Week of May 23 - 27

The following is all the important information you will need to know for the remainder of the school year:

• May 30: No School
• May 31: Dress up--favorite sports team
• June 1: Dress up like someone (celebrity, book character, twin)
• June 2: 3rd Grade Reading Camp (Note if needed) and tie-dye day.
• June 3: Dress up: Beach/summer day (sunglasses, hats, etc.)
• June 8: School Picnic
• June 9: Half Day
• June 10: Half Day and Last Day of School

• Final book checkouts were this week. Please make sure ALL books are returned next week so that the librarians can get the library inventoried for next year.
• Computers have been checked in and students will not be bringing them home anymore. We are still using them throughout the day but they are charged here at school now. Thank you for your prompt return of all materials!
• We are in need of 1 more volunteers for reading camp! We would love your help. Reading camp is June 2 and runs from 8:45 - 11:30 and 12:45 - 2:30. 

E.P. Clarke End of Year Picnic!

💚  Wednesday, June 8.  

💚  This event requires many volunteers. 

💚  Let's create fun memories and celebrate our year at Clarke.  

💚  Volunteer opportunities include morning setup from 8:30-10 and running a station during the picnic from 12:30-3:30.   

💚  Volunteers, please sign up through this link.   

💚  For safety reasons, no siblings are allowed.  💚  More details to follow once you sign up. 

💚  If you have any questions, please reach out to Meghan Cox at Meghan-cox@live.com or (269) 861-3138  

Book reports were so much fun this year! We hope that it inspired a love of reading in your student. Keep reading through the summer so our hard work and learning sticks for next school year!

💚What We Learned This Week 💚

💚Language Arts:  We have continued working through the book A Hundred Dresses. Our students are enjoying the book and we have had wonderful discussions regarding the content of the book.

💚Writing: Opinion writing drafts are almost complete including introductions, supporting paragraphs, and conclusions. Final drafts next week!

💚Math: Our last math unit has allowed us to dive deeper into area and perimeter. This week we designed plans for tiny houses and surveyed our classmates.

💚Science: All science units are completed for the year!

💚Social Studies:  We continue our study of the evolution of transportation in Michigan.

💚WORD STUDY💚

Word study is complete for the year!

We will now focus on cursive writing.

Week of May 16 - 20

Today was an absolutely amazing day at the Hesston Train Museum. The day was filled with fun, learning, and great experiences with our friends. We want to thank the Rita family and the PTO for providing such a wonderful opportunity for our entire school. The extra exciting part for 3rd grade is that this trip reinforced concepts that we have just learned or are learning right now in our study of Michigan History! At the museum, our students were able to:

• Ride 3 different sized trains around the property
• Visit an old-fashioned soda fountain shop and learn how the soda was made
• Have an ice cream treat
• Visit a working blacksmith shop where the blacksmith was busy working
• Watch a sawmill operate 

We can't thank the museum docents enough for taking the time to create a wonderful day for our students. All of them took the day off from their daily lives to volunteer for our students.

We also want to thank ALL of our many family members that volunteered to chaperone our students. We could not have done it without you!

The following is all the important information you will need to know for the remainder of the school year:

• May 24: Field Trip to the Potawatomi Zoo (Informational Note if needed)
• May 24: Girls on the Run 5K
• May 25 - 27: Swimming (Will need swimsuit and towel every day)
• May 30: No School
• June 2: 3rd Grade Reading Camp (Informational Note if needed)
• June 8: School Picnic
• June 9: Half Day
• June 10: Half Day and Last Day of School
• 
  

• Final book checkouts will be the week of May 23-May 27
• Please send your child's computer, charger, AND computer sleeve (case) with your child to school on Monday. Computers will not be going home anymore as we work to collect and inventory all technology items. 
• We are in need of 2 more volunteers for reading camp! We would love your help. Reading camp is June 2 and runs from 8:45 - 11:30 and 12:45 - 2:30. 

E.P. Clarke End of Year Picnic!

💚  Wednesday, June 8.  

💚  This event requires many volunteers. 

💚  Let's create fun memories and celebrate our year at Clarke.  

💚  Volunteer opportunities include morning setup from 8:30-10 and running a station during the picnic from 12:30-3:30.   

💚  Volunteers, please sign up through this link.   

💚  For safety reasons, no siblings are allowed.  💚  More details to follow once you sign up. 

