Paws-itive Test Takers are Prepared!!!

Our third graders are ready to show us all what they have learned this year as they take the MAP grade-level assessments.  Here are just a few ways you can help your child do his or her very best on the test.  

• Please make sure they are at school every day for the next couple of weeks.  
• Students who are well-rested and eat a nutritious breakfast are able to perform better on the high level assessments known as the MAP.  
• If your child eats breakfast at school, help them make sure they are at school in plenty of time to eat before coming to class.  
• Also, we are all able to think better in comfortable clothes with little to distract us, so help your child make smart choices about how he or she dresses each day during the test.

Let's work together to help our students be the most paws-itively prepared as possible for the MAP!  We want these assessments to reflect the growth and progress our students have made this year!  

Updates!

Check out the updated Take a Peek at our Week and Upcoming Events sections!

Amazing Authors!

Lake Contrary Elementary was privileged to have a published author come visit us on Tuesday, March 22nd.  Judy Young spent the day with our students, giving presentations to each class, and then sponsoring a poetry contest that evening.  Students were given the words "near, invisible, shadow, and snow" and told to write a poem, and then Ms. Young would select her favorite poems from each grade level to announce at our Author Night on Tuesday evening.  Our class had recently learned all about using free-verse to express our feelings in a poem.  The Poet Laureate (1st Place) and 2nd Place Poets in third grade were both from our class!  We are so proud of all the authors in third grade.  Here are the award-winning poems!

The shadow near the invisible snowman.

by Trey (our Poet Laureate- 1st Place Winner)

Big

Made out of invisible snow

Who is near a shadow, who stays still until

It is hot

Drip Drip

 

I see a factory

by Gabriel (2nd Place Winner)

I see a factory near by

and I see smoke coming near by in the air

and that smoke looks like snow floating in              the sky up up and away

       and

         when

            I

            walk

              in

                the

            Factory

              I see

              my characters

                          shadow

                     and when I turn around again

                       It was gone

invisible.

Problem Solving in the SJSD

As we learn strategies for solving math word problems, we are learning a fun way to think through the problem.  It is important to understand the question and know exactly what you are trying to answer.  A good strategy for this is something called the SJSD strategy.  Our class even came up with actions to help us remember each step!

S-  Stop and Think

J-  Just make a Plan

S-  Solve the Problem

D- Describe your Answer ("I know this because...")

Ask your child to "show" you the SJSD strategy to solve those tricky word problems!!! :-)

Updates!

Check out the updated Take a Peek at our Week and Upcoming Events sections!

Attendance Matters!

I just want to remind everyone about how important it is to be at school every day.  With all of the recent snow days, we have lots of work to do every day to keep up with our schedule!  We are in full swing gearing up for the MAP test, and we are on our way to being PAWS-itively awesome test takers!!!  You can help your child achieve his or her fullest potential by making sure they are getting a good amount of sleep, eating well, and coming to school every day prepared to learn!  Your support will make all the difference for your child...let's work together to help our whole class succeed!