Meteor Shower Tonight!

I was very excited as I drove to work today because I saw THREE 'shooting stars.' I thought that seemed like an odd occurrence, so I did a little research. Tonight is actually the peak night for the Geminid Meteor Shower! If you are up after dark, take a look outside (best between 10pm and 2am) and enjoy the display! This will be the first time I have every actually witnessed a meteor shower. I informed all of the kiddos about it, so if they are asking questions you can look up more information through a Google search. :)

Here are some more wonderful projects!!! If you want to see more, send me a message. I am only allowed to add so many photos each time I post. :)

Science Projects!!

Just before Thanksgiving, the students were assigned to complete a Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board in Science. The boards gave many different choices of activities including: creating a diagram of the solar system, developing a travel brochure for a planet, writing a story about space exploration, making a model of a planet, etc. I took some picture of these amazing projects. I wasn't able to photograph every single one because my blog would have WAY too many pictures. I was very proud of the effort put forth by my incredible third graders!

Here comes December...

Wow! I cannot believe how long it has been since my last post! Sorry for taking so much time off of blogging. Life has been so busy at home that I haven't been able to sit at my computer for very long! Midterms went home this week. Please ask me if you have any questions! I have added some more grades in the grade book... so please check online to get a more accurate view of your child's performance. I cannot believe that this is the last week of November!!! Please help me out by reminding your child that Christmas is a time of giving, sharing, and loving one another.

Daylight Savings Time

I hope that everyone enjoyed their 'extra hour' of sleep this weekend! I know that I did! Today seemed to fly by because we were having such a great time! It is amazing how much has already been accomplished this school year. We have already finished book 1 of 3 from our science series! I passed out the new science books today, and the students were very excited! We will be starting our Unit on Earth Science. Many students have voiced their interest in completing a project on planets. I have been thinking about this myself... I will let you know what I come up with soon! We have moved on to multiplication in math, and many of the students have really been enjoying this! I am glad that they are enjoying it!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!!!

Computer glitches

It is amazing how much we depend on technology... My computer was not working today, and it seemed to throw my whole day off. I apologize for not getting my newsletter out, but I couldn't even open up Microsoft Word... :( VIP folders went home today. Please sign these and return them as soon as possible. If you would like a conference to discuss your child's grades or any other matters please let me know. Our Halloween party will be Wednesday! Thank you in advance for all of your help with the party!!! This week will be a little crazy since we have a party on Wednesday and a field trip on Thursday. We will not be reading a regular story from our book. Instead we will be reading aloud some picture books, working on review, and working on some Daily 5 tasks. Please send me a note if you have any questions. Thank you!!

What a week!!!

Wow, it has been a super busy week! I feel that we have accomplished a lot this week. Students presented their book reports on Thursday. Many students wrote very detailed essays. Good job! Today we had a pep session to introduce the school cheerleaders and basketball players. It was very fun and engaging. I have to apologize because with the busy afternoon... I totally forgot to send home V.I.P. folders with report cards!!!! I am so sorry! I will get these home on Monday! Next week will be a very eventful week. Our Halloween party will be on Wednesday at 2:00. Thank you in advance for sending in materials to help out! All of your help is greatly appreciated. We will be taking a field trip to watch a performance of Sleeping Beauty on Thursday. With all of the events, I decided not to complete a regular weekly story. Instead, we are going to work on some review items. We will also be reading some Halloween themed books. Our weekly spelling list will be a Halloween themed list. It will be available on Spellingcity.com by Sunday. Please e-mail me if you have any questions!!! :)

I have to admit that I am very proud of my third grade students. This week we have taken the first Acuity Predictive Test. Every student has been very well behaved in the lab, and I can tell that many of them are trying their hardest! We have been starting on subtraction with regrouping. Many of the students are having a difficult time with this. Please have your child practice this at home, and if you want more practice work let me know! I cannot believe that Fall Break is just around the corner!!!! Time is just flying by!

As promised here are a few more pictures of the students' science projects....

I haven't included EVERY single project because that would take up TONS of space, but as you can see... They did an AMAZING job! I am so proud of their hard work!!!

This week. :)

Acuity testing begins tomorrow for our class. I hope that the testing goes well. This test is a computerized assessment that gives a score showing predictions about ISTEP. This is just a prediction, so don't worry! This assessment shows areas that each student has of strengths and weaknesses. It also gives us tools to help with areas of remediation. We will be taking a science test on Friday over Chapter 3. This will the be first test that will NOT be open book. We have been working very thoroughly with this chapter, and I have confidence that the students will do well! If you have any questions, please ask!!

Wow! The third graders continue to amaze me with their creativity! I continued to review science presentations today, and they were awesome! I will post some more pictures later in the week! I still have a few students who need to present, but overall... these were amazing!!!! Great job third graders! I hope that everyone remembers that there is a social studies test tomorrow. We will also be testing in math on Friday over adding numbers with regrouping. Thank you for all that you do to help your children become successful students!!!! I am so proud of the hard work that they have put forth!

