Week of August 29th

Religion:  This week's CFP devotions will focus on the virtue respect. Adam and Eve's disobedience will teach us about our own struggles concerning respect for God and others. Our respect for God will also be challenged by our study of the 2nd Commandment.

Math: We started the math text this past week. We will take the time to answer questions from graded homework in class. Please go over these with your children. Many mistakes are happening from not reading carefully or working too quickly. I plan to make quizzes from the homework questions. After doing calendars this week, we will press on to clocks and thermometers. Follow up with teachable moments at home especially on telling and using time.

Reading:  We will finish reading Ranger in Time on time and get the author's point of view in person. Kate Messner will visit on Tuesday, Aug. 30. The 3rd-4th grade presentation will be from 10:00-10:45 in the church sanctuary. Mr. Fishburn ordered extra books which are available for sale while supplies last. The kids have really enjoyed this book. There are currently three books in this series with more to come in the future. Check your public libraries for all of Kate Messner's books. They would make great read aloud material for home.

Spelling: Our first contract is behind us. The kids seemed to really enjoy doing jumping jacks while spelling. Please do each activity only once per week as per the directions. I look forward to seeing what kinds of words are selected this week.

Grammar: We will continue with the four kinds of sentences. So far, the kids have done well identifying and writing these.

Social Studies: I hope you didn't take the day off to attend a field trip on Sept. 9th. Mr. Fishburn and I found an alternative to replace our foiled afternoon plans. However, kindergarten scheduled a field trip and the bus only minutes before we got our trip approved. We are hoping for a date the following week.

Mr. Fishburn will introduce the rural/urban/suburban project on Monday. The students will work in pairs researching, presenting and writing the differences in these three communities. This project will be a combination of field trip notes, research notes, Vern diagram, main idea/detail sentences, and a representation depicting the differences.

Science:  Our notebooks are coming along. We counted the fruit inside pea pods. Yes, the seeds are called the fruit even in green veggies. We will look at a variety of seeds this week and will start some sprouting beans in the near future. We will log daily changes in their growth for 6 days.

Please come to Curriculum night. We will talk about Seesaw, a digital way to see the work students are proud to save and show you without a lot of clutter and files of paper. 

Week of August 22nd

Religion

Micah 6:8 serves as our theme verse. "What does the Lord require of you. . .act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." We not only memorized this verse but we see it as a key verse for understanding how we live in God's will. Ask your kids to give examples of how to live each of the three requirements. It's our goal this year and every year of our lives.

Be sure and note the new memory assignment. We begin a new pilot program, the Character Formation Project, for our morning devotions. This week is a series of lessons about creation that teach the virtue integrity, God's power to be true to Him and to yourself. We also begin our first lessons from My First Catechism for Kids.

Math

We spent a few days reviewing addition and subtraction with some fun games. Friday's baseline test showed good retention overall of 2nd grade math skills. Therefore, we will press on to 3rd grade math.

This week we will begin keeping a math notebook. Our first entries will be problem solving strategies. Another transition to be introduced will be using an answer sheet and text- book for the first time. Look for this to begin toward the end of the week.

Spelling

You should have seen some mini sight word quizzes we did this week. We will continue these on the first day of each week. A list was sent home over the weekend. Not all words will be tested, only a random sampling.Be mindful that what makes these challenging for some is many are homophones.

First contracts went home on Friday. They are due Friday, August 26. This week's list was a prescribed list of classmates' and teachers' names the students should know how to spell.

Reading

A story from our textbook was appropriate for this week, "First Day Jitters," reminded kids that students aren't the only ones who get nervous. Teachers do too. In class activities included vocabulary and sequencing.

The 3rd and 4th grades are reading Ranger in Time: Rescue on the Oregon Trail by Kate Messner. Ranger is a rescue dog who is transported into the past. Ms. Messner will be our visiting author on August 30. Her visit will give us a greater appreciation of the research, editing, and publishing process. This book will satisfy our reading and social studies this week. Students will write responses that will help them identify with those who made this difficult journey. 

Social Studies

We need to adjust our field trip plans for September 9. We will not be going to Soulard Old Trinity. Mr. Fishburn is working on plan B. More details will be forthcoming.

Hopefully you have seen the "Who Am I?" folders taking shape. This week we solve these mysteries with our combined classes. It will be neat to combine this lesson with our identity in Christ.

