Happy New (School) Year!

This Friday, August 18th,  from 10:30-11:25am, is Meet The Teacher at HCE.  Come meet your teachers and see your friends, new and old.  

  

Parents, below are some helpful things we would like you to read, complete or join to make our year successful!

  

·       Please check with your homeroom teacher to complete the google form that will help everyone transition to a new school year.  She will also have a link to the homeroom app that will give you a sneak peek into our classrooms.  

·       You can also sign up for remind.com texts from third grade teachers through this link-- rmd.at/thirdhce  We promise not to flood your phones with texts, but rather will use this as a way to send important information and reminders about classroom events.

·        Use the FOLLOW BY EMAIL box along the right hand side of the site to help get updates straight to your inbox!  Providing your email address means that the site will email you each time we update this page.  

·      Make sure that your child's homeroom teacher knows the way he or she will go home each day.  If you have a different way for your child to go home on the first day of school, please send a hand written note. 

 

Sweet Summertime

Almost fourth graders and parents,

Are you having as much fun this summer as your third grade teachers?  We hope you are filling your days with fun and adventure!  We can't wait to hear about all about it and hug your necks as soon as August rolls around!!

Below are some suggestions for ways to keep your brain as busy as your body.  

READING MATTERS:

• Join a public library reading program. You can find great books and earn cool prizes!
• Check the Bluebonnet Reading Program for new and fun titles.
• Remember you can also find great books online-
• https://www.getepic.com/- It’s been called the Netflix of books.  Many fun titles to read online and many with an audio function as well.
• http://www.storylineonline.net/- wonderful stories read by some of your favorite celebrities

MATH PRACTICE:

• Your login information works over the summer for Dreambox, SumDog and Think Through Math.
• You can also find a summer math challenge from Greg Tang. He's offering prizes!

Week 38: May 30th- June 1st

Happy Last Week of School!

It's hard to believe we are starting our last week of school together.  Thank you for all your love and support you've shown your child as well as us this year. We are truly grateful for you all!  We wish you a happy, safe, and fun-filled summer!  

Please see below for the last few events we have together as a grade level: 

Monday, May 29: SCHOOL HOLIDAY

Tuesday, May 30: Students will visit all six 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!

Wednesday, May 31:  HCE Talent Show held in the Cafeteria from 10:20-10:50. 

Thursday, June 2:  Last Day of School!!  End of year celebration and pizza in our classrooms.  This is an early dismissal day.  

Week 37: May 22nd - May 26th

Please read below for NEW and ADDITIONAL information about some of our end of year events!  We very much look forward to seeing you this week with all of our fun events on campus!  Thank you for your continued support of your child and grade level. 

We need your HELP with the chariot race.  As of TODAY (5/21) we NEED  20 more wagons to make chariot races happen!

Please email or use the sign up genius link IF you either own a wagon we can use, or have a wagon we can borrow.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050949a5ae238-chariot

Monday, May 22: 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 23:  One of our own HCE mothers, Lisa Eicher, will be joining us to inform our third graders about her motivations behind and experience training and participating in ANW (American Ninja Warrior).  "Ninjas Don't Count Chromosomes" shirts will be available for purchase.  Please keep an eye out for an email from your classroom teacher regarding this opportunity.   

Wednesday, May 24:  WITS Anthology Celebrations will be held today.  We are sure thankful for our wonderful and talented WITS writer, Mrs. Cion.  We ask that you come share our celebration experience with us this Wednesday in the HCE Library.  Every child will share one of their published writing pieces from their WITS experience this year.  Please see below for times for each homeroom class:

9:05-9:50:  Jackson Homeroom
9:50-10:35:  Rozzell Homeroom
10:35-11:10:  Duncan Homeroom
11:25-12:10:  Ford Homeroom
12:30-1:15: Badrak Homeroom
1:15-2:00:  Scott Homeroom 

  

  

Thursday, 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

4th Nine Weeks Recognition Ceremony:  From 10:20am-11:00am, we will be giving awards for Honor Roll, Attendance, 30 Book Challenge, and a End-of-Year award that all students will receive. 

Friday, May 26:  Winds of Time Assembly at 9:00a.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!

Monday, May 29: SCHOOL HOLIDAY

Tuesday, May 30: Students will visit all six 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!

Wednesday, May 31:  HCE Talent Show held in the Cafeteria.  Time TBD. 

Thursday, June 2:  Last Day of School!!  End of year celebration and pizza in our classrooms.

Week 36: May 15th - May 19th

Check out all of these fun and important things

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

Winds of Time:  We are in full swing studying Ancient Rome! 

Tuesday, May 16- AUCTION WINNERS will be TEACHER FOR THE DAY.  We have six lucky kids who will be helping us teach your child's classes for the day!

Thursday, May 18 - We will have a speaker come and share with us his knowledge and artifacts from Ancient Rome.  Thursday evening, Art Gallery Night will be held in the HCE Cafeteria from 5-7pm.

Friday, May 19 - HCE Summer Reading Book Swap.  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.
Friday May 19, is also Bike to School Day

• Important -If your child is going to participate in this event after school he or she will need a change of transportation note. 

Monday, May 22- 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 23:  One of our own HCE mothers, Lisa Eicher, will be joining us to inform our third graders about her motivations behind and experience training and participating in ANW (American Ninja Warrior).  

Wednesday, May 24:  WITS Celebrations will be held today.  We are sure thankful for our wonderful and talented WITS writer, Mrs. Cion.  

  

Thursday, 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

4th Nine Weeks Recognition Ceremony:  From 10:20am-11:00am, we will be giving awards for Honor Roll, Attendance, 30 Book Challenge, and a End-of-Year award that all students will receive. 

Friday, May 26:  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!

