Friday, September 17, 2021

Dear Third Grade Families,

It was great seeing everyone who came to Back to School Night yesterday.  We hope it wasn't too hectic and you got an idea of what life in third grade is like.  If you have any questions as a result of our presentations, please reach out to the appropriate teacher.

School Fundraiser

We attended an assembly this morning and the kids learned about our kindness-based fund raiser at American Academy.  We have sent home flyers and a QR code sticker with each child today so you can learn more about this worthwhile endeavor.  Thanks for being supportive and kind!

The first PD day of the year is next Friday

There will be NO classes next Friday, September 24, in order for all teachers to engage in our in-service day for professional development.  Enjoy an extra day with your child and a nice 3-day weekend for them.

Late Assignments and their Impact to Grades

We have been getting quite a few emails from parents who are concerned with Failing Grades showing up on Infinite Campus, which results in parents receiving an email from the system telling you your child is failing a class.

Please do not panic.  Since we are in the beginning of the school year, and have very few grades in the system, all it takes is one low grade to plunge your child's grade to the 'critical level'.  If your child does not turn in an assignment, or doesn't put a name on it, the teacher will record the score as M (missing) and a '0' grade results for the assignment.  Once the situation has been corrected, the teacher will update the grade and this will usually alleviate the failing grade. 

So, if you get this type of message, before you send an email to your child's teacher, please talk with your child about possible assignments that didn't get turned in, or names that were left off papers.  If after this discussion you still have questions, please reach out to us so we can let you know the details of the situation and how to fix it.

There is Fun to be had in third grade!

If you recall, in third grade we use Kickboard to document student behavior, and go one step further by actually turning the Rebel Bucks your child earns each week into 'real money' for them.  Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but as far as the classroom is concerned, they get money they can spend here at school.

Your child has been receiving paychecks with the previous week's earnings that can be used to purchase fun coupons for special benefits such as bringing a stuffed animal to class, being a teacher's helper, choosing a special seat, and many more.  Ask your child what they are saving up for and to share their experience with you once they get to redeem their certificates.  It sure is fun being a third grader.

Also, the weekly earnings in Kickboard allow your child to be eligible for our Friday afternoon celebration, which we call Fun Friday, instead of holding study hall.  Your child can tell you how their Friday afternoon was spent.

Is there too much HOMEWORK coming home?

We try to provide ample time for each student to complete class assignments during each class session, as well as 25 minutes each afternoon in study hall to finish what didn't get finished.  It is very rare for students to have worksheets assigned as homework, though they may have reading or spelling words to study, and possibly previous math homework to correct. 

We work really hard during our school day, and we want our students to enjoy their time at home with family and friends, not huddled around the kitchen table doing homework. So, if your child is spending more than an hour on work at home, please talk about why this work didn't get finished while at school.  Maybe you can help your child with ideas of how to use the time we provide them more efficiently so schoolwork doesn’t become homework.  If we can help with this matter in any way, please reach out to us.

Specials

MB Specials Updates:

Please visit the respective links below to see what your child is experiencing in specials programming!

MB ART

MB MUSIC

MB TECH

MB PHYS ED

Weekly Plans

Here are the assignments for the various classes.  Please realize that these assignments are due during the next class session.

• Math: This week we continued working through Chapter 1 in Go Math. We are working on rounding/estimating and other algebraic activities.  Please realize your child will have work most days and if it doesn't get completed during class or study hall, it will become homework, due the next day.  Be sure to check their homework file and/or daily planner for homework information.
• Hein Literacy: This week we focused out spelling on VCE words. They will have a spelling test on Monday and will get new spelling words on Tuesday. We have been focusing on reading in class. Each Wednesday your student will get a fluency passage that they will need to practice 1 time each night. This is going to help their reading fluency, sight words, and sounding out words. I will continue to read Wind and the Willows to the students.
• Hein Math: This week we have practice our addition of 3 digit numbers. On Monday we will review all the information we learned in the first half of Chapter 1 and Tuesday we will have a mid chapter checkpoint quiz. Wednesday will start subtraction. Please email me if you have any questions.
• Mitchell/Newman Literacy: We have had a great week learning about personification and practicing our action verbs.  We are continuing our novel study of The Wind in the Willows next week, and we are also reviewing the four types of sentences and parts of speech.  Students will have their spelling test on Monday.
• Thielk History: We have finished up our Canada Unit on Monday and Tuesday. Next week I will be giving out instructions for students to do test corrections if they would like to make up some points. We have started our World Geography Unit by watching some videos that had our vocabulary words in them. We celebrated constitution day on Friday and learned about the constitution. Next week we will continue to learn about World Geography and specifically maps.
• Sells Science: We continued working on weather this week and ended the week understanding how to map weather based on cold fronts and warm fronts.  Next week each team will be creating weather maps and presenting their maps to the class as a meteorologist, just like those folks on the Weather Channel.

  Your Third Grade Team,

Ms. Hein

Ms. Mitchell 

Ms. Newman

Mr. Sells

Ms. Thielk