Environment Projects

A few students wanted to complete their science presentations early today. Wow... they did an amazing job!

I am looking forward to finding out what other ideas my third graders have come up with!!!

Science Projects

Currently we are working on types of environments in science. I have assigned a project, and I am already seeing wonderful results! The projects are due on Wednesday, and I am looking forward to seeing them!!! Please remember that each student needs to present their project in front of the class also! They will be graded using the rubric that was sent home last week. :)

Gumball Math

Today was a very busy day! It seemed that there were too many things going on to stay caught up with everything. This week, we have started timed math facts. We are calling them 'gumball math facts' because they can earn gumballs to chew in class. :) This is pretty big because we are not normally allowed to chew gum in school. I sent home a paper about it today. If you have any questions please ask! I am hoping that starting with addition will help reinforce the importance of these basic facts! Remember that Wednesday is a half day, and Thursday is grandparents' night! The book fair is also going on this week. Our first day to visit the book fair will be on Wednesday.

VIP Folders

I cannot believe that it is already time for mid-terms!!! They will be going home tomorrow. This year I am trying something new for handing out important papers. Your child has a 'VIP Folder.' (Very Important Papers) Mid-terms and Report cards will go home in this folder. Please take some time to review your child's information, and sign and return the papers by Monday. I will include any papers that have been marked 'sign and return' in this folder in case we need to review it at any time. This folder will also keep STAR testing scores along with other testing information. Please do not remove papers from this folder without returning them. If you would like a copy of any material from your child's VIP folder, please let me know. I hope that this will be a useful tool if conferences are needed. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress in third grade, please contact me. Thank you!!

I want to apologize for not getting my weekly newsletter out today. I always type it up during my Monday planning period, but our Music class was canceled today. :( It will go home tomorrow. This week's story is a non-fiction story that focuses on understanding the value of money. We will be focusing on differentiating between fantasy and realism. In math, we will be wrapping up Chapter 1, and hopefully testing on Friday. I also hope to finish Chapter 2 in Science.

Time flies when you are having fun...

I cannot believe that it will be Friday tomorrow! This week we have been very busy. I think that the half day yesterday made me forget about the week being almost over! This week we read a book called Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst. The kids loved it, and many of them did well with the tests this week! We have started working on AR in full force. There was also an AR test over this story, and almost all of the students did well with that! I gave every child a goal of 6 points for this grading period since we haven't been working on AR for the first couple of weeks. If you have questions, please ask!!! Remember to have your child complete homework every night. If they are unable to complete it please write me a note so I know what is going on! Thanks!!!

Tomorrow.

Remember, tomorrow is an early dismissal day. Your kids get to enjoy the afternoon off while we have some professional development time. Your child will be tested over this week's story, and given a leveled reader to take home. AR goals have been set, and your child will receive his/her goal tomorrow. Please make sure that they are reading AR every night for at least 15 minutes. Our library day is Wednesday, so we will make sure that your child has appropriate books to take AR tests over. Since we have missed the first few weeks with AR, goals will be set lower than normal. I hope that all students can meet and/or exceed their AR goal for this grading period.

Next Week

Don't forget... Wednesday the 22nd will be an early dismissal day! Information will go home early in the week! :)

Title One Night

Many of you made it out tonight! I hope that you enjoyed visiting our classroom and asking questions. :) It was a great turn out! Almost half of the kiddos from my class showed up!

Busy Days...

Wow... Today was very jam packed! We started our day off working with reading groups. We finished our story for the week, went to the computer lab and tested over the story. We will normally do this the same way every week. There will be one group that tests on Fridays. Leveled readers were sent home for homework. After we tested over the story, we went to library. We came back to the computer lab to complete STAR testing. This is an assessment that gives a good idea of where each child falls when compared to other students in reading. In Science, we have been working on posters to explain different types of plants. The students were very excited about this! They will be testing over chapter 1 on Friday. This test will be an OPEN BOOK test. :) I will do this on occasion, but not for every chapter.

Homework...

Please make sure that you are checking your child's agenda each night. I have been walking around at the end of the day to make sure they have been filled out. **They should be, but sometimes one slips away. Tonight's homework is to read the leveled reader and complete the worksheet that goes along with it. Math- complete workbook page 3 Spelling- complete packet and TEST tomorrow. The spelling packet is intended to help your child throughout the week. It is not designed to be completed in one night. That would be overwhelming! If for some reason your child is unable to complete his/her homework, please send me an e-mail or jot down a note in their agenda. The consequence for not completing/turning in homework is to complete it during recess and possibly write sentences. If you have any questions, please just ask.

