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?