Mrs. Keebler's Blog

Spring Break – No School Friday 3/25-4/3 – Have a happy, safe vacation!

Report Cards – Were supposed to go home today.  We got busy cleaning lockers and had a birthday party and we forgot to pass them out.  They will go home on Monday when we return from break.

Field Trip – There are 4 classes (Truxell, Keebler, Polster, Kiesel)  going to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum on April 8th.  Please return your form as soon as possible after break.  CHAPERONES  ARE NEEDED.

Congratulations to Hayley Burt for winning one of the Book Baskets in the raffle.  Thank you to everyone who contributed books or activities to the baskets.  They all looked great!

Star of the Week will be Hassan Dakroub when we return from break.

Reading Log- I just sent home one reading log that is due on April 4th.  If you would like to do another one for extra credit they are always available to be printed on the blog under the homework tab.

Tomorrow is Dress as your favorite story book character.

We will also be having our spelling test tomorrow before math since there is no school on Friday.

Raffle tickets are still being sold for Book Basket Raffle.  $1 for 4 tickets.

No School – Friday 3/35-4/3

Field Trip slips went home today.  We will be going to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum on Friday, April 8th.  If you wish to chaperone for the first time be sure that you do your form with the office tomorrow so you will be able to join us.   This is a FREE trip!

Animal Research reports – If your child has not yet presented: Please have your child practice reading their animal research report at home.  Please compare it to the report requirements sent home on Saturday to make sure their report is complete.  They will be presenting tomorrow or Thursday.

Dear Parents,

On Monday we will start presenting our animal research reports to the class.    Please review your child’s report with them this weekend and compare it to the following expectations for the research report to make sure they have done everything that is expected.  Then have them practice reading it allowed to you so they are comfortable when it their turn to read it in front of the class.   They will receive a grade for the paper and for their presentation.

Here are the report expectations:

Include a Title – Every Word Must Be Capitalized

Include your name, it must be capitalized. for example (By Katie Keebler)

Include a picture of your animal.

Their paper should be in this format, each paragraph indented and a empty line between each paragraph. They should use correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization. The font can be between 12-24 font. It must be a font that is not all capital letters. If colored fonts are used they must be dark enough to easily read from a distance.

Introduction paragraph. It needs to have a question or sentence to catch the reader’s attention. Then a sentence to explain the 1^st sentence and a sentence to explain what else will be in the paper. You will learn about appearance, diet, habitat, animal adaptations and interesting facts.

There will be Topic sentence telling the read what this paragraph will be about appearance (what is looks like). The topic sentence could be a question, what do bats look like? Then I will have three detail sentences about the topic (looks). .

There will be Topic sentence telling the read what this paragraph will be about their diet. Then I will have three detail sentences about the topic. .

There will be Topic sentence telling the read what this paragraph will be about habitat. Then I will have three detail sentences about the topic.

There will be Topic sentence telling the read what this paragraph will be about animal adaptations to their environment (for example polar bear have thick fur to live it’s cold climate). Then I will have three detail sentences about the topic.

There will be Topic sentence telling the read what this paragraph will be about Interesting facts. Then I will have three detail sentences about the topic.

Concluding paragraph. This will have topic sentence. And 3 interesting details sentences. Leave the readers with something to think about. If your animal is endangered. Explain this and tell your reader how they can help.

At the end of the paper they should have their resources they used to get their information.   See below.

Sources

1. Book title, author name and pages used
2. Website title, page used and url.

At the end of their paper they should also include a short (1-2 minute) video of their animal or a clip of their sound.

March is Reading month activities –

3/21 – Word Game Day – bring your favorite word game to play – no electronic games.

3/23 – Dress like your favorite storybook character

3/24 – Book Basket Raffle!  – Tickets will be on sale starting on Monday.  Tickets will be 4 tickets/$1.  The baskets will be on display outside the office.  After the students buy their tickets they should write their name and teacher on the back of them and put them in the bucket by the basket they would like to win.  Raffle will take place on Thursday.

Spelling Test – Since next week is a short week we will have the spelling test on Wednesday 3/23.  Please make sure your students studies their words and is ready for their test.

Spring Break – 3/35 – 4/3 – Have a happy, safe vacation!

Testing –

NWEA Testing will start the week of 4/18

M-Step for 3rd Graders will start the week of 4/25

In order for your child to get the best results on their testing they should be doing extra practice at home.   You may use the following websites to help them practice for the tests:

MobyMax – test prep section – Please do math, language and science- Moby Max

Study Island – Common Core Math and ELA –Study Island

NWEA Practice sites- NWEA Test practice sites

M-Step Practice – Please open this link in a Chrome browser window.- M-Step practice

Earth Hour – This Saturday is Earth Hour.  Help raise awareness of Global Warming by turning off your lights for 1 hour.  Here is a video about it.-

https://www.earthhour.org/official-videos

PTA Meeting – Monday 3/21 6:00 Cafeteria

Tomorrow the 2nd graders will be going to the Historical Museum.  If you are chaperoning please check in to the office by 9:00 AM, check in with me so I know that you have arrived and wait in the cafeteria for the bus.  They should arrive to pick us up between 9:00 and 9:15.  I will need a parent to watch the Kindergarten door and one to watch the upper elementary door for the bus.

March Activities

One of the activities we have planned is a raffle for reading baskets. Each class will be putting together a book basket for the month of March. The baskets can contain reading books, puzzle books and any items related to reading. The book baskets will be raffled off on Thursday, March 24th. The cost of the tickets will be 4 for $1.00. The funds made during this will be used to create a memorial in our courtyard in honor of Mrs. Haddix and Mrs. Mazorowicz.

Please send in your donations to your child’s teacher by Friday, March 18th. The baskets will be displayed in the main hallway of Howe starting on Monday, March 21st and your child can start purchasing tickets for the baskets on that date.

