We are up and running on Moby Max!  We would love to have your help!  Please make sure your child is on Moby Max practicing their math facts every night for FIVE MINUTES!  That’s all it takes.  Some of us are already on to multiplication and division facts.  Some of us are finishing the addition and subtraction review.  Next week, all students will be moving on to multiplication and division.

I’ve had some parents contact me fearing that their child isn’t understanding multiplication and division.  I assure you, they will get it.  Things will begin to click in time, if they haven’t already.  Right now, all they need is a strategy:  drawing a picture, using their fingers, counting on, etc.  With practice, they will get them faster and more accurate.

Thank you for your support!

Before we start math each day, we do four yoga poses.  During this time, we focus on our breath.  We are learning that breathing deeply calms us and that we can do it any time we are feeling stress.

This boy loves turtles, frogs, and everything outdoors.  The class was fascinated that he had three different kinds of turtles, including a soft shelled turtle.  Thanks for sharing Owen.

SOCIAL STUDIES QUIZ TOMORROW

We will have our first Social Studies quiz tomorrow.  Your child is coming home with a 1/2 page review sheet tonight.

HOMEWORK

Our first homework pages came home this week.  Many students got a jump start and completed the work right away.  This homework will be due by Monday, Sept. 24.  On the 2nd page, the directions say to write a multiplication AND division equation for each problem.  Will you please make sure your child does that?  If they struggle, have them make a math mountain and that should be a good enough hint.  If not, send it back in with a note to me and I will go over it with them.

PICTURE DAY

Our picture day is Thursday, September 27.  Our class is scheduled to go at 1:20.

FRIDAY – PJ and Stuffed Animal Day

We earned our first class reward!  This Friday, students can wear their favorite PJ’s to school and bring in ONE stuffed animal.  We will decide our next class reward and start reaching for that goal! 

We have an opportunity to partner with an organization called 20 Liters and help make dirty drinking water clean for the most vulnerable in sub-Saharan African.  Today two local students came to our classroom to talk about their first hand experience of dirty water in Africa. Click here to see the video.

Our classroom has been challenged to raise money for a Walk for Water event that is coming up on October 7.  

Students are being encouraged to not ask parents for money, rather to think of ways that they can give of their time and effort to make some money.  Could they return pop cans?  Could they have a bake sale or lemonade stand?

The community is also invited to be a part of this event.  Walk for Water:  Hudsonville will be on October 7 from 3:00 – 7:00pm at Gemmen’s Home and Hardware.  There will be food and an opportunity to see how the worst of drinking water can be made for good through a filtration system that will be put in African communities.

Hi Parents – our class behavior system involves an online community called Class Dojo.  Here students can be awarded points individually or as a class.  Points can also be taken away for poor behavior choices. We’ve set a class goal of 550 points.  When we reach this goal, the class decided that they wanted to have a PJ/Stuffed Animal Day.

In your child’s folder, a note will come home communicating how you can view your child’s points. By no means is this something you have to do. Some parents requested to have access.  I have never done this part before, but it could be beneficial for communication between you and your child.  If you would like to do this, enter the code that is specific to your child.  If you ever have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Today a home reading log is in your child’s folder.  Please track all home reading on this log.  It is due back on October 1.  (I will remind you!) Students have the same log at school and they should be familiar with how to fill it out.

We set reading goals yesterday and many students have set a goal as to the number of books they will finish.  So sticking with one book until the end is very important and encouraging them to read 20-30 minutes every night at home will be helpful in achieving these goals.

Thank you for your support at home!

Yoga in the classroom has been used to get us ready to learn.  After a very active and stimulating recess/lunch time, we need to stretch and breathe in order to calm down and be ready to learn.  I’ve attached some pictures of poses we learned this week:  crane pose, big butterfly pose, chair pose, and slide pose.

We had a great week together getting to know one another and learning the classroom routines.  Looking ahead to this week we will begin our 3rd grade curriculum.  We will start with our first “on demand” writing assignment where students will write about a small moment and show me what they know about writing a personal story!

In math we begin with MULTIPLICATION!!!!  Yes, we start right away with this.  It’s an all year learning process.  Students will be expected to know these facts in a snap.  We will use different strategies in our classroom from flashcards to Moby Max to learn these facts.

Our specials schedule looks like this for the week:  art, STEAM, music, PE

We will also have library on Wednesdays.  Students will get to choose three books.  I encourage them to take two books home and keep one at school for reading.

As always, please email me with any questions:  khoutstra@hpseagles.net