Elves At Work Wednesday!

The children complete their Math test today and completed the mulitplication timed quiz on 0's -4's. I am going to give them a practice quiz on 0's-5's tomorrow. I am sure they will want to practice their multiplication tables tonight for homework. They also have a Wordly Wise quiz on Lesson 5 tomorrow as well.

We will definitely have some holiday fun tomorrow. The children will have lunch as they normally do either by packing or buying their lunch. However, they will be treated to a dessert and a game after lunch. Then we will come into the classroom and make a holiday craft. I am sure they will have great fun!

I would love it if the children would concentrate on learning all the multiplication tables 0's-9"s by the time they return in the new year. I will not be sending home any reading requirements, but what ever reading they can do independently will be beneficial!

Again, I hope everyone will have a happy and joyful holiday!

Tinsel Tuesday!

I wanted to take this time to wish you and your family a very happy and merry holiday. I hope that all your h0pes and dreams for the new year find their way into your home and hearts. I would also like to thank you for all of your support and kind wishes that have come my way thus far this year. I sincerely appreciate everything that you have done for me and for your child. I am hopeful that our time together after the holidays will be just as rewarding.

At the close of this blog, I have retyped a special email that was sent to me many years ago. Upon reading it again, I realized that I too have much to be thankful for this holiday season. My golden box is filled with all of my precious children and you , the parents, and the friends that I have made since I arrived at Shorecrest. My wish for you and your family is that your heart be filled with wonderful holiday memories. May your travels be safe and hearts be full of joy!
Warmest Wishes,
Renee

"The Box"
Some years ago a man punished his 5 year old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became quite upset when the child used the gold paper to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.
The next morning the little firl brought the gift to her father and said, "this is for you Ddaddy." The father was embarrassed by his earlier overreactions, but flared again when he found the box empty.
He spoke to her in a harsh manner, "Don't you know, young lady when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package?"
The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "But Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was full."
The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his little girl, and asked her to forgive him for his stupid and unnecessary anger.
An accident took the life of the child a short time later and it is said that the father kept the golden box by his bed for all the years of his life. And when ever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems, he would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.
In a real sense, each of us as human beings have been given a golden box filled with unconditional love and friendship from our children, family , and friends. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

Merry Monday!

This has been a great day so far, considering it's the last week before the holiday. Please make sure that everyone gets a good night's sleep this week as we will attempt to keep to the academic schedule all the way to Friday. I did want to share a few items with you.

I will not be giving a spelling list or test this week. The children have earned a break. However, today the children are coming home with a practice multiplication timed test today. They are to study this quiz in preparation of another one that will count on Wednesday. The problems may not be in the same order, so remind them not to learn the answers in this order. We will complete Unit 4 in math this week and they will have a test on Friday. The children will come home on Thursday with a practice test that they will be able to study prior to the test.

We have completed our unit of study on Floridian Native Americans and the children are working on their murals today and tomorrow.

The children will have a Wordly Wise quiz on Thursday on Lesson 5 words. They will be bringing their workbook home tonight and tomorrow night for questions and answers and they should review the definitions as well.

This week in computer lab, the children will be learning all about Personification.

The third grade "party" is on Thursday from noon to one o'clock. The children should bring their lunch or plan to purchase lunch as they usually do, which ever they prefer. However, the moms are providing a dessert. The children will play a game and create a craft. I know the children will have a fun time. Thank you to all the moms that have coordinated this event!

Tip Toe Through Tuesday!

You will want to ask your child about our trip to the Science Lab today. The children were put into small groups with just a ruler, a roll of tape, string, a clothes pin, and paper towel roll. They had to get the roll of tape from the floor to the top of the desk by creating a simple machine. There were 5 variations of the simple machines created. Each group had to present their invention by explaining the design in sequential order. Then we recorded our work in our Science Journals, complete with an illustration.

Tonight for homework is as follows:
Writing Activity- Correcting Sentence Fragments.....The children are to rewrite the two paragraphs with combining sentences that can be combined to make sentences that "flow" instead and being so chopped up. I told the children to go in sequential order and to keep the meaning. You may also want to remind them that this is supposed to be two paragraphs though you see no indenting on the actual paper.
MATH- Workbook page91.. also study 0's - 4's multiplication tables.... There will be a quiz on Thursday.
Wordly Wise- Lesson 5... page 37, read over the definitions once and then complete pages 41 and 42.
Review the Verb Form Test Guideline... we worked on verb tenses today with the use of helping verbs have and has .... There will be a test on Friday using the exact same verbs. I have asked the children to take 7 words each night and practice those verbs at least 3 times.
Don't forget to turn in Reading Logs.

Dinner challenge: Ask your child if they know what a league is. League is one of their wordly wise words this week. However, there is an "old fashioned" definition that we talked about today. See if they remember.

I look forward to seeing several of you tomorrow during our Math class. We are working on multiplication word problems with multiplication and division fact families. You may want to "beef" up on your facts as you may be asked to join in with the centers if time allows.

Elves At Work!

I think we all had busy weekends. We were all moving at a slow pace today, but we were productive. I wanted to make sure you were aware of the Shorecrest Parent Association meeting tomorrow at 8:15am in the Janet Root Theatre. I just discovered that I didn't give the children the flier that I received today after lunch. The speaker is Mr. Welborne, the Athletic Director here at Shorecrest. There will be a $1,000 dollar Tuition Give-a-way at the close of the meeting. You are invited and encouraged to attend if you can.

Also, several of you have signed up to come on Wedesday to our Math Open House. The children and I look forward to seeing you if you can come. I will continue with my lesson and my class as per usual as you are strolling in. When we break up into little groups, you may be asked to join in the activities. It is the expectation that the children continue with their math duties. This is not a time to socialize.

Tonight's homework includes:
Math- Workbook-page87.. They also have two Home Link pages to complete as well. We did one from each page together in class so that they would have an example of what to do at home when they are alone. This is a new topic and skill so there may be some questions. I did inform the children that they will have a multiplication quiz on 0's - 4's on Thursday.
Spelling- look over words and dictation.... test on Friday
Class Novel-complete the other side of the Whipping Boy sheet that asks the children to respond to what they believe the character is trying to say through the quotations from the story.

If the children come home and tell you that I said they had to watch television tonight that is partially true. We have read the Cranberry Series in class for each holiday... Fall Festival, Halloween and now Christmas. Tonight on ABC Family Channel(25 Days of Christmas Channel) is producing for the first time the Christmas book complete with narration and singing. I read the first half of the book to the children today and then left them hanging so as not to give the ending away. I did tell them that if they weren't able to watch the show at 7:30, then I would certainly finish the book tomorrow in class. They must have their homework finished and then even after that, it's up to you if you want them to watch this or not.

More to come later on in the week! Thanks for reading!

Thursday Excitement!