So far, we ONLY have 2 donated items – please help!

Conferences

On Wednesday, March 23, 2016 we will be holding conferences from 4:00 – 6:30 P.M. by teacher invitation only.  These are the conference times available: 4:00, 4:20, 4:40, 5:00, 5:25, 5:45, 6:05, and 6:25.   Conference invitations will go home this week.

Dates to Remember:

March 16 – Late Start

March 17 – Wear Green Day

March 18 – Pajama Day – Students may wear pajamas, bring one stuffed animal or pillow for our PM Read In

Bake sale tomorrow – By STEM/Preschool door after school – please send your child with money for baked goods and donations of baked goods are always welcome.

3rd Grade Math Test – will be tomorrow 3/8 instead of today.  Study guides went home again to study and should be returned tomorrow.

March is Reading Month–

Basket Donations Needed – We will be celebrating March is Reading month    We have many activities planned to celebrate and encourage more reading by our students. One of the activities we have planned is a raffle for reading baskets. Each class will be putting together a book basket for the month of March. The baskets can contain reading books, puzzle books and any items related to reading. The book baskets will be raffled off on Thursday, March 24th. The cost of the tickets will be 4 for $1.00. The funds made during this will be used to create a memorial in our courtyard in honor of Mrs. Haddix and Mrs. Mazorowicz.

Please send in your donations of new books, puzzles, Madlibs or other reading related items to your child’s teacher by Wednesday, March 15^th. The baskets will be displayed in the main hallway of Howe starting on Monday, March 21^st and your child can start purchasing tickets for the baskets on that date.

Thank you so much for your participation with this event and for your continued encouragement of your child to read.

Guest Readers – please sign up to be a guest readers for our classroom.  The students love it when their parent reads to the class.  Guest Readers will be Monday-Thursday from 8:40-9:00.

Green School update – Thanks to the efforts of our Green Team we reached the highest rating for Green Schools this year.  We are now an Evergreen Green School.

3rd Grade Math Test will be next Monday 3/7 – There will be a math test in one week on Unit 6.  We will do the study guide in class on Thursday 3/3.   You may use it to study over the weekend.  Please return the study guide on Monday 3/7 for the review and test.  Attached is the study guide in case you would like to review with your child sooner.  Grade+3+Unit+6+Pre-Test

Star of the Week– is Hassan Beydoun – Please check when your week will be on the blog under  Class Information-Star of the Week.  Here is the link: Star of the Week info  Sometimes it will change a little.  You may or may not get notification of your week so it is important to know when it is coming.  We are going in number order so Layla Cook will be next week.  Then Joseph, Hassan D., Natalia, Christian and Abraham.

March is Reading Month–

Basket Donations Needed – We will be celebrating March is Reading month    We have many activities planned to celebrate and encourage more reading by our students. One of the activities we have planned is a raffle for reading baskets. Each class will be putting together a book basket for the month of March. The baskets can contain reading books, puzzle books and any items related to reading. The book baskets will be raffled off on Thursday, March 24th. The cost of the tickets will be 4 for $1.00. The funds made during this will be used to create a memorial in our courtyard in honor of Mrs. Haddix and Mrs. Mazorowicz.

Please send in your donations of new books, puzzles, Madlibs or other reading related items to your child’s teacher by Wednesday, March 15^th. The baskets will be displayed in the main hallway of Howe starting on Monday, March 21^st and your child can start purchasing tickets for the baskets on that date.

Thank you so much for your participation with this event and for your continued encouragement of your child to read.

The Howe Staff

March is Reading month Calendar – Attached is a calendar of events and activities we will be doing during the month.

March is reading mth calendar 2016-corrected

Guest Readers – Bring your favorite kids book or poems and come read to our class.  If you would like to read to our class, please send me an email of a day that works best for you.  We will have guest readers from 8:40-9:00.

Green Team update – As you may already know I am in charge of the Green Team.  The green team has been busy with several activities.  Here is our update.

• We have been discussing Michigan’s watershed.
• Bake Sale – We will be having a Bake sale after school on 3/8 to raise money to help the people of Flint with their water problems and to help support cleaning the Rouge River.  Bake good donations are needed.  Please drop them in the office kitchen on 3/8.
• Scholastic Book Fair – You may also visit the book fair at this time.
• Waste Free lunch-We need your help! The Green Team has been working to promote students bringing a waste free lunch.  Please try to pack items in reusable containers,  don’t buy single serving items of chips, yogurt or fruit try to pack a small amount in a reusable container, buys a reusable water bottle instead using plastic bottles, use a reusable sandwich box instead of plastic bags for sandwiches and snacks, buy a reusable lunch sack.  Each student that brings a waste-less lunch and throws nothing away can have a sticker.
• Recycling– We have increased our recycling program this year.  We are now recycling paper plastic and metal in all classrooms.  We are recycling ink cartridges in the office and we are starting a clothing drive to donate to local shelters and resale shops.

Missing Assignment Report – I have uploaded the most recent missing assignment report.  It is on the Missing Assignment page of the blog.  We are only 2 week into our new marking period and it is already 8 pages.  This includes the social studies and 2nd grade math also. Please check this report and make sure your student is keeping up on their work.  This report has all assignments that were turned into me recorded as of 6 PM 2/16.   If it is on the report it was NOT turned in.

3rd Grade Math test is tomorrow 2/16- We completed a study guide today in class.  We will review the study guide in class tomorrow before the test.  If you would like to review with your child at home here is a copy of the study guide: Grade+3+Unit+5+PRE-Test

Here are the  names of the kids for Valentine’s cards tomorrow.

Reminders

• No school on Friday or Monday 2/12-2/15
• Tomorrow is the final day to order yearbooks.