Tag Archives: reading

3rd Grade Update

Here’s an update of our learning in third grade:
Writing: The third graders have started drafting their personal narratives. They have carefully looked at mentor texts to notice what other authors do to make their writing powerful. They will work to try a lot of these strategies as they finish drafting this week. We will move on to revising and editing.

Math: So far we have learned the 5s, 2s, 10s, 9s, and 3s multiplication facts!! We have been learning lots of strategies for solving multiplication and division problems and word problems. The best way to support your child with multiplication right now is to help them practice their math facts. It is so crucial that they know their facts as we move in to new math concepts. Thanks!

Reading: We are learning the importance of building a reading life! We are learning how to choose good-fit books, how to read as if our books are like GOLD, and we are learning to keep track of progress with a reading log.

Growth Mindset: We continue to talk about how our mindset can make a difference in our learning and in our daily lives. This week, we talked all about facing challenges and I was able to challenge the class with the Coin Flip Challenge! We definitely needed to use a growth mindset with this! We also started talking abut choices and how each choice we make impacts our day and it can also impact ourselves and those around us. We read the book What Should Danny Do? and it reminded our class that each of us has the power to choose!

*Other important things to know*

Homework: Reading/Math Fact log: A Reading/Math Fact log was sent home with your third grader today (Monday 9/28) This will serve as third grade homework and is meant to support your child in gaining accountability and responsibility as a learner. Last week, your third grader started using a reading log in class and now they will be responsible for keeping track of their reading at home. This reading log will be turned in every Monday. Thank you for your support with this!

Walk a thon!!:
Thank you for supporting our school! Final donation date is Wed, Sept. 30. There’s still time to donate!

  •       Register your Child using School Identifier 5f3d669d605c9, please visit www.getmovinfundhub.com 
  •       Event Date: Thursday, September 24, 2020
  •       Final Donation due date: September 30, 2020
  •         Donations can be online through your child’s webpage.  Otherwise, donations in the form of cash & checks (in-school donations), should be turned in to the school.

  •         Please make checks payable to: Georgetown Elementary PTC

•           Visit this page for more details!!

Picture Day is this Thursday, October 1
Forms were sent home last week, but we do have some extra in the office if needed! If your child is not at school on Thursday, picture retake day will be Tuesday, Nov 3. If you would like to order your pictures online, you would go to geskusphoto.com/fallorders and you will need this webcode. 264BFISDGVNHA

The next Early Release is Friday, Oct. 23. Dismissal is at 12;15pm. If your child is a car rider, please be at school between 12:10 and 12:15 for pick up.  Food Service will be offering a sack lunch on early release days. Children can order a lunch with their teacher in the morning and will have them to take to their destination.

Thanks!
Ms Van Arkel 🙂

Week of March 2

Hi Parents,

Parent/Teacher conferences will be held Monday, March 9 and Wednesday, March 11. Your conference time was sent home a few weeks ago. Please contact me if you need a reminder of your conference time. I look forward to sharing your child’s progress in third grade!

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: March is Reading Month!! 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. We will only be doing our Friday practice pages for a few more weeks. I have seen many students making great progress because they have been doing lots of practicing. Way to go!!

FRIDAY, MARCH 6 is an early release day. Dismissal is at 12:15pm. 

Here is an update of our learning:
Writing: We finished up our literary essays and completed our post assessment of opinion writing. We will be spending some time on learning to write a constructed response and practice our test taking skills in preparation for MSTEP.

Math: We are beginning our next unit this week and we will be studying Geometry. We will study rays, angles, quadrilaterals, etc.

Reading: We are in the middle of book clubs and each club has been reading a book and studying the characters. They have been discussing what their character is learning and how they are moving across the story mountain of their book.

Social Studies: We have started to learn about Michigan History. We are studying the Three Fires, the Native American groups, that lived long ago in Michigan.

 

 

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

 

 

Third Grade Update:

Here’s what we’ve been up to in third grade:
Writing: We are just beginning our writing unit and the students started making goals for themselves as writers. We are learning about writing true stories. This week we started to learn strategies for when we struggle with thinking of ideas to write.

Math: Our first unit of math is multiplication. We started learning the patterns for 5s and your child should be bringing their flash cards home to practice. To help your third grader with multiplication equations, say the equation like this: 3 x 5 as ‘3 groups of 5′.
We have been learning to write a multiplication equation and show it in a few different ways. For example: equal groups, repeated addition, and array.

