Brine Shrimp - "Sea Monkeys"

Sadly, our brine shrimp did not make it through the three day weekend. I showed the students this video during class about what they would eventually look like. They thought it was so cool and decided we needed to have it on our blog page. So, here you go.

Cadet Pride and Books Coming Home

I hope you enjoyed your three day weekend with your family and friends. Mine was great except I would have loved it even more if it were a little warmer. Oh well... we can't be picky can we? :)

There has been a lot going on in 3B that I am excited to share with you. The students are into a super routine and working hard. Have they mentioned anything about Cadet Pride? Cadet Pride is showing that you are caring, respectful, responsible, and trustworthy. It involves all students K-8 working on appropriate behavior. When a student is caught demonstrating Cadet Pride, he/she is given a ticket to put in their class bucket. When the class gets 100 tickets, they get an ice cream party and extra recess. Well....we did it!!! We reached 100 tickets last week and had our ice cream party last Friday. The students were so excited and eager to have ice cream, with toppings of course! I was very proud of them as well. Now we have to set a new goal and decide what our reward will be. Great to see the students working so hard on demonstrating Cadet Pride everywhere in the building. Keep it up 3B!

Science is also a big hit as we have a "mystery object" in our classroom. Students made hypothesis on if the "mystery object" was a seed or an egg. They will find out today that it is called "brine shrimp". Pretty cool. Sadly, a lot of ours died over the weekend but we are able to view some on the internet as well as borrow some from another teacher. There will be more visitors arriving as part of our science unit on plants and animals....What will they be????

As a start to our day, the students are involved in a "Morning Meeting". The Morning Meeting revolves around four components: greeting, sharing, group activity, and morning message. I will be sending an informational note home about the different components. The main purpose of a morning meeting is to welcome everyone and let them know, and feel, like they are an important part of our class. It was the favorite part of the day with my class last year, and I can tell my 3B family this year is enjoying it. Today we did a greeting called "Shoe Greeting". Ask your 3B child about it and see what they say.

Some students have been asking about when they will be taking books home to read. I told them I would go over that this week. There are so many routines and things to cover that we did not get checking books out for home. We will this week. Today we made it to 23 minutes for our Read to Self stamina! That is great! I can tell I have a class or readers, which I am very excited to see.

I have also introduce a keyboarding website to the students that we will be using to build our keyboarding skills so the students eventually type a little faster. 3rd grade teachers are expected to introduce keyboarding so I found an online site to use. Some students have tried it at home, as I have introduced it and modeled it in the classroom. If your child wants to give it a try at home, the site is http://www.freetypinggame.net. Remind them to put their eyes on the screen, fingers in the home row, and try not to look at fingers. They are so excited to try it and I love their eagerness!

Enjoy your week. Hopefully summer isn't quite over yet!

This Week's Favorites

Madison: My favorite was having ice cream for Cadet Pride tickets
Kacey: I liked the ice cream also
Rachel: Ice cream as well
.Kailyn: Ice cream
Libby: Ice Cream
Jamie: Ice Cream party.
Erika: Same as above.
Reece: Me too!
Angelina: Same as me.
Emma: Science project of Mystery Objects
Lee: I liked the ice cream for Cadet Pride.
Colby: Ice Cream as well
Jada: Ice Cream party.
Everyone else loved the ice cream party as well except:
JD: I liked our art project.
Austin: Recess
Hailey: I liked having guidance for the first time.
Matthew: I liked math today doing Name Collection Boxes
Miss Tweten: Mine was reading "The Best Part of Me" and starting our writing project.
Mrs. Kerian: I enjoyed the whole week as we worked hard on Cadet Pride responsibilities. Keep it up!

Great First Full Week!

I hope your 3B student shared all the great activities we worked through last week - mixing liquids, taking digital pictures, math stations. It was a busy week but great one! I am pleased with the routine the students are getting into and their attitudes about school. Wonderful! Keep it up 3B! I thought I would just comment on a few activities we completing last week.

