Friday, September 11, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

Whew! What a busy four day week!

We started reading groups this week. I've met with all the groups except one. We are all reading nonfiction books about animals and their habitats to complement our science unit on Ecosystems! We created an ecosystem that we will be observing over the next few weeks. Our ecosystem is the home of a fish, a snail, a water plant, some worms, and grass. We will be observing relationships between these organisms and talking about other ecosystems and habitats over the next few weeks. We started talking about producers and consumers already!

In writing, we started cursive with lowercase l, h, k, and t. Many of the kids are super excited to start cursive! We have written a few quick writes to gear up for personal narratives. We have started talking about ways authors show instead of tell in their writing. We will be practicing more with this next week!

We have continued with the conceptual understanding behind multiplication this week and will be starting with facts next week... we simply ran out of time this week! Be proud of your mathematicians though... I think they're ready for multiplication facts!

On Thursday, Mr. Villasana and Ms. Stemmons came in. They helped us set up our google drive accounts. This will be a great tool to complete assignments on the iPad and turn them in through a system called Schoology using an app called Notability. We spent some time talking about how to be responsible digital citizens as well. We will continue to reinforce these concepts all year!

And of course, we prepared for Grandparents and Special Friends Day! We are certainly excited to share our day with these special people this afternoon!

We did not do our family communication journals this week due to Grandparents and Special Friends Day. We will be writing back next week! Don't forget Scholastic orders are due on Monday! I will submit the order Monday after school. If you'd like to order online, go to www.scholastic.com and use our class code of L922Y to place your order. If your order is a surprise or a gift, send me a note or email and I will arrange a way to discretely get your order to you. I believe the cookie dough orders are due on Tuesday, so please send back those packets with payments collected. And one last note, after initialing your child's work habits and behavior checklists, please leave them in Friday Folders so we can reflect on our week each week!

Thank you!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

First Day Excitement

I hope everybody is coming home with fun things to share about our day! Probably one of the most exciting things your kiddo will share with you is that they each get their own iPad… yes, their own iPad! We are very lucky to be the only third grade class at Mill Creek that has a class set of iPads. We will use the iPads to create presentations, publish writings, participate in class discussions and book clubs, keep digital journals, and sometimes even play games to help us practice and review information (as well as other things I’ve probably not even thought of yet!).

Our iPads will stay at school and will be used as tools to aide our learning. They are not taking the place of any curriculum nor will we use them all the time. I am hopeful they will make this year fun and will be a powerful resource and tool that allows us to maximize our learning and gives us creative outlets to showcase our work!


Today, we did a scavenger hunt of things on the iPad to get to know how they work a little better. It won’t be long before we are jumping in and creating new things! 

Friday, May 1, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

Big thank you to all of you for your support! We have lots of volunteers for Bethel... now we just have to hope for no rain on Friday! In the event that our trip does get rained out, there will NOT be a rain date. It's just not possible with all the volunteer scheduling, reserving the park, etc. Instead, we will have a fun-filled day right here at Mill Creek in our classrooms, doing as many of the activities as possible and creating memories in other ways. But join me in an anti-rain dance in the meantime...

Friday folders were mostly positive, but as a class, we have had a hard time with being impulsive and not having self-control. We've been extra chatty and silly lately. As much as I am trying to keep us in our regular routine, the sweet allure of spring weather and summer break being around the corner is starting to take it's toll on our kids. Please have a chat with your child about coming to school to learn, not just to socialize. We are not done learning yet!

I've been asked to include this note in our newsletter this week: "A note about Camp Invention from Megan Kinkade: Camp Invention is where BIG ideas become the next BIG thing! Join us July 6-10 at Mill Creek, as we celebrate our 25th year of reinventing summer fun! Local educators lead a week of hands-on activities created especially for elementary school children. Boys and girls spend time disassembling electronics to create something new and taking part in high-energy games! Lessons explore connections between science, technology and innovation. Discounts are available, so register today!  Visit www.campinvention.org or call 800.968.4332 for information."

I can personally attest the amount of fun Camp Invention is! I've worked it the past two summers and the kids always enjoy taking things apart, inventing, and creating. The first year I did it, kids created catapults and other devices to launch rubber ducks at a wading pool target. Last year, they created pin ball machines and motorized cars. It is definitely a wonderful hands-on learning experience!

