Tag Archives: math facts

3rd Grade Update

Hi Families,
We are having a great time in third grade! Here’s an update of our learning:

Writing: We continue with persuasive writing. This week we are developing our reasons into paragraphs and we will work on putting together all of our ideas into a speech.

Math: We are moving through unit two and we will learn the 8s multiplication facts as well as practice with word problems. It is very important that your third grader keeps consistent with practicing multiplication facts at home.

Reading: Our mystery unit has us reading like detectives! We are collecting clues in our reading to determine suspects and solve the mystery. We are learning new reading strategies to use while we read mystery books.

Word Work: Our third graders our working on word study and using activities to learn spelling and word patterns. We are also becoming more familiar with parts of speech such as noun, adjective, and verb.

Homework: Right now, third grade homework consists of the reading and math fact log. This should be turned in every Monday. Thank you for helping build responsibility in your child’s learning.

Parent/Teacher Conferences: Conferences will be held virtually on Monday, Nov. 16 and Wednesday, Nov. 18. Please look for an email to sign up for a 15 minute time slot.

Picture Retakes: Tuesday Nov. 3
If your child was not here for picture day, retake day is set for Tuesday, Nov 3.  We have extra picture forms in the office if you need one for retakes. If you didn’t like your child’s picture when they came home and you would like them to have retakes, simply send in the picture packet with your child on the day of retakes.  Your child will bring it to the ladies taking the pictures and they will be all set. Thank you!!

A QR code was sent home with your child for them to access CLEVER at home. Your child will be able to use this to practice math facts on MobyMax or read on EPIC.

Ms Van Arkel 🙂

Update: February 24

Hi Parents,

Parent/Teacher conferences will be held Monday, March 9 and Wednesday, March 11. Your conference time was sent home last week. Please look for that in your child’s homework folder.

Homework: Study Island homework assignment should be completed by Tuesday evening. An email was sent last Wednesday giving directions about logging into Study Island. These assignments can be tricky and require focus and stamina. This is an assignment for you to support your child in. Help them read carefully and think through strategies for solving the problem. They should use scrap paper to show their thinking. It is important that this assignment is completed by Tuesday night. Thank you!

Reading: It is very important that your third grader continue to build their reading skills by reading daily for at least 20 minutes. During this second half of the year, reading expectations are set a little higher and reading outside of school can help improve reading skills and boost confidence too!

Math Fact Practice: Help your child to continue building math fact skills by practicing math facts for 5 minutes each day. I have seen many students making great progress because they have been doing lots of practicing. Way to go!!

KIDS HEART CHALLENGE:
The Kids Heart Challenge is in full swing!  We hope you’re having a ball and feel as rewarded as we do helping fight heart disease and stroke. Keep up the great work, you’re making a HUGE difference!

Remember, more than 50% of kids are not getting the physical activity they need to be healthy. You’re helping to change that. We have a special incentive at our school.  If we can get 50% of our students registered and taking the healthy challenges, we will receive an additional $500 to purchase new PE equipment.  Help us reach our goal!  Get your student registered for Kids Heart Challenge today!

http://www2.heart.org/goto/georgetownhudsonville

 

 

Week of January 20, 2020

Here’s what’s happening in our third grade classroom:

Writing: We continue drafting our informational writing. This past week we did some research to include in our writing. We will work on revising and final drafts in the coming weeks.

Math: We have been reviewing measurement, graphing, and elapsed time. Our math test is tomorrow. A review page went home on Friday.

Reading: We have been reading informational texts and last week we started reading narrative nonfiction. We are excited to read biographies and learn more information about a person in history.

Social Studies: We have been studying the economics of Michigan. We are starting to learn about Manufacturing and Agriculture.

Homework Reminder:
Reading and Math Fact Log due every Monday.
Please help your child remember to sign on the days they read and practice facts. This is a great way to build responsibility in your third grader. 

