Hello Strangers! Where is Mrs. Kerian?

Hello everyone.  I know it has been a long time since I have posted a blog.  Life is pretty crazy right now in Mrs. Kerian's world, with committees, kids' schedules, and life, so I do apologize.  You haven't been forgotten.  :)

As the note sent last week from Mrs. Sovereign stated, we will be starting MAPs testing today.  To help the students understand the importance of these tests, they have each set goals in which they would like to reach for each of the four test given (math, reading, language and science).  Students will be working hard to take ownership in increasing their scores from the fall, which I have no doubt in my mind they will.  Please help out this week by making sure that your child eats a healthy breakfast and gets enough rest at night.  We will be starting test today and continue on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.  It is also very helpful to schedule dentist or doctor appointments around these testing days so that the children can take the test with their classmates and feel comfortable.  Thanks for you help and cooperation!

I thought I needed to make a comment about lunches.  I realize that I am not the one paying for everyone's lunches, nor do I feel everyone should eat all of their lunch every day.  We all don't like everything on a school lunch.  I do feel I have MANY students not eating ANYTHING at lunch and just wanted to post a quick comment about it.  Please discuss with your child the importance of eating lunch, what they like, so they can have some "brain power" for the afternoon.  When I see a child take ketchup for their fries, but they don't eat any, I do encourage them to eat some as it appears if the intentions were there. Some of the students are not happy with me when I say, "You took ketchup for your fries so please eat 5," but I do worry that they are not eating anything.  Again, I do not say, "You must clean your plate" or even close.  Just want to make sure they get some nourishment in their system. I hope you do not think I am overstepping on anyone's toes.  I don't want it to appear that way.  I just want parents to be aware that many students are not eating anything for lunch.  Part of the issue is our time to eat is short and many students want to socialize.  Don't we all?  :)   So please have a chat with your 3B students just to remind them of the importance of food for "brain power".

A fun activity the students will be starting tomorrow is our biography project.  (I mentioned this a month ago but we ran into some problems with the computers).  We have been reading and discussing biographies and autobiographies in depth.  Now the students are ready to read and prepare for our activity we call the "Hall of Fame".  They are very excited about it.  I am excited as well because we are trying something new this year with a computer program called "Animoto".  So... please look for information to be sent home with your child tomorrow as well as a contract and a book to read.  Fun times!!!

The Crestwood 3rd graders will venture north on their "big" field trip in May.  We are going to Lark Toys in Kellogg and an Eagle Museum in Wabasha on May 13, 2011.  This is a Friday (yes, we are crazy for taking kids on a field trip on Friday the 13th!).  Each class is taking along 3 chaperones.  If you are interested in going along, please email me or call me to let me know.  If I have more than 3 parents volunteer to chaperone, all names will go in a hat to be drawn fairly.  The kids are excited and there will be more information shared as the day approaches.

We wrapped up our unit in science on Force and Motion.  I still have one student who missed part of the test who needs to finish but I hope to get those assessments sent home this week with students.  Some parents have been anxiously waiting for those results.  I will be putting letter grades on the assessments (some parts) so that students can see what type of grade they would have gotten if they were in 4th grade.  (Trying to prepare them for 4th grade).  We started our next unit in social studies on "communities" as well.

Congratulations to the few people who have earned the "Walking Taco" party by knowing all their multiplication facts.  Students have until the end of April to master all their facts and participate in the Walking Taco party.  Keep practicing!  Taylor comes over to do assessments every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!  You can do it!

Have a great week!

Remember To Be Responsible!

Another week has quickly approached. I can't believe that it is October next week. Time goes so quickly. The students are amazed on how fast the day goes, let alone the month. I guess that is a good sign that we are busy as well as having fun.

My day started out a little disappointing as many students in 3B forgot their homework. They were to bring in a book in which they practice "reading the punctuation", a strategy we have been practicing to build our fluency. Sadly, almost half the class forgot their books. A reminder note was send home last Friday......so I think you understand why I am disappointed. Because this was homework, our "Character Counts" slips will have to be completed by each student who forget as they demonstrated lack of responsibility. I hope this isn't the sign of what the year will be like.....I know it won't! Let's just remember to try and be responsible students....we can do it!!!!

Your child should have brought his/her word works list of words home as well last Friday. The list shows how your child did on his/her word works test Friday. If there was a word or words highlighted on the sheet, the students missed that word(s) on the test. I was very pleased how well the class did as a whole. This shows me they are taking all five days of our word works very serious and using each mode of learning focused on. This week we are focusing on the sounds /ar/ makes. We called this one of the "Bossy Rs". Look for your child's list of words to be brought home Tuesday. I have enclosed pictures of some of the activities students do during the week with their words.