Field day is May 20th. The third grade time is 11:10 - 12:25. I already have one volunteer, but we'd love to have more. The station we need volunteers for is..... refreshments! No game skills necessary :) Let me know if you can help us out.

That same day will be our Farmer's Market. Students should be ready to set up their businesses and sell their goods or services that morning. I am sure your child has told you about it, and I've gotten most investor pages returned. Remember, this shouldn't be causing (a lot of) out of pocket expenses for you! Encourage your child to use things they already have!

We are gearing up for the first ever Mill Creek Elementary Color Run! If you register before May 7th, it is $5 a person or $15 for a family of three or more! If you wait until the day of (May 8th) it is $10 a person or $30 for a family of three or more. I will not be running, but I will be manning a color station! It will be a ton of fun! You can find more information at The Mill Creek Homepage where you can click on and download the registration form.

We will have Music on Monday, Art on Tuesday, Library Check Out and Media on Wednesday, PE on Thursday, and Music on Friday next week. The last day to check out library books is May 15th.

Keep reading to hear about what we've done in class this week!

***********************************
Dear families,
     In P.E., the class ran the Mile Run. We ran six laps on the soccer field. Also we started the soccer unit in gym with Coach Allen.
On Tuesday and Friday, we did a timed test. There are one-hundred problems in all. We also did XtraMath on the laptops. We got partners and played either Roll, Say, Play, or Burst the Balloon.
     In writing, we wrote Cat Tales stories. Our last Pen Pal letter was yesterday. Some sent pictures!
We talked about the Farmers’ Market businesses and services. We each have a job and earn money for the job. We save as much money as we can, so we can have money to buy, and make some.
     In Read Aloud, Miss Baxter is reading The Sisters Grimm to us. It’s about sisters, Daphne and Sabrina. Their parents (Daphne and Sabrina think) disappeared! The people at the Foster Home keep sending them to crazy people claiming to be their relatives.
     Miss Gaebler’s last day was Wednesday and we wrote letters to her. We all got pencils with an acrostic name poem with our name.
     We went to the Fifth Grade Spring Concert on Wednesday also.
We moved our desks and we get to sit next to different people.
And that was our week!

     Sincerely,

     Michaela

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

Good afternoon!
I told the kids, but wanted to let you know that I will not be at school tomorrow. Mrs. McClelland who subbed for us in October will be with us again tomorrow! Our kids are in great hands. :)
Friday folders will still come home tomorrow and reading logs, too!

Thank you all for returning your Bethel forms! We are lucky to have so many volunteers to help make May 8th a great and memorable day for the kids :) If you are unable to attend, but want to help out in some other way, we will need some people to fill water balloons the evening before the big event! We will provide the balloon, you provide the time and the water. We will also need a parent to help prepare our craft bracelets that students will make that day. We will prove the craft string, you will need to measure, cut, and tie. This can be done anytime beforehand once we purchase our craft string. Let me know if you can help out in either of these areas.

May 8th  will be a very busy day indeed! After school, is the first Mill Creek Color Run! I am so excited about this PTA/Student Council sponsored event! There will be a final registration note in Friday Folders this week with more information.

We will have field day on the 20th. I will be asking for volunteers for THAT later :) Also on the 20th, will be our Third Grade Farmer’s Market. Your child, in a group with classmates, will develop, design, and create a small business that will sell goods or provide a service during our Farmer’s Market to wrap up the end of our economics unit! More information will be coming next week.


I think that about covers it for now. As always, feel free to contact me with questions and comments! 

Friday, April 17, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

What a week! We started with a successful field trip to The Candy Factory! The kids loved it... especially the chocolate covered oreos we were given!

In my current Master's class, I was talking with another third grade teacher from another district and she was telling me about Xtramath.org. It is similar to FASTT math, but it is a free program and something the kids can do at home. We played with it a little bit today. There is a letter in Friday Folders so the kids can log in at home and play, too. It mentions an iPad app, but when I checked out the app, it wasn't free, so I don't know that I recommend that when they can do it on a computer with internet access. I have set my class to last until August 15th so they will be able to access it and continue practicing over the summer! (I am probably more excited about that than most of them were...)

Speaking of math facts, because we can now practice addition through Xtra Math (and then subtraction when they've mastered addition), I've set all of us to move to multiplication in FASTT Math. We can still only do it at school, but it will be good practice. We have taken X0 and X1 facts off the test this week, so if you noticed a drop in your child's score, that probably has something to do with it.