New Homework Starting Wednesday: On Wednesday, your child will have a new homework assignment that they will need to complete on the computer. They will need to get on Clever to access this. You will receive an email explaining this in more detail. Today in class I showed the students how to get on and what they should click to complete their assignment. They may complete the assignment any time between Wednesday, the 22nd and Tuesday, the 28th.

Looking Ahead

January 31: Early Release. 12:15pm dismissal

Feb. 3-4: Winter Break

The M-STEP State testing for grades 3-5 will take place this spring.  I wanted you to have information on the dates in advance so that you can schedule appointments around these testing dates.

The dates for our M-STEP tests are as follows:

  • Grade 3: May 5, 6, 7  (9am-12 pm)

 

We had so much fun making slime on Friday. Thank you for donating supplies!

 

Happy Holidays!

Parents,

Just a few things before we head into Holiday break:

Last week I stopped by Love INC to drop off a bag of socks, gloves, hats, and mittens that our class collected. They were so grateful for this donation! Thank you so much for your participation. Here is a picture of the bag I dropped off:

Homework over Holiday Break: I will not be sending a reading/math fact log over break. Please help your child to continue the routine of reading and math fact practice over the next two weeks. It will be crucial to keep this routine as it is important for our third graders to keep building on their progress even over a break from school. Thanks for your help in your third grader’s success!

Polar Express Party: We had a great time at our Polar Express party yesterday. Thanks so much for all the volunteers and donations. We appreciate it and couldn’t do it without all the help! Check out this video of some pictures:

**On Monday, January 6, our class will have P.E. so please remind your third grader to have their gym shoes at school. I know some students brought their shoes home.

 

I hope you have a wonderful Holiday break filled with family, friends, fun, and some rest! I look forward to starting a new year and new learning with our third graders on January 6th!

-Ms Van Arkel

 

 

Update: Week of October 7

Last Friday, we ended the day with a teamwork activity. Each team was given some straw constructors and was given a challenge of building a structure. First, they had to come up with a plan to build their structure. In the time given, each team learned that their plan changed a few times, but each team built their own unique structure. We had a lot of fun with this group activity!

**You will see a new Reading/Math Fact log in your child’s folder. Please remind your third grader to sign it when they complete their reading and fact practice. This should be returned next Monday, October 14.

Here’s What We’ve Been Learning:
Writing
: We are finishing our drafts this week and have been working on strategies for revision. We will be working on finishing final drafts by Friday.

Math: We continue our lessons with multiplication and division and word problems. We will review this week and plan to take our test on Friday. A review page will come home.
This week will start our practice pages. Beginning Friday, we will take our first multiplication quiz on 5s. Our curriculum teaches them in this order:  5s, 2s, 10s, 9s, 3s, 4s, 6s, 7s, 8s. As your child passes each quiz, they will move to the next multiplication fact.  For example, if they pass the 5s quiz on Friday, next Friday they will take the 2s quiz.  If they don’t pass the 5s, they will take it again the following week. Each student will be working at their own pace and tracking their own progress.

Multiplication Practice:
Please help your child practice their multiplication facts in the following ways: 

* Flash Cards- these should be coming home each night in your child’s folder. Pick out the specific facts your child needs to work on.
* MobyMax: We are currently working on review of addition and subtraction facts, but your child will move on to multiplication very soon.
* Another great tool is an app called, Flash to Pass.  It’s free and can be downloaded on most devices.  On this app, students can practice one specific grouping of facts.  This is different from Moby Max because they are all mixed together.

Reading: We continue to work on building a reading life and working toward our goals. We are using reading logs to keep track of our progress and we are making sure that we are choosing good-fit books and finishing the books we start. We have been making sure we focus as readers so that we can talk about our books when we meet with a partner.

Social Studies: We are finishing our Growth Mindset and character trait lessons and next week we will begin our Michigan studies with our first unit: Michigan Geography. 

