Our book clubs are going great!  Many clubs are already starting their second book together!

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SPECIALS

Check the calendar on the back of your child’s Take Home Folder.  The whole month of March is right there for you!  A copy of the calendar can be found here.

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SCHOLASTIC BOOKS

If your child was not able to purchase books at the Book Fair, but you would still like to order, follow these links!  Orders are due by March 31.

Shop Our Class Page: https://orders.scholastic.com/NMW4K

Shop Digital Flyers for Our Grade with Your Child: https://scholastic-clubs.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?i=691808

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UPCOMING DATES

Friday was an exciting day in 3rd grade!  Check out our Reading FORT photos below!  We also opened our Desk Pet Store!  It was a fun day!!!

 

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PARENT TEACHER CONFERENCES

If you have not yet signed up for Parent/Teacher Conferences, please click this link for directions to sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences.

Also, please fill out this link to a few quick questions to help me prepare for your child’s conference.  THANKS!

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                                            HOMEWORK THIS WEEK

Homework will be coming home this week on Monday.  It will be due Friday!

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                                            DONATIONS 

Thank you so much for the snack donations.  We are all set for a while!  Thank you!

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NEXT WEEK IN 3rd GRADE

Math– We are finishing up Unit 3 on Time and Graphing.  We will be taking our math test on Wednesday.  Our next unit is Fractions!!!

Writing– We continue to work on writing a great literary essay.  

Reading- This week we will start Book Clubs and have opportunities to discuss our books with friends.  The focus will be on the story elements starting with tracking the story as a mountain.

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SPECIALS

Check the calendar on the back of your child’s Take Home Folder.  The whole month of March is right there for you!  A copy of the calendar can be found here.

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SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

Who: Park Students (sorry, no adults this year)

What: Shop for awesome books for your own collection or to donate to the classroom!

When: March 9 & 10 during the school day

Where: The music room

How: Cash will be accepted, but if you don’t feel comfortable sending in cash with your student, check out Scholastic’s E-Wallet. Log in online and put money into an account that can be accessed by our cashiers. More information about our E-wallet option will be sent home soon! This feature will be available for our Book Fair starting February 16.

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UPCOMING DATES

We had another great week of learning.  As it continues to snow and the blahs of Michigan winter settle in, we are going to switch some things up in our classroom.  Next week we will start our Classroom Economy.  Our currency is Michigan Bucks.  Students can earn Michigan Bucks by doing their 3rd grade job!  This includes being responsible with their belongings, working diligently during our lessons, and being good citizens in our classroom.  The Michigan Bucks can be spent on Fridays in our Desk Pet store.  Students can buy pets and accessories for their desk pets (these are small little guys).  I hope this will be a fun way to inspire good behavior, work habits and add a little fun to our winter months.  The students are excited to start on Monday.

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                                            HOMEWORK THIS WEEK

Homework will come home on Monday and be due on Friday.  This is a pretty easy week in math as we are reading graphs!

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                                DONATIONS NEEDED   

We are in need of some individually packaged snacks for kids that don’t have snacks for snack time.  Granola bars, small bags of chips, etc. are great options.

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NEXT WEEK IN 3rd GRADE

Math– We will work on reading and creating different types of graphs this week.  We are still practicing TIME so feel free to ask your students to tell you the time, how many minutes until the next hour, what time you should leave for school so you won’t be late, etc.  Time is a hard concept!

Writing– We continue to read some great books and make claims or opinions about the story and characters.  We are working on organizing our evidence to construct an essay!

Reading- We are paying close attention to what the characters our characters do and say often.  We are looking for patterns of behavior.  We will also notice how characters change through the story.

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SPECIALS

Check the calendar on the back of your child’s Take Home Folder.  The whole month of February is right there for you!  A copy of the calendars can be found here.

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SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

Who: Park Students (sorry, no adults this year)

What: Shop for awesome books for your own collection or to donate to the classroom!

When: March 9 & 10 during the school day

Where: The music room

How: Cash will be accepted, but if you don’t feel comfortable sending in cash with your student, check out Scholastic’s E-Wallet. Log in online and put money into an account that can be accessed by our cashiers. More information about our E-wallet option will be sent home soon! This feature will be available for our Book Fair starting February 16.

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UPCOMING DATES

MONDAY, February 22 – Scholastic Orders Due. (extended through this weekend!)

Happy Valentine’s Day!  We celebrated Valentine’s Day and our Informational Writing this week.  Students toasted (with juice boxes) to their hard work and successful information books.  They read parts of each other’s books and left compliments.  Below are photos of some serious compliment writers!

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                                            HOMEWORK THIS WEEK

Homework will come home on Monday.  It will be practice for Elapsed Time.  Students may have different strategies to try to solve each problem.  Number lines, clocks, t-charts – all work!  If homework is too hard on Monday or Tuesday night, let them wait a few days.  We will be practicing all week in school!

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                                VALENTINE CELEBRATION   

Thank you for all the donations and fun Valentines that came to school this week.  We enjoyed them all!  We built candy hear towers, opened valentines from friends, ate yummy snacks, and made cute valentine creatures.  Check out some great photos below.  (We had masks off while we ate!  Usually the masks are on!)

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NEXT WEEK IN 3rd GRADE

Math– All the students can read an analog clock so we are moving on to Elapsed Time.  A great activity at home for the next few weeks to ask your child to figure out arrival times.   Practicing this at home will help so much!!!

            For example…We are going to the store and leaving at 4:10pm.                 It takes 12 minutes to get there.  What time will we arrive?

               OR  It takes 20 minutes to get to Grandma’s.  We need to be                            there by 5:15pm.  What time should we leave?

Writing– We have started a new unit on Literacy Essays!  That sounds big and scary but it really is fun.  We get to read a lot of great books and think about what we can learn from those stories.  We also will use our persuasive writing skills that we learned during our Opinion Writing Unit to persuade others to see our point of view.

Reading- We are paying close attention to what the characters in our books say and do this week!

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SPECIALS

Check the calendar on the back of your child’s Take Home Folder.  The whole month of February is right there for you!  A copy of the calendars can be found here.

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SCHOLASTIC BOOK FAIR

Who: Park Students (sorry, no adults this year)

What: Shop for awesome books for your own collection or to donate to the classroom!

When: March 9 & 10 during the school day

Where: The music room

How: Cash will be accepted, but if you don’t feel comfortable sending in cash with your student, check out Scholastic’s E-Wallet. Log in online and put money into an account that can be accessed by our cashiers. More information about our E-wallet option will be sent home soon! This feature will be available for our Book Fair starting February 16.

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UPCOMING DATES

Friday, February 19 – Scholastic Book Order Due

Friday, February 19 – Dentist Day – Please contact me or the office if this something that could benefit your child.