Mrs. Hendren & Block's Newsletter
January 22- January 26
Field Trip!
Each class will have 2 official chaperones for the field trip. If you would like to volunteer to be the official chaperone, please send back the lime green paper (coming home today). We will have a random drawing on the 26th. If you are not chosen for the official chaperone, you are more than welcome to meet us at the museum and pay the entrance fee.
Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math & Literacy (S.T.E.A.M.L.) Night
Thursday, Jan 25, 2018, 05:30 PM
MayDell Jenks Elementary, Westridge Creek Lane, Katy, TX, United States
Upcoming Events
January
22-26 College Week
24 - KISD Family Night - No Homework
24- Grammar Quiz (postponed due to ice days)
24- Area and Perimeter Assessment
25- S.T.E.A.M.L. Night from 5:30-7:30
26- Earth's Surfaces and Resources Assessment
26- Fathers & Flashlights – 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. @ MJE
30- STAAR Parent Information Presentation 6:00-7:00 pm @ the gym
February
1 - Kendra Scott Mom Mixer - City Centre - 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
1- 3rd Grade Field Trip Money and Permission Form Due Today
2 - Word Study Assessment
6 - District Spelling Bee - MRHS PAC @ 6:00 p.m.
8- 3rd Grade Field Trip to the Children's Museum of Houston
9 - Spring Pictures - Class and Individual Pictures
9 - Progress Reports Go Home
5 - 9 National School Counselor's Week
12 - 100th Day of School
16 - MJE PTA Masterpieces with Mom - Mother & Daughter Night
19 - Student Holiday
Schedule
10:30-11:25- Specials
12:30-1:00- Lunch
Block- Table 8
Hendren- Table 9
1:00-1:30- Recess/ Water Break
1:30-2:30- Jamboree (extended learning time)
Specials Rotation
Friday is day 4.
Homework
Reading: We encourage students to read 30 minutes daily at home and log their reading. They should read at least 20 minutes a day at home 5 days a week (can be any 5 days of the week).
Please use the Narrative Reading Learning Progression (posted below) at home to help your child develop their thinking as they read. This is what we use at school to guide our lessons and assessments.
Math:
- At least 3 green lights on Reflex. Students may complete Reflex any days of the week including weekends. The username is cafragosa.
- Math Test Review is due Tuesday, Jan. 23rd.
- Area and Perimeter test will be Wednesday, Jan. 24th.
Science: Our Earth's Surfaces and Resources assessment will be on Friday, Jan. 26nd. Please review for the test on Stemscopes through the KatyCloud. Your child does not need to do all of the assigned review games, videos, and interactive investigations. They need to at least complete a few from each topic. Students may also take their science ISN home to review for the test. Also, please see the attached Powerpoint for key concepts and vocabulary for the test.
Topics on Stemscopes
- Formation of Soil
- Earth's Forces
- Resources
- Earth's Landforms
Reflex
Reflex helps students of all ability levels to develop fluency with their basic facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Math fact fluency is the quick and effortless (automatic) recall of basic math facts. When students achieve automaticity with these facts, they have attained a level of mastery that enables them to retrieve them from long-term memory without conscious effort or attention. In 3rd grade, students will be required to get a GREEN LIGHT on Reflex at least 3 times a week.
You can access Reflex from a computer or on an iPad as an app.
Reflex Parent Reporting Account
You can sign up for a free Reflex Parent Reporting Account to:
View detailed usage and fluency growth reports
See which facts and families your child has mastered
Receive weekly progress updates via email
Character Studies Pre-Assessment and Sample Responses
Curriculum Connection
Reading
Character Studies!
In this unit we will be looking very closely at characters in the books that we read. We will be taking a closer look at our characters. We will look at : character traits, motives, how they change throughout a story, and developing theories about our characters.
We will also talk about story structure ( plot) and theme ( life lesson).
Students will also be learning how to write long about their characters.
*Students are encouraged to have chapter books. They can check out from my personal library or MJE library. We are looking at how characters change over time and chapter books contain many problems and changes throughout. If your child is reading multiple books at once, or abandons books often, they will have trouble tracking these changes, so please remind them to be reading chapter books!
- Plot
- Theme
- Character traits
Students are encouraged to bring devices to school. This allows us to utilize the classroom Epic library which has a variety of different books for them to explore this week!
Writing
Writing about Our Characters
We will be learning how to write long about the characters we are reading about in our books. We will be coming up with big ideas and expanding our thoughts about our characters, predicting, and looking at the theme of our books.
Grammar and Conventions and Word Study
Word Study
Jan 3-5
Suffix -able (able to be)
Examples: comfortable, affordable, washable, dependable
Jan 8-12
Suffix -ible (able to be)
Examples: terrible, horrible, sensible
Jan 16-19
Suffix -ful (full of/ having)
Examples: helpful, careful, beautiful
Grammar and Conventions
Jan 22-26 (Postponed due to Ice Days)
Prepositional Phrases
Math
Measurement
In this unit, students will:
- determine the area of rectangles with whole number side lengths in problems using multiplication related to the number of rows times the number of unit squares in each row.
