Week 35: May 14th-May 18th

Week 35:  May 14th-May 18th

STAAR Testing is this week.  Your child will take the math STAAR test on Monday and the reading STAAR test on Tuesday.  

By working together, we can make your child’s test experience positive and successful.  Here are some suggestions and reminders to help your child succeed:

-  Make sure your child gets a good night’s rest.

-  Have your child eat a healthy breakfast at home or in the cafeteria at school.

-  Make sure your child arrives at school on time.  We will be starting very soon after the school bell rings.

-  HCE will be providing one, clean snack on Monday and one on Tuesday.  Your child can bring their own snack as well. Let’s avoid bringing snacks that are sticky, liquid-based, and messy (e.g. Cheetos).  We will also be providing a water bottle each day. 

- We highly encourage your child to bring a jacket or sweatshirt.  The AC will be on and it gets rather cold in our class and testing rooms.

- Per TEA, students are not allowed to bring or WEAR devices during testing.  We are asking that your child leave smartwatches, Fitbits, and phones at home on Monday and Tuesday.

- Continue to build your child’s confidence through the weekend!  Please reiterate that they have learned everything they need to know for the test.  We have practiced strategies to help them be successful test takers.  We are ready and prepared!

Thank you for continued support and help in making Monday and Tuesday test days run smoothly.

Other upcoming HCE events...

• Monday, May 22nd:  Publishers Picnic from 11:00-11:30am in our Courtyard
• Please make plans to join your child in the third grade courtyard from 11:00-11:30am.  They will share with you much of their work from this school year.  Since this is a school wide event, you will want to get here early.  
• Tips on things to bring that will make the time more special:  smiles, a blanket or chairs to sit, a lunch, and plenty of water as it is to be hot and humid.
• We're asking that your child remains at school after Publisher's Picnic as we are finishing up end of year MAP testing and data collection. 

• Thursday, May 25th:  Join us on the field for the 3rd grade Chariot Races from 8:30-9:00am.  You won't want to miss it! 
• We're still in need of wagons for our chariot races.  Please lend us your wagon and ask your neighbors to help us out, too! The following SignUp Genius will help us keep track of what is coming. Thanks for your help!  Chariot Wagon SignUp

• Friday, May 26th:  Join us for the Winds of Time school-wide parade from 8:45-10:00am in the hallways and hard top area. 

Language Arts:  We will be working on our Unit project for Ancient Rome after STAAR this week.  After spending a few weeks researching and note taking, your child will be writing an Ancient Rome nonfiction book to show all that they've learned during unit time.  

Math:  We're studying Roman numerals for the remainder of the week. 

Social Studies/Science:  We will spend our short week preparing for our upcoming chariot races.  Your child will be choose a team name inspired by ancient Rome and create a shield for the big race. 

Week 32: April 17th- April 21st

Reminders/Important Dates:  

• Monday, May 8th:  Math STAAR for 3rd (and 4th graders)
• Tuesday, May 9th:  Reading STAAR for 3rd (and 4th graders)
• Monday, May 22nd:  Publishers Picnic
• Thursday, May 25th:  3rd grade Chariot Races
• Friday, May 26th:  Winds of Time school-wide parade 

• Mrs. Scott will begin her maternity leave starting on Wednesday, 4/19/17.  Please help us welcome her long-term substitute, Sylvia Tramuto.  Mrs. Tramuto is a familiar face at HCE.  We feel lucky to have her join our team while Mrs. Scott welcomes baby Landry!  

Reading:  This week will be our second week of reviewing inferring strategies.  Inferring requires higher order thinking skills, which is naturally a more challenging task for a reader. Last week we reviewed that inferences are made when a reader combines text clues and their own background knowledge.  We practiced using text evidence to support our inferences. Utilizing text evidence to support an inference is crucial during a test-taking scenario.  This week, we will continue to infer and support our inferences with text evidence. We will spend a lof of our time this week thinking through texts in pairs in order to draw conclusions about the story or article we read in order to correctly answer a STAAR-like question.  A lot of the time, there may be more than one reasonable answer.  It is important to revisit the text in order to choose the best answer that relates to the text evidence.    