I am proud to announce that we have an Elf on the Shelf in residence. His name is Mistletoe. We are SO EXCITED! We have registered Mistletoe and now he can make his visits back and forth to his workshop. We all understand that Mistletoe wants us to keep working hard and make sure we do our best work between now and Winter Break.

Just a reminder that the Christmas Scene activity is due tomorrow. The children are also coming home with 5 dictation sentences to study for tomorrow's spelling test. The words in these sentences review words from prior tests.

We are writing an essay about hopes and dreams. The children wrote a two paragraph essay on their hopes and dreams for the world and for their family. The children took this assignment very seriously and many of their wishes may bring a tear to your eye.

Thank you for your continued support and help with multiplication tables. You should have noticed the multiplication wheels last night for homework. I am trying to give them as many chances to practice these facts as possible.

December News!

Wow! It's hard to believe it's the first day of December. I feel like the shoppers countdown in that it's the Winter Break countdown and we have much to learn. Please make sure that the children are reviewing and learning their multiplication tables. They will have a quiz on 0's- 3's by Friday.

The children will have a Wordly Wise Quiz on Lesson 4 tomorrow. These words include: average, border, cocoon, flutter, moisture, moist, nectar, process, span, suitable, timber. Make sure that all the definitions are studied and especially those words that have more than one definition.

Today I gave the children a language arts project. I have given them until Friday to complete. The project should be completed in two steps. First, the children must look up a few vocabulary words in the dictionary and write the definition from the dictionary, not their own made up definition. Then they must apply that knowledge to the paragraph that is attached to the words to draw an accurate picture using all the details in the paragraph. I have thoroughly reviewed this activity with the class. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to email me.

We worked on skimming and scanning today in class. I wanted the children to understand the difference in reading for meaning and then reading to locate quick information. They may come home today and ask you if you know how to skim or scan.

We have one more Floridian Native American group, Apalachee, to study. The children have begun planning the mural that they are going to create on the covers of their booklet. The mural is to illustrate at least one aspect of each group that they have learned. The cover and the work inside of the folder is their participation grade. I will not give be giving them a test. They have learned a great deal, but it would be unfair and perhaps inappropriate at this stage for me to expect them to reatin all that they have learned over the last threee months. I will have them complete a writing assignment about this unit of study, but they will be allowed to use all their information in their folder while writing. They should be able to produce an informative piece of writing.

We will be learning about metaphors and similes this week so that we are prepared for our class project in computer class this week. I will also begin working on tenses of verbs, present and past with the use of have and has. (For example: begin, began, begun)

We have completed our first Theme in Reading. The last story was a great story to review and master the skill of fact and opinion. You will want to ask your child about the little Native American girl, Janell. Ask them what they think Janell was the most proud of in her culture.

If you have not returned your child's report card, please so so by tomorrow. I would like to get these turned into the office to be filed.

I do hope everyone had a relaxing and joyful Thankgiving holiday! Thank you again for all the parents that planned our wonderful feast!

TURKEY TUESDAY!

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that your travels are safe and your time with your family is relaxing and joyous!

If you have not had time to sign and return your child's report card, please do so on Monday when we return.

You will want to ask your child about the third grade Thanksgiving lunch today! WOW, what a feast! Thank you to all the moms that helped to made this a wonderful experience for the children. We are thankful for you!

Fabulous Friday!

First, I would like to say "bravo" to the children in our room that performed in Oliver on Thursday evening. I was so proud and impressed by their poise and stage presence. I know that it has been a long, but exciting experience and they all deserve a huge round of applause and a much needed rest. I applaud the parents as well for their dedication in helping to make this "happen" for your child. This is an experience that I am sure they will never forget!

I would like to run down a few things again prior to Monday. We leave on our field trip at 9am. I have asked the children to wear:
Girls: Shorecrest jumpers with tennis shoes or with dress shoes( they can bring a change of clothes, within uniform requirements) for the afternoon if they would like)
Boys: pants with belts and they can wear either their white or green Shorecrest polo shirt. They do not have to wear a white dress shirt and/or tie.

I told them that they could pack an extra water, but that the lunch should be a normal healthy lunch with only one dessert. We will not have time to have a snack, so I encouraged them to have a good/filling breakfast.

We should return to school by 1:00pm and the rest of the day will follow the regular schedule, including dismissal.

I am looking forward to the Thanksgiving Feasts. I am curious to see what my children perceive as an ultimate feast. The children are coming home with their work envelope. Please sign and return just the envelope to school on Monday.

The children have earned 50 stickers/1 chart. They have earned these stickers through compliments they have received in the hallway, resource classes, etc by other adults and by me. We are very excited. The reward is that we get a surprise treat in the classroom. I am going to hold off on this till we return from Thanksgiving. But, I wanted you to know so that you could praise your child.

I hope everyone will have a relaxing and fun weekend!

Whoa! It's Wednesday!

I was informed by my children that I made two mistakes in yesterday's blog. I was disappointed in myself, but did chuckle and think..... at least I know they are reading the blogs. Obviously we leave on Monday at 9AM to travel to the Tampa Bay History Museum.

Tonight's homework includes:
WORDLY WISE- page 36.. yes, that is correct page number this time.. they have already restated the question and all they need to do is answer the first 5 questions using details from the story.

Review the spelling list for this week's spelling test on Friday.

Review morning work on sequencing... I told the children that they could rewrite the sentences in order on a loose leaf sheet of paper so they wouldn't have to keep turning the paper back and forth.

MATH- Work on the Thanksgiving Feast project

On Tuesday, November 24, the children will be treated to a Thanksgiving Feast at school from noon to 1:00pm. The room moms have coordinated with Flik to cook a well balanced Thanksgiving Feast. So the children will not have to bring a lunch on that day. They will still need to bring a snack. My little pilgrims never want to miss snack time.

Again, I am looking forward to the premiere of Oliver. I hope to see many of you tomorrow night.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! It's Tuesday!

Thank you to everyone who responded to my email regarding the bag lunches for the field trip. As I told the children, if they didn't request a bag lunch prepared by the school today, they would have to bring their lunch from home. I am asking the children to please have an extra water and to keep dessert to one item. Please make sure they have a good breakfast before coming to school as they will be actively involved at the museum during their normal snack time. We will depart Shorecrest at 9:oopm so that we can arrive at the museum, get checked in and begin our tour by 10:00am. I am asking that the girls wear their dresses and the boys have belts with their pants with a nice shirt. They do not have to wear a dress tie. We are planning on returning to Shorecrest hopefully by 1:45pm. The museum has the event very organized and the children will be kept in smaller groups for better supervision. We will have our lunch on the lawn at the back of the museum, weather permitting.