- decompose composite figures formed by rectangles into non-overlapping rectangles to determine the area of the original figure using the additive property of area.
- decompose two congruent two-dimensional figures into parts with equal areas and express the area of each part as a unit fraction of the whole and recognize that equal shares of identical wholes need not have the same shape.
- determine the perimeter of a polygon or a missing length when given perimeter and remaining side lengths in problems.
*** Area and Perimeter Test will be Wednesday, Jan. 24th
Critical Vocabulary
area, columns, length, measurement, perimeter, rows
Extra Practice: Envision: Topic 13 Measurement (Area and Perimeter)
Extra Math Practice
Next Math Unit
FRACTIONS
In this unit, students will
- represent fractions with denominators of 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 using concrete objects, strip diagrams and number lines.
- compose and decompose fractions into unit fractions.
- represent equivalent fractions with denominators of 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 using a variety of objects and pictorial models, including number lines.
- compare two fractions using reasoning and justification through symbols, words, objects, and pictorial models.
Imagine Math
Envision
Reflex
You can access through the website, reflexmath.com or the free app.
Science
In this unit, the student will learn that weather is different in different regions of the world and is predictable. The student will also understand that the Earth’s surface is constantly changing and that rapid changes are caused by natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, & volcanoes).
Key Concept 1: Large forces can change the Earth’s surface rapidly.
Key Concept 2: Volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can cause rapid changes on Earths surface, such as creating new land, making cracks in the crust, or changing landforms.
***Our Earth's Surfaces and Resources assessment will be on Friday, Jan. 26th. Please review for the test on Stemscopes through the KatyCloud and review your child's science ISN. Also, please see the attached Powerpoint for key concepts and vocabulary for the test.
Next Science Unit
Earth & Space - Patterns
In this unit, the students will
- learn that the Sun is the source of all energy for living things on Earth and is the energy source driving the water cycle.
- model the Earth, moon, and Sun relationship describing orbits and positions.
- illustrate that the Sun is a star that is composed of gasses and the positions of the 8 planets in our solar system.
Social Studies
Economics, Entrepreneurs, Innovators, and Junior Achievement
In this unit, students will examine personal budgets, the U.S. free enterprise system, entrepreneurship, and innovators.
This week we will learn about Mary Kay Ash and Bill Gates.
Essential Questions
- How does a budget help an individual?
- How do businesses operate in the United States free enterprise system?
- How do past and present entrepreneurs contribute to communities?
- How have innovations impacted communities past and present?
Critical Vocabulary: budget, save, earn, spend, donate, free enterprise system, scarcity, supply, demand, entrepreneur, scientific breakthrough, and technology
Seesaw
If you have not already, please join Seesaw so that you are able to view the work your child uploads in class. An individualized QR code with instructions was sent home at Meet the Teacher. If you need another copy please let me know, and I will be happy to send that home with your child! :)
Remind101
Using Remind, a free texting service, I will send reminders/text messages about homework, picture money, field trips and other things that are easily forgotten in the daily shuffle. Please email me if you need our class code.
Technology
Students may bring their own device to school starting on Monday. Please make sure they are fully charged and labeled with their name. Devices may include tablets, iPads, iPods, phones, etc. *It does not have to be an Apple product.
Snack
We have a designated working snack time at 10:00 am. Students are encouraged to bring a healthy snack since we have lunch later in the day.
Birthday Treats
All birthday treats need to be pre-packaged with a nutritional label. Shipley's glazed donuts are the only exception.
MyKaty Cloud
MyKaty Cloud is a web portal to many internal applications. This is a single sign on service to give you and your student access to all resources you need anywhere, anytime, on any device. MyKaty can be used with tablets, smart phones, laptops and desktop computers. To access, open your browser to: https://mykaty.katyisd.org/ The login is your Katy ISD district login. This is the same username and password you use to login to a Katy ISD computer.
Home Access Center
The Home Access Center provides an online grade book where parents and guardians can view helpful student information to support and guide their children through the educational process. From home or work, at any time of the day or night, parents can access the Web portal to track academic achievement. E-mail links are also available throughout the portal so parents can communicate with the school and teachers.
Mrs. Kim Block
- Math, Science, and Social Studies (homeroom)
- Conference Time: 10:30-11:25
Phone: 281-234-4100
Twitter: @kimblock07
Mrs. Jennifer Hendren
- Language Arts and Social Studies (homeroom)
- Conference Time: 10:30-11:25
Email: jenniferRhendren@katyisd.org
Phone: 281-234-4100
Twitter: @MrsHendren3rd