We hope everyone has a safe and happy winter break! Please enjoy this time with your family and friends. We are so thankful for all the wonderful gifts and warm wishes your families have given us this season. From our hearts to yours,

Love The 3rd Grade Teachers

Blog will resume when we return. Check back for exciting news and updates about what we will be learning in the new year ! We will see everyone on January 4th when school resumes!

We hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Winter Break!

Our class elves came and visited us this week!

Week of December 12-16th

Tuesday Dec 13- 5th grade winter program in cafe

Wednesday Dec 14- Holiday from the Heart during school day

Thursday Dec 15- Class winter party at 1:00

Friday Dec 16- school wide sing along 830 am and early dismissal at 12:50

Reminder : Thursday December 15: Class winter Party @1:00   Class party will be in each classroom. THIS IS DIFFERENT THAN THE OTHER GRADES since we have 2:00 specials. Please note this if you are planning to attend the party and have siblings in the building.

December 19-January 3rd: Winter Break reminder that school will resume on Wednesday, January 4th as Tuesday the 3rd is staff development for teachers.

PEEK AT OUR WEEK

Since we will have lots of fun and exciting things going on this week, we will be doing lots of math and reading holiday review activities. Be sure to ask your child how we tried to make a positive Twist on the Grinch story this year during our writing this week.

Our blog will resume when we return from the holidays!

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

Please make sure your child is practicing their multiplication facts over the winter break. It is absolutely vital that they are fluent in their multiplication facts. If you need flashcards, there are two online resources where your child can practice for free: HERE and HERE. Please also make sure they are practicing their Reflex Math facts! This is still part of our weekly homework assignment.

Cafeteria expectations:

It is a school-wide expectation that when the lights are off, our voices are off. Please help us with following these when you are eating with your child in the cafeteria.

Background Check:

Please take a minute to fill out a background check. It only takes a few minutes and the link is below. You will need to have completed a background check to volunteer at school and attend special events and field trips. You must complete a new background check each school year. http://www.coppellisd.com/Page/22

CHARACTER AT TCE

Citizenship Quality: Caring

Life Principal: Humanitarianism

Town Center Common Courtesy:  When you cough or sneeze, turn your head away

from others and cover your mouth.

The Giving Tree

When: November 30th-December 15th

Where: Place new, unwrapped toys under the Christmas Tree by the front office

What: Town Center first graders are collecting new, unwrapped toys for children in need. We will be donating the toys to the Lions Club. When you place your toy under the Christmas Tree, please sign your name on an ornament and hang it on the tree!

Week of December 5-December 9th

Friday December 9th: Jingle Bell run during Move and Groove

Thursday December 15: Class winter parties

December 19-January 3rd: Winter Break reminder that school will resume on Wednesday, January 4th as Tuesday the 3rd is staff development for teachers.

 PEEK AT OUR WEEK

In reading, learners will continue with our Junior Great Book series, working on comprehension, critical thinking, and other reading strategies.

In social studies, we will continue working on state and local government.

In writing we will looking at possessive nouns, contractions, prepositions, and pronouns.

In math this week, our learners will be working on applying all of their skills they’ve learned with multiplication to solving word problems. They will learn how to solve one and two-step word problems with multiplication. We will also continue testing and becoming fluent in our basic multiplication facts.

In science this week we will be continuing our learning about landforms and how they are formed. By the end of the week we will have transitioned into learning about different types of soil and the processes of weathering and erosion.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

Homework:

In lieu of weekly math homework that is assigned on Mondays and returned on Fridays we are sending home your child’s math workbooks for Third Grade. Each week we will update the Third grade blog with optional workbook pages that align with our weekly skill to serve as practice for your child. They may bring these pages back each week, and can receive a small incentive (a sticker, warm fuzzy, etc.), but it is not a requirement. There will still be many unused pages so you are free to work through your child’s workbook as you see fit. Your child is still expected as a Town Center Texan to do Reflex Math three times a week for fifteen minutes. We hope that this will allow for freedom for your child to spend their evenings creating, spending time outside, eating dinner as a family, and reading together while also allowing a resource for math support at home as you feel best fit for your child. Workbook pages for this week are pages 249-254.

