Student Led Conferences, Valentines Day, and Book Reviews

Well, I think the students are ready to share their thoughts and reflections of their learning in 3rd grade. Yes, they are a little nervous, but I am sure it will go fine. We have practiced many times so they know the routine. Please remember that when you arrive for your conference, do not stand outside the room and wait for the person in the room to get done or we will get very behind in schedule. Just come in and get started as your 3B child will be leading the conference without me. I will initially start off to the side and then casually join the discussion as your child works his/her way through their information. So come on in and get started. I am excited to hear what your child has to share with you and will see you soon!

This Wednesday we have a special activity planned. Our Podcast Pals from Luther will be coming over to Crestwood Elementary at 2:30 to officially meet us and do some fun activities! They are just starting their semester so this will be a kick off to start back up on our podcast readings. 3B students will be showing their podcast pal around the room, telling them about how our day goes, and reading with their partner. Hopefully the weather will hold out as the students are eager to meet their Luther pals. Me too!!!

I recently sent a note home about Valentines. Because I will be gone next week on vacation, I would like to celebrate Valentines day, along with our "Caring Celebration" this Thursday afternoon, February 11th. As stated in the note sent home last week, students are not required to bring Valentines. It is totally their choice. But if they do, they must bring one for everyone in the class. A classlist was sent home, but if you need another please let me know. Those parents who volunteered to send snacks for our second "Character Counts" celebration should send their snacks to school on Thursday. (I sent a note to those parents today or called them.) Parents do not need to attend this celebration as we will be doing an activity showing how we care about one another. Remember that the snack sent can not contain peanuts. I will supply the paper products and beverage. Thanks so much!

We are starting a new activity this week that I am very excited about. In literacy, we have been discussing author's purpose and have now moved into book reviews used as a way to persuade others to read certain books. Last week we took some time to look at students written, podcast, or video book reviews from around the US. Now it is our turn! I have created new blog pages for each student on a class blog page (I will send the link so you can see them when we are ready) and students will be writing a book review this week to be posted on the web. In a few weeks, students will created a video book review that will be shared via the web/blog as well. I hope to utilize the blogs in various other ways as well as the year goes on in all curriculum areas, but we are just getting started. Yes, some students have been writing book blogs on my web page, but I have not been satisfied because no one can comment back on the program we have been using. Therefore, we are going to try this out which will allow you, as parents, and other students from around the world to respond/comment to post made by 3B. Look for a note to be sent home at the end of the week sharing the site to visit to read all of the book reviews by 3B! Fun times!

Remember that I will be gone all of next week as I am going on vacation with my husband - getting away from this winter weather! I need some serious sunshine and warm weather! I know the students will be in good hands and I have everything prepared for the sub. I would appreciate a few reminders from parents during that week to encourage their 3B child to be on their best behavior as sometimes students think they can goof off when the teacher is away. Not my 3B angels! I will check in with the students in the middle of the week to see how things are going. If you have a message for me that week or need to get ahold of the sub, please send a written note or call the school and chat with Linda. She will then get the information to the sub in my room.

Keep working on those multiplication facts at home. Even though we are wrapping up our unit on multiplication, I will continue to assess students on their facts working towards the "Walking Taco" party towards the end of March/beginning of April. I am very impressed with many students as I have done a lot of assessing already and am pleased at how the students are practicing on their own. Remember that there are many activities on my webpage that students can use to review their facts - a lot more fun to do it this way as well. :) We will be moving into our next unit of reaidng and writing large numbers up to the millions soon.

Have a great week! Remember that there is no school on Friday, February 12th, due to teacher compensation day for conferences. Also remember that Monday and Thursday of this week are 1 hour early outs as conferences are scheduled on those days. Have a great Valentine's Day weekend with your child!

See you at conferences!

Another Busy Week!

Well, the students are ready for their big night tonight - their music program. I hope all of you can make it as they are singing some pretty fun songs! Please remember to have your child to the high school by 6:45 as the program starts at 7:00 and we need to get them lined up in time to start at 7:00. A note was sent home last week from Mrs. Holten with the information about the program so hopefully none of this is a surprise to you. Remember that there is also a home basketball game so it will be a little crowded in the parking lot. Hope to see you tonight!

Your 3B child should have brought a slip home with a time scheduled next week for parent-teacher conferences. If the time written does not work for your schedule, please return the slip with a time that would work better. It is important your bring your 3B child along as they will be leading the conferences. We started getting ready today and I can tell they are a little nervous. When you arrive at your conference that night, please just come on in and get started even if there is someone else in the room. It is alright to have 2 conferences going on at the same time just so we don't get off schedule. Your 3B child will start the conferences sharing their learning and critiques, and I will join you in the middle of the conference. (I will be listening from the side though). Although it is a scary time for the 3rd graders, it is a very beneficial experiences for them as well. After all, they are what the conference is about.

