For the week of September 26th, 2016

● IOWA Testing - Monday, September 26 - Thursday, September 29Our learners will be taking the IOWA Standardized Test next week. Testing begins at 8:00AM each morning, Monday - Thursday. Please be sure to have your learner arrive at school on time. Once the testing begins, learners will only be allowed into their classrooms during "stretch" breaks. If your learner misses a section due to tardiness, there will be limited opportunity to participate in a scheduled make-up sessions. If your learner misses more than two days of testing for any reason, we may not be able to offer make-up sessions. As always, we strongly encourage our learners get a restful sleep and eat a nutritious breakfast with minimal sugar.

● Music Learners were introduced to a study of music theory beginning with basic music notation and time signature. They made their first foray into the playing of recorders. Going forward all learners will need a soprano recorder, which can be purchased at Amazon.com or Westmusic.com. Learners received a copy of It’s Recorder Time. In addition, we continued our review of instrument families through discussion and a team activity designed to hone their listening skills. For more detailed information, please subscribe to 3rd Grade Music on www.stedschool.org.

● Family Movie NightFriday, October 14th is Family Movie Night at The Parish School. We will be screening Disney's "Zootopia." Come watch as an intelligent, rookie bunny cop has to work with a cynical fox to uncover a conspiracy in their city of Zootopia! For more information and to purchase tickets visit: www.stedwardevents.com/family-movie-night

Upcoming Events

Monday, September 26th - 29th; IOWA Assessments

Friday, October 7th; Minimum Day - 11:50am Dismissal

NewsletterTHIRD GRADE

BROOKS/McCORMICK KIRBY SAINE

Religion - This week we focused on the community of the church and how the Apostles gathered in Jesus’s name and spread God’s word. We read and discussed Chapter 2, The Church Gathered, in our Religion book. The Saint we learned about this week was St. Andre Bissette. Ask your child how he started out helping people! You might be surprised!! Our next group of God’s Shining Stars were chosen (Grant, Elle and Lauren M.) Our learners are excited to hear about them too! At Friday’s mass, we turned in our Baby Bottles filled with many coins to help families in need. Thank you for your donations.

Social Studies - Our classes began investigating the differences between the three branches of government and what positions are in each branch. The learners have narrowed down their choice on what position they want to run for in our government simulation by determining the character traits they need to fulfill the position. We have begun discussing slogans and will be working hard on our speeches and posters. #Gettingcreative

Praying the Rosary

English Language Arts - This week we began building our reading lives. Learners were invited to fashion their own identities as people who care about reading. Children were inducted into the structures, routines and habits of a richly literate reading workshop.

At the start of third grade, a lot of reading instruction will support comprehension skills - literal comprehension, interpretation, and analytic reading. We will also learn how to tackle multisyllabic words and unfamiliar words.

Writing Workshop - This week learners filled the first few pages of their writing notebooks with people, places, things and activities that matter to them. These minilessons served a dual purpose: teaching writers strategies for generating ideas and gave them a glimpse into the sort of writing they’ll be doing - writing true stories.

The outside covers of learner’s writing notebooks look awesome! I love the sweet pictures of family, pets, activities and hobbies. Please have all notebooks decorated by Monday, September 26th.

Mathematics - We took our first Simple Solutions quiz this week! In addition to continuing our study of place value, we also began comparing numbers and making number patterns. We worked through lesson 11 in Simple Solutions. We will continue reviewing what we’ve been working on in Chapter 1 next week and will be taking our first test the week of 10/3. Next week, during Iowa testing, we will not be introducing new material or doing any Simple Solutions due to testing. STEM - We used iPads this week to begin researching fruits, vegetables, and flowers that will thrive in our garden. Learners focused on plants that grow well in our climate at the current time of year. We will be continuing our research in the coming weeks as we finish the planning of our garden.

from the week...

3rd grade using iPads for garden research Kat and Polly learning about flowers

Snapshots

Nick and Jack researching plants to put in our garden

Joaquin - Hat for a Day Monarch Money well spent!

3A settling in nicely to their just right reading spots.

3A checking out the new Monarch Money rewards!

Pray. Hope. Be Happy

Pennies from Heaven