Week 7: October 3 - October 7

Reminders / Announcements
Next week is GenTex Week! Students and faculty will celebrate the opportunity for every chilld to go to college by wearing college t-shirts all week long. We will have daily discussions in our classrooms and we encourage families to talk about a college future for their child. Your third grader came home with an interview sheet on Friday. Please help them interview a friend or family member who attended college and return the completed interview by Wednesday. We look forward to seeing all of your college spirit! Suggested activities for each day:

• Monday: Students should discuss where they want to go to college with their parents and print out a logo to represent that university. Complete the interview sheet. 
• Tuesday: Bring the interview sheet to school.
• Wednesday: Think about how college life might be and discuss it at home.
• Thursday: Bring your parents to HCE Open House!

Open House is Thursday, October 6^th, from 5:30-6:30pm. Please come and visit your student’s classrooms so they can share with you some exciting learning they have done so far this year!

Do not forget to sign up for Parent/Teacher Conferences October 19-21.  Use the links below to secure your spot.  We can't wait to celebrate the successes of your child and discuss their goals moving forward.

         Rozzell/Scott               Badrak/Jackson                  Duncan/Ford

Please consider supporting Ms. Badrak’s and Ms. Jackson’s flexible seating Donors Choose funds:
                                    Badrack                  Jackson

Reminder: Monday, October 10^th, is a school holiday celebrating Columbus Day.      

Reading: Readers will review elements of realistic fiction (characters, setting, plot, conflict, & resolution) and will identify in both familiar and non-familiar texts. We will also compare those elements to the features of the narrative arc and will continue mapping stories on the arc as well. By the end of the week, students will be mapping stories independently. We will also begin pulling guided reading groups this week, focusing on routines, procedures, and expectations in a small group setting.  

Writing: Writers will work on storytelling this week. We know that writers tell stories aloud before they write, so we are going to focus on the art of storytelling. What’s important in this story? How do I build tension? Did I set the stage well for my listener/reader? Storytelling also helps us practice our communication and collaboration skills with our peers. By the end of the week, students’ storytelling confidence will have grown dramatically!
      
Word Work:  Students will get new sorts/words on Wednesday, October 5^th. The assessment on those words will be the following Wednesday, October 12^th. Remember to utilize the at-home spelling practice if your child could benefit from additional practice at home.
 
Social Studies:  This week, we will be talking about money! We will look at saving, spending, and discuss wants compared to needs. We will also discuss the importance of communities and the specific services they offer their citizens. 

Math: We have spent the past week or so focusing on addition of four digit numbers, first without and then with regrouping. Students are understanding that the largest digit in any place is a 9. Once you get to 10, you have to regroup to the next place. 10 ones make a ten, 10 tens make a hundred, and 10 hundreds make a thousand. We have practiced breaking our problems into small individual facts, one in each of the places. As sums greater than 9 are made, regrouping into the next place occurs. The same thing happens with numbers with more than four digits. Just for fun, we have added phone numbers, following the same process. This week we will attack real world situations that require addition and problem solving. Students will complete an addition assessment on Friday.

We will send home our first of many Problems of the Week (POW) which is an opportunity for students and their parents to work problems together, collaborating and communicating to find a solution. It is handed out on Monday and is due on Friday for checking together. 

Keep practicing those Math Facts every night! Daily review will help students with accuracy and speed! 

Science: In Science, we continue our study of the three most common states of matter: solids, liquids, and gases. Matter is defined as anything that has mass and takes up space. We have examined the molecular structure of each state and how that structure determines how the matter moves.  Solids, because molecules are tightly packed together, keep their shape. Liquids, because their molecules are a little spread out allowing them to flow over each other, can be poured and take the shape of their containers. Gases, because their molecules are very far apart and move freely, go everywhere unless confined to a container. We will observe and analyse a gas demonstration that will help students understand something very important about gases. On Thursday, students will complete vocabulary cards and receive a matter review sheet in preparation for a test on Wednesday, October 19. Please encourage your child to review the information nightly and ask any questions they may have before the scheduled test. We will participate in a volume lab where they will have an opportunity to measure liquids with graduated cylinders, beakers, and measuring cups. Students will be graded on accuracy, collaboration, and cooperation.