Week of November 2-6

 Hello Everyone!

Wow -- November already! As we're coming to the end of the first quarter, conferences will be coming up. Look for more information for those to be coming soon. They will be November 12th and 17th, and they will be held virtually this year. 

Coming Up:

November 3: Red, White, and Blue Day

November 11: Picture Retake Day

November 12: Virtual Conferences/Book Fair

November 17: Virtual Conferences/Book Fair

November 25-27: NO SCHOOL

Curriculum:

Math: This week we'll start learning about what area is and why it makes sense to use multiplication to find the area of a rectangle. Students will find this out on their own by working through some problems and really understanding what area is! 

Writing: We will start one more piece of writing that we are an expert on this week. Feel free to talk with your child about topics they could write about and what they're going to do to make this piece of information writing their best yet. 

Reading: Readers have been enjoying reading biographies so much!! We're learning that when we read narrative nonfiction, like biographies, we should read it as a story (thinking about character traits, motivations, struggles, lessons learned) AND read it as information (what are the main ideas and supporting details.) 

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

Jenny Kocourek and Hannah Raasch

Week of October 26-28

 Hello Everyone!

It will be a short week coming up! It is also Red Ribbon week...and I MAY not be there all of the days. We will have to wait and see when baby decides it is time to come into the world :) As that transition may or may not be happening this week, Ms. Raasch will be there with the class and will pick up right where I left off. Please feel free to reach out to her if you have any questions or concerns. (raaschh@kaukaunasd.org). I'm sure you will hear from your child if I am not there. I appreciate all of the well wishes and thoughts I have received over the past month, and I'm looking forward to sharing some pictures of baby when I can! 

Reminders:

• Check out the dress up days again for this short week!

Coming Up:

October 26-28: Red Ribbon Week!

October 26: Wear Your Favorite Sweats/Team Apparel 

October 26: Baby Kocourek is due! Stay tuned to see when baby arrives :) 

October 27: Wear Flannel/Plaid/Checkered Clothing

October 28: Deck Yourself Out in ORANGE Apparel! OR Wear a Costume!

**Costumes should be school appropriate. We also ask that the student's face is not entirely covered. 

October 29: NO SCHOOL

October 30: NO SCHOOL

November 3: Red, White, and Blue Day

November 11: Picture Retake Day

Curriculum:

Math: We're learning more and more about multiplication and division each day. This week, we'll really focus on multiplication with 10's and 9's and how they are related. If you're looking for a fun math trick-or-treating activity to do on one of the days off, here's a slideshow! 

Writing: Writers have been working on explaining their facts in their information books. We'll be using some checklists to be sure we included everything we know how to do into our writing to make it our best yet!

Reading: This week we'll begin reading biographies in reading. Ask your child who they are learning about and the important things they are learning about that person. 

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

Jenny Kocourek 

Week of October 19-23

Hello Everyone!

Students have been LOVING learning about the world, different countries, and our state in researcher's workshop! Feel free to continue these conversations at home. They love to hear about different places and find them on a map. We even explored Google Earth this week too!

Reminders:

• Check out the Homecoming Week dress up days below! Some dress up days have changed since last week
• If you are looking to do some fall cleaning and get rid of clothes your child has grown out of, our Health Office is taking donations. They are in need of all sizes of pants, but especially sizes 8-10. 
• It's starting to be quite chilly in the mornings. Please remind your child to be bringing a jacket or sweatshirt, as it is usually still cold for at least their first recess. 
• Handbook forms were sent home this week. If you haven't yet, please sign and return them!

Coming Up:

October 19: Pajama Day

October 20: Purple/NDLC Wear

October 21: Crazy Sock Day

October 22: Crazy Hair/Hat Day

October 23: Kaukauna Spirit! Wear Kaukauna Gear/Black and Orange

October 26-28: Red Ribbon Week!

October 26: Wear Your Favorite Sweats/Team Apparel 

October 26: Baby Kocourek is due! Stay tuned to see when baby arrives :) 

October 27: Wear Flannel/Plaid/Checkered Clothing

October 28: Deck Yourself Out in ORANGE Apparel! OR Wear a Costume!

**Costumes should be school appropriate. We also ask that the student's face is not entirely covered. 

October 29: NO SCHOOL

October 30: NO SCHOOL

November 3: Red, White, and Blue Day

November 11: Picture Retake Day

Curriculum:

Math: We've been working hard at really understanding what multiplication means! Here's a link to a video about multiplication and how it progresses over the years for students. It is 6 minutes long, but the first 3 and a half minutes is talking specifically about third grade. 

Writing: I was so impressed with how much our writers improved in their small moment stories! They really tried to get the reader to feel like they were right there with them in their story. Check out Seesaw to hear your child's latest story! Next week we will start drafting our information (all-about) books and thinking about how to structure or organize them in a way that makes sense. 

Reading: Readers have been learning so much and teaching so much! A big goal for this unit is to have students think about the main idea of a chunk that they're reading or a chapter. For example, instead of saying the topic -- "frog's bodies," we want students to say the main idea -- "frog's bodies help them survive." 