Tonights homework includes:
SPELLING-activity sheet to find the misspelled spelling words
WORDLY WISE- page 31... they may also want to take the time to reread the definitions of the words at least once
SPELLING TEST- these are the words that I sent home in October with the orange pumpkin letter a few weeks ago

You may want to ask your child about our math centers.. they have used candy corn, tape measures, pattern block pieces to measure and estimate distances and area. In one center, they have traced their right foot on grid paper. Tomorrow we will learn how to figure out the amount of weight that you put on just one square inch of the foot every time you stand up. Ask your child if they know how much they weigh. It will work best if they know their exact weight.

In Science Lab we experimented with the term work. We lifted light and heavy objects (books) and even tried to move a wall to demonstrate work. The children predicted what they thought the scientific definition of work was and then tested out their theory.

Report cards will be coming home soon. I have shown the children what it will look like and have discussed the two bottom sections, work and study habits and behaviors. I will expect them to continue to be courteous to their peers and adults. But I expressed to the children that I will have an even greater expectation for listening carefully to directions and reading more carefully to help them proofread their work.

I am looking forward to the production of Oliver. I am attending on Thursday night. I am so proud of my children that are participating and how well they have handled the incredible responsibility. Bravo!

Terrific Thursday!

The children did a wonderful job with their poem at Poetry in the Park. Thank you to all of you who came and supported the children. It is such a nice tradition at Shorecrest.

I wanted to share a few items with you. First, the children are coming home with a practice math test. I would like them to study this practice test over the weekend. We will have our Unit 3 test on Monday. I also gave them a measurement conversions activity that is also due on Monday. You may want to ask your child about Pi. They now know it's more than just something yummy one eats.

Some of the children did come home with a "baggy book". I would like those read and returned by Monday as well so that the other children may participate. As a reminder, I would like the chilren to read the story out loud and independently at least once before they begin to complete the activity. They are not to look back in the story.

Next week, we will begin Lesson 4 in Wordly Wise. We will also begin to wind down our first theme in reading. There will a little check up at the end of the theme. However, it is not something that the children can prepare for except to use their reading skills, including reading slowly.

I will be sending home a math project that is Thanksgiving related. I will review the project and send the letter home for you to read. If in doing so you have further questions that your child is not able to answer, please feel free to email me.

We will continue our study of the Tocobaga Native Americans. I will assist the children in making an outline of the most important information. We will also review the importance ad influences of the Seminole Native Americans in preparation for our field trip on November 23 to the Tampa Bay History Museum.

We will begin working on an enrichment writing activity that involves magic. You will see this little booklet coming home soon.

Thank you to all of you who came on Wednesday to Poetry in the Park. The children loved having you here! I hope everyone has a great long weekend. I am jealous! Smiles!

And We're Off!

This week may be a short week for the children, but we have a great deal going on. The Book Fair started today. I took the children over for them to take a look at the incredible display of books for purchase. They will be coming home with a wish list. If they do decide that they want to purchase any books, I will be taking them back over the library on Tuesday morning. On Tuesday, we have guidance in the morning and picture lady in the afternoon. Wednesday is Poetry in the Park. We will keep our fingers crossed that the rain is long gone by then. The title of our poem is, Mad About Math. We hope you will be able to come and join us.

I completed the report cards over the weekend. I am proud of my children in many ways. They have worked hard and I feel that they are ready for new challenges and expectations . In the first reporting period, I observed the children closely in their interactions with each other on the playground and in the classroom. I was and will continue to be insistent that they treat each other with respect and kindness. My little group is courteous and is very respectful of authority. Though these areas continue to be important, I am going to focus even more closely on the effort and the quality of work that the children produce. I want them to begin to take on more responsibility for proofreading their work and independently use the tools around them while working. I have noticed the amount of misspelled words and missed questions on homework assignments. We will begin our new reading theme, Perspective Taking. The children will be introduced to higher level reading skills such as character analysis and the perspective of the writer and the reader. We will take our time and multiple practice lessons will be planned. I will begin to send home "baggy books" for the children to read over a couple of days. I would encourage them to not only read these books out loud to an active listener, but to also read the text at least once independently. Please continue to practice basic addition and subtraction facts. I did send home the beginnings of multiplication. I will send home the remaining tables later. Please just focus on the ones I sent home for now. I will at some point begin giving little timed fact quizzes to check on the progress of this skill. I will let you know ahead of time when to expect these to begin.

Please remember to turn in the nightly book log that the children keep. Once they turn it in, I give them a new one to take home. I do keep track of these and give the children credit for their effort.

The spelling this week are words with the long i sound with various spellings of this sound. There are no rules associated with this list this week However, I will be giving them dictation sentences tomorrow to practice for the Thursday test.

I would like to thank you for your continued support. Once the report cards arrive, you may have questions and concerns. Please do to not hesitate to email me.

Wow, it's Wednesday!

I wanted to let you know about a few things that are coming home today. First, I am sending home the Poetry in the Park poem that is ironically about math and multiplication. I have asked the children to study the first stanza for tomorrow. I am also sending home a letter about the learning of multiplication with the facts sheet attached. The fact sheet only contains the tables 0-9. I will give them another fact sheet later. That is enough to get them started.

The children are coming home with their Wordly Wise workbooks. They have a few questions to answer and they should study the words and definitions as they will have a test on these words on Friday.

They also have a dictionary activity to complete. I have reviewed the directions and reminded them twice that they don't use a real dictionary. Use the picture on the sheet to help with some of the true/false statements. I am determined to make them better "dictionary users" by Thanksgiving. I can already see a difference in their ability to place words into guide word groups.

You will want to ask your child about a fruit called, Lychee.

Tune In Tuesday!

Tonight's homework is as follows:

Vocabulary Cartoon: We reviewed this again as I observed that most of the children had trouble with the sentence part. It is very natural, but they had a tendency to write a sentence that just restated the definition. I asked the children to think of a sentence that a teacher might write and put that vocabulary word in the blank.

Map Work on Interstates and Highways

Study spelling words and the poem, When Daddy Carves the Turkey.

I will be giving the children the poem for Poetry in the Park tomorrow. We will be reciting a cute poem entitled, Mad About Math. I haven't quite decided what the props should be. But for now, we will concentrating on the words. I am certainly putting their memorization to the test this month.

We will also have a lockdown drill tomorrow morning around 10:15. This is part of procedure as are fire drills and severe weather drills. I wanted to ensure you that this will be handled in a calm manner and the children will be with me in the classroom at that time.

I also wanted to remind you that the Book Fair is November 9-November 12 in the student activity center. I will take the children over once it begins to let them see the books that are there. They can they can begin to make purchases with you or at school as time allows. The proceeds really do help our school and the library. Mrs. Smay does a great job of making sure that the children have the books that they need and honors requests made by teachers as well.

Be on the lookout for a letter with the multiplication tables attached. You may begin practicing these multiplication tables. In the beginning, I would encourage them to first learn them in order. But as they progress, I would like them to practice the problems out of sequence.

