LAST WEEK of 3rd Grade!

And just like that...we're down to the last two and a half days of third grade. It's been absolutely wonderful getting to share this year with each and every one of your children. It has been my smallest and yet most unique group yet (which is what has made this year so great!) It's hard to believe they're about to be 4th graders, but I know they are ready. 

Things to Know:

-iReady score reports went home this week. Please let me know if you have any questions or need another copy. 

-Report cards will be ready for your viewing on June 3rd through the parent portal

-There are extra yearbooks on sale in the office for $9.50 if you did not order one and would like one. Just let me or Ms. Quinn know! 

-If you would like to, you can put your contact info here to stay in touch with others over summer. This is only shared with our third grade class. 

-Please make sure your child empties their backpack each day this week. They have a lot to bring home! :)

May 30: NO SCHOOL

May 31: Mini Courses led by 4th graders (your child is welcome to bring a hat/sunscreen as some activities will be outside)
May 31: Timber Rattlers Game at 6:40pm

June 1: Students get yearbooks (if ordered)
June 2: LAST DAY and 11:30 Release

**Mark your calendar!! Sunday, August 7 from 6-8pm will be our back to school pool party at the Kaukauna Pool!**

And finally... a whole bunch of pictures from this past week! :) 

 

LAST WEEK of 3rd Grade!

You guys! We had a whole class conversation after finishing our read aloud book, The Hundred Dresses. It teaches a great lesson - be sure to ask your child about it if they haven't told you yet. But anyways, before we started talking, I told the class, "If you're the kind of learner who likes to write down what others say to remember, then you can bring your notebook." Check out what happened as our conversation begun! 

I had to take a picture because EVERY SINGLE STUDENT was so determined to listen and write down their classmates' thoughts! Ugh. I am going to miss them all!!!!

 Reminders:

• iReady score reports went home this week. Please remember that this is just one piece of data, one way to assess your child's academic growth in the areas of reading and math, but it does not show all ways that your child has grown or all the ways your child is wonderful. 

• Your child should be bringing notebooks and other school supplies home today and next week Tuesday (we have some major cleaning and organizing scheduled!) 

• Thursday: hot lunch option will be Turkey and Cheese on a bun with Sun Chips, fruit, and milk

Coming up:

Monday, May 24: 

Dress Like Your Teacher

Tuesday, May 25: 

Vacation Wear

Wednesday, May 26: 

Dress Like a Superhero

Field Day in the morning

Field trip to Thousand Islands in the afternoon

Thursday, May 27: 

We love NDLC - Wear Red or Purple

Mini courses taught by 4th graders

Friday, May 28: 

Wear Your Favorite Outfit

11:30 Dismissal - LAST DAY 

Curriculum:

We'll wrap up the year with some fun academic challenges to keep us motivated to read, write, and problem solve over the summer!

Check out the fun from this week:

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns for your child over summer. 

Jenny Kocourek

May 17-21

Reminders:

• We get to go on a field trip to Thousand Islands!! The pink forms went home today (Friday.) Please sign and return the form by Friday, May 21st

• We also get to have yoga with Mrs. McEneany! Please send a towel with your child this week so they can use that as a mat

• Library books are due this week. Have your child be checking in the backpack and at home so they can turn them all in by Wednesday. 

Coming up:

May 17: Pajama and Stuffie day (stuffed animal should be able to fit in your child's backpack!) 

May 18: Wear Red

May 19: Wear Green

May 19: All library books are due!

May 19 & 20: End of Year math test 
May 20: Beach Wear

May 20: Yoga with Mrs. McEneany

May 21: Tie Dye Wear

May 24: Dress Like Your Teacher

May 25: Vacation Wear

May 26: Dress Like a Superhero

May 26: Field Day in the morning

May 26: Field trip to Thousand Islands in the afternoon

May 27: We love NDLC - Wear Red or Purple

May 27: Mini courses taught by 4th graders

May 28: Wear Your Favorite Outfit

May 28: 11:30 Dismissal - LAST DAY 

Curriculum:

Math: We'll wrap up this year by reviewing ALL that we learned... which is a ton! Your child has so much to be proud of. Then we'll take the end of year math test. 

Writing: Our writers will choose one of their fairytales to storytell to a 4K student! We'll make sure our story fits our audience and then practice storytelling. 

Reading: We are loving our read aloud, The Hundred Dresses. It is a great story about bullying and how our actions can affect others. We'll keep thinking deeply about our social issues and how characters handle them differently. 

Check out some fun from this week!

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Jenny Kocourek

May 10-14

Third grade is a big year for taking tests, but luckily for your child, the end is in sight! Our last "chromebook" tests are this week. I told students that as long as they try their best that's what matters. And if they try their best, we will celebrate with watching a movie on Friday :) 

The movie they chose was Hotel for Dogs, a movie about two kids who take in stray dogs at a vacant hotel. It is rated PG. Please let me know if you have any concerns with your child watching the movie.

