Parent Teacher Conferences This Week!

I hope that you are enjoying the end of this beautiful weekend we had!  If only it would stay like this throughout the winter.  I know I would be happy.  :)

I am excited to see everyone this week for parent-teacher conferences!  I have lots to share and am eager to chat with all the parents!  If for some reason something comes up and you can not make it to your scheduled conference time, please call the school and Linda will answer to let me know.  Hopefully that won't happen, but I know things come up sometimes.  Otherwise, I will see all of you this week!

We have been busy in 3B working away, as usual.  The students are in a really great routine for literacy and pushing through our new literacy program.  Some of the strategies and skills that we have been working on are recognizing author's purpose, determining important information, recognizing synonyms, reading fluently, understanding and using the prefix of /un/....and so much more.  We have added our last component of the Daily 5, titled "Read About" and it involves listening to reading.  I sent a note home last week that gave you your child's log in and password to do this online program at home at any time.  I am anxious to hear if any of the students worked on it over the weekend.  Students will be assigned 2 days during the week to work through the program at school during the day, but it is great if they can do it at home or the library when they have free time.  I will be sending a note home soon that will explain how to get your child online to our new literacy program as they can listen to their guided reading books, play games, and do some much more there as well.  Look for that to come home soon.

Addition and subtraction of large numbers is our topic in math right now.  While some are getting their facts down quickly, others are not.  I would encourage the students to work on their math facts at home through the online games on my blog page to continue to build the recall of their addition and subtraction facts.  This will make the process of solving larger numbers with addition and subtraction a little easier.  I am feeling pretty confident that they are grasping addition of large numbers fairly well so I will be sending some homework to reinforce what we have worked on the past week.  Once we get through subtraction securely, I will be sending some homework home for that as well.

Last week, during our "tech time", students were shown how to make a "wordle".  Some students did finish one and were able to print it in black and white.  They had a great time with this online activity and will find they will be able to use it as a presentation device.  The address is up in the corner of my blog page as many students wanted me to post it for them to try at home.  There you go 3B.  :)

Thank you for those parents who are signing off our poems the last two weeks.  We are using them to work on reading fluently and reading the punctuation.  I know that we started with a simple poem, but that will lay the foundation for us to continually work on fluency when reading.  Thus far we have discussed the importance of rereading and reading the punctuation to build fluency.  I will be sending home a note for an activity in which your 3B child needs to bring in a picture book that he/she has practiced reading fluently.  They will be orally reading their book to a small group of peers to work on building fluency.

I have posted the video from our last poem called "How to Torture Your Teacher".  Yes, they did get a kick out of this poem.  (You will not see it on a printed copy of my blog page.  You will have to go to my blog page via the internet to view.)

Enjoy and have a great week!  I will see you at parent-teacher conferences!

Conferences Coming, Cool iPads, and Character Counts Week Ahead!

Wow!  Where does the time go?  October is almost half over already.....time is just flying by.  The students are so busy during the day that they don't even realize when it is lunch time or time to go home.  That's a good thing!  It always amazes me though how quickly time goes by.

With that being said, parent-teacher conferences are approaching.   A note will be sent home next Monday sharing a time and date that have been designated as your conference for your 3B student.  This is a similar format to the past and hopefully works for everyone.  Please take a moment to look if the date and time set work for you to attend your child's conference. If it is fine, please sign and return the sheet stating so.  If we need to reschedule to a different date and/or time, please sign and return the sheet stating so but also give me some times and/or dates that work better.  I will then respond with other options until we get it all finalized.  Parent-teacher conferences are the last full week of October on Monday, October 24th, and Thursday, October 27th.  There is no school on Friday, October 28th.

Last week I commented that I would be sending the math tests that were done last week home with the students.  I have decided to hold onto them until parent teacher conferences to discuss them and cover some information.  I will also be holding on to the students' science tests until conferences as well.  Just wanted to let everyone know that.

We have been lucky to have some iPads in our classroom this past week.  I am working on a grant to get some to permanently stay in our 3B classroom, but for now, we will share the ones the district has.  I have my personal one that I also let the students use at various times.  Needless to say, they are loving using them!  We have done a few apps in math titled "Rocket Math" and "Mad Minute" as well as some apps that go with our Everyday Math series.  I also used one to show pictures of some "gross" stuff we have been reading about (hopefully your child shared what we read about mites..yuck!) through an app titled "Mini-Monsters".  They LOVED looking at these microscopic creatures and being grossed out!  I have posted a few pictures of some of the students working on the iPads this week.  Great learning!