Thank you for getting those Bethel park field trip notes returned! We can't do it without a lot of parent volunteers and students will not be allowed to walk to the park with us without a signed note. If you forgot, or your student forgot, I am sending home copies with students I am still missing it from. Please get it filled out and sent back in ASAP!

Specials next week will be media, PE, music, art, and media in that order.

Read below for Braden's summary of our week!

Have a wonderful weekend!


Dear families

This week we lrned about economics and some words like bank, goods, money, basic needs, wants, producer and  some more. We also lrned about weather and how a clowd is formed it is formed by little drops of water.

We finish the 39 clues and now we reding Tels of the forth grad nothing. In the fourth grad nothing Peter is fitting with his friend and fugue is the brother and he is tiring to fly. But he fols and noks out his 2 front teeth.

    Sinsely

Braden

Friday, April 10, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

We made it through MAP testing week! We are a lucky group... we're the only third grade class at Mill Creek to be finished with MAP testing :) Again, thank you all so much for your support!

We will have our field trip to The Candy Factory (http://www.thecandyfactory.biz/) on Monday. We will be there from about 10:00 - 11:00. Thank you for all the volunteers. We are excited for Lucy's mom, Andrew's mom, and Matthew's mom to join us for the trip as we kick off our learning about economics! It will be neat to see a business producing and providing a good to consumers. We will be starting our own classroom economy this month, too! The kids have filled out job applications, interviewed, and have been hired for various classroom jobs. They will earn a paycheck each week... if they do their job ;)

Book orders for April are in Friday folders today. I will submit the order on the 17th. Feel free to order online! The class code is on the top order form. There will be one more in May before summer break (that sentence feels weird to say... how is it almost May already?!?).

Miss Rutz came and taught us about poultry yesterday. She requested if anybody planted their glove gardens, if they could take a picture and send it in, she'd love to see the growing results! Just e-mail them to me and I will forward them on to her.

Reading logs are coming home tonight. We had a week off this week due to MAP testing, but we are going to get back into our routine and continue learning and working hard until the end of the year.

Specials next week:
Monday - Art
Tuesday - Media
Wednesday - PE
Thursday - Music
Friday - Art

I think that about covers it. Keep reading for Brandon's review of the week!

***********************************************


Dear Families,                                                4-10-15

This week we had a lot of work for one we had the map test which a lot of people did their best but I did too! We also did some real math for a change we did a fun thing but ‘s also pretty productive  we had to design house’s and find the area of each room and once the kiddo’s were done with that than we had to add the total area up I got the total answer right the first time I did 25 times 24 equals 600 so than that was my total answer! Another thing we did is the pacer test yeah I know it’s hard but Andrew and Lucy both did over fifty four and so did a few other kiddo’s  so your definitely getting your money’s worth I mean what other school gets to use tech? we also learned about poultry with miss.rutz we ate hard boiled eggs which are not my favorite at all but a few kiddo’s ate the whole thing which was pretty awesome that there getting some protein in their stomachs since school lunches don’t serve protein well they serve not enough protein for a kiddo.



Anyways my arm is getting tired so I think that means that my work here is done

Sincerely,

Brandon

Monday, April 6, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

Good morning!
Morgan wrote our blog post on Friday, and I completely forgot to publish it. 

The kids had a lot of fun seeing Junie B. Jones and hiding eggs for our Kindergarten buddies on Friday! It was a busy day :)

This week will bring us MAP testing. We will be testing tomorrow (TUESDAY) and Wednesday. On Tuesday, we will be testing from 9:00 - 10:30 and on Wednesday from 1:00 - 3:00. We will test Math on Tuesday and English Language Arts on Wednesday. We will have a snack those days and be ready to give our very best. Please help your child be ready for the day by having a good night's sleep and a healthy breakfast both days! I did not send a reading log home for this week (nor will there be any other homework). If you wanted to have lunch with your child on Wednesday, our lunch time will be changed to accommodate testing that afternoon. We will eat lunch on Wednesday at 12:00.

On Monday, April 13th, we will be taking a field trip to The Candy Factory downtown to kick off our economics unit. I was mistaken when I said we would not need chaperones or parent volunteers. We will need two or three parents to meet us at The Candy Factory on Monday at 10:00. The field trip will last about an hour. Due to space, younger siblings should not attend. 