IMPORTANT DATES:
Monday, Oct. 7- Culver’s Night 5-8pm—–A % of the earnings from 5-8pm go to our PTC fund which provides money for class field trips, learning software, library books, classroom books, parent/child events, and much more.
Thursday, Oct. 10– Jet’s Pizza Night—- make sure you mention our classroom when ordering.
Friday, Oct. 18-Early Release
Tuesday, Oct. 29– Turkey Trot—-TO PARTICIPATE YOU MUST COMPLETE THIS FORM ONLINE

Thank you!  🙂

 

 

 

Third Grade Update

Hi Parents,
We’ve had another great week in third grade! We continue to practice procedures in the classroom, cafeteria, recess, hallways, etc. Tomorrow  we will practice our SOAR procedures on the bus.
Here is an update on a few things to know for third grade:

Math:
We have started learning some strategies and patterns for multiplication. We start with the 5s facts. Throughout the year, it will be very important that students be practicing their multiplication facts at home. We work on multiplication at school, but students need continuous practice with the basic facts so they can complete the math work at school.
There are a few ways students should be practicing at home:

 

FLASHCARDS: We cut out the 5s flashcards today and your child has a yellow math fact folder. This folder should be kept in your child’s daily folder and should be coming home each night. This folder will be filled up with flashcards over the next few months. It is not so helpful to try and practice the whole pile of flashcards in one sitting. Instead, choose one color count-bys that your child is struggling with and just practice those for that night. Then choose a different color on a different night. This will help mastery. A recommended order of practice is: 5s, 2s, 10s, 9s, 3s,. As the flashcard folder gets full, we will start to take some out and keep them at school.

MOBYMAX: students have been working on MobyMax math fact practice at school. They are reviewing addition and subtraction facts and when they have mastered those, they will move on to multiplication and then division. Students can access Mobymax at home for practice. Let me know if your child does not remember their password.

Please take a look at the math parent letter:

REMINDER:
Puzzle Piece Homework due tomorrow:
 Each student in our class is special and unique and together we make a great team! Each student is part of the puzzle that is our class. On Tuesday, we read a book called The Crayon Box That Talked. This reminded us that each one of us is a special part of our classroom community. Students were sent home with a puzzle piece homework assignment today. Please read this over with your third grader. This should be brought back to school by next Friday, September 6.

Thank you!

Update: Week of May 6

Here is an update for our week ahead:

Math: We will have our math test on Wednesday. We will review today and the review page should come home in your child’s homework folder. We have learned about unit fractions, fractions on a number line, equivalent fractions, and comparing fractions.
Continue to have your child practice multiplication and division facts on MobyMax.

Reading: We continue with our biography research and are in the process of writing our final drafts. A bright yellow note went home last week about the biography presentation and the living museum. Be sure to go over this with your child and start brainstorming the presentation.

Writing: This week we will review informational writing and complete our post assessment.

Social Studies: We are learning about the 3 branches of Government and each of their roles. Look for test review pages to come home in the next week.

TONIGHT is Culver’s Night. Stop in and eat any time from 5-8pm and a portion of the earnings goes toward our school!

EARLY RELEASE: this Friday, May 10 is an early release. Dismissal is at 12:15pm.

Have a great week!  🙂

 

Update: Week of April 22

Here is an update for our week:

EARTH DAY: We celebrated Earth Day today by reading an article and completing some response questions. We also read a story and finished a craft ->see photo below. We talked about ways we can help our EARTH become a better place to live.

Writing/Reading: We are working on reading, researching, and studying a person in history. We are gathering information and will work on writing about this person.

Math: We have started our Fraction unit and we are learning about unit fractions and representing fractions on a number line.
Continue practicing math facts on MobyMax.

Social Studies: We are learning about the Government of Michigan.

Field Trip: A note went home today about a field trip to Meijer Gardens. The cost is $2.00 per student. Please send the form and money to school (in an envelope labeled with your child’s name) by May 3. We are allowed 4 chaperones per class. If you are interested in attending, please note this on the form and 4 chaperones will be randomly chosen.

REMINDER: As the weather gets nice, please let me know if your child will be riding their bike home. It is helpful to know if there is a change in end of day transportation.