Next week is Character Counts Week!  I am sending home a note today that covers each day and what the students can wear to celebrate.  It is a great week of being reminded of the importance of having good character.  Can't wait to see all the great hats, crazy socks, and school colors!  Take a look at the note from Mrs. McCabe to explain what the focus color is and activities for next week!

Thanks again to all the parents, relatives, and friends who are commenting on the student blogs!  It is amazing how their faces light up when they check their blog to read all the comments!  Thank you and keep it up.  Soon, students will be able to blog from home as well or before school.  More on that later...

Remember to keep reading for Book-It.  We don't have lots of homework in 3B, just a few things here and there, so it is important for the students to continue building their reading skills and strategies by reading at home.  If you have questions or concerns, feel free to call me.  Remember that even books they are reading for Title 1 or from Mrs. Watt count towards Book-It.  Students can also take books from our classroom library home to read as well....So, keep reading!

Have a super week and enjoy the sunshine!

Upcoming Science Test and Book-It!

Hey everyone!  Sorry it has been a while since my last blog post.  3B has been so busy that I have not had much of a chance to sit down and blog.  Are you wondering what we have been doing?

Thanks to all the parents, grandparents, relatives, etc. who have commented on our student blog pages.  Last week most of the students posted about Homecoming week (some still need to finish) so I hope you get a chance to read them and comment as well.  Please share our blog pages with relatives and friends...the more the better....as students love to look at who commented and what they said.  We will continue to blog throughout the year about various different topics, sharing writing, reflections, and posting videos.  Exciting!  Last week I showed the students how to change the color, and they were beyond excited!  So keep checking those blogs and commenting!  We have also started working through a keyboarding program to help speed the process as well.

Yesterday a calendar for Book-It was sent home.  This is a reading incentive sponsored by Pizza Hut.  While 3B has not had a lot of homework yet, one thing I encourage all students to do is read at home.  We have had a lot of discussions about the importance of reading and so I am hoping students are reading at home.  With the Book-It program, I went over with the students today how to fill out the calendar for the month working towards the goal of 200 minutes.  If students read more than 200 minutes, super!  Don't return the calendar until the end of the month and then total the minutes read.  While I hope that all students participate, I can not "require" all students to do so.  For those that participate each month, a gift certificate for a free personal pan pizza is given each month they meet the goal.  Those students that return their calendar every month and meet or surpass their goal will celebrate in April with a pizza party supplied by me, Mrs. Kerian!!! I am hoping that I have all my students involved in the big celebration in April so get reading!!!!

I am also sending home some science today to start reviewing vocabulary words for our upcoming science test.  The test will start on Friday covering the vocabulary words and continue on to Monday with testing concepts, but I would like the students to slowly start preparing.  For tonight, I would like the students to study the vocabulary words from the science text as well as finish any words in their illustrated picture dictionaries they do not have done.  You, as parents, can help by going over the words with the students as well, making sure they know the meaning of all the words in color or bold in the book.   Please return the materials to school tomorrow so that we can do some reviewing with an activity.  I will then send them home again tomorrow night as well as the following evenings.   I have spoke to the students about starting to study and how to study as this is their first real "3rd grade test".  I know they will do fine.

We recently finished our first math assessment last week.  I will be sending them home as well tomorrow or Thursday so be looking for them.  I would like the parents to sign the assessment and return it to school with your 3B student.

The students are also well into our "word works" routine.  Most of us would call this "spelling".  You may have noticed a word list that came home last week.  These list will be sent home on Fridays or Mondays showing how your 3B student did on his/her most recent "word works" test, which we have every Friday.  If you are curious what words your child has selected for the week, his/her words will come home every Tuesday or Wednesday on a sheet titled "Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check".  This is our practice sheet done on Tuesdays.  If you choose, you can work with your child to review his/her words before the test on Friday.  We do work on the words every day in class, but I have found that many parents want to know what the words are ahead of time so they can work with their child at home. That is super!  I will explain our 5 day routine of "word works" in more detail later on in the week.

We are fully into literacy and guided reading is going wonderfully.  Students are being responsible readers and writers as well as discussers.  I am anxious to share some great information at the upcoming conferences at the end of October.

Enjoy the beautiful week of sunshine and fall colors.  I wish it would stay this way for a few more months.....I can only hope!  Have a great week!