By the end of the week, I will post a blog covering various topics and skills that the children have learned thus far. I will also share information in generalities as to what the expectations have been and what I see them being for the new reporting period. Tune in for more!!!!

Fall Festival!

I reviewed the expectations for tomorrow during and at the end of Fall Festival. We discussed the importance of having a "plan" set with you on where to meet you at a certain time if they get separated from you. I have the sign up sheet on my classroom door ready for you to sign when you all are ready to leave for the day. The children will remain with me after the parade for a story or any other work that we need to "tie" up. I will release them at 10:00am. You may want to designate a place for them to meet you at that time as well.

Please make sure you return the H1N1 form that I sent home yesterday if you want your child to be vaccinated. The nurse would like to have these turned in as soon as you can.

I will be working on report cards for the next few days. My plan for this grading period is to send a general summary of the work that has been completed and what my general observations are in the classroom via my blog. I will be more specific and more focused on just your child on the report card. Thus, my comments may not be as lengthy, but they will be detailed about your child regarding strengths and weaknesses in academics and work and study habits. This way I will spend less time repeating myself on items that I want each of you to know that pertain to all the children and savor the time and space to discuss your child specifically.

I hope everyone has a SPOOK-TACULAR weekend. Try not to get tricked too many times! Enjoy the extra hour!

Wacky Wednesday!

Wow! I can tell that Halloween is near. My little ghosts and goblins are certainly getting excited for not only Halloween but Fall Festival. Please make sure they get a good night's sleep tonight. We will have a very busy morning trying to get in some of the work that we will miss on Friday. The children will have their spelling test and like last week, they will have to write the rules for the Vowel Consonant -e syllable. We will review these rules in the morning before the test as well. Other homework includes:
Math- Workbook page 71
Writing- read the paragraph and combine thoughts into one sentence where appropriate. Today as a mini lesson we worked on sentence fluency. We looked at writing samples and made suggestions on how to make our sentences "flow like rivers."I then put them with a writing buddy and they were to take a paragraph that they had not seen before on rocks and rewrite it to make it "flow." The activity tonight I would really like for them to complete on their own. But when you check it, please look to see if they have combined similar sentences by using commas or connector words such as and or but.

We have read up to Chapter 8 in our class novel. The children seem to be enjoying this story of adventure and friendship. We are also reading a read aloud entitled, Who Stole the Wizard of Oz? You will want to ask your child about the mystery that needs to be solved and who has already been blamed. At some point, the children will go back to the library and check out a mystery chapter book. We will complete our first book report after we learn more about the elements of a good mystery.

We did not get a chance to completely review the Wordly Wise words this week. I will just carry this over to next week. Thus, they will not have a quiz on these words tomorrow.

We have begun our chart for the Timucua Native Americans. We are learning how to pick out key points/information and organize it for studying purposes.

I know Fall Festival will be fun on Friday. Yes, the children are to come to school dressed for the parade, but don't forget to send them with a change of clothes for the festival. After the parade, I will give the children time to change their clothes. There is usually a little down time until 10am. I will read the children a story or we may check a little work. I will release them promptly at 10am. You can meet us at the room or have your child meet you outside at a designated area. I am asking that you must sign your child out at noon back at the classroom. I will have a sign out sheet taped to the door for you to sign stating that you have your child and that you have left the premises. The children are in your care during the festival, but I need to be assured that each of my children leave with an adult. I will instruct the children that if they get separated or don't know where to go or where to find you at the end of the festival, they are to come back to the room and wait for you at the classroom door. You should still chat with your child and have a plan as to what you would like them to do when the festival is over. However, I feel it is always best to have a back up plan in case something unexpected happens. I will be mingling outside as well, but will also be in the room working from time to time. Thus the children will be able to find me.

Thank you for all your help and support. Please make sure that your child's work envelope has been signed and turned in by tomorrow. I will be needing them for next week's work.

Weekend Math Challenge.....

If you should choose to accept this challenge, copy the problem and write what you think the answer is in your agenda and keep it safe until Monday. Good Luck!

45+9+37+6-10+85-19+8+5+12+25-30+200=?

Ghosts and Goblins Hard at Work!

It's Friday! Whew... we covered a lot of ground this week. We have concluded our study of Florida and have moved on the the Floridian Native Americans. We studied the Calusa this week. Ask your child why they are called the "Shell Indians." Next week we will begin our study of the Timucua Native Americans.

We are continuing with subjects and predicates along with adjectives next week. Please help me by encouraging the children to add adjectives to make their writing more descriptive. We also began listing the many homophones in our reading. With the help of last night's homework, we have a rather large list already. I have asked the children to be on the lookout for other homophones that were not used in the homework assignment for next week.

We have been reading a realistic narrative in our reading book, Grandfather's Journey. Our primary reading skill the last couple of weeks has been looking for cause and effect. We are learning that if we look for causes and effects, it helps us with details and sequencing of stories. We area also using this story as an example for our own personal narratives that we have begun in writing workshop. One observation that I have made during this writing time is that they have become more focused while they are writing and seem to be more comfortable with the rules of writing workshop.

We spent some time today in class looking up words in the dictionary and finding the matching guide words. Many of the children continue to have some difficulty when they have to go to the third or fourth letter of the word. They are quick to tell you that they can't find it. When they have words they need to spell at home, please have them look up the word in the dictionary with little to no help. Again, practice will only improve this skill. We will continue with this skill next week.

Measurement in math is going slowly. But, I am fine with that... measurement and fractions are generally the hardest skills in third grade. I am happy to take our time to make sure they have a positive experience. We will practice measuring using both standard and metric systems.

We have decided to take on the Scholastic Challenge. As a class, we are going to try and read 100 books in the month of November. It's called the Peyton and Eli Manning challenge. If we read our 100 books and turn in our paperwork, Scholastic Book Club, with the help of these athletes, will donate a million books to children in need. We discussed that this is truly a worthy cause. We also decided that this would be an easy goal for us to achieve in that not only are we good readers, but we read so much anyway that we should help others out while we're working. You should be able to get more details from your child if you are interested.

Since the Fall Festival is next Friday, I will have the spelling test next Thursday and the Wordly Wise test on Lesson 3 next Thursday. We will spend some time on these words on Monday and Tuesday so all they should have to do in review these words at home.

I hope everyone has a restful weekend.

Time Out Tuesday!

This week I have discovered a skill that the class is having great difficulty with. Take a look in their homework folder tonight. On one side they had to put words in alphabetical order. That is not the problem, unless the words have the same first and second letter. The skill that I discovered that I had to call "time out" on is the skill on the other side of that paper. The children have to decide what word or words one would find on a page given the guide words. Some children did not finish, some did finish but with less accuracy. So, I decided to send it home with them to look at the activity again. They are to bring that sheet back to school tomorrow for us to check. Even if they tell you that have completed the activity, please take a look at it. We will working on this skill the rest of the week and I may have a homework assignment or two dealing with this as well.This is a skill that just takes practice. I cannot expect them to use the dictionary voluntarily if they don't know how to use the guide words. Any chance that you have to focus on the order of letters in a word would really be a huge help.

