Last post!

Dear Parents,

It is so hard to believe that I am writing the final post for the year.  When I (Lynae) took this job last year I never would have guessed what an incredible journey God had in store for me.  Somewhere along the way I completely fell in love with all 22 children placed in my classroom.  I was also blessed to be given the world's best job share partner and she became an amazing friend to me.   God is just SO good.

We are going to have a very difficult time saying good-bye to these sweet kids this coming Friday.  They have all managed to take a piece of our heart with them and they will always be very dear to us.  Thank you for letting us love and teach your child each day.  It has been an incredible honor to partner with you in their journey and see them grow spiritually, academically, and socially.  We are just SO BLESSED!

OUR FINAL WEEK:

• In Reading we will be working on our Biography posters next week.  The students will be presenting these to the class which will be a lot of fun.  
• Math will be making Tetrahedron Kites.  Thank you to all of the parent volunteers who are coming in on Monday or Thursday morning.  The kids so are excited about this project so it will be an exciting last week in Math!  If you child still needs to bring in tissue paper, please do so by Monday. 
• We will be playing baseball a day next week against the High School Baseball team to celebrate All Star Reading.  
• Field day is Tuesday afternoon.  Make sure your child is dressed for the outdoors!  
• Our final day is Friday.  Dismissal is at 11:30.  Wow...it will be hard to see them go.  Your child will be coming home with his/her report card and baton.  

Blessings!

Erin and Lynae

May 23

GOD BLESS AMERICA!  Today I am so thankful for the freedom that we have here in the USA. Thank you to all who have served.

Today in the parade was our very own Raphael.

Reading:  We are finishing up our biography books this weekend (hopefully) and will start working on our posters and presentations this next week.

Writing:  We are working on our personal essays as well.  This past week we have picked out opinion statements (thesis) and have started the rough draft on our two personal stories that we will use as our evidence to support our thesis.  We will continue to work on this for the remainder of the week.

Math:  We finished our unit on fractions this past week and took our test on Friday.  I am so proud of how hard the class worked this year in Math.  Overall, we did a great job on our final test and I think the students will be pleased with their results.  Next week we will do some review of the concepts we learned this year through Math games.

Bible:  We continue to follow the Israelites through the desert.  We see how frustrated they become when they discover giants living in the land of Cannon.  We see the Israelites doubt God but also see how Caleb and Joshua trust in God's promises for them.  We learned that the Israelites are punished for their lack of faith by wandering in the desert for 40 years.  We talked about how God still provides for his people even when they doubt in him.  What an incredible God we serve!

Social Studies:  This week we studied the pioneers coming to Michigan.  The students enjoy learning about this time in history and have read several great articles about the pioneers travels and challenges while settling in a new land.  We also enjoyed a presentation from the Outdoor Discovery Center on Native Americans and the French Voyagers.  We even threw hatchets like the Native Americans/Voyagers may have done in some of their games.  I have posted many pictures on smugmug for you to enjoy!

Upcoming Events:

• We will be making tetrahedron kites the final week of school.  If you are able to volunteer to help with the kite project on June 1 or June 4 (or both!) from 8:45-10:45 please email Lynae at lstielstra@hollandchristian.org so we can plan on you.  Each child will need 10 sheets of tissue paper for this project. Many students still need to bring this item in to school.  
• June 2- Field day in the afternoon
• June 5- Last day.  11:30 dismissal time

May 15

Tulip Time picture have been posted on the blog under the smugmug site.  Feel free to check those sweet kids out!  

Curriculum Highlights this Week:

Math:  We have begun our final unit of the year dealing with fractions.  This week we learned that fractions are made up of equal parts, what the numerator and denominator mean, how to find fractions with different denominators on a number line, and what equivalent fractions are.  This is a tough concept, but we are doing great as long as we continue to draw pictures of what we are working on so we can visually see the fractions we are dealing with.

 

Bible:  This week we looked at the covenant the Israelites made with God.  We focused on each of the commandments this week and how God gives us these to help us live a life that draws us closer to Him.  We saw how quickly the Israelites forgot this covenant and worshipped the Golden Calf instead.  Moses punishes them for their disobedience and God forgives his people.  What an incredible God we serve!

Our Bible Memory is Romans 8: 38-39.  This is new to the class so reviewing at home would be helpful.  

Social Studies:  We have been studying the French explorers and their journey into the Great Lakes region.  We looked at the goods the French traded with the Native Americans and the importance of the trading posts. We then saw how the British came and took over the land.  The students are loving this unit....to the point where they are acting it out on the playground during their recesses!  It makes me smile!