Monday, May 29- SCHOOL HOLIDAY

Tuesday, May 30 - Students will visit all six 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!

Wednesday, May 31 - HCE Talent Show held in the Cafeteria.  Time TBD. 

Thursday, June 2- Last Day of School!!  End of year celebration and pizza in our classrooms.

Week 35: May 8th- May 12th

Reminders/Announcements:

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

- Do not bring a backpack to school.  Your child only needs a jacket and, if you would like, a lunch and/or snack.

- 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 End of Year Dates: 

• Friday, May 19th: Bike to School Day
• Important -If your child is going to participate in this event after school he or she will need a change of transportation note. 
• Monday, May 22nd:  Publishers 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.
• Thursday, May 25th:  3rd grade Chariot Races
• Friday, May 26th:  Winds of Time school-wide parade 

Reading:
Come Wednesday, we will embark on our journey to Rome for HCE's Winds of Time end of year unit.  We will introduce Rome on Wednesday as we compare Ancient Rome to current day Rome.  Students will begin reading about all-things Rome using library and online resources.  We will be developing a class word wall that is comprised of words that are specific to Rome.  Students will jot notes in their notebooks while reading.  This will eventually form an ABCs of Ancient Rome book that each student will make.  

Writing:
We will continue to dive into editing and revising strategies this week.  We are going to focus on ending punctuation of sentences as well as complete vs. fragmented sentences.  Students will practice writing complete sentences by revisiting and editing fragmented sentences in their Writer's Notebooks.  For homework this week, you'll notice we are sending home a capitalization practice.  This will continue to reinforce our grammar practice from last week.

Spelling:
Due to a short week, we will focus on cursive handwriting and grammar practice.

Social Studies:
We are dedicating our social studies block of time towards Winds of Time for the next few weeks to continue our study of Ancient Rome.  This week, we will learn the basics of Ancient Rome.  Be sure to ask your child what a gladiator is and what aqueducts are.  These two things, among many others, were very important in Ancient Rome.

Math: Since this is a short week, we will use are math block to work on keyboarding skills. We will discuss home key positions and work on speed and accuracy. We are encouraging students to start typing always on the home key before typing any word. This can be a difficult change for students who are use to typing with just one finger at a time. 

Science:  In science this week, we will be continuing are discussion on weather and measurement by exploring tools used for studying weather.  We will research these tools and how they assist meteorologist. Your child will also track temperature, wind speed, and humidity in various cities. 

Week 34: May 1st -May 5th

Reminders/Announcements:

• Monday, May 8th:  Math STAAR for 3rd (and 4th graders
• Tuesday, May 9th:  Reading STAAR for 3rd (and 4th graders)

Your child will be taking their first STAAR test next Monday and Tuesday, May 8th and 9th.  Here a few reminders and helpful hints to support your child at home:
- We will have an altered schedule on testing days due to beginning the test at 8:00am.  We will take our lunch after the completion of the test at 12:40pm and have specials and recess after.      
- Reassure your child that they have learned all the skills they need for the test.  Encourage and praise them for their success this school year.  Continue to build their confidence this week leading to Monday and Tuesday.  
- Please make sure your child gets plenty of sleep! 
- Eat a healthy breakfast.

• May 19 - Bike to School Day-  Important -If your child is going to participate in this event after school he or she will need a change of transportation note. 
• Monday, May 22nd:  Publishers Picnic
• Thursday, May 25th:  3rd grade Chariot Races
• Friday, May 26th:  Winds of Time school-wide parade 

Reading:
We will start our week reviewing vocabulary skills and context clues strategies.  We will practice how to identify the meaning of unknown words using context clues.  Your reader  will identify synonyms and antonyms of common words in their vocabulary using context clues as well.  

Later in the week, we will work on test taking confidence!  We will complete one final STAAR selection to review test taking strategies as well as celebrate all of the wonderful preparation they've done to be ready for next Tuesday (Reading STAAR test).  We will also learn and practice brain breaks that they can use during testing that do not distract their peers.

Writing:
We are going to revisit some of our favorite entries in our Writer's Notebook this week!  Your writer will reread their past work in their notebooks in order to revise and edit.  We will  specifically work on revising and editing for capitalization.  We will see where we can add capitalization for emphasis (e.g. WOAH!! or I TOLD her I wasn't feeling well.), proper nouns (e.g. Hunters Creek Elementary), and titles and headings (e.g. book titles, SFML titles).  We have added some capitalization online practice to our Language Arts websites.  We want to make sure we send our writers to fourth grade consistently capitalizing! 

Spelling:  We will be looking for how your child applies their spelling patterns this week.  We will take an application grade May 1st- May 4th. 

Social Studies:  Your child will finish their Texas festival project this week.  We can't wait to celebrate our final products this Friday.   

Math: We are entering our second and final week of STAAR Camp. Each class will be reviewing different concepts, as we do our last prep before the test. One concept that each class will cover is perimeter and area. It is important for your child to be able calculate both. They will also need to use the background knowledge of quadrilaterals when finding perimeter. Especially the rule about rectangles and squares when finding perimeter of a figure. 

Fractions will be another topic we will review this week, more specifically equivalent fraction using a pictorial model. The last two days of this week, we will have a circuit that will have different problem covering a variety of topics. This circuit will help prepare your child to how transition to different math concepts between questions. 

Homework this week will have review STAAR-like questions that will give you a chance to discuss past concepts at home. As always keep practicing those math facts. 

Science: This week in Science we are diverting our attention to the math concept of Personal Financial Literacy. We will discuss topics that include human capital, scarcity, credit and interest, and saving. Students will review some of what they learned in their Social Studies unit on Economics. Word problems will show them the connection between economics and math. A series of Kahoots will test their knowledge of various money issues. (And they love Kahoots!)