We will have specials as usual this week: Music, Art, Library Checkout and Media, PE, Music


***********************

Dear Parents,
       
     This week was busy!  On Monday we learned how to add fractions. On Tuesday in writing we picked a short/small topic to give a “sample” of it if you know what I mean. On Wednesday in writing we shared our short/small “sample” on the carpet together oh and I almost forgot the writing sample was for persuasive writing! We also learned about Perimeter. The deffenishtion of   Perimeter is: The distance around a figure. On Thursday we learned a little about Area putting Perimeter aside for the day. The deffenishtion of Area is: The amount of space a plane figure covers. Now Friday was the most exciting day of the week! Starting at 8:55 we went to Stevens College to see the play of Junie B. Jones goes to school. At 11:00 it stopped. Another fun thing we did Friday was we hid Easter eggs
for Miss Reinkemeyer’s kindergarden class( also known as our buddy class!)J That was our week, exciding right?

                                            The writer of the week,

                                                                        Morgan 

Friday, March 20, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

It's officially spring! Unfortunately, in Missouri, that means temperamental weather... we can have flurries one day and sunshine and warmth the next! I'm hoping for sunshine and warmth for Spring Break!

With spring, also comes spring fever... we have a lot going on at school and we're excited for the promise of summer which is really just right around the corner! We have a lot of things coming up these last few months of school.

The week we return from Spring Break, we will have a field trip with Miss McClelland's class on Friday, April 3rd. We will be going to see a TRYPS performance of Junie B. Jones at Stephen's College! We will leave school around 8:55 to be there for the 9:30 showing. Because of limited space, we do not need any parent volunteers or chaperones for this trip.

The week after that, we will be taking the MAP test. Our class will be taking the mathematics portion on April 7th from 9:00 - 10:30 and the English Language Arts portion on April 8th from 1:00 - 3:00. We will have lunch at noon on that day and recess after lunch to accommodate our testing time. To help your child be ready on those days, help them get to bed on time and have a good breakfast that morning. We have talked about simply doing our best on the test and that it's nothing to worry about. It's important to do our best, but it isn't something for them to stress over.
https://wbte.drcedirect.com/MO/portals/mo/ott1 is a website (I believe you must use Google Chrome) that has released practice items if you'd like to see what students will be expected to do. Students have been working in Media to prepare for the computer controls and to get used to the format.

The week after that, we will have another field trip! To kick off our unit on economics, we will taking a short trip the The Candy Factory downtown to learn about making and selling products and talk about income and profit! Our class will be at The Candy Factory between 10:00 and 11:00 that day. Again, due to limited space, we do not need parent volunteers or chaperones for this trip either. But don't worry... we will have a great volunteer opportunity coming up May 8th!

On May 8th, third grade has a field trip to Bethel Park! This is only possible with LOTS of parent volunteers. You'll be able to sign up to help with a variety of tasks (walking to/from the park with us, taking supplies to the parks, spending a day or half a day volunteering at our stations, etc...) Look for more information coming home mid-April!

That covers the big things coming up.... We will have PE the Monday we return from spring break so have those tennis shoes ready!

I am not sending homework over spring break, but I recommend students read, practice multiplication (and addition/subtraction) facts, maybe play on FrontRow (class code 62fjc3), and keep their brains going in other fun ways!

Keep reading to read about our week from Canaan!

******************************************

Dear families
                                                                                                                                                                    In sints we made ice cream and some kids spilt theirs and most of the kids did not and it was not that hard at all in righting we were righting all about parser writing. In P.E we all most done with our basketball unit. And it well be spring break.

In class put fraction on a number line. The teacher gave us a fraction to put on the number line. It was easy. I had 12/12. That makes a whole.

We all got new books for reading groups and classroom library.

In art we played mine craft the whole class love it.  

We all love this week.

From,
Canaan                                                                                                                                                                        

Friday, March 13, 2015

Weekly Wrap up

WOW! I am so impressed with the all the kids' performances today! They did a great job! If you took any photos or videos, please share! I make an end of the year memory video and I'd love to include some pictures or even video clips.

Next week there are some dress up spirit days! There is a note in Friday Folders with the schedule, but Monday is pajama day! These are school wide spirit days sponsored by student council.

Next week will be an ABCDA week. We will have Media and Library checkout on Monday and Friday. PE on Tuesday, Music on Wednesday, and Art on Thursday.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Please read below for Lisa's summary of our week!