Tomorrow we will be having our first math assessment. There is no reason to study for this assessment so don't freak out on me looking for materials sent home to study. It is over a review chapter. There are two components to the assessment: an oral/dry erase board assessment as well as a written assessment. Hopefully I will be sending your child's assessment home by the end of the week with an informational sheet attached explaining the ratings.

My student teacher, Miss Twetten, is only with us 3 more weeks before she moves on to kindergarten. I just wanted to let you know that she will be teaching math and science the next 2 weeks (with my supervision of course). She needs to do some lead teaching as part of her student teaching. Up to now, she has been leading the Morning Meeting the last 2 weeks to start the day. I will still be in the room, participating, and monitoring the students as well as her teaching. I just wanted to let you, the parents, know.

Finally, I wanted to make you aware that your 3rd grade child will start the district assessment test called MAPS this week. The students took this assessment online last year and will be taking it again this year. The assessment is done in the fall as well as spring, with the hope of growth being shown. We will start by taking the MAPs test for math this Friday. We will then be taking science, language, and reading next week. I know we can't help it if our children get sick, but please try to schedule dentist or doctor appointments around these assessments. It is harder for the student to make them up than have them here taking it with the rest of the class. Also be sure your 3B child gets plenty of rest and eats a great breakfast. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding!

I have also posted two pictures of students showing great reading stamina with Read to Self! Great job 3B!

Have a great week! We have more science critters coming so I know we will!

Sometimes Technology is NOT my Friend!!!

I hope you had an enjoyable 3day weekend with your family and friends. It was very nice to have a little break and regroup for the rest of the year. Hard to believe that it is April already. . . . .time is just flying by as usual. I am proud of the students and their hard work though. . . they are really hanging in there and pushing themselves, which is awesome! I hope they keep it up for a little while longer!!!!

Well, our book review videos went well last week! I was pleased with them overall, and the students were very excited to see themselves on the computer. In trying to make it easier for the students, I ran into a little snag as far as uploading the videos to their individual blog pages. I used the computer video recorder on iMovie to record the videos (very simple for students to use). Unfortunately, these types of recordings won't upload to our blog pages. I should have checked it out first, found out if they worked or not, and then went with my original plan if they didn't. (Original plan was to use my FlipCamera to record the videos.) I learned a lesson for sure. So what I have done is put the students' book review videos on their podcast pages, which did work. This way the reviews can be watched. I am also going to put the link on each student's review on their blog page in hopes that parents, friends, and others will send comments to the students to foster more communication and discussion. So. . . look tomorrow at the student individual blog pages and information to comment/view your child's book review. Or, if you can't wait, you can view the video tonight by going to our podcast pages on my class website. Your choice-they are there for you to view tonight if so desire.

Almost everyone brought back his/her biography project information! Super! I was very pleased this morning with the responsibility shown by the students. Here is a timeline of what will be happening in the next few weeks:
1. I will review the information the students brought in. I will do this by Wednesday so that if anyone needs to reread or gather more information, he/she will have time to do that.
2. We will begin taking our information and preparing our oral presenation. This will mostly be done at school.
3. Once we get going on that, I will send information home about when costumes and props are due. Some have sent them to school already, but that is not necessary. If you do not have your costume, you have about a week or two to get it ready. Look for a note to be sent home soon with specific information/dates.

Thanks for your help and cooperation with this activity! The students are very, very excited about it!

I have six or seven students who have returned their reading calendar every month and have earned a pizza party with me, Mrs. Kerian. I am tentatively planning this party next Friday, April 16th. These six students will not be eating school lunch that day as they will be eating pizzas with me and having beverages provided by me as well. Those students who did not meet the goal of returning their calendars every month will go to lunch as usual with the other 3rd grade teachers or an associate to sit with them in the cafeteria. Great job to these students! I am very proud of each of them and their dedication to reading has shown in their improvement as well! Keep it up!

Just a reminder to keep working on those multiplication facts. All facts must be memorized by April 23rd to earn the "Walking Taco" party. Many students are very close so keep working on them!

In conclusion, I wanted to comment about our upcoming MAPs test we will be starting tomorrow. Students in 3B will be doing the Reading part of the assessments tomorrow, Language on Tuesday, and Math on Thursday. We will end our assessments next Monday by taking the Science portion of the test. If you remember, your child took these assessments at the beginning of the year on the computer. They are not timed and students are given as much time as needed to work through the problems. Today your child set his/her goals for the scores they would like to receive. Our hope is that there will be improvement in all areas. . . .I have no doubt there will be. Anyway, please do not stress your child out about this. They will be fine. All I ask is that they get a good nights rest this week, or as usual, and eat a healthy breakfast. Thanks for your help and cooperation!

Have a great week!