Week before "Spring Break!"

Hi Everyone,

It was great to connect during conferences week. If there is anything else that you thought of afterwards that you're wondering, please don't hesitate to email me. 

Reminders:

• I know students were sad they missed out on the 2nd grade concert last year, so Mr. Collins and Ms. Gillis are working on getting a concert together this year! 3rd graders will be performing a concert on April 15th @8:00am during the school day. The performance will be virtual (live recording) as well as recorded for future viewing. Students are encouraged to dress up in something nice, avoid jeans and tennis shoes if possible. 

• Students at NDLC will be participating in an Egg Crack-off!
  Please send a hard-boiled egg in a container to school with your child on Thursday, April 1.  Eggs cannot have paint, crayon, marker, or film on them.
• A bright yellow KAT envelope went home this week.

Coming up:

April 1: Egg Crack-Off - 3rd graders wear BLUE

April 2: NO SCHOOL

April 5: NO SCHOOL

April 12-16: KAT Dress Up Days to be announced soon :) 

April 15: Spring Concert 

April 16: KAT (Knowledge-A-Thon)

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

Curriculum:

Math: Our mathematicians have had a blast comparing different units of weight and liquid volume! These are concepts that are so fun for kids to see at home as well (like, searching for the weight on soup labels, cracker boxes, soda cans, etc.). The next part of this unit is all about shapes. We'll start with triangles and angle measurements, and then see if we can come up with our own definitions of shapes (squares, rectangles, parallelograms, etc.) based on examples and non-examples of each.

Writing: We finished our information unit this week! Their final writing "test" will be coming home with a purple sheet stapled to it. On the sheet are some of the teaching points students learned this unit that they should have in their writing for it to be at "third grade" level. Next we're going to have an independent writing project where students get to choose what kind of writing to write -- information, opinion, or narrative! 

Reading:  We've been working on building up our reading stamina and even had a reading MARATHON on Friday to see how long we could read for! You should be seeing a reading log come home each night where students are writing the pages and amount of time they are reading (both at school and home.) 

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

Jenny Kocourek

March 22-26

 Hi Everyone,

Conferences are this week! I’m looking forward to connecting with you all about your child.

Reminders:

• 
  

• Please fill out this parent/teacher conference survey. if you haven’t yet. 
• If you’re interested in purchasing a book for our class library at the book fair, some popular picks I heard from students were:
• Baby Sitters Little Sister: Karen’s Worst Day
• Press Start
• Dragon Masters: Heat of the Lava Dragon
• Goosebumps
• Any series/book your child would like to see in our class library :)

Coming up:

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

April 12-16: KAT Dress Up Days to be announced soon :) 

April 16: KAT (Knowledge-A-Thon) 

Curriculum:

Math: We started talking about customary units of liquid volume (gallon, quart, pint, cup) and will talk more about metric (liters, milliliters) and weight (pound, ounce, gram, kilogram.) It can be fun to help kids see the connections at home:

-How many ounces of water does your bottle hold? How many cups would that be?

-Do you think this bowl will hold 2 pints or 2 quarts? Why?

-How much do you think this bag of chips weighs? Let’s find the weight on the bag!

Writing: We've been able to write our third and final information book with much more independence. Students chose to type them on Google Slides to create their book. We’ll get some feedback from partners and then finish by editing them. 

Reading:  Our researchers loved creating their projects to show off all they learned! The next unit we will begin is Test Prep, where we’ll help kids determine what kind of text they’re reading and provide some test taking tips.  

Our Project Managers in action!

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

Jenny Kocourek

Week of March 15-19

Hi Everyone,

The weather has been so beautiful this week! As it's getting closer to spring, you might want to help your child do some "spring cleaning" with their backpack. I'm noticing some of their backpacks hardly fit in their lockers! It would be helpful to remind them of anything that can stay at home, or of anything that has a place at school. 

Reminders:

• Please fill out this parent/teacher conference survey. This just helps me better prepare for our conference and make sure that we go over the things you would like to talk about. 

• Sign up for conferences if you haven’t yet! Let me know if you have any issues accessing the PTC Fast link. 

Coming up:

March 16: Unit 5 Math Test

March 17: Wear Green!

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

April 12-16: KAT Dress Up Days to be announced soon :) 

April 16: KAT (Knowledge-A-Thon) 

Curriculum:

Math: We'll take our math test this week! Hopefully your child is feeling confident going into the test. Let me know if there is anything we can do at school to help ease their nerves so they can show off all they know on the test. The next unit is on measurement and polygons.

Writing: Our writers will draft one more book as a club, this time comparing and contrasting their animals. I was so excited to see how many students wanted to bring home their writing for this weekend! Many of them chose to write graphic novels during our free write on Friday; be sure to ask them about it!

Reading:  We have been doing some BIG research work. Our readers have been asking questions, growing theories, and finding evidence for their theories. Next week we’ll wrap up this information unit and celebrate how much they’ve learned.

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

Jenny Kocourek

March 8 - 12

Hi Everyone,

This week our class decided we would rather fill out our homework and reminders on a paper calendar "agenda" or on a Google document, rather than on Google Calendar. (And they had great reasons for it!) So if a Google doc was shared with you, that is where your child will be writing their homework each day. If you didn't get a document shared with you, then your child should be coming home with a paper calendar. Either way, we liked the idea of having parents initial the day showing that you saw and they did their homework. Parents can also write/type me a note on there if there is something you'd like me to know. Some students asked if they could bring in their own planner/agenda. I am fine with this. But please know that they are NOT required to buy a planner! I will have a calendar agenda printed for any child who wants one each month. 

Reminders:

• Please fill out this parent/teacher conference survey. This just helps me better prepare for our conference and make sure that we go over the things you would like to talk about. 

• A link for Parent Teacher conferences should be coming out on Monday.  
• Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is anything you'd like to touch base about before conferences. You by no means need to wait until our slotted time; in fact, I'd prefer to know sooner so that we can work on it and I can provide an update during conferences :) 
• A document from our counselors was sent home this week. It explained a developmental lesson your child will be getting this month. 
• Starting Monday we will have a change in recess -- students will be able to be in the same "area" as the other third grade class. I know this is exciting for many students! 

Coming up:

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

April 12-16: KAT Dress Up Days to be announced soon :) 

April 16: KAT (Knowledge-A-Thon) 

Curriculum:

Math: If you didn't get a chance to attend our virtual family night, here's a game you could play with your deck of cards! Next week we'll be studying equivalent fractions (like 1/2 = 2/4). This is a shorter unit, so we will have a math test again soon. It will likely be Tuesday, March 16th. Be looking for a math review coming home this week! 

Writing: We've really been working hard on elaborating, or saying more, about our topic. You can help your child do this by talking about the animal they're researching. When they teach through conversations this will actually help them teach through their writing as well. 

Reading: Our readers have been trying to "level up" their note taking! We've learned the best nonfiction notes aren't actually just a big list of interesting facts; rather, we try to think about how what we're reading is organized, and organize our notes similarly. This helps us to remember what we learned, teach the information to others, and think deeply about it. 

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

Jenny Kocourek

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