Important Information about Me….Mrs. Kerian

While it is a wonderful time with the holidays soon approaching, it is also a sad time for my family.

This morning, Sunday morning, I received a call that my grandmother had passed away.  She was my "only grandma" growing up and had a very special place in my heart.  Don't we all adore our grandmas?

Because of the need to be with family and attend the funeral/wake out of town, I will not be at school Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.  I know this is not "good timing" but family comes first.  I promise the students, my 3B kiddos,  will be in good hands.  I have everything planned out for the substituted and know it will go smoothly.  (right 3B??)

If you need to get ahold of the school Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, please call Linda in the office.  Do not email me as I will be out of town.  Linda will then forward the information to the substitute.

So this will be my last blog post before the holidays.  I want to take the time to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!  Enjoy your time with family and friends!  I will be missing my 3B students and can't wait to return and hear about what a wonderful break each and everyone had!

Thanks for a great first semester of school and happy holidays!

The Hour of Code!!!! Awesome Week of Coding!

Last week students in 3B participating in the Hour of Code.  This was a week of focusing on coding…..a job that will be a large part of the students' future!  Students and adults around the nation and world worked on coding through various means. We were among them!

We had a super, yet challenging time coding various apps and creating our own games through coding. It is wonderful as a teacher to see students problem solve and analyze information to code their way through a problem.  It involved a lot of critical thinking as well!  The students have blogged about their feelings about the Hour of Code so don't forget to check out their posts.  As usual, comments are always welcome. You will notice that many students say that it was fun yet hard at times!  

I happened to tweet out a picture of some students in 3B working their way through some coding apps. To our surprise, mainly mine, the famous singer Shakira "liked" our class tweet!!!!  That was so cool!!!! I think I was most excited!!

Here is a video I used to kick of "The Hour of Code".  you will notice Shakira, as well as many other famous singers, actors, and athletes encouraging students and adults to code.  Will you give it a try???

Did We Forget How to be Respectful?

We have run into a little bump in the road in 3B.  I think some of us have forgotten how to be respectful….especially when I, Mrs. Kerian, am gone to meetings and there is a sub.  What happened?

Last week I was gone to meetings in Des Moines with the principals.  I came back to a message from my sub that said the students were very disrespectful.  Behaviors such as blurting, tattling, pushing, and not listening were listed.  This is not what any teacher likes to return to.  Thus the reason why many students wrote letters to their parents last week and the letters were returned signed.  I wanted parents to be aware of the choices some of the students were making.  The students knew I was very disappointed because this is not the first time a sub has left me that kind of note.

As a class, we discussed everything on Wednesday.   We have developed a chattiness problem as well as forgetting how to show Cadet Pride outside the classroom.  We have had time to review and talk about being respectful and being good listeners.  I would like parents to discuss these issues with their 3B student and reinforce the idea of being respectful to EVERYONE…..they are great when they are with me so I know they can do it!!!

Remember what Kid President says…(we watched this a week ago)…."20 Things We Should Say More Often".

Big Blast Celebration

It is almost here!  Christmas!!!!! So hard to believe that half the school year is almost over.  Time just flew by!  At least the weather has been to cooperative and we have not had any snow days…..yet!  (Hope I did not speak too soon.)

One of the many activities that we have going on this week is the Big Blast!  This is the celebration for the efforts of our fundraising.  The students are so excited!!!!

3rd grade students will attend the Big Blast on Tuesday at about 1:50-3:00ish.  I wanted to let parents know in case they had appointments scheduled or things coming up.  The students hate to miss this great celebration.

There are also students in 3B that will be riding in the limo as an extra reward for selling a certain amount of items!  Great job to those students!

Let the fun week begin!

Cadet Time

The teachers at Crestwood Elementary have added a new element to our daily schedules.  It is called Cadet Time, also known as Intervention time (and there are many more names for it, but I won't go into that right now).  We officially started last week, and I am glad to say the first week was a success!

During Cadet Time, students are broken into groups and work with a 3rd grade teacher or associate on specific reading skills or strategies.  The three sections of 3rd grade students are mixed up so they are not always with their homeroom teacher for Cadet Time.  The groups are smaller and can focus on specific areas of need or enrichment that are student specific.  Teachers selected skills and strategies to focus on for 2 week periods.  These skills and strategies are based off class assessments and those taught within the classroom during literacy.  These skills and strategies are then reassessed at the end of a literacy unit to determine if growth was made. After 2 weeks, new focus skills and strategies will be determined, groups mixed up based on demonstrated need or areas to enrich, and new small group instruction will occur.  

Currently, the 3rd grade Cadet Time runs daily from 9:30-10:00.  We currently have groups working for two weeks on summarizing, cause and effect, or building fluency.  The three Title 1 Reading teachers as well as Mr. Knoblach also work with small groups during this time so that we have ample amounts of teachers working with students to build their reading as well as challenge them in various ways if they have demonstrated success with the skills and strategies selected for the two week period.  

I wanted to let you know about this in case your child mentioned "Cadet Time".  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.  

It was Bound to Happen

Snow….yes….snow.  Like the title says, I guess it was bound to happen eventually.  While I agree it was pretty falling, I am not a fan of snow!  I like a little on Christmas eve/day, and then it can go away. But….Mother Nature does not listen to me I guess.

