Mrs. Halimi

Good evening Haigh families, I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend, it sure went by fast!

Reminders for the week:

• Tomorrow is PICTURE DAY 🙂
• Tuesday our class will be going to the fire house. We will be eating lunch in the classroom at 11:00 that day. Students may still order hot lunch.
• Red Wing ticket fundraiser is going on until Friday
• Please send in BOX TOPS or DIMES for our PTA fundraiser
• Send in pennies if you have any to spare; we need them for our bridge building activity later in the week 🙂

This week I am happy to say that we are all finished with NWEA testing and DRA testing. We will begin getting into our regular routine with our daily 5 rounds and reading groups.

In reading this week we will focus on characteristics of fables. We will read many of these short stories and discuss the moral of the story. We will also take a look at the characters and describe them using “dig deep” character traits. In writing this week week we will be working on our personal narratives. We will continue working on our blueprints while learning about exciting leads and how to add details and description to help the reader visualize their stories. Ask your child, “What seed story are you writing about this week?”

In math this week we will continue to work on story problems using the tape diagram strategy. We will also continue to work on skip counting and the relationship between multiplication and division. Have your child do a few sessions on freckle.com at home this week 🙂

In social studies we will be talking about Michigan’s natural characteristics; landforms and bodies of water. Students will use their desk maps to locate specific landforms and identify the location of our 5 GREAT LAKES.

In science this week students will be learning about the designs of bridges and use what they learned about the design process to build a bridge out of paper. We will test the strength of our bridges by placing pennies on it (please send in pennies if you can).

Academic Vocabulary:

Please make sure your child is studying their words at home. We do activities in school but some students are not putting forth the effort to achieve 80 percent or higher on their test.

1. location-where a place is.
2. lead- the opening sentence that grabs the readers attention.
3. peninsula- a body of land surrounded by water on 3 sides.
4. fable- a short story that has animals as the characters and teaches the reader a lesson.
5. moral- the lesson learned in a story.

Looking forward to a great week:)

Just a quick reminder about our Universoul Circus field trip tomorrow.

• Please plan to arrive at Haigh on time as usual.
• Students MUST bring a bagged lunch (no glass bottles please). A brown bag or grocery bag is best with your child’s name on it. 
• Chaperones; Please check your child’s OWL FOLDER for a note regarding the trip.

Looking forward to a FUN Wednesday with our first field trip of the year 🙂

Good afternoon Haigh families! What a beautiful weekend we are having. The cooler weather and fresh fall vibe feel great.

Last week was a busy week and this week is sure to another one. On Friday your child came home with a Detroit Red Wing folder full of great things that the school assembly program offers. Please be sure to go through it and see some of the great things. The best part is the discounted tickets that they are offering for a game at the end of October. Your family can go out to see the Red Wings at a discounted rate and part of the proceeds will go back to the THIRD GRADE to help FUND their trip to LANSING in December!! So please, consider buying a few tickets for a great family event 🙂

Reminders for the week:

• Monday—PBIS yard games
• Wednesday— field trip to Universoul Circus (more info. to come)

We are almost finished up with NWEA testing; just a few students left to complete the science portion of the test. I hope to get it done by tomorrow 🙂

This week we in reading we will take a look at the mood of a story and discuss how the illustrations help confirm actions of the characters. We will also look at stories to get an understanding of the narrative plot as we begin to write our small moment narrative stories. We will work at brainstorming ideas that are reflective of fresh, fun, and memorable events that students can really work hard at providing vivid details to share in their work. I hope to get started with our narrative blueprints this week.

In math this week we will be taking our mid-module assessment in class tomorrow. We will work through each question one by one so students are following ALL the directions in each problem. Many of the problems have part A and part B’s and students are having trouble following all of the directions. We will continue to work on division this week and use array and tape diagrams to help support our thinking. Thank you parents for helping check homework each night and to support your child at home with our new math program. I know that it can be a task in itself to get students to tackle all of their homework each evening 🙂 MANY THANKS!

In science this week we will begin our first unit on force and motion. We will do investigations through our Mystery Science curriculum.

In social studies this week we will begin discussing the geography of Michigan. We will begin with location and discuss the cardinal directions.

Academic Vocabulary:

1. quotient- the answer in a division problem.
2. product- the answer in a multiplication problem.
3. force- a push or a pull.
4. plot- how a story flows; the beginning, middle, and end.
5. narrative- a story that you write that includes details and a strong beginning, middle, and end.

I am looking forward to this weeks cooler temps and excited for our first field trip on Wednesday. Enjoy the rest of your sunny SUNDAY 🙂

Tomorrow afternoon we will give our first mid-module assessment that goes along with our new math curriculum. Students should be prepared for this assessment as we have been working hard at teaching each lesson and pulling students aside for reteaching. The link below is an example of some of the problems they might see. Take a look at it tonight if you have some time.

Mid module Link MID MODULE ASSESSMENT STUDY GUIDE

Good morning Haigh families! I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weekend!

Reminders for the week:

• Students will be taking NWEA language and science this week.
• A firefighter from Dearborn will be talking to third grade tomorrow morning to share information about fire safety.
• Red Wing assembly on Friday

This week students will continue to work through their NWEA assessments. We have been starting our morning with this each day so please make sure your child has a healthy breakfast.

In reading this week we will discuss how characters change through out the story and how text illustrations help support comprehension. In writing this week we will begin to explore narrative writing and begin to work in our writing binders to brainstorm ideas of small moment stories.