Reflex Math: Students have a week (Friday-Friday) to work through their Reflex Math three times a week, for 15 minutes at a time.

Cafeteria expectations:

It is a school-wide expectation that when the lights are off, our voices are off. Please help us with following these when you are eating with your child in the cafeteria.

Background Check:

Please take a minute to fill out a background check. It only takes a few minutes and the link is below. You will need to have completed a background check to volunteer at school and attend special events and field trips. You must complete a new background check each school year. http://www.coppellisd.com/Page/22

CHARACTER AT TCE

Citizenship Quality: Caring
Life Principal: Empathy
Town Center Common Courtesy: Be empathetic of others’ thoughts and feelings.

The Giving Tree

When: November 30th-December 15th

Where: Place new, unwrapped toys under the Christmas Tree by the front office

What: Town Center first graders are collecting new, unwrapped toys for children in need. We will be donating the toys to the Lions Club. When you place your toy under the Christmas Tree, please sign your name on an ornament and hang it on the tree!

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Upcoming Dates:

November 21-25- Thanksgiving Break

November 28- return to school after break

We want to wish all of our Third Grade Families a safe and Happy Thanksgiving break. We hope you have a restful break and are able to take time to enjoy your family and friends.  We are thankful for all our 3rd grade learners and their families!

A PEEK AT OUR WEEK

In reading, learners will begin a new Jr Great Book Series, working on comprehension, critical thinking and other reading strategies.

 Spelling will start back up the week we return from Thanksgiving break.

In social studies, we will continue working on local government and will begin learning about the Federal Government. 

In math, we will continue practicing and testing all of our multiplication facts. Please make sure your child is practicing their multiplication facts at home. We will be applying our knowledge of our basic facts to solve and write complex word problems. Workbook pages for this week are: 249-254.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

Homework:

In lieu of weekly math homework that is assigned on Mondays and returned on Fridays we are sending home your child’s math workbooks for Third Grade. Each week we will update the Third grade blog with optional workbook pages that align with our weekly skill to serve as practice for your child. They may bring these pages back each week, and can receive a small incentive (a sticker, warm fuzzy, etc.), but it is not a requirement. There will still be many unused pages so you are free to work through your child’s workbook as you see fit. Your child is still expected as a Town Center Texan to do Reflex Math three times a week for fifteen minutes. We hope that this will allow for freedom for your child to spend their evenings creating, spending time outside, eating dinner as a family, and reading together while also allowing a resource for math support at home as you feel best fit for your child. Workbook pages for this week are pages249-254.

Reflex Math: Students have a week (Friday-Friday) to work through their Reflex Math three times a week, for 15 minutes at a time.

Cafeteria expectations:

It is a school-wide expectation that when the lights are off, our voices are off. Please help us with following these when you are eating with your child in the cafeteria.

Background Check:

Please take a minute to fill out a background check. It only takes a few minutes and the link is below. You will need to have completed a background check to volunteer at school and attend special events and field trips. You must complete a new background check each school year. http://www.coppellisd.com/Page/22

CHARACTER AT TCE

Citizenship Quality: Cooperation

Life Principal: Caring

Town Center Common Courtesy: Hold the door for people. 

TCE Canned Food Drive   Thank you to all the 3rd graders who brought cans for the food drive!

week of November 14-18

Upcoming Dates:

November 14-18 Can food drive

November 21-25- Thanksgiving Break

November 28- return to school after break

We are so proud of our 3rd graders and the wonderful job they did today in the Veteran’s Day performance!

A PEEK AT OUR WEEK

In reading, learners will be continue to learn the reading strategy of main idea in a fiction text. We will be practicing this skill with fun, hands on activities as well as in our independent reading within the classroom.

We will also have a new mentor sentence about possessive nouns and adjectives. We will focus on adding adjectives and noticing possessive nouns. No spelling this week! Spelling will start back up the week we return from Thanksgiving break.

In social studies, we will continue working on government vocabulary and incorporate our writing into our SS as we write letters to the different departments in City Hall that we will learn about.

In math this week our learners will be working on learning and memorizing their multiplication facts. They will be learning different strategies to help them quickly learn their facts and become fluent with them. Be looking for an e-mail next week with more information about our Multiplication Fact Ninja program we will be starting. Our workbook pages this week are: 203-208 and 211-216.