Science

We took part of the survey test for the next unit in our new Foss science curriculum. It was challenging for many. Our third graders are going to learn so much this year as we complete hands on activities and document our findings in a notebook. Our first large unit is Structures of Life. This will begin with seeds and progress to animals and people.

Art

Mistakes don't happen in art this year. They are better known as a Beautiful Oops. The students learned to make something beautiful from an otherwise discarded mistake. That's life. We make the best of the situation. Creativity and much imagination was exercised on Fridayand will continue until the next Friday.

Important Dates

August 30   Author visit

September 1  Curriculum night

September 5  Labor Day (no school)

September 9  Field trip 

Can you help?

We can use old newspaper for art and science.

Big thanks, parents!

The first three days were awesome! Applause for excellent hall behavior, good manners, and terrific attitudes.

Problem and Solution - Reading News Stories

The 3rd graders read a story called Beatrice's Goat a few weeks ago.  We started off by looking at children's bedrooms around the world and the different problems that could cause all of these children to be in those bedrooms.  Some were rich, some were poor, and some even slept in dirt.  As we read the story of Beatrice, we discussed how her goat affected a lot of change and made it possible for her to go to school in a poverty stricken society.

My goal was to have the students take this lesson and be able to apply it to real world situations.  I gave them the task of researching news stories on Timeforkids.com.  Once they had picked a news story, they had to dissect the article for the problem/solution and causes/effects that were hidden in it.  Once the problem was clearly noted, the kids were also challenged to come up some creative solutions to those problems and then create a news report video documenting what they learned.  This was a long process, but it showed me just how deep they can think.  It also made me proud to watch them pick out real world problems and start to analyze them as little adults.  Every part of this process was student driven and created.  I merely gave them the physical tools they needed to accomplish the task.  Here are the results!

Too Many Snow Days

Reported by Alexa, Mallory, and Logan

Trashing the Earth

Reported by Ryan, Kate, and Thelma

Addicted to Sugar?

Reported by Layna, Colton, and Evie

Strange Monkey Business in Bananas

Reported by Caleb and Sophia

Earthquake in Ecuador

Reported by Emma, Nicholas, and Mason

Get Hydrated 

Reported by Evaline, Savannah, and Eli

Week of May 9th

Dear parents,
I have just a few things to inform you of for our last couple weeks of school.

Field Trip
Our last field trip is scheduled for Monday May 23rd.  We will be leaving school at 9 am and returning around 1:30 pm.  You are welcome to ride the bus with us or if you plan to meet us there, we will meet in the tennis court parking lot of Forest Park (right across from the trolley and visitor center).  We will be starting the race around 9:30 and then have lunch around noon or whenever everyone finishes.

I could still use a couple more people to help lead groups around the park.  Ideally groups of 3 work best and we are about 1 or 2 people short of that.  If you plan on joining us this is what you should be sure to bring:
1. Sack Lunch for after the race
2. Water, Water, Water
3. Shoes and clothes that you can run/walk a lot in
4. Your cell phone (We will be using an app on the phones to do the scavenger hunt with.  There are a couple of options on how to do this, but you will either need to allow the kids to look at your phone, or have a hot spot connection that they can connect an ipad to.  I will give more details about this later.)

Field Day
Mrs. Knost has been sending out emails about field day which is on Friday May 20th.  Be sure to check her emails to find the color your child is supposed to wear that day.  Also, thank you for sending in $1 to help offset the cost of the Ted Drewe's for the kids.

Book Club
We are doing one last book club using the dearly loved author Beverly Cleary.  These books were written specifically for this age group (Level 0) and really appeal to the kids.  I am not sure that we will have time to do another Tic-Tac-Toe project with these, so I will have a shorter assessment piece that is done in class as we near the end of the books.  This will most likely take place the last week of school on Tuesday.  I'll send home more info as we get a little closer.

Thank You!!
I have had such a wonderful year teaching your kids and am a little bit sad to let them go on to 4th grade.  They have all come so far, and as a class we truly enjoy being around each other every day.  Thank you for all of your cards, gifts, prayers, support and time this year.  I have been blessed to get to know each one of your families and pray that you have a wonderful summer!

1st Week of May

Dear parents,
I cannot believe that we have less than 4 weeks of school left.  Your kiddos have come such a long way since August and I am very proud of them.  Last week was lovely since we were able to get back into the routine of things after so many big events.  Here's a look at the next couple weeks:

Religion: 
We finished up talking about communion and will be going through confession in our Catechisms.  We will also be reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which ties in nicely with our Christian faith.  It has a lot of symbolism and is a great book to practice comparisons with the Bible.