Wow, this week is flying by! Tomorrow is already Wednesday. We have been reading the story Boom Town. I hope that you have had the opportunity to listen to your child read the story. As you are listening, as your child questions about the story to check their comprehension. We worked in small reading groups today, and it seemed to work very well. Remember, we will test over the story tomorrow! I sent home a 'spelling packet' on Monday. This should be completed throughout the week, and turned in on Friday. It will be checked for completion, but not graded. Occasionally, these will be recorded. In Math, we began working on story problems. Your child is to complete the back side of last night's homework. I marked page 1 with 'NR' which means that it was checked, but not recorded in the grade book. Remember, if you have any questions, please contact me! Thank you!!!

Week One

Wow, I cannot believe that our first week of school is already finished! Today seemed to fly by! We started working on our story for next week in reading. This way the kiddos will have read the story one additional time. In case you were wondering... We will read our story on Mondays as a whole class, read it again for homework Monday nights, then on Tuesdays and Wednesdays we will be broken into small group for more focused instruction. We will test on Wednesdays over our story most of the time. There are two separate tests to take over the story, but I cannot be 100% sure when they will both be ready. We have been changing some things with AR, so we might not be taking AR tests for a couple of weeks. The AR programs are going to be available online at school. This opens up much more possibilities for AR in the classroom. **I will let you know when that changes.** After testing over the weekly story, each student will be given a leveled reader to read at home and in the classroom. Fridays they will be tested over it to assess comprehension. (This is an AR test... so it won't begin until AR is up and running) We went to the computer lab and practiced our typing skills today. I was very impressed with the students' typing abilities! They did a great job! We will be using the computers to complete spelling in third grade. I use Spellingcity.com to take pre-tests and post-tests. Monday mornings we will test over the weekly words. You can find the word lists by searching my name on spellingcity. :) Hopefully the students get rested up for a FULL week of school next week!

It was another wonderful day in third grade. The kiddos are already starting to get the hang of rules and routines. (Which third graders are good at by now...) We started to actually dive into the curriculum today. We completed something in all subjects, so they might be a little overwhelmed when they come home today. Hopefully that isn't the case. Homework tonight- page 23 Handwriting and read independently for 5-10 minutes. :) We had library yesterday, but were unable to check out books. We will be able to check out books during our next library time which will be Wednesday. I sent home some of my own books, so hopefully every student will have something to read. If they forgot to bring one home, you can always let them read newspapers or magazines. As long as they are reading something! I am looking forward to our first Friday!

First Day Jitters

As always, I believe that I was more nervous than my students. You would think that after several years of teaching, I would be calm going into the first day.

I always read this book on the first day, and I never get tired of it. It is such a cute story that explains how not only students can be nervous about the first day of school! :) Today was a great day for third grade. My school did something that they haven't done in the past, and I liked it. We had a whole school assembly, and discussed the rules and went on a school-wide tour. It took up a HUGE chunk of time today. I am looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

Nervous

Although I have taught for five years... I am always nervous about the first day of school. I can never sleep the night before, and I always think that I am forgetting something. I hope that everyone is excited about tomorrow, because I definitely am! Looking forward to a wonderful year!

So, I went to my classroom today, and finished most of my work! I was very proud of myself. I took a few pictures that I am going to try to upload...

I had to put some lettering up on my classroom door, and I came up with an idea that worked great! I measured the space that I had, put sticky tack on the letters on a yard stick, and carried it with them into the hallway. I thought that it was very helpful.

I also decided to cover the backs of my bookshelves. I repositioned them this year, and the backs were showing. They have been up against walls forever, and were very unattractive. I bought a black plastic tablecloth and a roll of cute duct tape from Wal-Mart. I measured and cut the tablecloth to fit the bookshelves, then taped it on to make a border. I am very proud of this, but who knows how long it will actually hold up!!!

I decided to use my back chalkboard for a student work display board. I found yardsticks for free from the county fair last week that were bright colors. This gave me an idea... I had my step-father cut them, then I put magnets on the back. After I get my class list, I will put each student's name on the front with sticker letters.

I don't know if I like this yet or not... I 'stole' the wording from my friend, Trisha, but I wanted to make a beehive to go with my classroom theme. I debated on using yellow poster board instead of brown, but I don't know. I might end up changing this before school starts. As you can see, I was very busy today!!! Hopefully it looks good.

Overwhelmed...

I am going to do my best to start and maintain a blog this year for my classroom. I can make no promises because I do have a three year old son who likes my attention. :) School starts next week, and I am NOT ready. I am normally more organized, but this summer I worked for my step-father for some extra money. I was only able to really focus on my classroom last week. Although it looked organized to start with, I have decided to try to de-clutter... Which means that it looked worse before it started looking better. I am going to school on Sunday to hopefully finish up!!!