February seems to have a lot of "interruptions" - if we can call them that. Remember that this Wednesday is an early out for inservice. There is no school next Friday, February 12th, due to teacher compensation for time spent at conferences. We originally were to have off the following Monday as well, February 15th which is President's Day, but that is now a make up day. Please pay close attention to calendars and notes sent home from school throughout the month as it can be a busy time.

The "Big Blast" from our fundraiser has been rescheduled for this Friday. Mrs. Sovereign would love it if students wore Cadet blue tshirts or something Crestwood realated, if you have something. Those students that earned the ride in the limo and lunch at Pizza Hug will also do that this Friday - I get to go too! Yumm! I know the students are very excited about the Big Blast as they ask every day when it will be! Good way to celebrate their hard work!

Just a reminder that I will be on vacation to Jamaica February 12-21 and will return to school the 22nd. I will have everything prepared for the sub and know things will go very smoothly. If you need to let the sub know anything that week, please send a note or call Linda in the office so she can inform my sub. I usually bring back gifts for the kids so they are already curious what that will be.

Enjoy the week!

What a January!!!

Hello everyone! Happy Monday! I am so glad that last week's weather is over, for now, and hoping that we have a full week of school this week. Let's cross our fingers that it works out for us. I have heard that the weather is suppose to get very cold this week so make sure your child has their hats, mittens, snowpants, and boots. We have had a few students showing up without the necessary items to go outside so please be sure they have what they need. Thanks for your help!

It seems like we are way off on activities so my goal is to try and get everyone on the same "page" today and back in a routine. We did get one group's readers' theatre done last week and taped (almost all of it). I will be putting that on the blog tonight or tomorrow. The other group will be doing their performance tomorrow, and I will be putting that on the blog as well. Many students commented that they enjoyed doing the readers' theatre, which I was glad to hear! It's a great activity for rereading to build fluency and reading with expression. Even highly skilled readers often struggle with taking time to read with expression and read loud enough in front of everyone so doing readers' theatre is a great activity for everyone. I plan to do more readers' theatre in the near future.

With all the snow days we have had, I have had a lot of time to do some reading myself. While some of the books I have selected have been for pleasure, I have also read some that connect to teaching and education. My reading has made me think more about my students and their reading at home. While I cannot control or monitor reading at home, I hope that you as parents are encouraging your child to read at home. Everyone in 3B has checked out books from the classroom for home. If they say they don't have one, they obviously have the book somewhere between here and there or need to check out a new one. I don't monitor each student's home reading or book check out as I encourage them to be responsible for checking out and returning books. I am very impressed with the amount of reading my students have developed in the classroom! Some students have told me they have read more books this year, and enjoyed them, than they ever have! What a great feeling of accomplishment! So, I just wanted to put a little comment in my blog about the importance of encouraging your child to be a lifelong reader - reading whenever possible - and developing a passion for reading. Together, I know we can help each child realize their reading potential!

Wow! What powerful discussions we have had about the terrible events in Haiti. I am so impressed with some students curiosity to find out as much as possible about Haiti and then sharing it with the class! Those students are developing great learning habits! I encourage you, both students and parents, to continue to discuss the events of Haiti - or any news in the world for that matter. The students are very eager to learn as much as they can about the world and value times they can learn and share.

I wanted to send a reminder to start working with your 3rd grader on his/her multiplication facts. I have started assessing a few students on their facts (many starting with the 1, 2, or 5 families). Remember students are working towards earning a walking taco for our "Taco in a Bag" multiplication celebration. We are currently diving through a chapter on multiplication and division so the students are ready. I am constantly looking for online activities to add to my web page so students have access to practice at home via online. Students have already experimented with some of the multiplication activities on my web page, and I encourage them to practice them at home as well. If your child has free time, and they love to use the computer (as most kids do), encourage them to visit my web page and practice their multiplication facts. I think they will be having fun while learning as well!

Parent teacher conferences are fast approaching. This semester's conferences will be different than the first semester as 3B students will be leading the conference this time. During the next two weeks, students will be practicing to share information about their learning in 3rd grade as well as gathering pieces of writing to share with you. After all, they are the experts about themselves. They are a little nervous, but I have promised them that it will go well and we will have a lot of practice before hand. I am currently working on the conference schedule so look for your notice to be sent home next week.

Have a great week!

The Start of Readers' Theater

Well, hopefully this week will go off without any snow days or disruption in activities. I honestly feel like I haven't seen my 3B children in ages! It is good to be back at it and in a routine! The kids appeared to be glad to return to school also, but I am sure they will be exhausted by the end of the week.