Reading:  We have been working on our biography unit.  Your child is reading about a person that they chose to study.  We are learning all about our subjects and the tie period they lived in along with the decisions that they made and the challenges that they faced.  They are enjoying this unit especially as they are finding out that many of their subjects are overlapping and lived during the same time periods.

Writing:  We are working on our last writing unit of the year-personal essays.  Your child last week learned how to identify a big idea and support that with real life examples.  They also learned how to create their opinion statement (thesis) and support it with short stories from their own life.  They have been working very hard on this.

Upcoming Events:

• Discovery Test:  The Math section will be given on Monday morning and the Reading section will be given on Wednesday morning. 
• Native American Voyagers:  Hemmlock Crossings will be coming to our school on Tuesday morning to do a lot of activities with our class dealing with our Social Studies unit.  This should be a very fun morning!  Dress your child for the weather as we will be outside for much of our morning.
• Girls on the Run:  They are holding a bake sale after school on Monday.
• Monday, May 25- No School.  Memorial Day
• Tetrahedron Kites:  The final week of school we will be making tetrahedron kites to conclude our Math units.  A detailed letter went home in the homework folders on Friday.  We are asking for volunteers on Monday, June 1 and Thursday, June 4 to help with this project.  If you are able to help with one or both dates, please email Lynae at lstielstra@hollandchristian.org.   Each child will need to bring a small package of colored tissue paper (8-10) sheets which they may bring into school at any time.  
• June 5:  Last day.  Dismissal at 11:30. 

What a beautiful weekend it has been.  We hope that you have been able to enjoy time outside with your family.

Reading: This week in reading we are working through our mystery series book clubs.  Your children are just reading machines as they are reading so efficiently.  They love having their discussions each morning about what new clues they have discovered in their reading.  As a celebration to end our books clubs, I told them that we would eat pancakes during literacy next Monday.  We have been reading Nate the Great and in every book he eats a big stack of pancakes after solving his mystery. Our next unit will be our last reading unit on Biographies.

Writing:  This week we finished our faith writing and our post informational writing assessment. Today the kids compared their pre unit assessment writing and their post and they were amazed at the growth they saw in their writing.  It was so sweet to listen to them talk about their successes.  On Monday we will start with our last writing unit on Personal Essays.

Word Work: no words next week due to Tulip Time.

Bible:  This week we continued to look at how God is leading Moses and the Israelites through the wilderness.  We see how God provides for his people by giving them manna and quail to eat and providing them with good water to drink.  We see how God gives Moses helpers to win the battle against the Amalekites.  We are beginning to study the 10 commandments and how God desires for us to live a life that is pleasing to him. 

Math:  We have continued to work at finding the area and perimeter of shapes.  This week we focused a lot on story problems dealing with finding the area, perimeter, and side length.  This is challenging math and we spent a lot of time on this!   As a class we decided that we needed Friday for an extra review day so our test will now be on Monday.  Several students asked for review pages to take home as well.  These are not required homework but your child will earn rock stars from me if they return them.

Social Studies:  We continued to be historians as we looked the legends that the Ojibway tribe would share that we passed down from generation to generation.  The kids loved hearing these legends and talking about the meanings that were in them.  We will begin to look at the first explorers to Michigan next week.

This week we will send home a list of our classroom parade line up so that you will be able to easily spot your child.

May 6, -  No Holland Public Bus PM

May 6, 7 and 9 - Tulip Time
May 25 - No School, Memorial Day

May 27 - Moving up Day for 2nd to 3rd Grade, visiting day

June 2 -  SS - PR Field Day ( in the afternoon at South Side )

June 5 -  1/2 Day of School ( Last Day of School )

Important Tulip Time Announcements:

There will be no HPS busing at 11:30AM Wednesday or Thursday. HPS will be busing, however, to school both mornings, as usual. HC transportation will provide busing as usual for its students, including at 11:30 on Wednesday. 

The Kinderparade is scheduled for Thursday, May 7.  All 3rd & 4th grade students will march in costume and good walking shoes (no wooden shoes).

                ·             3rd and 4th grade students who will be staying at school for the Kinderparade will need to                     bring a sack lunch that day.  No hot lunch will be provided.

                ·             Parents are welcome to come to Pine Ridge at noon to help dress your child in his/her                           costume.

                ·             Holland Public School Transportation will transport Pine Ridge and South Side  students to                     the Tulip Time parade on Thursday.  