This week in science we will be finishing up our simple machines engineering unit. Thanks again to the parent volunteers who came to help our learners test different simple machines! Towards the end of the week, we will be introducing our Earth’s Surface unit. We will begin reviewing key vocabulary, and introducing different types of landmarks.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

Homework:

In lieu of weekly math homework that is assigned on Mondays and returned on Fridays we are sending home your child’s math workbooks for Third Grade. Each week we will update the Third grade blog with optional workbook pages that align with our weekly skill to serve as practice for your child. They may bring these pages back each week, and can receive a small incentive (a sticker, warm fuzzy, etc.), but it is not a requirement. There will still be many unused pages so you are free to work through your child’s workbook as you see fit. Your child is still expected as a Town Center Texan to do Reflex Math three times a week for fifteen minutes. We hope that this will allow for freedom for your child to spend their evenings creating, spending time outside, eating dinner as a family, and reading together while also allowing a resource for math support at home as you feel best fit for your child. Workbook pages for this week are pages 203-208 and 211-216.


Reflex Math: Students have a week (Friday-Friday) to work through their Reflex Math three times a week, for 15 minutes at a time.
Cafeteria expectations:

It is a school-wide expectation that when the lights are off, our voices are off. Please help us with following these when you are eating with your child in the cafeteria.

Background Check:

Please take a minute to fill out a background check. It only takes a few minutes and the link is below. You will need to have completed a background check to volunteer at school and attend special events and field trips. You must complete a new background check each school year. http://www.coppellisd.com/Page/22

CHARACTER AT TCE

Citizenship Quality: Cooperation

Life Principal: Gratitude

Town Center Common Courtesy: Always say “thank you” when given something. WHen you receive something, do not insult the gift or the giver.

TCE Canned Food Drive

The second grade learners at TCE will be having a canned food drive to ‘trim the turkey’ for families in need this holiday season. We will be partnering with North Texas Food Bank to collect nonperishable trimmings for Thanksgiving Family Feasts. Second grade will be collecting cans all week November 14th-18th to count and sort for our Coppell ISD Feast Drive November 18th. Below you will find a list of turkey trimmings most in need but any nonperishable donations to the food bank are welcome and appreciated. Turkey Trimmings: Canned Green Beans Dried Beans Canned Corn Packaged Stuffing Instant Potatoes Canned Fruit Whole Grain Rice or Pasta Our Coppell ISD Feast Drive benefitting the North Texas Food Bank will be taking online donations as well at www.ntfb.org/Coppell Make sure you choose “Town Center Elementary” when making your donation. A $10 donation = 30 meals! All cans donated at TCE during the week of November 14th-18th will go towards the Coppell ISD Feast Drive. Thank you for your giving spirit!! 2nd Grade Town Center Elementary

Week of November 7-11

CALENDAR DATES

8th - Mock Election (Duck vs. Squid)
11th - Veterans Day Tribute- 9:00 am
18th - Turkey Trot

A PEEK AT OUR WEEK

In reading, learners will learn about making thinking tracks while we are reading. We use these text codes to help our comprehension. Then, we will move on to the reading strategy of main idea in a fiction text.

In writing, we will finish our narratives about a time when we got hurt. We will also have a new mentor sentence about commas in a series from The Name Jar. We will focus on adding commas in a series. Spelling choice board is due Thursday, November 10th and the test is Friday, November 11th. 

In social studies, we will start talking about government. We will review essential vocabulary and then learn about departments of local and state government. 

In math this week we will finally be introducing multiplication! We will begin the week by showing our learners various ways to represent multiplication. The second half of the week will be spent practicing each representation of multiplication in a number of stations. 

In science this week we will continue our simple machines engineering unit. We will be investigating the jobs of engineers, and the engineering process. The learners are so excited about the opportunity to build and test various simple machines with the help of some lovely parent volunteers! At the end of the week our learners will be putting the engineering process into action with a hands on project.  

