April 8-12

 

Upcoming Dates and Reminders

April 8th - Total Solar Eclipse

April 11th  - Reading STAAR test (3rd-5th grade)

No visitors allowed on campus

April 12 & 15 - NO School

Bad Weather Day/Professional Development Day

April 25th  - Math STAAR test (3rd-5th grade)

No visitors allowed on campus

STAAR Reading Encouragement Letter Reminder

Don't forget to send your learner a letter of encouragement for the Reading STAAR test next week! See below for details!

Dear 3rd Grade Families, 

As you know, we have a big day coming up here at Town Center. The STAAR Reading test will be coming up soon on Thursday, April 11th.  We know this is just one data point for your child, and that we have been working hard with them throughout this year, but we want them to feel empowered and confident on this day that feels big and different. 

Here is what we need from you! We are hoping that every family can send a short letter of encouragement for your learner for the day of testing. We would like to have these letters finished and turned into us by Monday, April 8th. The letter should be full of encouragement and you-can-do it sentiments! You can either email the letter to us and we can print them out, or you can send them to us sealed and labeled with your child's name.

This is a surprise for the kiddos! Please do not tell them about it ahead of time.  We want them to get to school on the day of testing, see the letter, wonder what it is, read it, and then feel your love and support as if you were right there. 

Please let us know if you have any questions! 

Thank you! 

The Third Grade Teachers 

🌟 Help your "star" to be prepared for Thursday by:

• Getting a good night's sleep the night before and eating a good breakfast

• Bringing a healthy, non-messy snack and fresh water bottle to school

• Having a few extra books to read

• Dressing in layers, or bringing a sweater/sweatshirt to stay comfortable

• Making sure that iPads are fully charged and updated to iOS 17.4.1

Terrific Texans

Congratulations to:

Anna, Zoe and Max

Solar Eclipse Viewing Information

Please see the following message from Ms. Martin:

Hello Town Center Families,

 

Coming up on Monday, April 8, 2024, between the hours of 12:30 pm and 3 p.m., the DFW area will be in the path of a total solar eclipse. This phenomenon presents an incredible science educational opportunity for all students in our district. Residents in the path of this solar eclipse will not be able to see another one in their lifetimes without significant travel.

 

Our educators in Coppell ISD will be taking a few minutes of their day to allow students to safely witness the eclipse. Many of those educators have amazing activities and lessons planned to support learning for students in all grade levels. Viewing this eclipse in a safe manner is a priority for Coppell ISD. All students and educators will be using certified eclipse viewing glasses provided by TCE or projection techniques that don’t involve looking toward the sun. 

 

If for any reason you do NOT wish for your child/student to participate in viewing the solar eclipse, please fill out this FORM at go.coppellisd.com/EclipseOptOut by 5 p.m. on Monday, March 25. 

Otherwise, we are looking forward to providing our learners with an exciting and unprecedented learning experience.

Field Trip

We are excited for our upcoming field trip to the Heard Museum in McKinney on Wednesday, May 8th.  Detailed information and the permission slip came home Friday with your child.  Please make sure to ask them about it! 

IMPORTANT: If you would like to chaperone OR are even considering it please make sure you have completed a background check for THIS school year (23-24).  It is a requirement to complete this every school year in order to volunteer at the school and chaperone on field trips.  If you are unsure as to if you have completed this for this school year, please reach out to your child's teacher.

If you still need to complete please click on the link and follow the steps:

https://www.coppellisd.com/page/visiting-and-volunteering

Tennis Shoes for PE & Extended Specials Day (CTT)

Please help make sure that your child wears appropriate shoes on PE days and Move & Groove (Fridays). Additionally, every other Thursday 3rd grade has extended specials during CTT. The dates are outlined for the remainder of the year below. Thank you for your help in making sure your child is safely dressed for the gym! 

Smart Watches

We have noticed that more and more of our students have begun wearing smartwatches to school, so we want to take a minute to be clear about expectations for those devices. 
Students are not permitted to communicate on their personal devices during the school day. (The same rule applies to their iPads.) This includes parents. Additionally, smartwatches are only to be used to tell time during the day. Please help us in reinforcing this expectation.  If you need to contact your son/daughter during the day, please email your child's teacher or call the front office. 

We have talked about these expectations with the students. We've let them know that if they are using their smart watch, cell phone, or other personal devices to communicate (or use any additional feature beyond telling time), they will receive one warning. After that one warning, we will ask for those devices to stay at home.

Yearbook Photos

Lunches

Below are a few links regarding lunches:

- Breakfast & Lunch Menu

- Free & Reduced Lunch Application

- Check Your Lunch Application Status

- Create Your Child's Online Lunch Account

Lunch Menus can be found here

TCE Principal Newsletter

Each week Ms. Martin sends out her Town Center Principal Newsletter. Please make sure to check out all the important campus-wide announcements in the Principal Newsletter. 

April 5th

WHAT WE ARE LEARNING

ELA - It is time for our amazing learners to SHINE! As we review all of the Reading and Writing skills we have built throughout the year, it is clear that the eclipse isn't the only thing out of this world next week - our READERS are too! Thursday's STAAR test is just a time for us to show off.

🌟 Help your "star" to be prepared for Thursday by:

• Getting a good night's sleep the night before and eating a good breakfast

• Bringing a healthy, non-messy snack and fresh water bottle to school

• Having a few extra books to read

• Dressing in layers, or bringing a sweater/sweatshirt to stay comfortable

• Making sure that iPads are fully charged and updated to iOS 17.4.1

Social Studies - We will continue to analyze nonfiction Social Studies articles in order to draw conclusions about what we read! Coming soon will be our historical figures unit where we explore the biographies of some amazing citizens!

Math - If I could turn back time (best Cher impression wins), to my 3rd grade year of 1987, I would teach elapsed time to myself with a number line. Because the way I learned it was for the birds! We regrouped (borrowed) hours and minutes and goodness, it was hard. The new time skill for 3rd graders is elapsed time, and good news: we teach it using a number line. There are 3 elapsed time situations: 1) they are given the event’s starting and ending times and they have to find the amount of time that passed in between, 2) they are given the starting time and the elapsed time and they have to find the ending time, and 3) they are given the ending time and elapsed time and have to work backwards to find the starting time. We’ve got this! This week, we will also sharpen up our strip diagrams skills; we noticed questions on the practice STAAR involving these boogers were missed more often than other questions. Strip diagrams are representations of what is happening in the problem, and they look like strips of little boxes. Confused? It’s okay, Parents. We’ve got the #newmath on lock, so you don’t have to. You’re welcome!

Science - If your learner comes home to you hungry this week, blame Science! We will be diving into how food chains work across the animal kingdom! That plus Monday's big eclipse event has given us a Total Eclipse of our Science hearts!