Weekly Update: October 31 - November 4

Announcements:

• PTA Fundraiser:  Elsa England is doing a kindness fundraiser called Raise Craze.  What is Raise Craze? Video link. Use the form that went home in your child's Thursday folder or Ms. Stowe's email link to get registered TODAY.  Our PTA, teachers, and students need everyone's help!  Our school's goal is $40,000.  I know we can do it. Please, register and follow the simple directions in getting your child started today.​
• Author Visit/Optional Book Purchase: We're excited to soon be hosting author-illustrator Varian Johnson for a visit with our 3rd, 4th, and 5th Graders! Last week, a flyer was sent home in Thursday Folders sharing an opportunity to purchase a personal paperback copy of some of his books directly from our BookPeople link: http://tinyurl.com/EnglandHostsVarianJohnson2022. Many students enjoy owning an autographed copy of our visiting authors' books as part of their home library, so they can read them over and over again. Please note, BookPeople's order portal will close on Sunday evening, November 6th. Books purchased online from our BookPeople link will be shipped directly to our school, and signed & personalized to your student on the day of his visit by Varian Johnson. Thank you for your support!
• Math Superstars: Challenge your child to show off their math skills as a Math Superstar! Participants who complete all 20 worksheets will receive a prize packet! This program is supported and run by PTA volunteers. Please visit  https://england-pta.memberhub.com/w/programs for more information. If you have any questions, please contact eee.mathsuperstars@gmail.com
• Become a PTA Member: Our school needs parents like you to sign up for PTA. Critical learning tools, field trips, and resources are paid for by our wonderful PTA, but that means we need you!  Please, become a PTA member today. England PTA website
• Home Access Center: Please, check weekly to stay up to date on your child's academic progress. Link to Home Access Center.  Continue to discuss with your child the importance of listening to directions, staying focused on school work and doing his/her personal best on all assignments. Remember, if a student earns below a 70% on any assignment or test, the student can make corrections to earn a possible passing grade (70%) per school district policy. ​​

Upcoming Events:​​​​.​ ​​​​​​​​​​

• Nov 2 - Start of our school's fundraiser "Raise Craze"
  
• Nov 6 - Last day to purchase book for author's visit
• Nov 8 or 9 - Math Test (Swyers/Lilleboe) - Geometry 
• Nov 11 - Veterans' Day (3 - 5th grade assembly) 
• Nov 15 - Last day of our school's fundraiser "Raise Craze" 
  
• Nov 16 - 3rd Grade Field Trip to McNeil High School Performing Arts Center 
• Nov 17 - Science Unit 4 Test - Forces, Motion, Gravity and Magnetism
• Dec 2 - Math Test (Bae/Jones/McKenzie) - Fractions

What's Been Happening In Class?  

• Writing: We are deep into our Realistic Fiction stories. This week we continued to work on our rough drafts by writing the plot, dialogue and conclusion (what the character learned). Next week we will revise, edit and type our final drafts. 
• Reading: We are in a new unit - Characters in literary text (fiction). This week we discussed character traits and how character traits contribute to the plot and theme of a fiction story. We also wrote our second reading response together in our reading notebooks. Reading responses are new this year for the STAAR test. We will continue to practice throughout the year. 
• Math: 
  • ​Swyers and Lilleboe Students: We are currently in our Geometry, Area and Perimeter unit.
    • ​Identify attributes of all quadrilaterals (squares, rectangles, rhombus, trapezoids, parallelograms)
    • Identify attributes of 3 types of triangles
    • Determine the perimeter of a 2D shape
    • Determine the area of a 2D shape
    • Describe the differences between prisms and pyramids
  • Bae/Jones/McKenzie students: New math unit - Fractions. Use my "math links" and Splash Learn to help with these concepts. In this unit students will:
    • ​Identify fractional units (half, fourth, eighth, third, sixth)
    • Demonstrate their understanding of fractions using various models: area model, fractions in a set, fraction bricks, and on a number line.
    • Comparing fractions 
    • Equivalent fractions 
• Science: Our new unit is Force, Motion, Gravity and Magnetism. We've taken time to review the terms "push" and "pull".  I created a book collection on Epic Books. Kids will have access to this book collection for the duration of the unit. Some of the vocabulary and terms we will use in this unit are: force, push, pull, motion, position, distance, direction, balanced force, unbalanced force, lift, thrust, momentum, friction, gravity, magnetism (attract and repel). Students are welcome to use my "science links" at home to support their understanding of these terms/concepts in this unit.  
• Social Studies: We are in our unit on Government. We've learned about the 3 branches of government (Executive, Legislative, Judicial) and Election Day.  Next week, we'll focus on state and local government and Veteran's Day. ​