  Reminders:

• We have our pet supplies drive this week! Refer to the pink note sent home for questions on what can and cannot be donated

Coming up:

May 10-14: Animal Supplies Drive

May 11: Reading iReady Test

May 13: Math iReady Test (AKA, the last chromebook test of the year!) 

May 14: Testing Celebration

May 19: All library books are due!

May 28: 11:30 Dismissal - LAST DAY 

Curriculum:

Math: We've been working all week on solving word problems, and today students even made their own little lists on what they do when they get a problem. Be sure to ask them about it. Some had 4, 5, or even 16 steps to solve! 

Writing: This week we talked about having little writing "cabins" where we can do our work to meet our deadline. This second fairy tale adaption is due Thursday. You can check in to see where your child's at in the writing process. 

Reading: We started our social issue clubs. Be sure to talk to your child about the issue they are learning more about and how they can use this knowledge to live their lives differently.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Jenny Kocourek

May 3-7

I can't believe it's May and the LAST month of school, the last four weeks of third grade for your child! 

Reminders:

• It's a good time to remind your child to go through their backpack! Some students have been emptying their winter weather gear (or other miscellaneous stuff) from their lockers to take home.

Coming up:

May 11: Reading iReady Test

May 13: Math iReady Test (AKA, the last chromebook test of the year!) 

May 28: 11:30 Dismissal - LAST DAY 

Curriculum:

Math: We'll continue working on word problems. As they get trickier and involve more steps to solve, we will work to break them down so they do not seem so overwhelming. 

Writing: Has your child told you about their fairy tale adaptation yet? Ask them to! In the middle of the week, students will be writing another one, but this time they get to choose any fairy tale to change. This might be a fun time to storytell with them of some fairy tales (Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Hansel and Gretel, etc.) 

Reading: Our readers have been thinking deeply about their books and what lessons the story is trying to teach -- yup, they were searching for more than one lesson as they read! To continue push your child's thinking at home, you could ask, "What lesson is your book trying to teach? What makes you think that? Are there any other lessons?" 

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Jenny Kocourek

Last Week of April!

We started our last round of "shares" this week. Our class decided that one person will share each day, and that person gets to sit in our fancy chair for the day! We also got new classroom jobs today -- be sure to ask your child which jobs they applied for :) 

Reminders:

• It's a 4 day week this week!

Coming up:

April 27: Math Forward Test

April 28: Math Forward Test

April 30: NO SCHOOL

Curriculum:

Math: We've been working really hard at understanding word problems and writing an equation that matches. When students understand a problem, they are more likely to realize if their answer is unreasonable. For example, if the problem is: There are 50 girls at Y-Care and some boys. There are 110 children at Y-Care. How many boys are there? When we work to understand this problem, we know that there would have to be less than 110 boys, so an answer more than that could not be correct. This is the kind of thinking we hope to see from all of our mathematicians. 

Writing: We're starting a new unit: Fairy Tales! For our first week, students get to choose if they want to adapt Little Red Riding Hood or Three Billy Goats Gruff. Storytelling these stories, and their adaptations, will help your child greatly in their writing.

Reading: We are also starting a new unit in reading as well. This one is all about social issues (we describe this to kids as "people problems") We begin this unit getting our readers to see the life lessons that books teach us -- not just a lesson that the character learns, but something anyone could learn after reading the book. Feel free to ask your child, "What life lesson did you learn from that book?" 

Check out the 4K students storytell Three Billy Goats Gruff to us! 

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Jenny Kocourek

April 19 - 23

We have our first two Forward tests this week Tuesday and Thursday. Hopefully students will be able to get a good night's rest the night before so they're ready to go for the tests!

Reminders:

• If you didn't get a chance to turn in the surprise "Forward" encouragement note to your child, please send it in Monday. Make sure you seal it up so no sneaky eyes get to see! :) 

• If your child would like to practice the Forward tests at home, they can here. They would just click on the Online Tools Training or Item Sampler, Grade 3, ELA or Math. You might talk to your child about what tools (line guide, highlighter, sticky notes, cross out, etc.) they plan to use and which ones were distracting for them.

• We started practicing cursive this week! Ask your child how they like it! 

Coming up:

April 18: Sunday at 12:00 PM Summer School registration begins

April 20: Reading Forward Test

April 22: Reading Forward Test

April 27: Math Forward Test

April 28: Math Forward Test

April 30: NO SCHOOL

Curriculum:

Math: We're on to our FINAL math unit -- wow! This one wraps up the year nicely with Word Problems. Students now need to decide which operation to use (multiplication, division, addition, or subtraction.) Their Unit 7 Test did go home this week; make sure you ask to see it! 

Writing: We have one more week of getting in some grammar concepts. We'll be talking about word parts, nouns, and proper nouns.

Reading: We have our Reading Forward tests this week! We'll also learn some ways to comprehend what's happening or what we're learning when we listen to reading. 

Check out some of the fun from this week!

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Jenny Kocourek