Math:  
We are working on division and still trying to get everyone to learn their times tables through 12.  We still have enough time for the class to earn an ice cream party if everyone keeps practicing!

Reading: 
A couple weeks ago we read a story in our reader called Beatrice's Goat.  This gave us a good glimpse into what life is like in other parts of the world.  We are now studying problems in the news using the website "Time for Kids" and learning about the causes, effects, and solutions to those problems.  Your kids have written news scripts to report on those problems and will be turning them into iMovies this week.

Science: 
We have finished up our unit on Ecosystems and are sharing our last couple projects this week.  From now until the end of the year, we will be working on learning body systems (mostly bones and muscles) and health.  There may be a couple smaller lessons thrown in there depending on how much time we have.

Grammar: 
We have been talking about pronouns in class and will have a small quiz tomorrow.  This is really just an activity to see if they can pick out the correct pronoun and it's antecedent.  We have done a lot with this in class so there isn't much to study.  If you'd like to review, you can use the story Play Ball that we worked on in class today.  They should have brought it home with them.

Field Trip: 
Monday May 23rd is our Amazing Race Field Trip.  We will be needing a few more parents to help out with this.  It's been awhile since I've said anything about it, so here is the list of parents I currently have.  If you could please confirm your spot, that would be very helpful!  The smaller the groups we have, the more fun it is for everyone.  We will be arriving at the park around 9:15 and leaving around 1:30.  Thanks!
Karl and Jenna Nelson
Kelly (Nate?) Ritter
Rene Uhlig
Craig Uhlig
Jayme (Colton's aunt)

Important Dates

• May 23rd  - Amazing Race Field Trip at Forest Park (We need as many parents as are willing!)

• May 26th - Last Day of School; Join us for closing worship and early dismissal 

Memory work

Hello parents, 

This week's memory verse is taken straight from the ESV version of the Bible. It can be found in Galatians 5:22-23,25. 

Galatians 5:22-23, 25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk with the Spirit. 

Achievement Test Week

Dear parents,
This week is testing week.  Thank you for helping your children prepare for these by:

1. Making sure they get plenty of sleep each night
2. Making sure they have a good healthy breakfast and snack
3. Get to school on time 

Thanks for your cooperation! 

Grandparent's Day

Just a reminder that Grandparent's Day is next Thursday April 21st.  Please sure to have them RSVP and choose what lunch option they will be taking advantage of with your child.  This helps us plan ahead so that we can make sure your child and your parents are safe are taken care of.  Here is the invitation: 

Grandparent's Day Invitation

Science and Social Studies

Our government unit will be coming to a close at the beginning of next week.  I will be giving the students a short quiz on the vocabulary that we have learned next Wednesday.  I will do my best to get those vocab packets graded and sent home in the next couple of days so they can study with them.  Just a reminder that this quiz will be more open ended instead of multiple choice.  I want to make sure the children understand the concepts instead of just repeating facts back to me.  

We are also starting a unit on Ecosystems.  However, with testing, Grandparent's Day, PE testing, and Operetta practice, our schedule is very shifty right now.   Therefore, I will not be sending home a calendar for this unit.  We will just have to fit things in where we can and I will put any assignments in their planners.  I will also be sure to give plenty of notice for any big projects that need to be completed at home.  Thanks for you flexibility and understanding.  

Operetta and Ice Cream Social

The operetta is scheduled for Thursday April 21st at 7 pm.  Please be looking for more information from Mrs. Killian on what to wear and exact arrival times.  

We will be having an ice cream social with a free will offering after the Operetta.  The money raised from this will go into our Author Visit Fund for next year.  The author visit is always a great way to get your kiddos motivated and excited about their writing.  Thanks for your support!

Important Dates

• April 11th-15th - Achievement Testing Week

• April 21st - Elementary Grandparent's Day

• If your child will not have a special guest that is able to be present please let me know and we can try to arrange a surrogate guest.  We have had a few people volunteer to be "grandparents" for the day.  

• April 21st 7:00 p.m. Elementary Operetta at Webster Gardens 

• Ice Cream Social to fund our Author Visit will follow the Operetta.

• May 23rd  - Amazing Race Field Trip at Forest Park (times to be announced later but we definitely need help between 9 and noon - We need as many parents as are willing!)

• May 26th - Last Day of School; Join us for closing worship and early dismissal