Dear families,

This week we have a substitute, and her name is Mrs. Delong she came this Thursday. We made a fraction flipbook, the fraction flipbook has equivalent fraction in it. We had a picture day on Friday. Miss Baxter read us a persuasive writing book. Miss Baxter read us the 39 Clues. Miss Baxter read us “I Wanna Iguana “and it is another persuasive writing book.           

Friday, March 6, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

A FULL WEEK OF SCHOOL?!? We did it! And what a busy week it was, too...
We have wrapped up geometry and have started fractions. We are finished with our informational writing (waiting to get them printed) and have started persuasive and opinion writing. We are practicing our Reader's Theater plays in reading groups and started a very detailed read aloud with Maze of Bones (the first book in the 39 Clues series). We planted seeds with Ms. Rutz and learned about fruits and veggies. But those are just the highlights... I will let you read more about that down below with Kristen's weekly wrap up!

We have a lot of fun things coming up at school next week:

March 12th - Kindergarten Round Up 1:00 -3:00 for current MCE families and 4:30 - 6:30 for new to MCE families
March 13th - Spring pictures! (Forms in Friday Folders today)
March 13th - School dance 6:00 - 8:00. Students must have permission form and a parent/chaperone must be in attendance with them.

I know many of you just recently purchased books from the Book Fair last week during conferences, but I am sending home March book orders today so I can submit the order by the 13th and have books in before Spring Break! Spring Break is March 23- 27.

Next week's specials are Art, Library Check-out and Media, PE, Music, and Art in that order.

The kids have been doing practice tests in Media to practice test-taking skills and get a little bit of a taste of the MAP testing that is coming up in April. This test is all new this year so it will be a learning experience for all of us! I believe Mrs. Rawlings wrote more about that in the newsletter in your child's Friday Folder this week. If you want to see a sample visit www.smarterbalanced.org/practice-test/ Once there, you can click on "Practice and Training Tests." You don't need any information to "log-in" to see practice items. This test does not need to be something to worry about. My motto with the kids is "Do your best." We talk about taking pride in our best and not worrying about the rest. We have worked hard all year and will continue to work hard until the last day.

If you get an email from a website called Artsonia, that is a site Mr. Gwinner, our Art teacher, has signed your child up with. He is then able to post and share your child's artwork! Here is what he had to say:

Please keep an eye out for an email sent on my behalf from an organization called Artsonia.  Artsonia is a web-based platform for storing, displaying, and sharing student artwork.  In January, I started work on photographing and uploading the artworks my students make to their website and I now have at least one work of art up for almost every student that I teach.  An invitation email will be sent to you on Monday, March 2nd, asking you to login and complete your student’s enrollment in the Artsonia program—this email may be sorted into your junk mail folder so please check there if you don’t initially see it!  Already about a third of my students’ families have enrolled and have begun to enjoy the benefits that Artsonia provides: sharing artwork with family and friends; reading descriptions of how and why the artwork was made; and providing positive support and feedback to their students.
Also, now that I have worked the kinks out of the photography and uploading process, I am looking for parent volunteers to help with the task of getting our artworks published.  The easiest and quickest method is via the Artsonia smartphone app, which is available on iOS and Android—so if you have access to a smartphone with a good camera and you are interested in helping out, please email me at dgwinner@cpsk12.org.  Thanks!


*********************************************
Dear Families,
      
       This week we started off with a late start day because of the weather, and on Wednesday, some kids were late because of snow.
       In math, we learned about tangrams and also divided them into a line of symmetry. Our class took a test about angles, quadrilaterals and other polygons. We also learned about fractions.
       In read aloud, we are reading The 39 Clues. There are a lot of characters. The book told our Amy, Dan, and some other characters to choose between a million dollars or the clues. We also chose between the two too.
       In writing, our topic is persuasive writing. To get ideas, we wrote down some things we want to change in the classroom, school, Columbia, etc.
       In science, our topic is force. We did two activities to get more reference.  One was called ‘Gripping and Slipping’. The other was called ‘Down to the Ground’.
        Miss. Rutz came to teach us about fruit and vegetables. We also made a garden inside a glove that is in our classroom to grow. We also watched the movie Charlotte’s web since we read the book already. We compared the movie to the book and wrote about which one was better. When we watched the movie, we got to wear our pajamas because we earned another 100 cougar compliments.
       This week was fun for all of us. We can’t wait to come to school next week!       