We had to go back today and review how to read a ruler up to the quarter inch. The children are not completely sure of this skill as well. You can count on an assignment or two for the children to come home and measure items using standard measurement, inches and feet. My hope is for each child to get to a point where they can make conversions from inches to miles and everything in between. Tomorrow we will discover if your child is a square, tall rectangle, or short rectangle based on DaVinci's theory of mathematical ratios. Get ready.. they will be coming home tomorrow night ready to find out about you!

Today in Science Lab, we worked with objects to discover how friction and gravity work. You will want to ask which object seemed to move the fastest and what surface helped to produce the fastest object.

This week in spelling, our words are examples of Closed Syllables. The children wrote the rules for Closed Syllables in their notebook. They will be expected to write these rules instead of dictation this week. The rules are: 1) a closed syllable ends with a consonant and 2) the vowel before the final consonant has a short sound.

We have begun a new class novel entitled, The Whipping Boy. The children will be responsible for answering questions at the end of each chapter and occasional extra activity. Tonight they have a list of rather difficult vocabulary words to just learn how to pronounce. We worked on these words in class and I asked them to practice reading them at least two times tonight. Please make sure that list returns to school tomorrow so the children can finish creating their bingo board with these words. I want the children to be comfortable reading these words as they get to them in the book. You will want to ask your child about the custom of that time period of a whipping boy. As we progress through the book, this conflict of having a whipping boy will become the main idea of several class discussions.

The children have now begun searching for poems that they find interesting, humorous, or thought provoking. I want the children to be more aware of the various kinds of poems. Each child has been given a poetry book all of their own. Inside this book, they will collect different poems and comment on what makes these poems special.

Thanks for checking the blogs on a regular basis. This one contained some very important information that I really wanted to make sure everyone saw. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Fabulous Friday!

On Monday, our class will do a short presentation entitled, Florida Is.....the children worked with a partner and generated as many phrases or words that they have learned during our study of Florida. We then took these words and phrases and created a poster using Wordle, a computer program that the kids love. On Monday at our Town Meeting, each pair will present three items from their poster while carrying a bright pink flamingo. I will take some pictures and post them on the blog so that each of you can share in our experience.

Next week we will begin our study of the Calusa Native Americans. We will cover 3 or 4 Native American groups that lived in Florida. The children will design and organize a booklet that will store information they read so that they are better able to compare and contrast these groups.

We are continuing with our study of subjects and predicates with adjective work thrown in. We have been talking about the 4 kinds of sentences and the 5 parts to a sentence that allow writers to become more detailed. Hold up your hand and ask you child to identify your five fingers as it relates to writing a good sentence.

I hope you all are enjoying your three day weekend!

Last Day of the Week on Thursday!

The children are responsible for the following:

Spelling: Test which includes the words, dictation sentences, and writing the two rules for Open Syllables

Poem: Trick-Or-Treat

Reading Assignment: How Big Is A Foot?

We completed our Florida Wordles today. Mrs. Baralt visited our class to help us learn the rules for using the rolling labs that we have in the third and fourth grade areas. I hope to post dome pictures of the children on my blog tomorrow so you can see them hard at work. Tomorrow we will practice our lines about Florida for the Town Meeting on Monday.

The children are also coming home with the math test that I told you about in the blog yesterday. Please make sure they review the page that has numbers 10-12.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Today was our first visit from the Picture Lady. You will want to ask your child about this unusual artist. The children definitely used their imaginations and contributed to the class discussion about their observations of the painting. The Picture Lady was quite impressed! Yea class!

I wanted you to know that the math test on Unit 2 is coming home tomorrow. As I was grading the tests, I discovered that many of the children made too many mistakes on one page for me to overlook. As a teacher, I have to stop and ask myself... does this mean I didn't teach it well or do we need more practice. So, today we spent our math time reviewing addition and subtraction with regrouping and trading and then working on the Ballpark estimate. I am going to keep the grade as it stands. BUT, I am going to give an additional test on Thursday using the same format as the exercises 10 through 14 but with different numbers. I will add that score into the test score. I feel that this is a fair way to treat this situation. This seldom happens, but when it does, I always blame myself first and then go from there. However, the children as a whole still struggle with basic adding and subtraction facts. We learned a strategy today whereby you pair numbers together that are easier to add. For example: 25+3+5+7=? One would group 25 and 5 and 3 and 7. It is traditionally easier to add number that end in 0 and 5. This is a strategy for mental math computation. I also find that they assume that if the first 3 problems on the paper are adding, then they all must be addition. We will continue to work on proofreading!

Thursday is a big day. Items that are due are: Poem, Spelling test, Reading comprehension sheet, How Big is a Foot. Don't forget to listen to them read it orally. We discussed at length the intent of the assignment which is to focus on repetitive phrases and sentences which give meaning to the text and make the story more fun to read.

I am finding that it is hard keeping up with the All About Me posters with everything else that we do in the mornings. So, I have a different approach. I would like the children to go ahead and turn them in to me as soon as they are finished, if they have not already done so. Then I will pull one out as a surprise for that day. Then if we don't do one on a particular day, feelings don't get hurt.

If anyone has a little blow up pool ring that fits your third grader, please email me and let me know. I am thinking that at our Town Meeting on Monday, we will present interesting facts from A to Z on Florida as a cumulative activity to the end of our study. The children don't know this yet, so don't spoil the secret. But, do email me so I can see how many if any that I would have to use as props.

Make sure you read over the parent letter for our new Unit in Math. We will doing a great deal of measuring in this unit.

I hope everyone has a great evening!

Finally Friday!

The children are coming home with their Wordly Wise workbook in the backpacks. They will have a quiz on Lesson 2 words on Monday. With a four day week next week, I had to rearrange some responsibilities. I suggested that someone should read the definitions to them a couple of times and try to match the word and then have them orally read the words twice. The children will also receive a list of spelling words with dictation next week. Amongst our regular responsibilities we have the following next week as well: Guidance, Picture Lady, and a performance entitled, Jigsaw Jones.

The October poem is due on Thursday. These poems help reinforce public speaking and presentation. I have asked the children to practice in front of a mirror pronouncing the words correctly and clearly. Don't forget the title.

Our class will make a presentation at Town Meeting on October 19. At this time, I do not have a clue as to what we will be presenting. But, I wanted you to know ahead of time in case you wanted to come and watch. The presentation is only designed to last 5 minutes or so and will reflect some aspect of our curriculum. Please feel free to come and join us. Town Meetings begin around 8:05.