MSTEP Testing starts next Tuesday:

Grade 3 – April 30 – May 2

IMPORTANT TESTING DAY TIPS:
  1. Get plenty of sleep.

  2. Arrive to school on time.

  3. Bring:  2 healthy snacks and a water bottle.

  4. Remind your child that all of our learning all year long has prepared us for these tests.  This is our opportunity to show what we know!

 

 

Update: Week of April 15

Here is an update for our week ahead:

MATH: We will be reviewing for our math test and will have the test tomorrow, Tuesday. A review will come home tonight. This test will cover geometry, classifying quadrilaterals, area, and perimeter. We will be moving to fractions next.

READING and WRITING:  We are working on our biography research. Your child has chosen the person who they will read about, research, and write about. We will be working on this over the next few weeks. Last week, a bright yellow paper went home explaining how to help your child gather more information and sources for their research. Please start to send this information in with your child this week. Thanks!

Math Practice Page: This Wednesday will be our last weekly practice page. I explained to the class that this does not mean we stop practicing multiplication and division facts! Math facts should still be practiced using flashcards and/or MobyMax. It is so crucial that this is consistent especially through the summer months so your third grader is prepared for fourth grade math.

Reading Log: Book- It reading logs are done for the year. Again, this does not mean that reading practice stops. The hope is that your third grader is starting to develop a habit and routine of becoming an independent reader. Please help them to make 20 minutes of reading part of their daily routine. Consistent reading will be helpful in building reading skills!

Scholastic Book Order: book order packets went home last week. If you plan to order, please place your order online by Wednesday, April 17. Thanks!! 

MSTEP TESTING:
Grade 5 – April 16 – 25

Grade 4 – May 7 – 16

Grade 3 – April 30 – May 2

IMPORTANT TESTING DAY TIPS:
  1. Get plenty of sleep.

  2. Arrive to school on time.

  3. Bring:  2 healthy snacks and a water bottle.

  4. Remind your child that all of our learning all year long has prepared us for these tests.  This is our opportunity to show what we know!

 

Hudsonville Public Schools 19th Annual  Student Art Show!!

The Reception for Georgetown Artists is on Monday, April 22 from 5:30 – 7:30

The show is open on weekdays from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM from April 22 – May 1

Stop in to view all of the amazing art Hudsonville students have done! There is a lot of talent to check out!!

 

 

Update: Week of April 8

I hope you all had a great spring break and you enjoyed some rest and fun with family and friends!

Here’s an update for our week ahead:

Writing: We are working on responding to a text in writing and we are practicing using strategies so that we can write a clear and complete response. We are also practicing typing out our writing.

Math: We will be finishing up learning about area and perimeter and will be doing some test review at the end of the week. We will plan to have our test next Tuesday, April 16. Please help your child to continue working on multiplication facts at home. We will be nearing the end of our weekly practice pages in the coming weeks.

Reading: We continue to read and study biographies. This week,  your child will be choosing the person that they will read, research, and present. There will be a note coming home in the next week about how you can help your child gather information.

COMING UP:
EARLY RELEASE: this Friday, April 12. Dismissal is at 12:15.

M STEP Testing Dates:
The M-STEP State testing for grades 3-5 will take place this spring. Please avoid all doctors appointments and vacation days on the dates that your child is scheduled to participate in the state wide M-STEP testing.  Thank you for your attention to these dates.

NOTE: If your child is ill, we will administer the tests on make-up dates.  Do not send your child to school ill. We ask only that you avoid late arrivals, doctor appointments and vacation days on the dates listed below.

Grade 5 – April 16 – 25

Grade 4 – May 7 – 16

**Grade 3 – April 30 – May 2

IMPORTANT TESTING DAY TIPS:
  1. Get plenty of sleep

  2. Arrive to school on time.

  3. Bring:  2 healthy snacks and a water bottle.

  4. Remind your child that all of our learning all year long has prepared us for these tests.  This is our opportunity to show what we know and do our very best! Remind your child do use their Growth Mindset skills we have learned in 3rd grade!

Have a great week! 🙂