The weeks leading up to Christmas are so exciting in our 3rd grade classroom.  The students are thrilled with all of the items that they have collected for the Lakeshore Pregnancy Center (Positive Options) and we are keeping a running total of all of the items that they have brought in.  We are also spending a lot of time during our devotions talking about Advent and the anticipation we have for the birth of our Savior.  The class worked really hard this week on their academics as well so that we will be able to enjoy a lot of fun events this coming week.  Here a glimpse of what is happening in our class!

Reading:  This week in reading we looked at how our characters can act differently than what we might anticipate.  We also tried something that can be very difficult for younger children which was to identify a "theory" or a big idea about life from watching what our characters go through and how they react to it.  They did such a wonderful job with this.  We have some deep thinkers in our room.  We also identified what it was that our characters really desire and what seems to always get in their way and then what is there reaction to it.  Next week we will wrap up our book clubs and when we return from Christmas break we will start learning how to read through nonfiction with POWER!

REMINDER-reading minutes due Monday with a parent signature.

Writing:  This week we have continued to revise our writing by adding sensory details, transition words, and internal feelings and we edited our writing by making sure we used appropriate punctuation, upper/lower case letters, and that our spelling was readable.  Next we we will publish. 

 

Math:  We are almost done with our unit on measurement, elapsed time, and graphing.  A review test went home with your child on Thursday and needs to be returned to school on Monday.  If there are any problems on the review test that are tricky for your child to solve, have them circle the problem and I will reteach those concepts on Monday.  We will be having our math test on Tuesday, December 16.

 

Bible:  We will finish our unit on Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac early this coming week.  We will then be focusing more on the Christmas story and the meaning of advent.  We also continue to learn Luke 2: 6-20.  This Bible memory passage is due by Friday, December 19.  We are reciting it a lot in class and have illustrated each verse as well so most students should be able to say it confidently.

Social Studies:  We wrapped up our study of Michigan’s geography this week.  We focused specifically on different regions in Michigan and reviewed for our test that we took on Friday.  We will be studying the economy of Michigan in our next Unit. 

Reminders:

• Thank you to all of you who are able to come in on Wednesday, December 17 for Gingerbread houses!  The kids are SO excited for this activity!  A letter when home Friday with all of the details that you need to know. 
• We are continuing to collect donations for the Lakeshore Pregnancy Center.  Instead of exchanging student gifts, we encourage the students to give to this cause.  What a great way to show God’s love!
• We will have our classroom party on Thursday, December 18 in the afternoon.  Thank you to our room moms for organizing this event for the class!

Blessings,

Lynae and Erin