Here is the new blog challenge for the weekend:
35+45+10+9+12-7-10+54+100-31+89+200-67-54+25=? Once you get your answer, turn that number into money with a dollar and cent sign and of course a decimal. Show your work and your answer in your agenda. I have to see proof that you did the adding and subtracting without the help of a calculator.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday Announcements!

Wow... where does the week go!!!!!!!

Homework tonight is as follows:
Spelling Test...
Practice the October poem that is due on October 15...
Reading Activity on Thomas Jefferson.. please make sure you sign the assignment along with
your child...

You will want to ask your child about our writing activity today. I gave them 5 minutes to list all the things that drive them "batty." Then they wrote a paragraph describing the top 3 things that drive them batty, complete with explanation. They are now writing this paragraph on "bat" stationery. So cute!

We used this writing activity for a lesson on conferencing. We set out goals for what each group was to work on while conferencing. The final step of their conferencing was to tell their writing partner one positive element of the paragraph. I will lead them into not only continuing to share a positive element, but also to share an element of the writing that needs additional help without making a personal judgment. This is difficult for this age group, but it can be done. It just needs a great deal of practice.

I have completed my parent conferences and will be sending home the list of words from our Voices Reading Series that I would like the children to practice a little at a time. Take a few at a time and review them as many times as you can stand. Thank you for your continued support!

See if your child can copy this number model in their agenda and bring in an answer on Friday. I have told them to read my blog from time to time. I hope this catches their eye!
23+9+13+59-10-2+17-5+20+100=?

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Homework tonight is as follows:

MATH- workbook pg.53... we worked very hard today on the Trade First Strategy.. take a look at page 50 in their workbook..You may want to ask your child to tell you the little story that goes along with trade first with Mr. Ones, Mr. Tens and Mr. Hundred. Tomorrow I am going to challenge them by giving them numbers in the thousands.

WORDLY WISE-complete the first 5 questions on page 17. They are to reread the story that goes with it before they answer the questions.

HANDWRITING-page 33.. the beginning of cursive

We went to the Science Lab today and used spring scales to measure the force of pushes and pulls. The children compared 5 objects. You may want to ask them what the objects were and if their prediction and hypothesis was correct.

We will complete Unit 2 in Math tomorrow and then on Thursday the children will complete a review test before the final test on Friday.

You will also want to ask them ways that people celebrate birthdays in Vietnam, Australia and Mexico. We are reading stories that share the traditions within different cultures. I loved reading the family trees that came in yesterday.

The All About Me posters are fabulous. I can tell that the children have put a great deal of thought and time into making these posters. On Friday, I will give out the dates for the remainder of the children.

Terrific Thursday!

Thank you all for making conference day so productive! I enjoyed meeting and talking with all of you. If along the way you feel like you would like to come back in and further discuss any topics that we discussed, please feel free to contact me.

Tonight for homework is as follows:
Spelling Test: Syllabication of two consonants in the middle of the word: yellow, sister, blotter, sudden, napkin, dentist, happen, admire, trumpet, number, magnet, contest, invite, moment, final, total, pilot, polo, icy....

Math: Finish completing workbook page 45

Map Work: They must complete both pages.. the front page may be the hardest if they weren't listening closely. All they have to do is list the four kinds of maps and write a SENTENCE about why that map is important to use, or what is its purpose.

Family Tree Sheet: This is not due until Monday. These are the oral directions that I shared with them today. First, put the names of your immediate family members in the roots..(the ones you live with in the house excluding the pets) Next, they were to color any 3 green leaves on the tree. Then they are to write the names of a few family members and special pets in some of the leaves and on other leaves they are right words or phrases that are special and specific to your family... ie. eat chocolate cookies for dessert on Mondays, order out Pizza on Saturdays, grandpa wears a red shirt everytime he comes over the dinner. (things or events that are truly special to your family)

I probably won't send the next batch of papers home till later on next week. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Coming Events!

I hope everyone is enjoying a nice relaxing weekend. I look forward to meeting with you on Wednesday on our conference day. We will have a great deal of information to discuss in a short amount of time. You may want to think ahead of time and perhaps have a couple of questions written out ahead of time. I want to make sure that your questions and any concerns that you may have get addressed as well.

There is another website that you may want to bookmark at home. The National Geographic website is full of fun games and interesting information about all the things that kids love. At some point, this website may even help with a report or homework assignment.
www.NationalGeographic.com/kids

The children will come home with their math test and a few other assignments on Monday. Please look the math test to see where they may still some additional practice at home. Do not panic as we will continue to review basic items such as telling time and money. We began learning strategies to organize information in word problems. They will have a spelling list this week with dictation. We will begin Lesson 2 in Wordly Wise and continue working on our writing in Writer's Workshop. When you come in on Wednesday, you will see some of your child's writing displayed in the hall and around the room.

Great day!

Today was a great day! The children worked really hard in Science, Math and Reading. We went to the science lab and continued making hypotheses and learning about position words and motion. You will want to ask your child about the blocks. We read an interesting Native American myth about how the length of day and night came to be. Ask about the ant and the why he has a skinny waist. We have begun Unit w in math. You will see by the parent letter that came home tonight that we will study fact families, fact extensions, input and output machines, ways to organize word problems to make them easier to solve, ballpark estimates and the counting up method of solving two and three digit subtraction problems. We will begin our new class novel, The Chalkbox Kid.

Homework is as follows:

Reading: Comprehension Activity .... Ant and Bear
Math: Workbook page 31 and Home Link page 35
Science: Complete activity sheet on Motion
Continue to study spelling words and look over the reading vocabulary sheet with the words, mingle, documents, pennants etc.....

Marvelous Monday!

Monday's homework is as follows:

Math- Dootey's Penny War... you are allowed to help the children with the question and the directions, but please try to let them see if they can come up with the answer on their own. This is extra credit, but I did encourage them all to try.

Spelling- Long a words with spellings of a, ai, ay... there is no dictation this week

Map Work- this week the skill is grid maps

We made our two quotation class books today. They are wonderful. I will have them out for you to see on conference day.

I would encourage you when giving directions at home, please try to keep the directions to two or three steps and try really hard not repeat them. I often have the children echo what I say just so I can see what they are hearing. In order for them to become more independent workers, they must have a secure sense of what needs to be done in a sequential order. This comes with practice and little to no repeating. Thank you for your help and support at home.

If you ever have any comments and thoughts with the information in my blog, yet don't want it to be published for everyone to see, please feel free to email me on my Shorecrest email address.

Frizzled Friday!

We have had a good productive, hard working week. I think we all were ready for the weekend! The kids did an awesome job today in computer lab working with their pictures on simple machines. These posters that they created will be coming home on Monday in the work folders. We will leave the computer lab for three weeks and move into Art class.

Most of the children were able to complete their Comic Strips today. Those that did not, will be given time first thing Monday morning to create. We will then move to the next step of writing quotations that include the narration along with the dialogue. I refer to the narration portion as the speaker tag. The children will write one of their own using a comic from the newspaper. We will compile the comics and create a class book. I can't wait!