As I just mentioned, students kicked off science with an activity looking at the inquiry process and what scientist do. We first started off with a question to solve, then made an hypothesis, which the students learned was an educated guess. After that, we decided the procedure of our experiment and then conducted it to make a conclusion. The first question I guided them through was if cranberry juice, Diet 7-up, and blue Gatorade would mix or layer if poured on ice. Many students were surprised to find that it layered. So the next part of the activity was for students to work in groups, set up their experiment and work through the process to determine if all liquids would do the same thing when poured on ice. It was super fun! We found that some do and some don't based on sugar content and density. While it was not important for students to totally understand the rationale, the meaning behind that activity was to help students understand what scientist do everyday. This will set the stage for the many hands on activities we will be doing throughout the year. As one student said, "This is cool!" I agree.

I will be sending a parent note home soon explaining the structure of our literacy. Look for that sometime in the next week or so. Thus far, we have had many mini lessons on what is reading, how to pick books, and what good readers do. If you ask your child what reading is, hopefully they stand on a chair and scream "Thinking". I hope that does not get them in trouble as we try to add excitement in as many areas as possible in 3B. The class has built their "Read to Self" stamina up to 11 minutes, which is fabulous, and I hope to see that continue to build. "Read to Self" is one of the components of the Daily 5, a part of our literacy structure. Ask your child to explain what "Read to Self" looks like. We have been reviewing what it looks like and doesn't look like. Funny how they love to volunteer to model the incorrect way to read to self. Quite a site! This week we will continue to build our stamina, do some assessments, and work into the component of "Work on Writing".

Our specials are in full swing. Remember to send tennis shoes with your child on Monday and Friday as well as return library books on Friday.

Students have also been shown some online math activities on my web page that they enjoyed last week. If your child is bored or looking for something to do at home, get on my web page and go to the math link. There are a ton of online games your child can play to reinforce his/her skills.

Thanks for a great start to the school year. Enjoy your week!

The Best Part of our Week

Rachel: I liked the math stations today.
Kacey: I liked the layering liquids science project
JD: I liked the stations today.
Emma: I liked the liquids in science.
Madison: I liked the group activity of "Where's My Chicken?"
Jada: I liked when we played the chicken game.
Matthew: I liked math stations
Lee: I liked science this week.
Austin: I liked sharing our paper bags and guessing who it belonged to.
Kailyn: I liked the bags also.
Hailey: I liked doing read to self.
Annaleigh: I liked recess.
Kryslynn: I liked science.
Jamie: I enjoyed PE
Angelina: I liked recess.
Colby: I liked playing Star Wars at recess.
Reece: I liked science with the liquids.
Erika: I liked the story about Wodney Wat.
Libby: I liked our group activity.
Alex: I liked math stations today.
Mrs. Kerian: I liked watching the students use the digital cameras to take pictures for math.
Miss Twetten: I enjoyed doing the paper bags and learning about something interesting about the students.

Hot Start to First Full Week

I hope that you enjoyed the weekend - even if it was extremely hot! Looks like our week will start out that way, but then it will hopefully cool off. I love hot summer days, but I'd be okay with the temperature dropping a little bit. Last week was the first week I have ever had students say they did not want to go out for recess because it was too hot! I'd like to think that maybe it was because we were just having too much fun in the classroom.....

I'm sure your child has told you about some of the activities we did the first two days of school. There are always those "expectations and behavior" activities you have to go through with the students, but I really think it is important to teach those in a way that involves the kids and mix it up with other team building activities. So, while we did have to go over some "beginning of the year" things, we did have some fun getting to know each other as well. I can tell that I am going to enjoy this bunch of 3B students!

Thank you to those parents who send snacks for us to "munch on" the first few weeks of school. The students and their tummies were grateful! It is a hard transition from summer to a full day of school so we do appreciate the extra snack in the afternoon. In connection to that, I thought I would comment about our lunch. 3rd grade students, in the past, have gone to lunch and noon recess with kindergarten through 2nd graders. This year, 3rd graders are eating lunch and having noon recess with 4th and 5th graders. Because of that, students in 3B do not eat lunch until 11:50/11:55. That is over a half hour later for the students than when they ate last year so it will take some getting used to. Just remember to encourage your child to eat breakfast in the morning as it will help he/she stay focused during the morning hours.