Sincerely,

Kristen 


Thursday, February 26, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

Dear Parents



This week we did a lot of things. Like going on a felled trip to the Rock Bridge
High school panatrem the showed the inside of a person body it was freaky. And a conollashen of the Wednesday night sky at 6:25 to 7:00.

This week in math we learned about translate, flip, reflation. And more Geometry stuff. And made a little poster.

In read Lowed we finish The Lemonade War. Scott pester Stoll all of Jessie money because Evan had Jessie money for revenge on her for putting bugs in there lemonade then Evan had it in is shorts and then he tock of the shorts and went swimming at pals house. So Scott had to go to the restroom but he look at Evan’s short and tock it right out.


Sinisterly

Brock

Friday, February 20, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

Next week is parent teacher conferences! I am so excited to get to meet with you all and talk about the great things your kids are doing!

Monday is our non-referral party for second trimester. Students that did not receive an office referral will be participating in a craft day in the media center from 9:20 - 10:10.

On Tuesday, we will be taking our field trip to the Planetarium! We do not need chaperones or parent volunteers.

We will have music on Monday, Art on Tuesday, Media and Library Check-Out on Wednesday, and PE on Thursday.

Reading logs are coming home today. If they didn't already, they can cross off Thursday because it is due Thursday morning! We don't have school on Friday!

Read below to hear about our week from Grant!

************************************

Dear family’s


This week we are learning that there are more then one kind of triangle, they can be all shapes
And sizes. We also learned about wheat and soy beans from miss root, the class got to make bread at home for the wheat thing and for the

Soy bean project the class tried knew milk. The milks were soy bean milk, regular milk chocolate milk, butter milk. The class learned a lot more stuff about parallelograms to and did a project for it. 

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

Dear families,
Thank you so much for all your help at the Valentine's Day party and for sending in snacks and treats! The kids had a lot of fun. You can look at our twitter feed to the right and see some pictures!

Next week, there is no school on Monday. Enjoy your President's Day! Specials will be Music, Art, Library Checkout, and PE (in that order, Tuesday-Friday).

The following week is Conference Week! There are confirmation notes in your child's Friday Folder today. Please confirm that you received the note and are aware of your conference time (or mark that you need a new time) and send it back with your child on Tuesday! Thank you.

We will also be going on a short field trip that week! I haven't even told the kids yet... We will be going to Rock Bridge High School to visit the Planetarium on Tuesday, February 24th in the morning. It will not interfere with specials (it's a D day so we have Art in the afternoon) or lunch that day (the question many kids will ask!).

I will be submitting the book order tomorrow. If your order is meant to be a surprise, please let me know and I will contact you when the order comes in.

Have a wonderful weekend! Keep reading to read about what we did in class this week!

************************************

Dear Mill Creek Families,
     This week our class had a 100 No Excuse spelling test. We also had a multiplication test.
 We read chapters of “The Lemonade War” by Jacqueline Davies.  Miss Baxter read us “The House on Dirty-Third Street”  for the Show-Me Awards.
      Today we played around the world with multiplication facts. Also in math, we learned about geometry, different types of triangles, obtuse angles, acute angles, and right angles.
     In science, our class took turns going to the hallway doing an experiment. One person held the push-pull meter, one person let go of the weight, and one person kept track of how far it went, and wrote it down.
      In music, we learned a type of music called soundpainting. We played different instruments at different times and it sounded pretty.
     We also went to the computer lab to work on our informational writing.

Sincerely,

   Michaela

Friday, February 6, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

Hello,
Well, that snow day on Monday and the late start Thursday ruined the only five day week we were going to have in February. I'm glad our superintendent has our student and his staffs' safety in mind!

We will not be in school on February 13th, 16th, or 27th.

Book orders are coming home this week in Friday Folders. I know I've already had an online order placed. I will submit all orders on February 13th (it is a teacher work day). There is a coupon attached to the orders for a free book valued at $5 with a $10 or more purchase. To use this coupon online, simply enter the coupon code found in the bottom right corner. This coupon can also be saved to be used in March. But don't lose it! I don't have extras and each code is different.

Thursday, February 12th is our Valentine's party. Be on the lookout for an e-mail from our wonderful room mom about the party. Notes came home this week with a class list and information about Valentine's Boxes. Please help your child create some kind of box, bag, or container to receive Valentine cards! We will exchange cards in the morning. There are 27 students in our class.

I will send home conference notes at the end of next week to confirm conference times.