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

Homework: 

• In lieu of weekly math homework that is assigned on Mondays and returned on Fridays we are sending home your child’s math workbooks for Third Grade. Each week we will update the Third grade blog with optional workbook pages that align with our weekly skill to serve as practice for your child. They may bring these pages back each week, and can receive a small incentive (a sticker, warm fuzzy, etc.), but it is not a requirement. There will still be many unused pages so you are free to work through your child’s workbook as you see fit. Your child is still expected as a Town Center Texan to do Reflex Math three times a week for fifteen minutes. We hope that this will allow for freedom for your child to spend their evenings creating, spending time outside, eating dinner as a family, and reading together while also allowing a resource for math support at home as you feel best fit for your child. Workbook pages for this week are pages 173-184 and 191-196. 
• Reflex Math: Students have a week (Friday-Friday) to work through their Reflex Math three times a week, for 15 minutes at a time. 
• Spelling choice board is due Thursday, November 10th and the test is Friday, November 11th. 

Cafeteria expectations: 

It is a school-wide expectation that when the lights are off, our voices are off. Please help us with following these when you are eating with your child in the cafeteria.

Background Check:

Please take a minute to fill out a background check. It only takes a few minutes and the link is below. You will need to have completed a background check to volunteer at school and attend special events and field trips. You must complete a new background check each school year. http://www.coppellisd.com/Page/22

CHARACTER AT TCE

Citizenship Quality: Cooperation

Life Principal: Common Sense
Town Center Common Courtesy: There is a napkin provided for the purpose of cleaning your fingers. 

Week of October 31 - November 4

CALENDAR DATES

October 31 - Crazy Hats/Headbands for Halloween!

November 1 - Practice STAAR test
November 2 - Practice STAAR test

A PEEK AT OUR WEEK

In reading, learners will learn about making thinking tracks while we are reading. We use these text codes to help our comprehension. We have text code symbols for making a connection, surprising event, confusing part, funny part, important part, and favorite part.

In writing, we will finish our narratives about a time when we got hurt. We will also have a new mentor sentence from The Name Jar. We will focus on adding commas in a series. We will have a new spelling unit that will be due Thursday, November 10th. 

In social studies, we will present our landform research project. Then, we will start talking about government. We will review essential vocabulary and then learn about departments of local and state government. 

In math this week we will be introducing multiplication! We will begin the week by showing our learners various ways to represent multiplication. The second half of the week will be spent practicing each representation of multiplication in a number of stations. 

In science this week we will be starting our simple machines engineering unit. We will be investigating the jobs of engineers and the engineering process. The learners are so excited about the opportunity to build and test various simple machines with the help of some lovely parent volunteers! At the end of the week our learners will be putting the engineering process into action with a hands on project.  

IMPORTANT REMINDERS

Practice STAAR Test:

Our learners will be taking the practice STAAR test this week. With that being said, we want to reiterate that we are not testing for accuracy. The purpose of the practice STAAR is not to assess what our learners know, but to practice and prepare for what the test will look like. We want the practice test to be a low stress experience for our learners! 

Homework: 

• In lieu of weekly math homework that is assigned on Mondays and returned on Fridays we are sending home your child’s math workbooks for Third Grade. Each week we will update the Third grade blog with optional workbook pages that align with our weekly skill to serve as practice for your child. They may bring these pages back each week, and can receive a small incentive (a sticker, warm fuzzy, etc.), but it is not a requirement. There will still be many unused pages so you are free to work through your child’s workbook as you see fit. Your child is still expected as a Town Center Texan to do Reflex Math three times a week for fifteen minutes. We hope that this will allow for freedom for your child to spend their evenings creating, spending time outside, eating dinner as a family, and reading together while also allowing a resource for math support at home as you feel best fit for your child. Workbook pages for this week are pages 173-184 and 191-196. 
• Reflex Math: Students have a week (Friday-Friday) to work through their Reflex Math three times a week, for 15 minutes at a time. 

Cafeteria expectations: 

It is a school-wide expectation that when the lights are off, our voices are off. Please help us with following these when you are eating with your child in the cafeteria.

Background Check:

Please take a minute to fill out a background check. It only takes a few minutes and the link is below. You will need to have completed a background check to volunteer at school and attend special events and field trips. You must complete a new background check each school year. http://www.coppellisd.com/Page/22

CHARACTER AT TCE

Citizenship Quality: Cooperation

Life Principal: Cooperation
Town Center Common Courtesy: Keep bathrooms clean and germ free.