I hope you had a chance to enjoy the pictures from Open House and the first days of school on my previous blog. I showed it to the students and they were so excited to see themselves on the internet! I will continue to post more pictures and video throughout the year.

Highlights of the week to come involve getting into the Daily 5 for literacy, using digital cameras in math to explore numbers, exploring the inquiry process of science with a liquid layering activity, and building a deep understanding that we are ALL writers and authors. I am also going to try to introduce an online keyboarding activity for students to work on keyboarding skills so they can prepare to type on their own blog pages. As you can see, we will be busy as well as have fun along the way. More information will also be sent home soon to share information about the Daily 5 and our first math unit. Keep your eyes open for that coming home in your child's "Important Papers" folder. Remember that this folder goes back and forth between school and home each day.

Thanks for a great start to the year. Remember that if you have any questions or concerns, please email me or call me as we are a team.

Enjoy the week and stay cool.

Excellent First Day and Open House!

I was so glad to see everyone made it to Open House last night! I could tell when the night was over what a wonderful bunch of students I was going to have! I was so excited I could hardly sleep!

3B had a great first day of fun activities, laughs, as well as covering some of the "must do" discussions for the first day. We started out the day getting to know each other through an activity on the smartboard where the students actually go to throw a koosh ball at the smartboard....yes, THROW something at the smartboard! It was a fun way to get to know one another and start the day! We also put some "yummy in our tummy" by enjoying some Skittles. Little did they know, when they took their Skittles they would have to tell me something about themselves based on how many Skittles they had (for example, six Skittles meant tell me six things). Everyone loves a treat once and a while. The students went on a scavenger hunt through the room, which are included in some of the pictures, as well as ended the day with a quick activity with all 3rd graders. Each child should have brought home a copy of our "wordle" today in which they shared words and activities about our first day! As you can tell from the wordle, it was a fantastic day. (But I know many will be a little tired tomorrow.)

Enjoy the pictures of Open House and our first day! I am excited for our school year together!

Welcome Back To School

Hello everyone! It's almost time for school! Are you excited! I am very, very excited!!!!! This is where parents, family, friends, and students can look for information I post about our day or week, as well as share pictures! There is also a spot for parents, friends, and yourself to comment. So, if you would like, become a follower of this blog page and keep current on 3B events.

Can't wait to meet you at Open House! Don't forget to check out the book fair! I will be posting your pictures from Open House soon!

The Final Countdown!

First off I want to thank my "3B Family and Parents" for the caring cards, phone calls, and thoughts during the last week. My heart is saddened because I lost my brother, but it makes it a little easier with caring students and parents. So. . .thank you very much! It was nice to return yesterday to so many hugs! I needed them!!!

This will not be a long blog, but I thought you would like to know about some upcoming events to prepare for before the year is over. It is hard to believe that time is winding down. . .it really doesn't feel like it to me. The students have been real "troopers" and hanging in there, which is great! Here is what we have to prepare for:

1. This Friday, the students in 3rd grade who mastered all of there multiplication facts will be having their "Taco in a Bag" celebration. These 7 students in 3B will be eating a walking taco as an afternoon snack at 2:30. We would like those students who mastered all of their facts to also bring along something to drink. All other components (plates, etc.) will be provided. Great job to those students! Students who did not master all facts will not participate in the celebration and therefore do not need to bring a beverage.

2. Next Thursday, May 27th, 3rd graders will walk to the park for a little exercise and fun. At this time, I am not sure if we will be needing sack lunches. I will let you know about that by the end of the week.