You should have received a note today from Mrs. Sovereign about report cards. Due to snow days, report cards will be sent home this Wednesday. Many teachers did not get them printed off before the snow came and need time to get that done. Look for an envelope with your 3rd graders report card and ITBS to be brought home this week Wednesday. Remember that if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me or wait until conferences (which are 1 month from today - yikes!).

We are finally starting our readers theater activities that I mentioned before Christmas but we never got to due to the dang snow. Each student received a script today for a reader's theater. He/she do not know what part they are at this time. They will find that out tomorrow. For tonight, I would like the students to read through the script, alone or with you, doesn't matter to me, so they understand what their presentation is about. Please return the script to school each day for practice time at school. Tomorrow night each 3rd grader will bring their script home to practice the part he/she was given. Each student was given 1 script and needs to be sure to return it every day to school so that he/she can practice with his/her group. That is their responsibility. The purpose of readers' theater is to build fluency and accuracy in reading, as well as work on reading with expression. So when your child is practicing, encourage them to read with lots of expression as that will make the presentation more exciting to listen to. We will present our readers' theater Friday, and I plan to post them via video on our blog pages. Look for that on the weekend. Please remind your child about his/her responsibility of practicing every night. They do not need to memorize, but they do need to know their parts well and read them fluently. There will be parent letters you need to sign on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights proving that your child practiced his/her part. Any questions, send me an email or give me a call. Thanks!

Hopefully you had a chance to view the students' "Happy New Year" greeting as well as their goals for 3B via the video I put on the blog pages. Youtube is blocked at school so we can not view it at school, but I hope you can see it by going to the blog page and viewing it at home. Remind your child what his/her goal is for January and keep working towards it.

Many students have asked when we will be watching the movie we were to have before Christmas and reschedule to last week but cancelled due to no school. With everything we have to get going on and so much lost time, I would like to reschedule it for later in the month, but the students deserve to have it as it was reward and celebration from before Christmas. Therefore, all 3rd graders will be watching a movie Thursday afternoon. Your child may bring a twist top bottle of something to drink during this time, and snacks will be provided.

I have sent home information about an activity with our new unit on multiplication. Students will be working towards memorizing their multiplication facts and earning a "walking taco" to celebrate. The information is on the parent letter that your child brought home today. We just starting our new unit and will be getting into knowing the facts by Wednesday so maybe wait until then to get started. I would focus on a family, such as the 1s, 2s, 10s or 5s, and work on memorizing the family before moving onto any other ones. Those are the easiest to start with. I briefly introduced the activity today and will begin assessing students who sign up on Wednesday and Thursday. This activity will go for quite a while with the purpose of building our recall of multiplication facts... . . besides, who doesn't like to eat a walking taco??? :)

Please be aware of the papers and activities that your child is bringing home every night. Being we are in the second semester, students will be getting more homework to prepare for 4th grade. Their homework is always to read every night, but you will start seeing more curriculum activities as well. It is your child's responsibility to get it done, but a reminder once and a while is a good thing.

Enjoy the heat wave this week. . . I heard we may get up into the 30s. hehehe

3B's January Goals

Here are the oral statements of 3B students on their goals for January. Listen carefully parents, as many students say they are going to read more at home!!! Yeah! Remind them of that. . . .:)

Happy New Year!

Welcome Back!

I was so excited to see the students this morning as I have missed them greatly! I did enjoy having a little time off for break though so that was nice too! Hopefully everyone had an enjoyable and safe holiday break. It sounds like they did. The students had lots to share with me this morning. . . lots! One of my many Christmas gifts was a "flip camera" to use at school. We, meaning myself and the students, have already started messing with it today. We all love it! Who knew we would become movie stars. :)

Now it is time to return to "normal" as they say. The students are currently at library so I thought I would take some time to type my weekly blog. We have lots going on, much to continue, and learning to be done. As a fun way to return, we are making a video about the Daily 5 and our literacy. There is a new "face" in our classroom (she will be sending a letter home about herself soon). We are very excited to have her as part of our classroom. When I was trying to figure out the best way to show her what we have learned so far and what literacy looks like in 3B, I thought it would be great to have the students show her. Thus. . .we are making a video, and everyone is so super excited! Students will be working with partners planning and developing a video about the components and strategies of the Daily 5 using my new Flip Camera. As mentioned above, we started today messing with the camera. Instead of students writing their January goals, we videotaped ourselves stating our goals. I will be putting that video on my blog and the student blog tonight so be sure to look for it!!!! Fun times!

I will be sending home your students social studies test from right before Christmas. Please take some time to look through it and return it to school tomorrow with your 3B child. Please sign the test as well so I am aware you have looked it over. I was pleased with the results over all, but I could also tell some did not study enough at home. Remember that I send study guides home to help you and your 3B child review the information we have covered. I hope you utilize them and find them useful.

