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.

We had a presentation on Tuesday morning from Hemlock Crossings called "Skull Detectives".  We learned a lot about identifying animals from their skulls and especially from observing their teeth!  The kids just loved this presentation.  There are many pictures posted on our smugmug site but here are a few for you to enjoy.

Math:  We had our final test on writing equations and solving two step word problems.  This was a tough unit with lots of careful reading.  I am extremely proud of how well the students did with this unit and that they kept on trying even when it was so difficult.  I will give these tests to you at conferences.  

Science:  We continued our experiments on light and sound.  The kids just love this unit as we have a Science experiment almost every day.  This week we learned that they length of a shadow can be changed by moving the light source.  We saw that light is refracted when it travels from the air and then water.  Next week we will be making harps and how the sound is changed as we adjust the length, tension, and thickness of our strings.  

Bible:  We continued to work on our Easter poster.  I just love sharing the Easter story.  What wonderful discussions we are having about how MUCH God loves us!   We also started a new unit on Moses.  The class was pretty excited about starting the book of Exodus!  We see how the Hebrews were treated horribly by the Egyptians and yet God has a great plan for them.  

We continue to learn Matthew 28:1-10 for Bible memory.  This will be due on March 26.

Reading/Writing: This week we worked on chapters 4 and 5 of our informational books.  They included writing about our interesting facts and the conclusion.  We also spent some time this week close reading nonfiction about St. Patrick's Day.  You will notice a paper that will come home with a lot of notes on it.  This is a reading strategy that requires the student to dig deep into the text and then answer text-dependent questions and cite evidence from the text supporting their answers.  They did a wonderful job with this activity.

Reminders:  

• Conferences sign-ups are now available online.  They will take place on Monday, March 30 from 5-8:30p.m, Tuesday, March 31 from 5-8:30p.m, and Wednesday, April 1 from 1-3 p.m.   If these times do not work for you, please send us an email and we will try to arrange something else.
• Reading Minutes are due Monday.
• Notes from Mrs. Boer:
  *A Date to Remember--April 23, K-4 Program at Christ Memorial

  *This is what we are learning in Music Class

     -We have begun recorders!
     -Practicing/Homework Expectations:
          3X3=practice 3 days a week (you choose which 3) and practice each song 3 
           times each
     -Don't Forget!!
          blue folders and recorders each week to music class

Have a great weekend, Mrs. Wyma and Mrs. Stielstra!

For the past few Fridays our class has been playing Math games in the morning with Mrs. DeZwaan's students.  This Friday we played a game called "Close to 100" where students use playing cards to try and get their sum as close to 100 as possible.  This time of the week is enjoyed by all and a lot of mental math is happening!

Another awesome part of our week was meeting in our pod groups.  We meet every other Wednesday in an effort to make new friends around the school and grade levels.  In our pod groups we pray for each other and then have an activity.  This week we read books together for March is reading month.

Here are some curriculum highlights:

Math:  Next week we will complete our unit on writing equations and solving word problems.  I sent home a practice test this weekend that the students need to return by next week Thursday.  We will have our test on Friday, March 20.  The word problems have become very lengthy and the students have realized that we need to read carefully in order to solve 2 step word problems.  Math involves a lot of careful reading right now!

Science:  We had a big week of experiments this week dealing with light.  We learned that light travels in a straight line and that we can use mirrors to change the direction of the path of light.  We also experimented with different materials to see how they react to light and we demonstrated how shadows are made.  It was a fun week!

Bible:  We completed our unit on Joseph and took our final assessment on Monday.  Everyone did a great job and these tests went home with your child in their folders.  We are now focusing on the story of Easter.  Each day we study a different part of the Easter story and we are creating an Easter poster.

Reading/Writing:  This week we have worked very hard on our 2nd chapters of our informational books.  Our 2nd chapter is all about our animal's physical characteristics.  We created a large diagram of our animal with labels, we researched their life cycle and added that to our chapter, and finally we grouped all of of other physical characteristics and wrote them into a paragraph format.  The following pictures are of them moving through the different stages of research, planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing their information.

I sat back this week and watched your children learn and it brought tears to my eyes.  They are a true reflection of God's beautiful creation.  They have a LOVE for learning and for doing what is right :) Thank you for fostering that in your children--THEY ARE AMAZING!

REMINDERS:
Monday-Reading Minutes Due
Tuesday- Skull (animal) Detective Presentation at Pine Ridge
Friday-Spelling Test, Math Test

Have a wonderful weekend, Mrs. Wyma & Mrs. Stielstra

Good Morning and Happy Saturday:

The sun is out and I hear warmer temperatures are headed our way--praise be to the Lord!

Reading/Writing: This week we have spent time writing our introduction paragraph to our informational book.  Our goal was to rite a paragraph that would grab our readers attention and create a desire to keep reading.  They did a wonderful job with this and have written amazing introductions.  We also worked very hard on our Chapter 1 which is about tour animal habitat and food.  This included a bit of a geography lesson as we colored in a world map of all the places where our animals are found. They have been working so hard on this book.  Next week we hope to finish Chapter 2 and 3.  

Word Work:  This past week your child brought words home and we will be studying those words for this next week as well for the text next Friday.

Math:  We have been reading word problems carefully and making comparison bars to see where we have an unknown amount.  We then determine which operation we need to use to solve the problem. 

We have also been comparing numbers into the thousands and determining if they are greater than, less than or equal to each other. 

Next week we will be continuing with word problems with extra, hidden or not enough information.  I am impressed with how diligently the students are working! 

Bible:  We have finished up our Unit on Joseph this week and will have a test on Monday.  We saw how Joseph brought his family to Egypt and how God used the bad events in Joseph’s life for His salvation plan.  Joseph trusted God in each situation he was placed in and God blessed him over and over again. 

