Healthy Iowa Kids and ITBS!

I am sending home a lot of papers today, some for you to keep and some that need to be returned.  Please read through this post very carefully.  I have gone over everything with the students, but I felt I also needed to make parents aware of everything.

First off, I am sending home a calendar that will be used for a school wide activity encouraging students to stay healthy and active.  This activity started January 18th and will continue throughout the school year.  To begin with, I have started recording the minutes the students are active in something, which includes recess and PE, on their calendars.  You can see that from January 18th until today, the calendar has been completed as far as minutes of being active.  Now it is your 3B child's responsibility to continue recording the minutes he/she is active and return it to school on the date shown.  Here is some more information:

     * Minutes can include active time are recess and PE (so be sure to include those every day).  Your 3B
        child can add whatever minutes he/she is active at home to the minutes given for each day of the
        week we are active at school.  (For example, if he or she is active 30 minutes at home or Fitness
        Center on Monday, he/she would add that to the 75 minutes we are active at school on Monday,
        which is on the previous weeks, so the total would be 115 minutes for Monday.)

     *  Students should also record the fruit they eat at home.  They will need to write tiny to write in the
        box what fruits they have eaten.  Be sure to add what fruits they have eaten at school as well.
        I did not do this part of the activity so 3B will start recording their fruit today.

     *  As far as exercise:  PE at school can be counted.  Add on whatever time is spent doing physical
        activity at home but here is the catcher:  Exercise with a video game, such as wii Fit, cannot be
        included!

If there is any confusion, please feel free to email me or call.  This is something new and I am totally confused about it as well so we will get through it together.  Hang it somewhere at home so it is easy to record minutes and fruits each day and then return on due date.  Students who reach the goal the school has set will get some sort of recognition by putting names up.  I am not sure about those details at this time.

Also, you will see that your 3B child is bringing his/her ITBS results home.  Please read through their profile very carefully as well as the parent information that was sent home.  If you have questions, feel free to contact me now or wait until parent-teacher conferences in 2 weeks.  Overall, I was extremely pleased with the scores in 3B!  Yeah!

Book-it for January is due tomorrow or Wednesday.  I am sending home February calendar today as I am not sure what the weather will be like the next few days for us.

I will be sending home conference times next Monday.  Remember these are student led conferences so your 3B child will need to attend.

Have a great week.....maybe all the snow will pass us....we can only hope!

Kailyn, Kryslynn, Erika, and Jamie Rapping to Place Value

Rachel, Angelina, Reece, and Matthew Rapping to Place Value

Jada, Emma, Madison, Colby, and JD Rapping to Place Value

Libby, Alex, and Annaleigh Place Value Rap

Place Value Rap

Enjoy!  (the beginning is kind of choppy as I was trying to start music while video taping...stick with it)

A Room full of "Rappers"

Well, I am sure you heard already!  The students in 3B are going to be future rap singers!  :)  They had so much fun and did a fabulous job with the "Place Value Rap"!  It was a wonderful learning experience!  Mrs. Sovereign happen to stop in and see them doing the rap as a large group, and she loved it!  I think, and hope, my students know their place value really well after practicing and singing that rap as much as we did the last week!  It was great!  I will be posting the rap on my blog page today as I was having trouble uploading it over the weekend.  I will also be posting the rap done by small groups as well so be sure to check the blog later today or tomorrow.

Hard to believe the month of January is almost over!  Wow!  We will soon start preparing for February parent-teacher conferences.  These conferences are student-led conferences which means you 3B child will be leading the conference.  That only makes sense as the conference is about them!  They are very nervous about doing them, but I know they will be fine once we start practicing. They will have lots to share!  Be looking for parent letters about your scheduled time in the next few weeks.

The students have been very busy this past month on many activities.  We are discussing author's purpose in literacy before moving into questioning.  Students are doing a quick review of what makes a complete sentence in writing pulled in with some writer's workshop. As you know, in math we are doing place value and will be going into decimals this week.  And in science we are working through various activities exploring force and motion.  Always busy in 3B!

I am pleased to report that the students in 3B reached their goal for receiving compliments from other adults in the building!  Yeah 3B!  To celebrate, the students decided they wanted to play games and have ice cream so we ending our day last Friday doing just that.  I was, and am, very proud of the students on showing their Character Counts and receiving compliments from the other teachers!  We will set a new goal today to try and achieve as well.

Have a great week!  At least the weather sounds better this week than last!  Thank goodness!  Remember there is a 3 hour early out Wednesday for teacher inservice.

Multiplication Hip Hop!!!!

We also had some fun today with a site that has Multiplication Facts to hip-hop.  The students thought it was so cool they wanted me to put the site on my blog page.  Many of them could use these songs to work on their facts for the "Walking Taco Party".  Have fun!

http://www.MultiplicationHipHopForKids.com

Fun with Place Value Rap!

We started our new math unit on place value with this fun rap.  The students are excited because next week we will be making our own videos with the rap.  Here it is!!!

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!