You may hear your child talking about a couple of different people in and out of our room lately. Ms. Gaebler is an MU student working on her degree in Education. She will be here on Wednesday and Friday, observing and helping out.

I have signed us up for a free program offered through MU called Ag on the Move. Ms. Rutz is our instructor. She will come in for ten lessons about various farming related things that will help us learn about plant and life sciences, soil, and nutrition: all things in our third grade curriculum!

Keep practicing those multiplication facts! We have moved onto geometry but will still do timed tests and have occasional homework!

Specials next week are: Music, Art, Library Check-out and Media, PE.

Read on to hear about our week from Caden!


Hi family’s we have been doing riley good at math  and this week it is grants birthday and we are riley good at whiting  ever one of as are done  with inform shin whiting and they are all printed   and we have bin quite at read to self and are doing science finale. Now we are doing push and pull and we are done reading chalets web and now we are reading the lemonade war and we are doing geometry and we are lining lines.      

Friday, January 30, 2015

Weekly Wrap-Up and Upcoming Events

Where did January go?!? I can't believe it will be February when I see the kids next. This month went very quickly, and I have a feeling that February will go just as quickly with everything happening in February.

On February 4th there is a PTA meeting at school at 6:30. Please check it out if you haven't yet. We have a wonderful PTA that does a lot of great things for our building, our teachers, and most importantly: our kids.

February 9-12th is Heart Healthy Week sponsored by our Student Council! On Tuesday that week, kids can bring $1 (or more) to wear a hat at school all day. Donations will go to the American Heart Association. On Wednesday of that week, we will wear our fitness clothes to Jump into Fitness. And on Thursday the 12th, we will wear red, pink or white!

Thursday, February 12th will be our Valentine's Day party from 2:30 - 3:00. I will attach a student list to the e-mail this week. I will also send home a paper copy with students next week. We have twenty-seven students. Be on the lookout for more information and volunteer opportunities as begin our party planning!

There is no school on February 13th. Not because it's Friday the 13th, but because we have been given a work day to prepare for conferences!

And then, we might as well make it a four day weekend because Monday the 16th is President's Day and another day off of school.

Conferences and the book fair will be the following week (February 23rd - 27th). I plan to mostly keep the same schedule from fall (so if I saw you Monday at 4:00, I will see you Monday at 4:00 again this time) unless that time no longer works for you. I will be sending home notes in February to verify times and days!

Specials next week are PE, music, art, library checkout and media, PE.

I think that about covers it... check out Lucy's post below for a synopsis of our week!

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Dear families,

We are still reading Charlottes’ Web and they got to go to the fair and they won a prize even though they did not get first place. We got Lola’s birthday treats and the cupcakes were good!
We had an early dismissal and adventure club got to go to Going Bonkers.
We started a new unit in math and science. For science we started a unit about force and gravity.
 For math we started geometry and we are learning about 3D figures. We had an earthquake drill. Cooperating cougar was Bode! The kids that are in clubs, school clubs got called to get their
Pictures taken. We had a fun week!!!!!!!


Sincerely,

Lucy!

Friday, January 23, 2015

Weekly Update

Dear families,

What an amazing turn out for Cocoa Night! It was so nice to get to see you and watch your kids (mostly) excitedly tell you about our class and show you around the room!

Next Wednesday is an early dismissal day. After I high-five the kids out the door at 12:50, I will be working hard and collaborating with the other third grade teachers. If you plan to have lunch with your child on our early out day, lunch will be 11:50 - 12:10 so please plan accordingly.

It's almost time to start thinking about conferences... it doesn't seem like it's been that long. Earlier this week, one of the kids said, "This year is going by fast!" I couldn't agree more.
I said, "Well, you know the saying, 'Time flies when you're having fun.' Does that mean the year has been fun?" Such a dangerous question to ask... but happily, the student affirmed that it HAS been fun! Lucky for us, we still have MONTHS of fun left to have. I think it, too, will fly by, though.

With the crazy weather we've been having (warm one day, freezing the next), please help your child make appropriate clothing choices. It's hard to tell when it's going to be cold, so make sure your child has a coat with them at school to wear out to recess.

As always let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

Specials next week are Media and Library Check-Out on Monday, PE on Tuesday, no specials on Wednesday due to early out, Art on Thursday, and Media and Library Check-Out again on Friday.

Keep reading to hear from Louie about what we've done in school this week!