3. Next Wednesday, May 26th, all parents are invited to our end of the year "Writer's Workshop Social". This is a time where we will celebrate our writing accomplishments with you and enjoy some snacks. An invitation will be sent home by Friday, but I wanted to let you know to mark your calendars. This celebration will take place in the cafeteria at 2:30. Parents who signed up to supply snacks for our final celebration of the year will receive a letter by Friday as well, reminding them to supply snacks for this celebration. Students and parents will also use this time to clean out lockers and get items home (lucky you! Be sure to bring extra sacks! :)

4. Next Friday, May 28th, will be the last day of school with a 3 hour early out. We have planned a fun morning with a "field day" for students and teachers to participate in as a last day celebration. There are lots of fun activities planned so I can't wait! Go 3B!

5. We are currently taking a math test, which will probably be the last one of the year. We will also be squeezing in a quick social studies test next Tuesday. Look for study material to be sent home this Friday.

What else???? HMMMM????? If your child has a library book or book from my classroom, I would like them returned by Wednesday, May 26th so that I can see what is missing and returned.

Next week will be my last "offical" blog of the school year! I am sure I will have LOTS to say then. :)

Enjoy the sunshine!

Last Month of School. . .So Much to Do!

Well, hard to believe, but May is here! I really can't believe how quickly the time has flown by! It seems like just yesterday we were starting school and now we are almost to the end. Kind of sad for me. . . although I do enjoy my summer. Well, I just hope the students stay focused and working as hard as they currently are. We are cruising through so much and it is going very well. Keep it up 3B!

I am sending home the math test from last week. Please notice that I have written the percent and grade each child would have received if they were given a grade as they will be in 4th grade. It is a little "eye opener" for some students who like to rush as well as for those students who need to try a little harder. While we don't give letter grades in 3rd grade, students will be given them in 4th grade. On the math test, every option for an answer was a point, whether correct or needing to stay blank. The reason for that was because some problems has more than one possible answer and students needed to check all options. I think you will see what I mean when you look at the test itself. These do not need to be returned to school, but I hope you take a moment to look them over. There are a ton of concepts and processes in geometry, but I was pleased with their understanding of the concepts and recognition of geometry terms.

Science test will be coming home tomorrow or Wednesday as well. There will be grades on part of the test, as if in 4th grade, but not all being some are short answer. Again, they do not need to be returned to school.

In literacy, students are loving their book clubs!!!! They are having some of the best discussions as well so that is exciting for me to see! Every day someone ask me when we are doing book clubs. . . .which is wonderful as well. The purpose of book clubs is to build reading skills and strategies through discussion while building enjoyment in reading as well. Some students are very hesitate to share their thoughts while they read for fear of being wrong or other issues, but eventually, through practice, they see the benefits of sharing thoughts and that it is alright to be wrong sometimes. We will continue our book clubs through the month as some groups are in the middle of their books while others will be starting a new book. During this time, I also pull in my guided reading lessons to correspond with the books they are reading and the needs they demonstrate. These lessons range from comparing and contrasting, recognizing cause and effect, building communication while reading, and looking at word parts. A note will be sent home soon asking students to bring in a beverage as we would like to turn this into a type of "book chat" as if we are a Barnes and Noble drinking coffee - only we will be having juice or something else whild discussing our books. Something fun to throw in the activity!

Just a reminder that we will be taking a field trip next Friday to Wabasha, Minnesota. I have two parent volunteers already but need 1 more. If you are interested, please contact me as soon as possible to get that finalized. More information will be sent this week about what to bring, times of departure, and necessary information. Look for that soon!

We had a super time at Vernon last week for Arbor Day. Hopefully all of you got your tree planted. We still have each tree that my children planted in 3rd grade at our house, and they are growing like crazy. Look for pictures of our trip to be posted some time this week as well. My evenings are busy with my daughter's track meets out of town, but I will get them up sometime soon.

I also need to make one last comment about our biography presentations. I have uploaded them to a site called "Teachertube" for reasons that "YouTube" is blocked at school. They are having technological difficulties - just my luck- but I will hopefully have them embedded on each child's blog page this week as well for you to view and comment. I should also have the DVD made by the end of the week as well. While I love all the technology that students have access to, sometimes it takes a while to get it all "perfected". So thanks for being so understanding. . . .

Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine. . .hopefully it will stick around a while!