You will notice that the format of my blog has changed. In order for the children to be able to access Mad Libs, I had to change the template. The Mad Libs games are great for reviewing and learning all parts of speech and just having fun creating silly stories.

The children do have a Math test on Monday. We have completed and reviewed the practice test that is in their homework folder. I gave them plenty of time to ask questions and we practiced many of the skills in repetition. I have asked the children to look over the practice test for 10 to 15 minutes sometime over the weekend. There is no written work.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday Tidbits!

Today was another packed but fun day! Ask your child about using the cameras in computer lab. We are beginning our study of work and force and simple machines.

Homework tonight is:
SPELLING- study words and dictation for the test
READING-complete the "Big Top" reading comprehension sheet...don't forget to sign it
MATH- complete the shopping spree... remember they cannot spend over 100 dollars
Vocabulary-complete the word web.. they chose a word in class from our reading stories and in each bubble they are to write another word or phrase or example that represents that word. For example: Yanking..... they could write a dog leash in one bubble and the word pulling in another bubble. I told the children that they should bring it up at the dinner table to see what you thought about the word. Get Ready!

I would like to begin sharing our "All About Me" posters the week of September 28. I will tell the children what their special day is starting tomorrow.

We have completed our first essay on Friends. The children had to write about their favorite qualities in a friend and then discuss what they enjoy doing with their friend. To complete the project we made paper friends to go with the essay. Very Cute!

Wednesday Homework!

Tonight's homework is as follows:

MATH: Workbook pg. 28 and the Sharing Money challenge.

READING: Complete the comprehension activity entitled America's People. The first two questions have already been restated on the back. They are answer those two questions and then are allowed to choose a third one. They much restate the question and give a specific answer. We are working on restating questions in class, so don't be alarmed if your child has a little difficulty with this skill.

BOOK ORDER: The children came home with a book order form. I told them that they did not have to order any books if they didn't want to. But, if they decide to order books, please have the money in by September 29. Please fill out the form to completely and send in a check made out to Scholastic Books.

For Friday:
Spelling Test and Dictation Sentences
Comprehension Activity, Under the Big Top... don't forget to sign the form
Math Activity... 100 dollar allowance to make purchases.. make sure they cut out pictures and glue on the back of the sheet

The children are allowed to bring in the library books when they are finished with them. They do not have to wait until library time on Monday to return a book.

Ask your child what the word satchels means... we began a new list of words today for reading.

Tuesday Unfolds!

I just wanted to update you on the work that the children came home with today! They are getting much better at organizing their work in class, but I am not completely confident that they can sustain this organization between school and home. I want to help eliminate any stress or confusion for you at home.
Tuesday Homework:
Wordly Wise Quiz on Lesson 1 words. The children should review the definitions using the index cards that they created in class. They do not have to know how to spell them but will be expected to use the words in sentences that will be provided for them. I will give them the list of words to use while taking the quiz.
Math Workbook page 25 and Home Link page 27. This is a review of skills that we have been working on in class. NOW... there is an additional activity sheet in their homework folder, Home Link page 25. This is not due until Friday. I have given the children an allowance of 100 dollars. They are to purchase items that they would like to own without spending more than 100 dollars. I told them they could use the newspaper, a magazine, and a catalog with the pictures that they are to cut out and glue on the back of the sheet. They are only to complete the Actual Price column. We will work on the Estimated Price column in class on Friday.

Picture Day was a success. We were called down to get our picture taken just minutes before PE.

We had some fun in Science lab today. You may want to ask your child about which dissolved more completely.. salt or baking soda. We also completed an experiment using 4 different kinds of balls. The point of this experiment was to teach the concept of constant and variable in an experiment. Ask your child which ball bounced the highest and the "bouncy ball" doesn't count!

Here is a website that you may want to bookmark at home. This website has various science experiments that look to be quite fun. At some point we will have Wizards on Wednesdays where the children will be able to come in and conduct an experiment of their choice for the class. Or if this is not their cup of tea, they can conduct the experiment at home on a rainy day and write up a little summary of the experiment, you sign it, and I will happily give extra credit for added effort. But I have told the children that they must get your permission first and you have to see the experiment before they begin.
www.yucky.kids.discovery.com

Remember dictation is a part of the spelling test this week. I have asked the children to write the sentences at home at least once. Only read them twice before they begin to write and see how well they are able to remember and complete the sentence.

Our birthday celebrities are Alexandra Hairston and Tate Mayo. Happy Birthday!

Monday Kick Off!

There are a couple of new topics coming home tonight that I want you to know about and understand. First, I am going to begin giving the children a comprehension activity on Mondays. They will have until Friday to complete the task. I will not give one every week, but hope to do so every other week. We review the topic in class and I will always go over the activity. However, they are to come home and read the story orally to an adult. Please make sure they are not skipping over words or substituting other words within the text. Then, they are to complete the activity following the directions given. These activities are usually short but effective. You both will need to sign the bottom of the activity sheet before it is returned to class. I have asked the children to decide if they wish to keep the finished product in their homework folder if it's completed prior to Friday or if they will keep it at home. I am leaving this decision up to them as long as it is ready to turn in on Friday morning. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email.
Also, part of the homework tonight is for them to go online to the website below. We will working on quotations this week. As a culminating activity, the children will create their own comic strip. All I want them to do tonight is to play around with the features of the program. They do not have to write or produce a comic strip. This will be done in class. I just thought that the work in class could be done more efficiently if they were familiar with the functions. Mrs. Baralt came into the classroom today and gave us all a lesson on this program. This should great fun!
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com
If you have any comic pages leftover from the Sunday paper that you would like to donate to the class, I would greatly appreciate it.

I do hope everyone had a great weekend! The children are coming home with new library books today. If your child still has one at home and they are ready to return it to the library, please have them come to school tomorrow with these books and I will find time to return to the library.

You will want to ask your child about the word for the day... indebted.. they also have a riddle they can share with you after using the Wordly Wise words. They will have a test on these words on Wednesday. I will have them bring home the workbook on Monday and Tuesday night to study. Thank you for all your help and support!

Happy Friday!

We dove into our pomegranates today! What a treat!!!! I promise that I will sending papers home on Monday. The paper envelope will need to be signed and dated and returned to school on Tuesday. I had some issues in setting up my electronic grade book and then we ran out of time today after computer to pass out papers. You will have a nice stack of papers to look over on Monday. I will also be sending home the rough drafts of an essay that the children wrote on friends and friendship this week. We have already done the editing and revising of these essays and will even create a construction paper friend to go along with the writing. These will be up in the room next week. The spelling tests are looking good so far. But, the children do need to review the words at least twice a week. Starting next week, I will also include dictation sentences with the words. At some point in the year, they will not receive the dictation sentences prior to the test. So, I have discussed with the children that they need to practice writing these sentences as there may be some words in the sentence that aren't familiar to them. We were able to get to the library today and the children were very excited about checking out the new Sunshine State books. I continue to encourage the children to read at least 20 minutes a night, even over the weekend. I hope everyone has a relaxing weekend!

