What a beautiful weekend!  The weather was a true BLESSING!  We hope you were able to get outside and enjoy.

Reading: This week we started our Mystery Book Clubs.  This is a fast unit which requires a lot of reading at a pretty good clip.  During this unit your child will be reading 2-4 books within a series. We will be looking into all of the elements and characters of a mystery as well reviewing some characterization skills that we worked on at the beginning of the year.  It again amazes me how your students discuss their thinking about what they are reading.  They do such a wonderful job with this.

Writing:  We are working on finishing our faith writing which is all about how we see that God is real.  Once we have this finished we have two small writing assessments to do and then we will start our personal essay unit.  The kids are excited for this one to start.

Word Work:  I have been trying something new for the last two weeks with word work.  I have been challenging the kids to come up with their own way to sort their words.  They have been enjoying this and what I find is often they find ways to sort that really make sense to them which increases their retention of their words and words with similar patterns.  I also have decided to end the sort homework.  Feel free to practice at home but I am not requiring it.  I know many spring sports have started and the weather is getting warmer and I want them to get outside.  The only homework that will be coming from me the remainder of the year will be reading minutes.

Math:  This has been a big week in Math.  We have learned about area and perimeter and have spent a lot of time finding both for many different size rectangles.  We are working at finding unknown side lengths when we are given area or perimeter and then checking to see if our answers make sense.  We will be having a test on this unit next week Friday.  Your child will come home with a Math review on Monday to prepare for the test.

Social Studies:  We continued to be historians this week as we studied Michigan History.  We looked at the Native American tribes that lived in Michigan and focused specifically on Ojibway, the Ottawa, and the Potawatomi tribes.  This is a very fun unit for the students and they love sharing information they already know about the tribes.

Bible:    This week we wrapped up our unit on Moses and the exodus from Egypt.  Your child took a test on this unit this week which came home in their folders.  We have begun studying the Israelites journey into the wilderness.  The class was amazed this week at how the Israelites complained so quickly after they had just seen God perform amazing miracles in Egypt.  Yet, in our discussions we realized that we also quickly complain to God even when our life really good.  We see how God constantly reminds his children that he cares for them.

Upcoming Events:  

• Tulip Time- We will be having half days on May 6 and 7.  The children's parade is May 7 and all students are expected to march in the parade dressed in a dutch costume.  Your child will need to bring a sack lunch to school that day and we will be traveling as a class by bus to the parade route after lunch.  Your child may wear their dutch costume to school that day or you are welcome to come in at 11:45 and help them change into it.  We will send home a parade line up as we get closer to the date so you know which side of the street to sit on to best see your child.  Also, you are asked to pick up your child at the end of the parade route. 
• Reading Minutes due Monday
• May 25, No School- Memorial Day

And... we are back!  It feels great to be back to school and together as a classroom family again.  We loved meeting with each of you at conferences and sharing your child's progress in third grade.  As always, please feel free to contact us any time with questions or concerns you may be having.  We are in the home stretch before summer break and we can tell that spring is in the air!  There is still a lot to cover before June so we are hunkering down and getting right back into it.  Make sure to read the upcoming events at the bottom of the blog.  It feels like each week there is something happening that you will need to be aware of.


Math:  We have begun a new unit on Polygons, Perimeter, and Area.  This week we focused on the definitions of a polygon, quadrilateral, square, rectangle, triangle, rhombus and trapezoid.   We have focused on angles and lines and how a shape can fit into several different categories.  We will continue to review the definitions we learned as well as focus on perimeter and area next week.  I am so proud of how hard the class is working in Math.  These are tough concepts and the class is handling it beautifully!

Bible:  We looked at Moses this week and how God helped him go and talk to Pharaoh to led the Israelites go.  We talked a lot about Pharaoh's hard heart and how God desires for us to keep a soft heart that he can work through.  We also studied all of the plagues this week.  Through the plagues we see God showing both his power and also his love for his chosen people.  What an awesome God we serve!
Our new Bible Memory is Acts 2:1-4.  It will be due on April 27.  Students may need to practice a bit at home to really learn it well.

Social Studies:  We became historians this week as we started studying the history of Michigan.  We talked about how historians use primary clues (such as maps or photographs) and secondary clues (such as timelines or books) to help them better understand the past.  We then looked at a city in Michigan from 1872 and used clues to help us figure out what life was like back then.

Reading:  This week we spent some time getting back into the routine of independent reading.  The kids have been so excited to do their "All Star" reading.  It has kept them very focussed and motivated.  This week we also worked as a whole group on reading a story and then answering some questions using a constructed response in which they restate the answer in their question.  This is a very high order thinking skill and they did a wonderful job with this.  This next week we will start our next reading unit which is MYSTERY BOOK CLUBS.  This is always a very fun unit for the kids.

Writing:  This past week we started working on our faith writing.  We hope to finish this up over the next few days at the start of this new week.  Once we are finished with that, we will start our new writing unit which is writing a personal essay.

Spelling Test:  We did not take a test on Friday because I had a sub in my room and with 14 different spelling lists/groups, I did not want to confuse her.  The spelling test will be Monday morning.




Upcoming Events:

• Spring Program-This is Thursday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m. at Christ Memorial Church.  A yellow paper came home on Friday with all of the details about this program.  Please have your child to the church by 6:40 so we are ready to go!  
• Tulip Time- We will be having half days on May 6 and 7.  The children's parade is May 7 and all students are expected to march in the parade dressed in a dutch costume.  Your child will need to bring a sack lunch to school that day and we will be traveling as a class by bus to the parade route after lunch.  Your child may wear their dutch costume to school that day or you are welcome to come in at 11:45 and help them change into it.  We will send home a parade line up as we get closer to the date so you know which side of the street to sit on to best see your chid.  Also, you are asked to pick up your child at the end of the parade route.  
• Reading Minutes are due Monday.
• Acts 2: 1-4 is due on April 27.