Last week in math students explored the relationship between multiplication and division. Towards the end of the week the students practiced working in a workshop model to practice and apply what they have learned throughout the week. They also were introduced to the website Freckle.com. This is a great website that adjusts to your child’s personal level in each strand or topic of math. Students are encouraged to use this website at home on a regular basis.

This week students will be learning about the commutative and distributive property of multiplication. Just a friendly reminder that homework books need to be returned with your child to school each day.

How is your child doing on their progress toward their nightly reading goal? Remember that your child’s goal is to read for 20 minutes after school each evening and complete their reading log. Please encourage and help them be successful by setting up a daily routine for practice. Remember, students may use Razz kids as another option as minutes towards their reading log. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT 🙂

Academic vocabulary — students did a great job with spelling and writing the correct definition of their 3 words last week. This week we will transition to our normal 5 words. Remember, these words are content words that have been the focus and have been discussed the previous week. In class we also do different vocabulary activities to foster success for your child.

1. divide- splitting into equal parts or groups. Begins with the total or whole.
2. factor-numbers that we multiply together to get another number.
3. array- objects arranged in rows or columns and can be used to help us multiply or divide.
4. traits- who the character is on the inside; their personality, not their feelings.
5. describe- giving details about someone or something that helps the reader create a picture in their mind.

Looking forward to another great week! This should be our last week of NWEA testing and then we can move on to DRA assessments and begin setting up for reading groups.

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Good afternoon Haigh families! Each week I will blog about our upcoming week and communicate with you about what we are working on in the classroom as well as any reminders or events we may have.

Reminders for the week:

• Open house is Thursday from 6-7:30
• Half day on Friday; dismissal is at 11:45
• Please send in headphones or ear buds for your child to keep in the classroom. Five Below has a nice selection.
• Please send in an old (clean) sock for your child to use as an eraser 🙂

This week we will begin taking our fall NWEA assessments. Please encourage your child to do their best. We will be taking our scores and graphing them in our data folders and have many conversations about setting goals and working hard to show improvement through the year. You can help me out with this by encouraging good work habits at home.

We have just started working on our daily five expectations as well as working hard at building our reading stamina. Our goal is to work on their language arts choice for 20 minutes without interruptions. So far we have achieved around 13 in a half minutes. I am certain that we will be at the 20 minute mark in no time! This week we will work on reading and analyzing characters and their traits within a story.

In writing this we week we will work on writing our goals for the first half of the year.

In math we will be working on the relationship between multiplication and division. Please make sure your child is completing the math homework in the BLUE success book each night. They should be writing the page numbers in their planner daily. We will be having a short QUIZ tomorrow on concepts from last week.

In social studies we will begin with discussing the geography of Michigan. We will be working with desk maps as we explore the unique qualities of Michigan.

This week your child will be bringing home their spelling words/academic vocabulary words and homework. Please make sure your child is doing at least 3 of the activities on the choice board. Please note that your child also has 5 academic vocabulary words that they are responsible for knowing the definition and the spelling for. We do a variety of activities to reinforce these words in class but often times parents help their child create flashcards and give mock spelling tests in the home. Spelling and academic vocabulary tests are given on Friday.We will also be tracking our progress of these weekly tests in our data folders.

The academic words this week are (We are starting with 3 for this week):

1. stamina- the ability to something for a long time.
2. character- a person in the story.
3. geography- the study of places.

Please make sure your child is recording their daily reading minutes according to their color on their September reading log chart. The reading expectation is that your child is reading for at least 20 minutes each night. Some parents have asked about student reading levels, please know that I have not yet assessed students. Once our classroom is up and running smoothly I will begin DRA testing.Small group reading work will begin in October after the completion of all DRA assessments.

On Friday students were introduced to RAZZ KIDS, our new online reading component that is taking the place of MYON. This is a great resource where students can read, listen, and take comprehension quizzes on the books they read. Their log in information is taped in the front of their planner. Students can access from home and even count it for their reading log time.

Looking forward to a GREAT week! Hope to see many of you at open house on Thursday 🙂

If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail me at: halimia@dearbornschools.org

Here at Haigh Elementary, we’re pleased to let you know that your student, or students, can use the following fun website to improve reading skills: MyCapstoneLibrary.com.  All a student needs to do is to go to the site, put in the following username and password, and click on the word go. Capstone Interactive is free through 8/31/18.

Capstone reading username:   summer18

Capstone reading password:   lovetoread

Please note that the Capstone reading program, with thousands of full books, gets pretty busy at times. Your student may need to attempt to sign in two or three times.  (All of our students can also use Mobymax, Khan Academy, Code.org, and Typing.com if they go to Dearbornschools.org, select students, and select Clever. Staff blogs are also available all summer long.)  There’s also another reading program at getepic.com. It’s free if you use my account.

Go to iblog.dearbornschools.org/jeff

select the blog for your grade

click on GetEpic

scroll down the page

click on “sign in with your classroom code”

put in this code: QNX-8233

This program has a free app called Epic! Unlimited Books for Kids.  Parents can now purchase access to the online version of this for three months for just three dollars–or join free for 30 days.  Offer ends 6/12/18. (Using my teacher account, students can also sign in by entering this classroom code: QNX-8233.  Use of my account is free.)  You can find out more information about this fun program, a program that motivates students to read, by going to the following site: www.getepic.com/summer-of-reading.  If you can, please take a look at both Epic! And MyCapstoneLibrary.com.