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Dear Families,

Our class did a lot of things in school this week! In math we did 2 multiblucashon tests in math. Also we did divishion in math we also had a little test for divishion it was not that hard. In P.E. we did our volleyball unite we played a game called Hot Shot it was so fun to play. We also have pen pal they write letters to us and then we write to them the pen pals are from Battle High School so it is really cool to have a pen pal!!! In read aloud we are reading Charlottes Webb. We are on chapter 15 the book is really good I have seen the movie. In writing almost everybody is in word for informational writing. I am writing about alligators for my story. Our cooperating cougar was Kristen!!! In my reading group we are reading Chasing Tornados. It is a really good book to learn about tornados!!! It was a good week for the whole class!!!

Sincerely,

Louie

Friday, January 16, 2015

Weekly Wrap Up

Dear families,
We almost had a totally normal week... if not for that late start on Monday. I appreciated being able to safely drive to school.

Next week won't be a normal week, either. We are out of school on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. day.

The following week, we will have an early dismissal day on Wednesday the 28th. School will dismiss at 12:50.

I wanted to put a little blurb out here this week about a great program called Girls on the Run! It is hosted at Mill Creek for girls in third, fourth, and fifth grades. It is Mondays and Wednesdays until 5:00 for eleven weeks beginning February 16th. There are scholarships available... just check out www.heartofmogotr.com for more information.

Also, if your child is missing a glove (or gloves), a hat, a scarf, a jacket... or anything... please check out our lost and found at school. Lots of lost items are just waiting for their owners to claim them!

Club pictures will be taken on January 27th.

Don't forget to come out for Cocoa Night on the 22nd from 5:00 - 6:30!

Just a reminder that we are collecting BoxTops for Education AND poptabs from cans for the Rainbow House.

Specials next week will be
Tuesday - Media and library Check Out
Wednesday - PE
Thursday - Music
Friday - Art

That about covers it for now. A lot of things coming up in February which is just around the corner, though... so stay tuned! Below is our student summary of our week. Enjoy!


Dear family

This week we did tree math tests thay were fun. We did student cuoncle elechens. In art we made super man or the  lost thing which we read the book to. In pe we learn about volley ballthat was fun for every body.we lean about books and computers in liabrary. We did fast math on computers. In music we lean about reading music. We had reces out  door reces for tree daysthis week was a very fun week. We got to do in councler we leand  about takeing deep breaths.


gaines

Friday, January 9, 2015

Welcome back!

What an interesting week back from break! Two full days on Monday and Tuesday, followed by two late start days on Wednesday and Thursday, and a full day to round out the week on Friday. It definitely helped us practice our "go with the flow" motto!

I am sending home Scholastic catalogues for January in Friday Folders this week. I will submit the January order on January 16th.

We have quite a few upcoming things to kick off the new year.
Next week we will be holding student council elections to elect two new representatives. Eddie and Kristen have served us well, but it's time for them to pass the torch! We will have speeches and elections on Friday, January 16th, for students interested in representing us. Each student who is interested must prepare a speech to present to the class. Please see here for information about student council.

We are also going to begin collecting soda and soup can tabs! Student council is sponsoring this activity for the Rainbow House. We are also still collecting BoxTops for Education!

There is no school on January 19th for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Mill Creek's annual Cocoa Night is on January 22nd from 5:00 - 6:30. This is a great opportunity to come in and let your kiddo show off the things they do each day! (And enjoy some delicious hot chocolate!)

Wednesday, January 28th is an early dismissal day. School will dismiss at 12:50 on that day. 

Specials next week are:
Monday - Art
Tuesday - Media and library Check Out
Wednesday - PE
Thursday - Music
Friday - Art

Please keep reading for our weekly student update written by Brandon!

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Dear Families,

 This week we have done three digit multiplication and that was a bit hard but I do have to say everyone did a good job on it considering it was harder than you might have thought. We have also we started a new book you might be familiar with it is Charlets Web by E.B White now I bet most people have read it but some haven’t so don’t ruin it kids! We had two birthday treats on the 5th and the 7th on the 5th we had Connors treats and on the 7th we had Matthews half birthday which if you ask me is pretty good. We had indoor recess all week so that is why we had to get our energy out since we cant run in the school so that explains it! We also started a math maze were we have to get to the end and connect the numbers and if you ask me that is pretty difficult since its half math and half remembering the number your trying to go up to but over all we really liked it! P.S if you want more info ask your kids they will hopefully tell you everything that happened!