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.