Reading: We have learned all about our classroom library and we have talked about the different genre choices. We have spent some time filling our book baskets with good-fit books. We are working on building reading stamina to read independently. Next week we will start making goals for our selves as readers that will build a positive reading life.

Social Studies: During social studies we are spending a lot of time learning about what it means to be a classroom community. We are learning our S.O.A.R procedures and are learning about concepts such as acceptance, how we use our words, and being a good friend to others. We have been enjoying some great read aloud books that help us learn these lessons. Next week we will take a closer look at Growth Mindset.

Here are a few pictures from our week:

CHOOSING BOOKS AND SORTING THEM BY GENRE

MATH REVIEW

BUILDING ARRAYS

 

 

 

 

Update: Week of May 13

Here is an update of our learning in Third Grade:

Writing: We will be studying public issues and will be working on writing about a Michigan public issue.

Science: We started studying animals last week. We have read about 5 animal groups- mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fish. We are reading about and studying the 4 Bs that go with each group- Body Covering, warm/cold blooded, how they breath, and the babies.
Today, we had a great time going out by the pond to make some observations. We saw ducklings, birds, geese. It was great to see our science lesson come alive!!

Math: We began a new unit and are reviewing and working on word problems. We are specifically focusing on word problems with unknown addends and factors.
As we work on word problems, it is evident that multiplication facts have not yet been mastered for some third graders. It is very important that multiplication fact practice continue through the remainder of the year and especially throughout the summer.

Reading: We continue to read biographies and finish our biography projects.
***If your child has not brought in the quote and photo for their biography project, please help them get this information soon. If you don’t have a printer at home, I can help with that at school.

FIELD TRIP INFORMATION: I have contacted the 4 classroom chaperones. There will be more information coming regarding specific details for the day of the field trip.

Thank you for the kindness shown to me during Teacher Appreciation Week last week! It is a blessing to teach your kids!

🙂

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 March 4

Hi Parents,

March is here and we are getting closer to SPRING!!               

This Friday, March 8 is an early release day. Dismissal is at 12:15.

 

I look forward to seeing you at parent/teacher conferences next week. Your appointment time went home on a bright yellow slip of paper on February 22. If you are not sure of your time, please let me know. Thank you!

Math Test: We will have our math test on Thursday. We will review in class on Wednesday and that will come home. Please help your child to continue practicing math facts.

Reading: We begin our Biography unit. We look forward to reading about famous people in history. Later, your child will be writing a biography report about a person.

Writing: We begin our literary essay unit. We will use a mentor text and form big ideas about a character. We will work together to put our ideas into an essay.

Social Studies: We begin learning about Pioneer life.

MARCH IS READING MONTH:        
You will see a note coming home about ‘catching your child reading’. I can’t wait to fill our classroom wall with photos of our readers.

Fun Fridays:
In celebration of Reading Month, our class will celebrate on Fridays.

Friday, March 8: Get comfy and read: All school PJ day! Bring your favorite book to read.

Friday, March 15: Wear a SHIRT that others can read.

Friday, March 22: Wear a HAT that others can read.

THURSDAY, March 28: Read with a treat. We will read and have a snack.

 

Update: Week of February 25

Parents,
Here is an update for the week:

Writing: We will be practicing some constructed response writing before moving on to Literary Essays. We will be learning to answer a question about a text with complete sentences and detail.

Math: We are learning to use different strategies for 3 digit addition and subtraction. We are practicing with word problems too. We are also working hard with rounding to the nearest ten and hundred.
Please continue helping your child with multiplication practice with flashcards and MobyMax.

Social Studies: We begin learning about the French in Michigan and about the fur trade.

Reading: We will be practicing reading a selection and responding with a written response. We will move on to Biography reading next week. Please continue to support your child as a reader and encourage them to be reading 20 minutes at least 5 days a week. Keep track of this on the monthly homework reading calendar.

Other Announcements:

**Conference appointment slips went home last week. Make sure you found the bright yellow paper in your child’s folder. I look forward to sharing the progress your child has made.

**We have an Early Release on Friday, March 8. Dismissal is at 12:15.

**If you haven’t registered for the KIDS HEART CHALLENGE, please do so as soon as possible.  If we can get 50% of our school to register, we receive $500 in PE equipment.  No cost to register! More information can be found HERE.

Thank you!