Big Blast Tomorrow....and So Much to Do!

A little stress is overcoming my body with only 2 weeks left before the holiday break!  3B has so much to do and get done before we head home for the holidays.  The students are being "troopers" and working hard, staying focused the best they can.  They have started to get a little chatty, more than usual, and have needed more reminders, but that usually happens this time of year.  Hang with me for two more weeks kiddos, then you can have a break!

Everyone is loving our new theme in literacy about science at play.  Some kids have read about science with sports, others have read about science and computers, while others have read about science in nature.  They are learning not only so many more vocabulary words, but also building their comprehension strategies of summarizing, comparing/contrasting, prediction, and recognizing cause and effect.  I will be sending home some vocabulary words next Monday for the students to review as we will have the end of our theme test next Wednesday or Thursday.  This is similar to the ones I sent home at the end of the last theme.

I am also very pleased at the students who are taking books home to read from the classroom!  YIPPEE!!!  I have had many parents comment that their 3B child is reading more at home, which is wonderful to hear.  The students have been given the "green light" to blog from home and post about what they are reading or doing on their own blog pages.  I would love to have some of them make post to share about their at-home reading!  Super 3B!

As I just mentioned, the students have been given the ok to make blog post from home.  Last week we wrapped up how to add pictures and clipart from the computer to our blog pages, and I think they have it down pretty well.  They are set to be "bloggers"!  The only stipulation about the student blogs is that they must blog about books they have read, news they saw and want to share or comment about, stories they would like to hare, or just writing about their weekend or what is happening in their life.  It is not used to post blogs asking students what they are doing tonight or other "chat" areas.  The students seem to understand that pretty well but I just wanted to make sure to let the parents know.   If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Thank you to all the parents who have volunteered to be at our "Big Blast".  All the 3rd grade students go to the Big Blast with kindergarten and preschool so it is going to be a "busy" place.  If you volunteered to help out, please meet us at the gym tomorrow, Wednesday, Dec. 13th, at 9:00 AM.  I will then tell you where you will be "stationed" to help from 9 to 10:30.    Thanks so much!  If you signed up and can't make it, please let me know as soon as possible.

I am sending home a math sheet for students to practice with division/multiplication.  We have not gotten into facts yet, but just the process of drawing pictures, using counters, and sharing for showing how to divide or multiply and the concept itself.  This can be a challenge for some students so I am sending home a little practice.  Along with that, some students have some writing homework to do tonight to get caught up (some are waisting a little bit of time in writing).  As I said, it is a busy time and we need to keep moving to stay caught up.

Remember to have your 3B child wear his/her Cadet tshirt or blue shirt to show our pride in our school for the Big Blast!  They are all very excited!

Enjoy the week!

Great Time at the Big Blast and Santa Visits Early!

The students had a fabulous time at the Big Blast yesterday, and I have lots of pictures that I will try and post tonight.  (Ran out of time last night)   I was so pleased with their behavior and excitement!  It was a super time!  Way to go 3B!

We have a crazy week ahead of us with lots going on.  The snowday Monday really messed up our plans so we are trying to get things done before the break as well as before more snow comes - if we can!  I am going to list a bunch of information below just so you have some idea of what will be going on this week into next:
 
     *  Math assessment over chapter 4 started today and will continue into tomorrow.  No need to study   outside the classroom.

     *  Social Studies materials and study guide will be sent home today.  Please take some time to study tonight and tomorrow night for our upcoming social studies test of unit 1.  The test will be this coming Friday.  If for some reason we do not have school on Thursday, the test will be given next Monday.  I have sent vocabulary cards, a study guide, as well as some main idea sheets home that the students should use to study.  Please return the social studies book this Friday or Monday.

     *  Students were surprised this morning with their first gift in their stockings!  Santa must have stopped and made an early visit to our classroom!  They were very excited about them and had a hard time putting them away to get started on the day.  I am planning on having the stockings come home next Tuesday.  If the weather is not looking good, we will be sending them home next Monday.  We just have to wait and see what Old Man Winter decides.  If your child has not brought his/her stockings yet, there is still time.

     *  Word Study for the week (the prefix of pre-) has changed. We will be having the test for our words starting with the prefix of pre- next Tuesday.  Students will be brining their words home this Friday for you to study with them if you select to do so.

     *  We usually have our second Character Counts celebration the last week of school before Christmas.  I will be meeting with the other 3rd grade teachers today to made a decision on that.  Look for more information to be sent home soon.  Parents do not attend this celebration, but those that signed up to send snacks will receive a notice.

I think that is it for now.  Thank you to Emma Cotant's mom, Teri, and Kailyn Erickson's mom, Ruby, for being such great helpers for the Big Blast!  I appreciate it so much....as do the kids!  You are the best!!!

Enjoy the snow and stay warm!

"Let it Snow! Let it Snow" Let it Snow" - Please NO!

Well, it looks as if winter is here and going to hit us hard the next few days. I don't know about you, but I am not ready for this. The kids were very excited to play in the snow, what there was of it. Many were bundled and ready for the coldness, but a few students were not. Please remember to send snowpants, boots, hats, and mittens on these cold days. It is also a great idea to send extra gloves and socks as the first pair usually ends up pretty wet by the last recess. I am not a fan of the snow, but I will admit it does look pretty the first snow fall.

I am finally sending home our latest math tests. All students are finished and returned from being gone. These do not need to be returned as I have copied them for my files. We will continue to work on multidigit addition and subtraction throughout the whole year as there are many steps - sometimes leading to confusion for the students. Currently, we are working on measurement and just started learning about perimeter today. I am very impressed with the background knowledge the students have with measurement! Super to see!

Sometime this week I will be sending a note home for a "caring project" for Character Counts. It involves sending packages of mini-candy bars to the troops overseas. Please look for that and consider sending something for this donation project. One of the pillars of Character Counts is "caring" and this would be a great way to show the troops we care about them. We will also be doing a short writing project for Buzz Miller to show him we care about him during his fight with cancer. There's no better time than the present, and around the holiday season, to show others we care.

Today we had a little fun talking about "rating" things. Mrs. Hartberg's husband made us some cookies to look at. (Thanks Mr. Hartberg!) Some were beautifully decorated, some were simple, and some were not decorated at all. The class made rating charts with cue words for each type of cookies that were appropriate and fitting for the rating, 3, 2, or 1, that they were given. These rating charts will be relied on and connected to our assessments we will be making in writing with the traits. Thus far we have the traits of conventions and ideas. Students will begin assessing their own writing according to rating rubrics we will introduce tomorrow. We hope that this will give them some ownership and continue to push them to better themselves as writers. So you may want to ask them about the cookies.. . . . oh, how they wanted to eat them! :)

The "Big Blast" for our fundraiser is coming up. The date has been set for December 22. I am looking for two parent volunteers to come in and help monitor the gym while we are in there celebrating. I am not sure what exact time it will be (morning or afternoon), but I will know that by this Wednesday. If you are interested in volunteering to help out, send me an email, note, or phone call, and I will get back to you with details. If there are many volunteers, I will probably just draw names out of a hat. Just let me know please if you are interested. Thank you.

Stay warm!