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

Jenny Kocourek 

Week of October 12-16

Hello Everyone!

Today Miss Raasch joined us again in our class so she could get a feel for what the schedule looks like on a typical day with me being here and get to know the students even more. Starting on Monday, she will be with our class in person, and I will be with our class virtually. I will still be instructing the class, meeting with small groups, and conferring individually with students -- up until baby comes! It is just recommended that I quarantine to protect myself, baby, and hospital staff since I am so close to my due date. It breaks my heart that I can't be with our class in person, but I know they are in good hands with Miss Raasch here. I am hoping that this will also make the transition easier for students when I am away on maternity leave. Miss Raasch and I are in communication each day, so feel free to email me or Miss Raasch (raaschh@kaukaunasd.org) with any questions that you have. 

Reminders:

• If you are looking to do some fall cleaning and get rid of clothes your child has grown out of, our Health Office is taking donations! They are in need of all sizes of pants, but especially sizes 8-10. 

Coming Up:

October 12: Miss Raasch will be here! 

October 26-28: Red Ribbon Week!

October 26: Wear Your Favorite Sweats/Team Apparel 

October 26: Baby Kocourek is due! Stay tuned to see when baby arrives :) 

October 27: Wear Flannel/Plaid/Checkered Clothing

October 28: Deck Yourself Out in Red Apparel!

October 29: NO SCHOOL

October 30: NO SCHOOL

Curriculum:

Math: This week, we'll fix up mistakes on our math test and start the next unit -- Multiplication and Division! It is important that students understand what multiplication means... "groups of" or "rows of." To help with this, we will read an equation like 4 x 5 as "4 groups of 5" or "4 rows of 5." Even though mathematicians do use the word "times," we won't be using that until we have a solid understanding of what multiplication means. 

Writing: This week we'll show off all we learned in our Small Moment Narrative unit! Then, we'll begin our next writing unit that aligns with our current reading unit: information! Students will be writing books on topics they are already an expert on (being a sister, NDLC, different areas of the playground, etc.) 

Reading: Students should be reading fiction (stories) at home for homework each night. Even though we are in an information unit, we don't want them to lose their stamina and skills they learned in fiction reading! 

Check out some pictures from this week: Students making their Reading Notebooks their own and receiving their dictionaries donated from the Kaukauna Elks Club!

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

Jenny Kocourek 

Week of October 5 - 9

Hello Everyone!

This week we talked a bit about recess. I know this year is tricky with needing to stay in a certain area with just our class when we are out there. We talked about things that we should say, and things that might make someone not feel good at recess (check out what we came up with here.) Because we have such a limited number of friends to hang out with at recess, I told students that if want to play alone, that is always okay. However, if they're playing with friends and someone asks to join, then it is kind to say yes. Feel free to extend these conversations at home and let me know if there's anything I should know. 

Reminders:

• If you ordered Kwik Trip gift cards, they should have come home today. Be sure to check your child's backpack!

• Here are three easy ways you can support NDLC:  

• Download the app and select New Directions Learning Community. Buy participating items online or at the store. Scan your receipt. Every item you buy earns 10 cents for NDLC.
• Download the app and select New Directions Learning Community as your Fundraiser. When you shop, buy eGiftcards and scan local receipts through the app. NDLC receives a percentage of each sale. 
• Start your shopping at smile.amazon.com. Choose to support New Directions Learning Community. Most purchases sand 0.5% back to NDLC at no extra cost to you. *Make twice the impact: Buy Amazon gifcards through HuTerra, then shop through AmazonSmile! 
• These programs are coordinated by NDLC's Parent-School Committee (PSC). Please join us. Email NDLC.PSC@gmail.com for more information

Coming Up:

October 26: Wear Your Favorite Sweats/Team Apparel 

October 27: Wear Flannel/Plaid/Checkered Clothing

October 28: Deck Yourself Out in Red Apparel!

October 29: NO SCHOOL

October 30: NO SCHOOL

Curriculum:

Math: Whew, students have been working so hard this unit! We've practiced rounding to the nearest ten and hundred and using lots of different strategies to solve 3-digit addition and subtraction problems. This week, we'll be reviewing before we take our very first test! I will send home a review with students Monday - they should work on it a little bit each night. This is just to help them see the format of the test (the review is VERY similar) so that when they get to the test, they're confident and think, "I got this!" Please just have your child stop and let me know if the review is not feeling good at home--I want this to be a positive experience for your child, not a stressful one!

Writing: We'll be writing our last small moment story in this unit! You can ask your child the story they are writing -- have them storytell it to you! Storytelling and rehearsing is a great way to get kids to write their story bit by bit, adding in all of the details of exactly what people said, did, or thought. Acting out a story can be even more fun! :) 

Reading: We will finish our first "Reading Life" unit this next week! We'll be celebrating just how much we've learned and dive into our next unit: Information! Check out a video here that explains what we'll be learning next. 

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

Jenny Kocourek