Writing:  We can't wait for you to hear your writer's persuasive essay at our HCE Publisher's Picnic later in May (see date above).  We will shift genres this week in Writer's Workshop as we begin our letter writing unit.  We will begin the week identifying the parts of a letter (e.g. date, greeting, body, closing).  As the week progresses, we will study and write three types of letters:  friendly, informative, and thank you.      

Spelling:  Students will receive new spelling words on Thursday, April 20th.  They will take a test on these words on Thursday, April 27th.   April 28th-May 5th, teachers will be looking for students to apply those spelling patterns correctly in their reading and writing work.

Social Studies:  It is all about Texas festivals this week in social studies!  When immigrants came to our state, they brought certain customs and cultures from their homelands with them.  A way we respect and celebrate the various cultures in Texas is through cultural celebrations.  We can learn about all of the different cultural traditions (e.g. food, music) at festivals.  This week, we will read, reflect, and respond about various Texas festivals.  Be sure to ask your child what festival they found most interesting.       

Math: In math this week, we will be working on finding a relationship between numbers presented in a table. This can often be called input-output tables. We will discuss the importance to find the rule or pattern between the numbers and that the pattern must be continuous. 

We will end the week discussing financial literacy. Topics we will cover will be the difference between planned and unplanned spending decisions, opportunity cost,  and credit. This unit will connect with your child's economic unit they had during social studies. Some good vocabulary to review for this unit would be credit, borrower, and interest. 

Science:  This week, we will finish discussing temperature and how to read thermometers. We will also have your child research a city and record temperatures over the week. Your child can see how temperature can change over time. They can also see differing spring season temperatures. 

Winds of Time and End of Year

Monday, May 23- PUBLISHER's PICNIC, Please make plans to join your child in the third grade courtyard from 12:00-12:30p.m.  They will share with you much of their work from this school year.  It's a great time to see the growth they have made this year and celebrate their success.  Because this is a school wide event, you will want to get here early.  

Tips on things to bring that will make the time more special:  smiles, a blanket or chairs to sit, umbrella for shade, a lunch with your child's favorite things, and plenty of water as it is to be hot and humid.

  

Tuesday, May 24- Students will participate in a school wide book swap. We hope they come home with a book that gets them excited about reading over the summer.  If you are lending us a wagon for Chariot races, please send it to school with your child or bring it to the third grade courtyard.  It helps us if your wagon is labeled with your first and last name so that we can return the correct wagons to the correct owners.

Wednesday, May 25- CHARIOT RACE DAY!   

Chariot races will take place on the field.  Parents and families are encouraged to attend.  Please make sure to get to school early to check in at the front office before heading to the field.  The race will begin at 8:30.  It’s a short but fun celebration, so don’t be late!

AND…We will also have a have a visit this day from author Liesl Shurtliff.  Please make sure you have those book orders into Mrs. Moore.

Thursday, May 26- Learning Adventures--Ancient Rome.  In Language Arts and Social Studies, students have been consuming information about Ancient Rome from books, presentations, videos and even apps. We will work to use our new found knowledge to write books to share with friends and family.  These books also make a great keepsake! During Math and Science, students will continue to learn about Roman Numerals, Volcanoes, and the Architecture of Ancient Rome.

Friday, May 27- Learning Adventures--Ancient Rome. In Language Arts and Social Studies, students have been consuming information about Ancient Rome from books, presentations, videos and even apps. We will work to use our new found knowledge to write books to share with friends and family.  These books also make a great keepsake! During Math and Science, students will continue to learn about Roman Numerals, Volcanoes, and the Architecture of Ancient Rome.

