Wow, your kiddo showed some serious grit this week!

Another week of hard work, and as I graded our first math tests (WAHOO! First one DONE!), I was SO pleased! Overall, our class averaged a 2.8 out of 3 for an overall grade. That’s HUGE! I know it was hard, I know it was exhausting, but those kids worked their buns off to prepare for their assessment and man, it showed.

I’m SO proud of all their hard work. They are rocking 3rd grade! I’m beyond thankful for such a supportive, gracious group of parents to work with this year…I see your hard work in parenting on display EVERY day with your amazing kiddos, and I’m thankful for all you have done — and continue to do day in and day out — at home. THANK YOU, parents!

Please read on for a variety of reminders and announcements, particularly regarding our Half Day Array Bakery…which is a SURPRISE to the kids! Shh!

Thanks so much!

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Moving onto Timed 10’s This Week

When you see your child’s Unit 1 Test in the conferences packet (coming home next week Tuesday), you might see some great multiplication strategies at work, but a wrong answer and lost points because of miscounted tally marks or miscounting when skip counting (GREAT strategies to understand what multiplication means, but time intensive and prone to little errors).

This is a prime example of why we are working SO HARD on memorizing these facts in a snap with flash cards!

We will be taking our next timed facts test this week. Students who passed 2’s will move onto 10’s; 5’s will move onto 2’s; students still working on 5’s will retake that test this week.

• • Because 10’s are typically pretty easy for kids, you can think about working ahead on 3’s (next week’s timed test).

Thank you for your help diligently practicing with your child!

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Unit 1 Math Test This Week – OPTIONAL Practice and Answer Keys

Thank you to those of you who helped your child work through the optional practice pages in preparation of this test. Especially on a couple of questions, it was very apparent when kiddos had gotten more practice with the concepts than just in class…thank you for your help and support of their academic success in this way!

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Parent Teacher Conferences

Parent Teacher Conferences are scheduled for mid-November, however I am planning to have a brand new baby that week 🙂 Because of this, I’m working on solidifying plans with Mr. Waldie to hold conferences on two nights later this month:

• Tuesday, October 27th
• Wednesday, October 28th

If you haven’t had a chance to sign up yet, please do so here. Thank you so much!

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Halloween Party

Our Halloween party will be on Friday, October 30th.

REMINDERS:

• We will not be able to have parent volunteers or guests at this party 🙁 However your prayers, well wishes, good energy, positive vibes are all welcome as I facilitate this event at 39 weeks pregnant 
• As you choose Halloween costumes, only school appropriate costumes will be allowed.
  • • Thank you for avoiding violent, gory costumes for the school setting
• Students will be able to wear their costumes to school this year! Yay!
• Thank you to those of you who have have contributed to the Sign Up Genius — my parents this year ROCK!

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Substitute Teacher Update

All is set with HR! I was able to meet with my long term substitute teacher, Mrs. Joy Lopez (currently a full time building substitute in another part of the district until Baby Deters arrives), this past week to finalize details and set a few dates for her to meet the kids. She will be in NEXT week to observe, and also to teach a bit.

I know that there is growing anxiety with some kids surrounding my fast approaching leave.

I am due November 8, but plan to work right up until Baby makes its debut.

We are going to have some conversation around that this week, but if you’re noticing your child bringing it up repeatedly at home would you please talk with him/her about how change is OKAY and part of life, and that all will be well? 🙂 Thanks so much for reinforcing healthy conversation around processing feelings of anxiety!

I’m so excited to have Mrs. Lopez in our room — she is wonderful, and will be an excellent teacher for your kiddo, as sad as I am that it means I don’t get to be in the classroom with them for a while 🙁

Thank you in advance for your support of Mrs. Lopez, just like you’ve been so kind, supportive, and gracious to me in this weird year. You guys are the best group of parents out there!

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Array Bakery 

I have gone back and forth on this because, to be honest, COVID restrictions make classroom transformations like this one much more complicated than normal…and they’re pretty intensive in planning during “normal” times 🙂

HOWEVER, the kids have been working their tails off and I’ve decided it’s time to do some fun, hands on learning even if it means finding new ways to safely do it at their seats and making individual work for each student instead of group work settings.

SO, that being said…I’ve decided to just go for it and hold an Array Bakery Day this Friday, October 23!

But shh…it’s top secret for the kids until the day before!

This will be done completely safely, with kids remaining at their seats and not sharing manipulatives or materials. I am looking for some last-minute supplies to pull this off! This is one of my FAVORITE days of the year, and I can’t wait to provide this fun learning memory for the kids…thank you for considering helping me do just that!

You can sign up for something to contribute at this link!

• Supplies purchased at the store can be dropped off to the office or sent in with your child this week. Please have them in by this THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22ND AT THE LATEST! (I apologize and take full responsibility for how last minute this is…I did not think I would be doing this activity this year, but I’ve just decided to adapt and MAKE IT WORK the best I can 🙂)
• The hats and aprons can be shipped to:

Mrs. Deters 

Georgetown Elementary School

3909 Baldwin St.

Hudsonville, MI 49426

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Curriculum

This week begins the first lesson or two in 3rd grade content and curriculum. I can’t wait to partner with you to help your child reach his or her full academic potential this year!

• Reading: We will wrap up our first Reader’s Workshop unit, “Building a Reading Life”. We will also do a “launch” of our next unit (my favorite one!), “Mysteries”.
• Writing: This week we will begin Unit 2 of our Writer’s Workshop, “Changing the World: Persuasive Speeches”. I love this unit, as the kids have so much ownership of their topic and get to work on selecting something they are passionate about, creating a strong thesis statement, and developing strong, convincing evidence to persuade their audience to agree with them!
• Word Work: Students will be working on spelling patterns based on individual needs indicated by a spelling inventory we took in September. This will be done through both small group and individual practice.
• Math: We will begin Unit 2, learning our remaining multiplication families and introduction to multi-step story problems. This is HARD for kids — we will really need to draw on our grit and growth mindset throughout this unit! Thank you for your reinforcement of this at home 🙂

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Upcoming Dates

• Friday, October 23: Early Release (12:15 pm dismissal) / ARRAY BAKERY — Shh!
• Monday, October 26: No School
• Tuesday October 27 / Wednesday October 28: Virtual Parent Teacher Conferences for MRS. DETERS ONLY!
• Friday, October 30: Halloween Party
• Friday, November 13: Early Release (12:15 pm dismissal)
• Wednesday, November 25 – Sunday, November 28: Thanksgiving Break (No School)