First Week of March!!

Hello!

I was just thinking, "how can it be March!?" but with the warmer weather this week, it is starting to feel like we're finally headed towards spring! With that means that our spring parent/teacher conferences are coming up this month as well. This is a great time to connect and set goals for the final quarter of third grade. Please feel free to reach out to me with any concerns or questions before then as well; I know the slotted conference time can go by so quickly.

Reminders:

• We'd heading into March with two exciting reading events, Read Across America Week and March Madness! 

• Check out the dress up days for Read Across America. Our class will also be studying an author (Cynthia Rylant). Ask your child about her! 
• Our March Madness reading bracket is an exciting time! Talk to your child about what their favorite books are and how our class book (The Dot) is doing in the bracket! 
• A link for Parent Teacher conferences should be coming out next week (second week of March.) 

Coming up:

READ ACROSS AMERICA WEEK

March 1: Parent Group Meeting (all are welcome, here's the link for the meeting!)

March 2: Read Across American Day -- Dress in USA Colors

March 3: Dress in Cozy Clothes 

March 4: Math Mania Family Night 5:30-6:30

March 5: NDLC Wear

March 8: Picture Re-take Day (the last chance!) 

March 23: Parent Teacher Conferences/Book Fair

March 25: Parent Teacher Conferences/Book Fair

March 26: 11:30 Dismissal

April 2: NO SCHOOL

April 5: NO SCHOOL

Curriculum:

Math: Area and perimeter were our key vocabulary words this week! We started with a problem in Aubrey's room -- replacing the carpet and baseboards. (Carpet as the area and baseboards as the perimeter.) You can help your child understand what these are by talking about where you see area (frosting on a cake, painting a wall, picture in a picture frame) and perimeter (border on a blanket, piping around a cake, frame of a tv, etc.)in your life.

Writing and Reading: We just started research on a new animal! Ask your child which new animal their club chose. We'll be researching and writing another book on this animal, this time using all they learned from the first cycle of research to help them research with more independence. 

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

Jenny Kocourek

February 22-26

Hello!

Check out some pictures of the future bakers, singers, you tubers, and more we have in our class!

Reminders:

• Roller blading is starting this Monday — remember to bring in elbow, wrist, and knee pads and a helmet!

Coming up:

February 24: Wear Purple and Yellow

March 4: Family Night

Curriculum:

Math: We'll spend a day fixing up our test mistakes, and then hop into the next unit on fractions and measurement! We’ll start by getting comfortable with area and perimeter. Be looking for the math test to come home at the beginning of the week. 

Writing and Reading: These will be together this unit! We are researching an animal on clubs, and then working together as a club to write a book on that animal. Be sure to ask your child what animal they’re becoming an expert on. They will also have some additional reading homework on Monday — they’ll need to use some “expert lingo” at home!

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

Jenny Kocourek

February 16-19

 Hi Everyone,

Another short week this week!

Reminders:

• We took our Unit 6 word study test this week. Be looking for them to come home this week Tuesday.

• 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. 

• If your child is looking for something to do over the long weekend, they can make a birthday card for our school nurse, Mrs. Geoffrey! Her birthday is this Tuesday. If you send me a picture of them with their card or note, I will add it to a slideshow surprise for Mrs. Geoffrey!
  

• 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 15: NO SCHOOL

February 16: PENNY WAR THIS WEEK

February 19: Dress Like Your Future Job!

February 24: Wear Purple and Yellow

March 4: Family Night

Curriculum:

Math: We're coming up to the end of this math unit! It's looking like the test will be this week Friday. To help your child prepare for the test, I will be sending home the Unit 4 Review on Tuesday. Students can work on it a little bit each night. Ways that you can help at home are giving your child some "test taking" tips, or having them explain some of their answers to you. If it gets too hard/causes tears, please just stop and let me know. I want this to be a positive experience for them going into the test, not the opposite. 

Writing: We're finishing our baby literary essays. We're making sure we explain our evidence to really convince our reader of our opinion. 

Reading: This week we'll have some assessments, and then we'll start our next reading unit -- Information! We'll be learning all about animals. Hopefully this is exciting for students :) At home, they should be doing a mixture of reading fiction and nonfiction for this unit. 

Check out some pictures from this week!

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

Jenny Kocourek

February 8-11

Hi Everyone,

Report cards and iReady score reports went home this week. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!

Reminders:

• This week we talked about appropriate snacks. I'm fine with anything "healthy" (granola bars, crackers, chips, etc.) but anything "candy" can stay at home or be saved for lunch dessert (candy bars, suckers, cake, etc.)

• 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. 

• We'll celebrate Valentine's Day this week! 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 9: The Read Aloud Family book club meeting at 8:00-8:30 pm

February 10: 100th day of school! Dress up like a 100 year old!

February 11: Wear Red/Pink/White

February 12: NO SCHOOL

February 15: NO SCHOOL

February 16: PENNY WAR THIS WEEK

March 4: Family Night

Curriculum:

Math: The last part of this unit focuses all on data and graphs. We'll first start by studying pictographs and bar graphs, making sure to take into account the key and scale! 

Writing: We're working on writing our second literary essay, making this one even better than the first by studying mentor texts and using checklists. 

Reading: We're coming to the end of this "Character Study" reading unit! To celebrate all of the hard work we put into studying our characters, we will be watching the movie Because of Winn-Dixie. It is rated PG. If you have any concerns about this, please reach out to me and we can make alternative plans for your child. 

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

Jenny Kocourek