Because we did not get to have our holiday celebration before break due to the weather, we will be having a movie tomorrow, Thursday, afternoon. We feel the students deserved it as they had both a social studies and math test the last days of school and need to be rewarded for their efforts. Since we didn't get it done before break, we decided to do it now. Your 3rd grader may be something to drink for this little celebration if they would like but it must be in a twist top bottle.

Casey's reading calendars for the month of December can be returned tomorrow or Wednesday. I will be sending new ones home for January tomorrow as well. Remember reading every month to the goal gets you a coupon for a pizza slice as well as earns your way to a pizza party in April with Mrs. Kerian. Keep reading!

If the server at school cooperates, which it wasn't doing so well on Monday and Tuesday, report cards will be sent home next Monday. Along with this will be your child's ITBS results. If you have any questions about the results, feel free to call me. We will also be briefly discussing them in February at the next conference (coming soon - wow, where does time go?) Look for these pieces of information to be brought home next Monday.

Let's home the snow that we are suppose to get tonight and tomorrow stays south. . . .we have too much to do and too much fun to have at school to be missing more days due to snow. Is it summer yet?

So Much to Do Before Christmas! Stockings Needed!

I hope everyone enjoyed the nice winter weekend! The students and I chatted this morning about how missing 2 1/2 days last week due to snow was so fun; yet, now we have so much to do before Christmas approaches. We all agreed to focus hard, be involved, and work intensely so that we don't have to come back to activities in the middle of a chapter in math, for example, after the holiday break. It is always nice to start out fresh after the holiday break. So. . . .we are pushing and working hard!!

The plan is to try and work our way to finish our chapter on measurement in math this week. We would then take the assessments next Monday and Tuesday, which there is really no studying for. I would also like to wrap up our unit in social studies on communities so be looking for study information about that to be sent home by the end of the week with the test being next week sometimes (either Monday or Tuesday). I hate to throw 2 assessments at the students before break, but they will really only need to study for the social studies assessment. I know they can handle it and will be ready!

As part of our holiday fun, I am asking each student to bring a holiday stocking from home by this Wednesday. The stockings will be returned the 23rd, next week, in time for Christmas at home. If you do not have a holiday stocking or don't want to send a good one from home, any long sock will work as well. The only requirement is that they are clean! (Don't need any stinky smells in the room. :) I have heard that a Christmas visitor may be stopping every night from this Wednesday thru next Wednesday delivering little Christmas gifts to the students with stockings/socks hung for the holidays in the 3B classroom. Could it be Santa? If you have any questions about sending a stocking with your 3B student, feel free to contact me.

Some students have asked about our December pizza reading calendars. Please keep them over the holiday break, as I hope some students take a little time to read those great books they may get for Christmas, and return them when the students return to school in January. I will then send pizza certificates. Thanks!

As mentioned before, we are working through various actiities on measurement in math. The students have worked with reading rules for whole inch, 1/2 inch, and 1/4 inch as well as whole centimeters, 1/2 centimeters and millimeters. We just started learning about perimeter and how it is the distance around something. Today, students will be creating a farmer's land, including buildings and fields, by measuring and recognizing the perimeter of each building, area, and field. They are so excited about it as it is a great activity that involves some creative planning, careful measuring, and a little imagination. Tomorrow we will be moving into area, which sometimes gets confused with perimeter. To keep them straight in our brains, I will be teaching the students short songs about perimeter (which we did today) and area (which we will do tomorrow). Hopefully that will help the students remember the difference.

I continue to be pleased with the improvement I am seeing in the area of literacy. Their stamina in all areas of the Daily 5 continues to build and or be maintained. We currently have 19 new vocabulary words we have learned from our read to self reading that students have "tuned into" and added to their individual "word collector" sheets. The "word wall worm" continues to grow across the classroom wall! This week the students are practicing their predictions while reading as Mrs. Hartberg and myself modeled/reviewed making predictions and reading to confirm last week. Our mini lessons will also move into the strategy of visualizing Within writing, Mrs. Hartberg and I were very impressed with the "author discussions" going on last week practicing assessing writing on the trait of "ideas". It was kind of cute because I think the students saw themselves as real authors for the first time and were so proud!

As a fun activity before the holidays, we will be doing one or two reader's theater presentations. Reader's Theater is a great way to build reading fluency as it involves many re-readings to practice. It also encourages reading with expression, which is important also. It is like a play in the way that there are different roles, but the difference is there is not any acting. Students focus on reading fluently, with expression, and having fun! My plan is to video taped them and put them on my blog page and/or web page for parents to view. Look for that during the Christmas break of last day of school next week.

So, you can see we are very busy! Be sure to check your child's take home folder every night as information about upcoming assessments will be sent home soon. Please remember to send your child's stocking or sock by this Wednesday also! Thanks so much and enjoy the snow!!

"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!