First week of February!

 Hi Everyone,

This week we all worked super hard on transitions. We were trying to move from one activity to the next as smoothly and quickly as possible. Feel free to talk with your child about what they did to make the transition time go quickly or anything else they could try to focus on the task at hand. I could tell they were really trying to focus on putting their materials away and getting ready for the next subject or activity, so props to them all on that!

Reminders:

• It’s a Penny War!  Student Council is sponsoring a Penny War from February 16th-19th to raise money for Pillars Warming Shelter. Students can bring in pennies to earn points for their own class and silver coins to subtract points from other classes. 

• Join our Read Aloud Family book club! Email me or Mrs. Steif (steifa@kaukaunasd.org) with any questions
• Valentine’s Day is coming up! As with a lot of things this year, we will be doing it a little bit differently. Although students are not allowed to bring in Valentines or treats from home, we will be celebrating by creating some Valentine cards in school and sending them to another class’ “mailbox.”
• Our next virtual Family Night will be March 4th from 5:30-6:30. Be looking for more info on that in the next few weeks!

Coming up:

February 1: Report Cards go home

February 9: The Read Aloud Family book club meeting at 8:00-8:30 pm

February 12: NO SCHOOL

February 15: NO SCHOOL

February 16: PENNY WAR THIS WEEK

Curriculum:

Math: This week we'll be talking all about time in math. Students are expected to be able to tell time from an analog clock to the minute. We also will practice elapsed time, or how long an activity takes from the start to end. You can practice this at home with you child by saying things like:

• What time is it now? How else could we say that? (8:15 is quarter after 8, 15 minutes after 8, 45 minutes before 9)
• If you wake up at 6:30 and get on the bus at 7:00, how long do you have to get ready?
• Right now it's 5:05 and supper will be ready in 20 minutes; when will we eat?
• If we want to watch a show at 7 o'clock and you need to get in your 20 minutes of reading homework before then, what time do you need to start reading by? 

Writing: We're going to be writing some more literary essays, this time really focusing on explaining our evidence to prove our opinions (thesis). Your child should be writing things like "This is important because..." "This shows that..." or "In other words, what this means is..." 

Reading: Our readers LOVE our read aloud book, Because of Winn-Dixie. Some things we're working on in our book clubs is deciding what the major problem is, seeing how the character's traits change, and following the character along the story mountain (the problem, the problem getting worse, the climax, and resolution.) Your child should be jotting some post its with this kind of  thinking in their books -- feel free to take a peek! 

Some students wanted to watch our Researcher's Workshop video on Jamestown again... if they ask, here it is! (If you need to sign in, the username is eqstudent and password is cougar.) 

Check out some pictures from NDLC week! 

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

Jenny Kocourek

Week of January 26-29

Hi Everyone,

Can you believe it’s already 3rd quarter and the start of the second half of the school year!? I’m excited to see how much more the students will grow this semester!!

Thank you for sharing your child with Miss Raasch for the past few months and allowing me to spend some time with my little chunk as well! Sending Aubrey to daycare makes me appreciate you all sending your child to school each day. Thank you!

Reminders:

• Pink confirmation forms went home this past week; please send them back with your child if you haven’t yet 
• Join our Read Aloud Family book club! Email me or Mrs. Steif (steifa@kaukaunasd.org) with any questions
• Valentine’s Day is coming up! As with a lot of things this year, we will be doing it a little bit differently. Although students are not allowed to bring in Valentines or treats from home, we will be celebrating by creating some Valentine cards in school and sending them to another class’ “mailbox.”
• We could use some more post its if you are willing to donate to our class! Any 3x3 (not the accordion style) post its would be great!

Coming up:

January 25: NO SCHOOL

January 26-29: CELEBRATE NDLC WEEK!

January 26: NDLC Wear

January 27: Twin Day (if your child would like to "twin" with me, I will be wearing all black!)

January 28: Class Color Wear - 3rd Grade Wears RED

January 29: Fancy/Special Dress

February 1: Report Cards go home

February 9: The Read Aloud Family book club meeting at 8:00-8:30 pm

February 12: NO SCHOOL

February 15: NO SCHOOL

Curriculum:

Math: We are starting our unit on fractions -- we're working hard to draw what a fraction looks like both on a fraction bar and also where it would be located on a number line. This helps students realize that fractions are just numbers and understand where they are in relation to whole numbers (close to one, greater than one, almost three, etc.) 