Our next Bible Memory verse will be Matthew 28: 1-10. 

Social Studies:  We completed our unit on the economy of Michigan.  The class took a vocabulary quiz on the terms we learned and brought these home on Friday.

Science:  We have started a new unit called “Light and Sound.”    We did an experiment this week where we learned that light helps us see different colors and objects.  We also talked about natural and manufactured light.

Reminders:

• On Wednesday please send a picture book to school with your child for their POD time.
• We use our dry erase markers every day in Math and many students are starting to run dry.  Please check with your child if they are in need of new ones to make it though the end of the year.  Thanks for you help in this area!
• Our Kleenex supply is almost out.  If you are willing to send in a box we would greatly appreciate it.
• Reading Minutes Due Monday.
• Fun Night is scheduled for Friday, March 13.  If you would like to help in any way please sign up at the following link:  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4daaab22a20-funnight

Have a wonderful weekend!  Mrs. Wyma and Mrs. Stielstra

February 28

How wonderful to see the sun shining so brightly yesterday!  It is a great reminder that spring IS coming and that someday we may have outdoor recess once again.  :)  We have had another busy week in third grade.  Here are the curriculum highlights as well as some important reminders at the end of this post.

Math:  Your child’s Math test from Monday was sent home on Friday.  Everyone did so well and was very proud of their hard work!  Our next unit is on writing equations to solve word problems.  This week we made math mountains to show how addition/subtraction and multiplication/division can form many equations.  We are reading word problems carefully and then writing equations from what we read.  

 

Bible:  We continued to read about Joseph in the book of Genesis this week and how God used him to rule over Egypt during seven years of plenty and seven years of famine.  We see God’s hand in Joseph’s life as he becomes 2^nd in command of Egypt and once again sees his brothers when they come to buy grain.   We talked a lot about how Joseph trusts in God no matter what his circumstance may be.  What a great lesson for all of us!

Our Bible Memory next week will continue to be Job 19:25-26.  This will be due on Thursday, March 5.

Social Studies:  This week we talked about Wind Turbines and Wind Farms.  We had a great discussion if this is a good thing to put in Michigan’s Great Lakes.  We also looked at public goods and services that we receive from the Michigan government and how these are paid for through fees, fines, and taxes.  We spent a couple days reviewing all of the terminology from the Economy Unit.  Your child came home with a green study sheet of the terms that will be on our Economy Test on Monday.  We talked about many different ways to study for this and your child practiced some of these techniques in class.

Reading/Writing:  This week we continued our research (gathering facts) on our animals that we have chosen for our informational books.  We first started by identifying subtopics that we thought would be important to write about and then we gathered our facts about the subtopics.  The next step was taking all of our facts and identifying a main idea sentence from the information we gathered and then elaborating on our facts to write them as supporting details sentences.  Your children are learning a lot about their animals and it has been so fun to just let them go and watch.  They are just natural learners.

Next week we will start to write our individual chapters.

Reminders:

• The skating party has been rescheduled for this coming Tuesday.
• We use our dry erase markers every day in Math and many students are starting to run dry.  Please check with your child if they are in need of new ones to make it though the end of the year.  Thanks for you help in this area!
• Our Kleenex supply is almost out.  If you are willing to send in a box we would greatly appreciate it.
•  Reading Minutes Due Monday.
•  Fun Night is scheduled for Friday, March 13.  If you would like to help in any way please sign up at the following link:  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4daaab22a20-funnight
• March is Reading Month.  To kick off this event, Monday March 2 will be ”Read a Shirt (Sweatshirt) Day.”
• No School On Friday, March 6.  This is a staff professional development day.

WOW!!! What a beautiful sunny day even though it is a bit on the COLD side!

This week ended with a wonderful celebration of our love for one another.  As the children opened their valentines, the room was filled with joy, laughter, and thank yous. It is always so fun to sit back and watch that.  I was reminded again of how awesome my job is that I get to be with your children each day.

Reading and Writing:  This week your child has tackled a tricky skill of learning about and identifying different text structures in non fiction text.  They learned about how authors of nonfiction structure text these various ways...informative, sequential, comparison, and cause and effect.  Along with each text structure, they had to learn how to create a specific graphic organizer to organize their information according the the text structure.   We have one more activity to work on with this next week before moving into our animal research project.

Word Work: This week, due to no school on Monday, we will be getting a high frequency word list home for a test on Friday.  With this word list, you will want to have your child practice these words each night by the read...spell...check method.

Math:  We will be wrapping up our unit next week on multi-digit addition and subtraction.  I sent home a practice test with the student on Friday that should be completed by next week Thursday.  If there are any areas where you child is struggling, just have them circle the problem and I will reteach that concept to them in class.   

Bible:  We finished our unit on Isaac and Jacob and took a test on that information on Tuesday.  Your child should have brought their test home in their Friday papers.  We have moved on to study Joseph and how Jacob loves him the most.  The class talked a lot about the eleven other brothers and how jealous they must have been of Joseph.  We finished the week by looking at how the jealousy of the brothers spirals out of control when they sell their brother Joseph. 

Our Bible memory will continue to be John 14:1-6 for next week.

Science:  We concluded our Organisms Have Character unit this week as well.  Your child completed their popplet of information and you should have received an email from me to view their work.  Each student independently completed the popplets and I was proud of how hard they worked.  We also learned about classification and practiced this skill by classifying different plant and animal cards. 

Reminders:

·            No school on Monday!  Enjoy your break!

·            Our new Bible Memory is John 14:1-6.  This is due by February 20.

·            Reading Minutes are due on Tuesday.