Week of May 14th, 2016 - 17

Reminders for the Week

To see your child's attendance   > Please click Here

To make a Lost & Found report > please click Here

Writing Celebration - Monday, May 15th @ 8:05. We hope you can join us. 

MAP Testing This Week
Sunday, May 14th - Math
Tuesday, May 16th - Reading

From the Library

• May 22 - Last week of checkout for students
• May 29 - Overdrive training session for parents. Learn to access our ebooks! 2 to 3 pm, MHS library
• May 29 - All library materials due back in the ES library & last day of library classes
• June 3 - Summer checkout starts

Parents, please note that any student with overdue materials by June 6 will not receive his/her report card and the report will remain blocked until the library account is cleared. That also applies to students whose parents have overdue items.

From the Elementary Office

Dear All,

You are invited on May 18th from 4:00 - 6:00 PM in the ES Hall to farewell Dr. Jailan Abbas after 36 years of service & Sandra Gutenkunst, 27 years.  If you would like to contribute to a gift, please make your donations to Mr. Reda in the cashier's office. Cards will be with Mr. Reda for your signature from May 9 and we will collect until May 15th.

If you wish to leave a message/photos on either Jailan’s or Sandra’s digital yearbook please access via the following links: Ms. Abbas memory book    Mrs. G’s memory book

Thank you

Elementary Team

READING

This week, students will understand that the time period of the biography subject is quite different than their own and that often actions that seem so common for us now, were seen as risks for that time period.  They will realize that the subject’s life is often inspiring and helps the reader learn lessons they can apply to their own life. At the end of the week, students will be introduced to a different type of narrative non-fiction. This time the “subject” could be a historical event, a group of people, or a river or a country. In this type of narrative nonfiction, the subject is not always easy to identify but they will figure out who or what the story was mainly about.  

WRITING

At the beginning of the week, Third grade writers will add finishing touches to their Fairy Tale writing. They will also practice how they want to present their Fairy Tale, adding gestures and intonation, as they read their writing, to help their message really come through. 

Later this week, students will start the Independent Writing Unit. They will choose a previously drafted writing piece to revise. Third Graders will learn various ways to improve their piece through revision and editing. 

MATH

Continuing with their study of geometry and measurement, third grade mathematicians will start the week creating a line plot to show the number of rectangles that can be constructed from a particular number of unit squares. Students will work with a partner to determine the possible side lengths for rectangles when provided an area by going through the multiples for that product. This will provide our mathematicians an opportunity to review their math facts and strategies practiced during the fluency portion of our daily lessons.

Last week students found the perimeter for rectangles given a specific area and for the rest of this week students will construct rectangles with a given perimeter to determine the area. They will learn a strategy for determining possible side lengths of rectangles using an equation P = 2 x (length + width), which will involve students calculating what half of the perimeter is and from there determining the two side lengths that can add together to equal half of the perimeter. For example, if the perimeter is 22 cm, half of the perimeter is equal to 11 cm, which means that 9 cm and 2 cm could be possible side lengths (P = 9 cm + 9 cm + 2 cm + 2 cm). The area for a rectangle with these side lengths would be 9 cm x 2 cm = 18 sq. cm.. 

SCIENCE

It has been a fun experience for the kids, observing a habitat, recording their findings and trying to answer their questions. We have had a mix of success and revision. This week we continue with our observations. 
As well as the observations we will look at 'food chains' and 'food webs' and how everything needs energy to survive. We will learn that the energy moves through the 'food chain' and 'food web'.

Through this process students will learn that plants and called 'Producers' and they get their food from the sun, water, and soil. Animals are called 'Consumers' as they directly or indirectly depend on plants for energy. Consumers can be broken down into 'Herbivores, Carnivores and Omnivores.