Along with snow, even without snow lately, comes cold weather.  Please remember that students go outside unless the temperature and/or wind chill is below 0.  I have reminded the students to dress warm, but many are coming in from recess or before school very cold.  While we did not go out for recess much last week due to the cold weather, the temps are suppose to be above zero this week, but not much.  Please remember to send mittens, hats, boots, etc with your child.  If there is snow outside and students do not have boots, they will have to stay on hard surfaces.

I also encourage the students to put an extra pair of mittens and/or socks in their school bags.  Many times, after one recess, the students have wet gloves and socks from the wet snow.  It is not comfortable to have to put those mittens back on for the next recess or wear wet socks all day.  Having an extra pair in their school bags will be great for those wet times.

Let's cross our fingers the weather does not get too out of control.  Even though we all love a good snow day, we have too much to do in 3B….and a lot more fun planned.

The Hour of Code

I am very, very, very excited to be involved in a week long celebration called "The Hour of Code"!!!  I signed our 3B class to be participates in this recognized activity because "coding" will be an important job for the future of my 3rd graders.  Watch this video that I am showing the students Monday to kick off the week for "The Hour of Code".



The students in 3B have already had a lot of time exploring various apps and creating/manipulating objects through coding by some of the apps that I have put on their iPads.  These include HopScotch, Daisy the Dino, and Cargo-Bots.  I can not express how engaged every student is with these apps!  There is so much deep thinking, planning, creating, and creativity going on…..I am in awe at what they can do!!!

On Monday, I will be introducing them to two new apps that focus on coding as well as some online activities that guide the students through coding programs.

Check out the Hour of Code website at http://csedweek.org

Check out our Illustrated Idioms!

Last week during literacy the students learned about idioms.  We read books full of idioms and learned about many other idioms through various activities.  At the end of the week, the students picked an idiom and illustrated it using the iPad app of "Doodle Buddy".  They illustrated what the idiom says, not what it means, which was the fun part!  Then then put the real meaning at the bottom of their picture.

Students then posted their illustrated idiom on their student blog page.  Please check them out by clicking on the link to the right titled "Student Blog Pages"!  We would love some comments from parents, relatives, friends, and visitors!!!!  I tweeted out our illustrated idioms and one of our followers from Arizona commented on a few!  Cool!  The world is our audience…..

We hope you enjoy our illustrated idioms as much as we did making them!  Here is an example from a students blog page...

A Surprise….Buddy The Elf

We had a surprise guest in our room Monday……it was a little elf and a book with a note that stated "Read Me".  We were all surprised….especially because the little elf made a mess with the blocks we use for math!!!

So we followed the direction and read about this little surprise.  We learned that he was an elf sent from Santa, and we were to name him.  The class vote was….yes….Buddy the Elf (sound like a movie we all know??).  We learned that we are to never touch him or it may break his magic. We also learned that he goes back and forth every night to let Santa know how we are all behaving.  (Monday was not a good afternoon so I am surprised he returned.)  But he did…... and the rest of the week has been better.

Today we all showed up to school to Buddy the Elf and a huge mess!  He had tried to jump the filling from one beanbag chair into another and made a huge mess on the floor….with a trail!  I thought you would get a kick out of seeing what the students had to pick up after our little friend. Wonder what he will do tomorrow?

Always fun in 3B!

We Made the TV and Internet News!

It is not a surprise to have visitors at Crestwood Elementary going through the rooms with Mr. Carver, stopping in to see what is going on.  So yesterday, Tuesday, when Mr. Carver stopped in with a woman, the students and I did not think anything of it. We just kept going on our day.

Well, when I got home I saw a parent had posted a link to the KIMT news stating that her child, in our 3B room, was on the news.  So of course I clicked on it to see what it was.  I guess the lady who stopped to visit and take pictures/video was from channel 3, KIMT news!!!!  We are TV stars!  (hahaha just kidding).  Myself, just coming in from a rainy, foggy recess duty did not pay any attention to her, as we are told to keep doing what we normally do….but geezzz….this was a surprise.

You can click the link before to read the article and watch the clip from the news.
http://www.kimt.com/news/local/stem-committee-releases-recommendations-in-broadband-study

Nice job 3B for representing some of the students from Crestwood Elementary!  I am very proud of all of you….as well as the Howard-Winn School District!  It is an exciting time to be in school!

Cadets for A Clause

Throughout the months of November and December, Howard-Winneshiek students have been/will be working on the Character Counts pillar of "Caring".  One way to become compassionate, caring citizens is to help others.  During the week of December 2-6, we will be collecting monetary donations to help families within our school district who are experiencing hardships.  No donation could ever be too small (this even includes pocket change!).  Please send your donation in an envelope or bag marked "Cadets for a Clause".  The money will be used to buy gifts and food so that families may have a wonderful holiday season.

A note stated the above information is being sent home today.  Thanks for our participation!

Great Visit from a Published Author!

As I mentioned last week, Crestwood students had the honor of listening to a published author share her book and travels! The author's name was Jamie Sanders, and the book she published was titled Adrian's Adventures in Indonesia.   Mrs. Sanders lived in Indonesia for 2-3 years and wrote a book about the life there using her son, Adrian's, name.  She shared many interesting facts about life in Indonesia as well as read her book to us.  It was awesome!