Writing: This unit we will be writing literary essays! These are just opinions we have about characters in the books we're reading. It is important for students to come up with an opinion (like a trait a character has or how a character changes) and back it up with evidence from the text. 

Reading: We'll continue to study characters and their traits, but now in book clubs! When your child is reading at home, feel free to ask them about some story elements in their book (Who's the main character? What's the problem? Solution?) 

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

Jenny Kocourek

Week of January 18-22

 Hello Everyone,

What a great time I have had with your children!  Mrs. Kocourek will be back on Wednesday.  It is also a short week.  On Friday, it is only a half day.  Let's have a great week! 

Coming up:

January 20: Mrs. Kocourek comes back

January 22: Half day

Join NDLC staff members and other NDLC parents and guardians in discussing the book The Read Aloud Family on Tuesday, Feb 9th from 8:00-8:30 pm.  The discussion will take place on Google Meet (a link will be sent prior to the meeting).  See below for a description of the book. The book can be purchased on Amazon or any other book retailer. 

The Read Aloud Family

Discover practical strategies to make reading aloud a meaningful family ritual.

The stories we read--and the conversations we have about them--help shape family traditions, create lifelong memories, and become part of our legacy. Reading aloud not only has the power to change a family--it has the power to change the world. 

But we all know that connecting deeply with our families can be difficult in our busy, technology-driven society. Reading aloud is one of the best ways to be fully present with our children, even after they can read themselves, but it isn't always easy to do. Discover how to:

• Prepare your kids for academic success through reading to them
• Develop empathy and compassion in your kids through books
• Find time to read aloud in the midst of school, sports, and dinner dishes
• Choose books across a variety of sibling interests and ages
• Make reading aloud the best part of your family's day

The Read-Aloud Family also offers age-appropriate book lists from infancy through adolescence. From a toddler's wonder to a teenager's resistance, you will find the inspiration you need to start a read-aloud movement in your own home.

Curriculum:

Math: Next week we are starting a new unit on fractions!  

Writing: We are finish up our persuasive writing unit this week. We are going to be revising our pieces and making sure they are ready to persuade our audience.

Reading: This week we are going to learn more about the elements of stories.  We are also going to look at all the characters and how even secondary characters are important to our story.

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

Jenny Kocourek and Miss Raasch

Week of January 11-15

 Hello Everyone,

It is hard to believe next week is my last full week with your children!  Mrs. Kocourek will be coming back on January 20th.  We do have a big week ahead of us though!  You should have seen the math review come home earlier this week for our math test on Tuesday.  We are also doing i-Ready testing on Wednesday for math followed by reading on Thursday.  

Coming up:

January 13: Math i-Ready testing

January 14: Reading i-Ready testing

January 20: Mrs. Kocourek returns

Join NDLC staff members and other NDLC parents and guardians in discussing the book The Read Aloud Family on Tuesday, Feb 9th from 8:00-8:30 pm.  The discussion will take place on Google Meet (a link will be sent prior to the meeting).  See below for a description of the book. The book can be purchased on Amazon or any other book retailer. 

The Read Aloud Family

Discover practical strategies to make reading aloud a meaningful family ritual.

The stories we read--and the conversations we have about them--help shape family traditions, create lifelong memories, and become part of our legacy. Reading aloud not only has the power to change a family--it has the power to change the world. 

But we all know that connecting deeply with our families can be difficult in our busy, technology-driven society. Reading aloud is one of the best ways to be fully present with our children, even after they can read themselves, but it isn't always easy to do. Discover how to:

• Prepare your kids for academic success through reading to them
• Develop empathy and compassion in your kids through books
• Find time to read aloud in the midst of school, sports, and dinner dishes
• Choose books across a variety of sibling interests and ages
• Make reading aloud the best part of your family's day

The Read-Aloud Family also offers age-appropriate book lists from infancy through adolescence. From a toddler's wonder to a teenager's resistance, you will find the inspiration you need to start a read-aloud movement in your own home.

Curriculum:

Math: Next week we are taking our unit test. You should have seen the math review come home earlier this week.

Writing: We are finish up our persuasive writing unit this week. We are going to be revising our pieces and making sure they are ready to persuade our audience.

Reading: We just started our new unit on character studies. We also started our new read aloud, "Because of Winn-Dixie," which we are all loving! In this unit we will be pretending the characters in our books are new friends that we are trying to learn about.

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

Jenny Kocourek and Miss Raasch