Monday, May 30- SCHOOL HOLIDAY

Tuesday, May 31- Winds of Time Assembly at 8:30a.m.  You will want to make sure you get to school on time that day to get a good seat.  We will provide students with Roman costumes for this occasion.  They will either be dressed as a Roman Senator, Roman Soldier, or Roman Goddess.  Students parade to the hard top from our classrooms for our assembly.  Each grade level speaker will teach the audience about the civilization for which they spent the last weeks studying.  The ceremony closes with a song sung by the entire school.  Finally, we walk around the hallways of the school and back to our classroom.  It’s a great KODAK moment!

Wednesday, June 1-Virtual Roadtrip

Students will visit all five third grade classrooms this day to take a virtual field trip with each teacher to 5 states across the United States.  They will come home with a memory scrapbook and tales of wild adventures during our travels!

Thursday, June 2- Last Day of School

You are invited to join us from 11:15-12:00 as we end our year with a celebration in our classrooms.

End of School Sprint

Check out all of these fun and important things

we will do and learn the last few weeks of school---

Friday, May 13- STAAR PAARTY DAY.  Letters went home 5/11 to let you know about our “STAAR PAARTY” celebration. We will enjoy a fun-filled day for a job well done. For Math class, students may bring a strategy board game to play with classmates. Please keep any electronic game devices (such as PSPs or iTouches) at home.  In Language Arts, we will have a “Read In”.  Students can bring a few favorite books from home as well as a pillow, blanket or sleeping bag in order to cozy up with some good books.

Monday, May 16- We will begin our study on Ancient Rome.  Fun times ahead during this WINDS OF TIME study at HCE.

Tuesday, May 17- AUCTION WINNERS will be TEACHER FOR THE DAY.  We have five lucky kids who will be helping us teach your child's classes for the day!

Wednesday, May 18- Last Cougar Club Meetings

This special time on Wednesday afternoons has allowed so many students to pursue interests and see how their passions match with their learning!  We are grateful to the parents and community volunteers who have made the time to help our students learn more about the world in which they live.

Thursday, May 19- We will have a special visit from a local meteorologist, Travis Herzog and also attend the 5^th grade ihistory.

Friday, May 20- Thanks to our generous PTA, we will have a speaker come and share with us his knowledge and artifacts from Ancient Rome.

Monday, May 23- PUBLISHER's PICNIC, Please make plans to join your child in the third grade courtyard from 12:00-12:30.  They will share with you much of their work from this school year.  It's a great time to see the growth they have made this year and celebrate their success.  Because this is a school wide event, you will want to get here early.  

Tips on things to bring that will make the time more special:  smiles, a blanket or chairs to sit, a lunch with your child's favorite things, and plenty of water as it is to be hot and humid.

  

Tuesday, May 24- Students will participate in a school wide book swap. We hope they come home with a book that gets them excited about reading over the summer.

Wednesday, May 25- CHARIOT RACE DAY!   

Chariot races will take place on the field.  Parents and families are encouraged to attend.  Please make sure to get to school early to check in at the front office before heading to the field.  The race will begin at 8:30.  It’s a short but fun celebration, so don’t be late!

AND…We will also have a have a visit this day from author Liesl Shurtliff.  Please make sure you have those book orders in soon!

Thursday, May 26- Learning Adventures with Ancient Rome

Friday, May 27- Learning Adventures with Ancient Rome

Monday, May 30- SCHOOL HOLIDAY

Tuesday, May 31- Winds of Time Assembly at 8:30a.m.  You will want to make sure you get to school on time that day to get a good seat.  We will provide students with Roman costumes for this occasion.  They will either be dressed as a Roman Senator, Roman Soldier, or Roman Goddess.  Students parade to the hard top from our classrooms for our assembly.  Each grade level speaker will teach the audience about the civilization for which they spent the last weeks studying.  The ceremony closes with a song sung by the entire school.  Finally, we walk around the hallways of the school and back to our classroom.  It’s a great KODAK moment!

Wednesday, June 1-Virtual Raodtrip

Students will visit all five third grade classrooms this day to take a virtual field trip across the United States.  They will come home with a memory scrapbook and tales of wild adventures during our travels!

Thursday, June 2- Last Day of School

You are invited to join us from 11:30-12:00 as we end our year with a celebration in our classrooms.