💚  If you have any questions, please reach out to Meghan Cox at Meghan-cox@live.com or (269) 861-3138  

The next book report will be on May 27th. 

Reading at home is the most important thing your child can do!

Make this a non-negotiable in your house as it will pay off later.

💚What We Learned This Week 💚

💚Language Arts:  Our students are working on a new literature unit around the book The 100 Dresses. This is a powerful book with a theme of acceptance and friendship. This is always a nice way to end the year in 3rd grade.

💚Writing: Students continue their opinion writing about zoos. They are defending their opinions with evidence and powerful word choices.

💚Math: This week we began our last unit of the year. We are currently working to review concepts from the year and use our problem-solving skills to reinforce standards. 

💚Science: All science units are completed for the year!

💚Social Studies:  We have just started our last unit of the year in social studies as well. This unit helps students understand how transportation evolved in Michigan as we became a state and grew.

💚WORD STUDY💚

Next week we will begin Unit 25 in word study. 

Spelling words will come home with your child on Monday.

Week of May 9 - 13

As the weather becomes warmer, make sure that your student is coming to school with a reusable water bottle! We want to make sure that they stay hydrated without going through the office's limited water bottle supply. Thank you!

The following is all the important information you will need to know for the remainder of the school year:

• May 20: Hesston Steam Museum - All School Field Trip
• May 24: Field Trip to the Potawatomi Zoo (Informational Note if needed)
• May 24: Girls on the Run 5K
• May 25 - 27: Swimming (Will need swimsuit and towel every day)
• May 30: No School
• June 2: 3rd Grade Reading Camp (Informational Note if needed)
• June 8: School Picnic
• June 9: Half Day
• June 10: Half Day and Last Day of School

From Mrs. Appel:

It's that time of year! Mrs. Braley and I are beginning to get all of the books back on our shelves to prepare for the next school year!

• Final book checkouts will be the week of May 23-May 27
• Please help us out by finding any EPC library books from previous weeks at home and sending them in with your child in the next few weeks!
• If your child does not know what they have checked out, they can classroom teachers OR ask Mrs. Braley or Mrs. Appel for a printout.

Please note that we currently have only 11 volunteers for the reading camp. We need a total of 16 volunteers. If you could possibly volunteer we would love to be able to hold this fun event for the kids. We realize there are many volunteers needed for different events right now so we understand the difficulty. We will make a decision by May 18th if we are able to hold the camp. Please consider this as it is something the students will always remember about 3rd grade!

Hesston Steam Museum!

💚 Mrs. Knuth's class needs 2 more volunteers.

💚 Mrs. Lorenz's class needs 2 more volunteers.

💚 Miss Yoder's class needs 3 more volunteers.

💚 If you are available on May 20th,  please sign up with this link. 

💚 If your student's class is full, please reach out to Marci Smith msmith@stjoebears.com. 

E.P. Clarke End of Year Picnic!

💚  Wednesday, June 8.  

💚  This event requires many volunteers. 

💚  Let's create fun memories and celebrate our year at Clarke.  

💚  Volunteer opportunities include morning setup from 8:30-10 and running a station during the picnic from 12:30-3:30.   

💚  Volunteers, please sign up through this link.   

💚  For safety reasons, no siblings are allowed.  💚  More details to follow once you sign up. 

💚  If you have any questions, please reach out to Meghan Cox at Meghan-cox@live.com or (269) 861-3138  

Thank you!

The next book report will be on May 27th. 

Reading at home is the most important thing your child can do!

Make this a non-negotiable in your house as it will pay off later.

💚What We Learned This Week 💚

💚Language Arts:  Small group reading is nearing an end and some whole group literature units will begin while teachers begin final reading assessments on each student. This will be valuable information that will be passed along to next year's teacher so that reading instruction can begin right away. Remember to keep reading over the summer to keep those skills up!

💚Writing: Students have formed a final opinion on zoos after reading their zoo research. Opinion statements were formed and the introductory paragraphs started. 

💚Math: Our unit on area, perimeter, and quadrilaterals is now complete. We did many fun activities to wrap up the unit including creating a robot with given perimeters. Ask your student which activity was the favorite!

💚Science: All science units are completed for the year!

💚Social Studies:  The unit on Michigan's natural resources is completed. This test will be on Wednesday of next week and will only include writing an essay about one of Michigan's natural resources. Your student will do a practice writing on Monday and will bring that home to practice and improve the writing for the test on Wednesay. 