                ·             Please be prompt in picking up your child at the end of the parade route (at the Fire Station                  on 11^th ); parent or high school age child to pick up your child, please.

For each child’s security, please wait until the children come to a stop and are moved out of the parade traffic, and be sure to notify your child’s teacher that you have your child so we can be sure that the right person picks up each student.

If Wednesday’s parade is canceled due to weather (as announced on WHTC, 1450AM), we will still dismiss at 11:30AM.  If Thursday’s parade is postponed due to weather, we will still dismiss Thursday at 11:30, and all normal transportation will be provided.  And we will follow the same Thursday parade day schedule on Friday, May 8.

What a beautiful weekend!  The weather was a true BLESSING!  We hope you were able to get outside and enjoy.

Reading: This week we started our Mystery Book Clubs.  This is a fast unit which requires a lot of reading at a pretty good clip.  During this unit your child will be reading 2-4 books within a series. We will be looking into all of the elements and characters of a mystery as well reviewing some characterization skills that we worked on at the beginning of the year.  It again amazes me how your students discuss their thinking about what they are reading.  They do such a wonderful job with this.

Writing:  We are working on finishing our faith writing which is all about how we see that God is real.  Once we have this finished we have two small writing assessments to do and then we will start our personal essay unit.  The kids are excited for this one to start.

Word Work:  I have been trying something new for the last two weeks with word work.  I have been challenging the kids to come up with their own way to sort their words.  They have been enjoying this and what I find is often they find ways to sort that really make sense to them which increases their retention of their words and words with similar patterns.  I also have decided to end the sort homework.  Feel free to practice at home but I am not requiring it.  I know many spring sports have started and the weather is getting warmer and I want them to get outside.  The only homework that will be coming from me the remainder of the year will be reading minutes.

Math:  This has been a big week in Math.  We have learned about area and perimeter and have spent a lot of time finding both for many different size rectangles.  We are working at finding unknown side lengths when we are given area or perimeter and then checking to see if our answers make sense.  We will be having a test on this unit next week Friday.  Your child will come home with a Math review on Monday to prepare for the test.

Social Studies:  We continued to be historians this week as we studied Michigan History.  We looked at the Native American tribes that lived in Michigan and focused specifically on Ojibway, the Ottawa, and the Potawatomi tribes.  This is a very fun unit for the students and they love sharing information they already know about the tribes.

Bible:    This week we wrapped up our unit on Moses and the exodus from Egypt.  Your child took a test on this unit this week which came home in their folders.  We have begun studying the Israelites journey into the wilderness.  The class was amazed this week at how the Israelites complained so quickly after they had just seen God perform amazing miracles in Egypt.  Yet, in our discussions we realized that we also quickly complain to God even when our life really good.  We see how God constantly reminds his children that he cares for them.

Upcoming Events:  

• Tulip Time- We will be having half days on May 6 and 7.  The children's parade is May 7 and all students are expected to march in the parade dressed in a dutch costume.  Your child will need to bring a sack lunch to school that day and we will be traveling as a class by bus to the parade route after lunch.  Your child may wear their dutch costume to school that day or you are welcome to come in at 11:45 and help them change into it.  We will send home a parade line up as we get closer to the date so you know which side of the street to sit on to best see your child.  Also, you are asked to pick up your child at the end of the parade route. 
• Reading Minutes due Monday
• May 25, No School- Memorial Day

And... we are back!  It feels great to be back to school and together as a classroom family again.  We loved meeting with each of you at conferences and sharing your child's progress in third grade.  As always, please feel free to contact us any time with questions or concerns you may be having.  We are in the home stretch before summer break and we can tell that spring is in the air!  There is still a lot to cover before June so we are hunkering down and getting right back into it.  Make sure to read the upcoming events at the bottom of the blog.  It feels like each week there is something happening that you will need to be aware of.


Math:  We have begun a new unit on Polygons, Perimeter, and Area.  This week we focused on the definitions of a polygon, quadrilateral, square, rectangle, triangle, rhombus and trapezoid.   We have focused on angles and lines and how a shape can fit into several different categories.  We will continue to review the definitions we learned as well as focus on perimeter and area next week.  I am so proud of how hard the class is working in Math.  These are tough concepts and the class is handling it beautifully!