💚WORD STUDY💚

Next week we will begin Unit 24 in word study. We will be learning about the final endings of -y, -ey, and -ie.

The words for Friday, May 20th are:

money, hockey, movie, twenty

Week of May 2 - 6

 

The following is all the important information you will need to know for the remainder of the school year:

• May 13: Track Meet *This has changed due to the weather on May 6.
• May 13: Book reports due
• May 20: Hesston Steam Museum - All School Field Trip
• May 24: Field Trip to the Potawatomi Zoo (Informational Note if needed)
• May 24: Girls on the Run 5K
• May 25 - 27: Swimming *This has changed from the last blog. We are NOT going May 9 - 13. Thank you for your flexibility!
• May 30: No School
• June 2: 3rd Grade Reading Camp (Informational Note if needed)
• June 8: School Picnic
• June 9: Half Day
• June 10: Half Day and Last Day of School

*Please do not forget to return the notes for the zoo (including the lunch choice note) and reading camp if you can volunteer. Remember, we need 16 volunteers for reading camp so we would love to have you!

Thank you SO much to everyone that showered us with love and appreciation this week! We are so lucky to have your children as our students and we have enjoyed this year teaching them! :)

Please note that we currently have only 4 volunteers for the reading camp. We need a total of 16 volunteers. If you could possibly volunteer we would love to be able to hold this fun event for the kids. We realize there are many volunteers needed for different events right now so we understand the difficulty. We will make a decision by May 18th if we are able to hold the camp. Please consider this as it is something the students will always remember about 3rd grade!

Hesston Steam Museum!

💚 An E. P. Clarke parent, Ted Rita has generously offered our students an amazing opportunity to visit the Hesston Steam Museum in LaPorte, IN. 

💚 Please check out their website at https://hesston.org

💚 We need a minimum of  4-5 chaperones per class to attend. 

💚 If you are available on May 20th,  please sign up with this link. 

💚 If you have multiple students in different grades, please only sign up for one class. 

💚 If your student's class is full, please reach out to Marci Smith msmith@stjoebears.com. 

Details: 

• All times listed are EST but note that Hesston is located in CST.
• Buses depart Clarke at 9am and depart from Hesston at 1:30pm.
• Parents will be driving separately. 
• You may follow the bus or plan to arrive at Hesston by 9:45.  
• Please plan to pack lunch as the students will have lunch on the premises. 
• A daily schedule and map will be provided closer to the event.

The kids will have an amazing day and we are so thankful for our parent volunteers that can attend.  We could not provide this opportunity without all of our amazing volunteers!! For safety reasons, no siblings are allowed.

E.P. Clarke End of Year Picnic!

💚  Wednesday, June 8.  

💚  This event requires many volunteers. 

💚  Let's create fun memories and celebrate our year at Clarke.  

💚  Volunteer opportunities include morning setup from 8:30-10 and running a station during the picnic from 12:30-3:30.   

💚  Volunteers, please sign up through this link.   

💚  For safety reasons, no siblings are allowed.  

💚  More details to follow once you sign up. 

💚  If you have any questions, please reach out to Meghan Cox at Meghan-cox@live.com or (269) 861-3138  

Thank you!

We will be taking the M-STEP math test next week on Tuesday. Please help make sure your child gets to school on time, had a great night's sleep, and has a good healthy breakfast!

This is our last state test of the year!

The next book report will be on May 13th. 

Reading at home is the most important thing your child can do!

Make this a non-negotiable in your house as it will pay off later.

💚What We Learned This Week 💚

💚Language Arts:  This week we finished learning about figurative language including smilies, metaphors, onomatopoeia, alliteration, and personification.

💚Writing: We are just beginning opinion writing. We are starting with zoo research (2 articles for zoos and 2 articles against zoos). After researching, we will form our own educated opinions and write to support our opinion based on facts, vivid verbs, and persuasive language.

💚Math: This week helped tie together perimeter and area for our students.

💚Science: All science units are completed for the year!

💚Social Studies:  Chapter 5 has just begun! We are now learning about all of the natural resources that Michigan has to offer. 

💚WORD STUDY💚

This week we will begin Unit 23 in word study. We will be learning about agents - people who do things and the type of endings they have. 

The words for Friday, May 13th are:

instructor, director, adviser, biker