Bible:  We looked at Moses this week and how God helped him go and talk to Pharaoh to led the Israelites go.  We talked a lot about Pharaoh's hard heart and how God desires for us to keep a soft heart that he can work through.  We also studied all of the plagues this week.  Through the plagues we see God showing both his power and also his love for his chosen people.  What an awesome God we serve!
Our new Bible Memory is Acts 2:1-4.  It will be due on April 27.  Students may need to practice a bit at home to really learn it well.

Social Studies:  We became historians this week as we started studying the history of Michigan.  We talked about how historians use primary clues (such as maps or photographs) and secondary clues (such as timelines or books) to help them better understand the past.  We then looked at a city in Michigan from 1872 and used clues to help us figure out what life was like back then.

Reading:  This week we spent some time getting back into the routine of independent reading.  The kids have been so excited to do their "All Star" reading.  It has kept them very focussed and motivated.  This week we also worked as a whole group on reading a story and then answering some questions using a constructed response in which they restate the answer in their question.  This is a very high order thinking skill and they did a wonderful job with this.  This next week we will start our next reading unit which is MYSTERY BOOK CLUBS.  This is always a very fun unit for the kids.

Writing:  This past week we started working on our faith writing.  We hope to finish this up over the next few days at the start of this new week.  Once we are finished with that, we will start our new writing unit which is writing a personal essay.

Spelling Test:  We did not take a test on Friday because I had a sub in my room and with 14 different spelling lists/groups, I did not want to confuse her.  The spelling test will be Monday morning.




Upcoming Events:

• Spring Program-This is Thursday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m. at Christ Memorial Church.  A yellow paper came home on Friday with all of the details about this program.  Please have your child to the church by 6:40 so we are ready to go!  
• Tulip Time- We will be having half days on May 6 and 7.  The children's parade is May 7 and all students are expected to march in the parade dressed in a dutch costume.  Your child will need to bring a sack lunch to school that day and we will be traveling as a class by bus to the parade route after lunch.  Your child may wear their dutch costume to school that day or you are welcome to come in at 11:45 and help them change into it.  We will send home a parade line up as we get closer to the date so you know which side of the street to sit on to best see your chid.  Also, you are asked to pick up your child at the end of the parade route.  
• Reading Minutes are due Monday.
• Acts 2: 1-4 is due on April 27.

We had a presentation on Tuesday morning from Hemlock Crossings called "Skull Detectives".  We learned a lot about identifying animals from their skulls and especially from observing their teeth!  The kids just loved this presentation.  There are many pictures posted on our smugmug site but here are a few for you to enjoy.

Math:  We had our final test on writing equations and solving two step word problems.  This was a tough unit with lots of careful reading.  I am extremely proud of how well the students did with this unit and that they kept on trying even when it was so difficult.  I will give these tests to you at conferences.  

Science:  We continued our experiments on light and sound.  The kids just love this unit as we have a Science experiment almost every day.  This week we learned that they length of a shadow can be changed by moving the light source.  We saw that light is refracted when it travels from the air and then water.  Next week we will be making harps and how the sound is changed as we adjust the length, tension, and thickness of our strings.  

Bible:  We continued to work on our Easter poster.  I just love sharing the Easter story.  What wonderful discussions we are having about how MUCH God loves us!   We also started a new unit on Moses.  The class was pretty excited about starting the book of Exodus!  We see how the Hebrews were treated horribly by the Egyptians and yet God has a great plan for them.  

We continue to learn Matthew 28:1-10 for Bible memory.  This will be due on March 26.

Reading/Writing: This week we worked on chapters 4 and 5 of our informational books.  They included writing about our interesting facts and the conclusion.  We also spent some time this week close reading nonfiction about St. Patrick's Day.  You will notice a paper that will come home with a lot of notes on it.  This is a reading strategy that requires the student to dig deep into the text and then answer text-dependent questions and cite evidence from the text supporting their answers.  They did a wonderful job with this activity.

Reminders:  

• Conferences sign-ups are now available online.  They will take place on Monday, March 30 from 5-8:30p.m, Tuesday, March 31 from 5-8:30p.m, and Wednesday, April 1 from 1-3 p.m.   If these times do not work for you, please send us an email and we will try to arrange something else.
• Reading Minutes are due Monday.
• Notes from Mrs. Boer:
  *A Date to Remember--April 23, K-4 Program at Christ Memorial

  *This is what we are learning in Music Class

     -We have begun recorders!
     -Practicing/Homework Expectations:
          3X3=practice 3 days a week (you choose which 3) and practice each song 3 
           times each
     -Don't Forget!!
          blue folders and recorders each week to music class

Have a great weekend, Mrs. Wyma and Mrs. Stielstra!