Thursday Thoughts!

Though this has been a short week, we have packed in a lot of work! We are reading a story entitled, America's People. It talks a great deal about ancestors and immigrants coming through Ellis Island. There was a terrific show on public television a week ago on Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. If you have the opportunity to see if the show will have a repeat performance, it is well worth the watch. I wish that I had known ahead of time, I would have encouraged my kids to watch it. Our reading theme discusses traditions and customs of all people. I have been asking the children to think about family traditions and customs that you may have in your home. We will have a math test next week on Unit 1. I will spend a day reviewing the major skills and giving them a practice test. They can then use this practice test to gauge their studies at home. Please make sure that you review all homework and drop me an email if you see any problems at home with the work . We have begun our Scientific Journal by outlining the scientific method and making our own hypotheses. You will want to ask about the baking potato. We are working on a Friendship essay this week. We will begin our study of Personal Narrative writing next week. Remember that the geography project is due on Sept. 14 and picture day is Sept. 15. We had our first fire drill today and the children did a wonderful job. They knew exactly what to do and followed directions to the letter. Always know that your child's safety come first. We enjoyed the introduction to the new Sunshine State books that Mrs. Smay provided on Wednesday. I am encouraging my children to read at least 3 of the titles on the list that she provided. This list should be in your child's homework folder if you have not already seen it. This can be a part of their nightly 20 minutes of reading as a part of the homework process. Thank you for sending me such eager children!

Terrific Thursday!

Tonight for homework the children will need to study their spelling words and complete a Math Home Link activity. I will be sending home the geography project tomorrow. You will need to sign the bottom portion of the project letter and return to me on Tuesday. We have also begun our study of Florida, past and present. The children did a great job reciting our class poem, Keep a Poem in Your Pocket. We certainly have some budding entertainers!

Fabulous Friday!

Thank you all very much for coming last night! I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to come and learn about what's "hoppin" in third grade this year. I additionally want to assure you that I have a no tolerance policy for bullying as does Shorecrest. I expect my children to respect each other and play fairly whether in the classroom or on the playground. I will not have my children calling each other names even if they are playing and know that they are kidding with each other. I want my children to feel comfortable and safe in their environment and not fear being made fun of or excluded from activities. If at any time that a situation arises that involves this issue, I will contact you to set up an immediate conference. I have high expectations for my children and citizenship is just as important as any academic achievement.Though I pride myself on having an open and trusting relationship with my children, there may come a time that your child doesn't share a problem until they get home or sometimes while being tucked into bed. Please feel free to contact me if you feel like I should be made aware of a problem.

I have asked the children to keep a running record of how much TV they watch over the weekend even it's 0 minutes. We are learning how to collect and record data with large groups. We have spent out math time today practicing with other information and I thought the children would enjoy using their own data to review on Monday. They can record the total amount of time in their journal. I did not tell them to watch TV, just to record the amount of time if they did. Thanks for your help.

Please ask your child if they need any additional notebooks. I would like them to have all of their supplies ready starting on Monday.

Remember to check my blog daily... have a great weekend!

Wednesday Updates!

I am trying to get the children into our daily schedule though it changes from day to day. As always at the beginning of the year, I misjudge how long it will take the children to accomplish certain tasks. One of my goals is to make sure they have a secured sense of what a Writer's Workshop is and what is expected. I have also given the children time to independently read so that I may observe the kinds of books they gravitate towards. The entire class has completed the word assessments for our reading program, Voices. I will share all this with you on Thursday night. There is a program prior to the classroom visit. I encourage you to attend this program. I understand that the video is outstanding and a great deal of hard work went into its production. Once we have been dismissed form the JRT, please try and get back to the classroom as promptly as you can. I have much to share with you and I also want there to be plenty of time for you to ask questions.

Homework tonight was: Complete the essay about themselves. They were to discuss various things about themselves from favorite foods, movies, books, games, trips, pets, and holidays. They were to also include any other special information that they wished to share about themselves even if it ended up being a little bit of a repeat from the "white bag" activity. They are to ask you for help in proofreading for checking spelling only. They do not have to recopy the page essay. We will work on that in class tomorrow.

Wednesday Updates!

Marvelous Monday!

We had a great day! I am trying to keep to the schedule that I sent home as I want the children to be comfortable with moving from place to place and what they can expect. The homework tonight is as follows:

Math-Workbook page 1 and a Home Link sheet page 7.. you should also read the Family Letter for Unit 1
Map Work- complete Wednesday-Friday including the challenge section

I attached a sticker with my blog address on it in the agenda. I told the children to leave it there so they would always know where to find it, unless they wanted to tape it to their computer at home.

We organized our Writing Binder today. We have already made two journal entries in their composition notebook as well. You may want to ask your child how he/she liked the book, Be A Perfect Person in Three Days! Our next class novel will be Muggie Maggie.

Looking forward to Thursday night!

Happy Friday!

Today was a great day! It was amazing how much I learned about the children in those little white bags. They showed imagination and creativity in sharing with the class something special about themselves. I do have incredibly talented children. We completed our first novel, Be A Perfect Person in Three Days. On the third day, the main character had to do nothing for 24 hours. After an interesting discussion on what it truly meant to do nothing, I encouraged the children to take 15 minutes this weekend and just sit in a chair by themselves and try to do and think about nothing. I told them they may be surprised how hard that is to do and the sounds that they may hear that they wouldn't ordinarily hear. We wrote in our journal about our first week of third grade and we began our first lesson in math on numbers all around us. The children are to explore the house and see if they can find something that has numbers on it that they have never noticed. Next week we will begin our study of Florida by studying landforms and using map skills to navigate the state. There will be a spelling test on Friday. Please make sure they study the words at least 3 times before the test. The children have the schedule in their homework folder. I told them to keep that in the homework folder as I will be giving you one on BTS night on Thursday. I am looking forward to seeing you. Have a great weekend!

Parent/Student Handbook

Please review the Handbook with your child. You may want to discuss certain items such as dress code, conduct and the acceptable use policy for educational technology to ensure complete understanding. Once you and your child have read this handbook, please go to page 3. Both you and your child will need to sign on this page indicating that you agree that you comply with the policies and procedures stated. I would love to have all of these forms collected by Monday if at all possible. Thank you in advance for your help and support with this task.

First Day Cheers!

We got off to a great start today! I shared a lot of information with the children and I know that it will take a few days for it all to sink in. They did to have their snack and go to PE. I did discuss how the snacks need to be nutritious and not dessert. It would help if the snacks could be packed separately from the lunch container so that it is easier and quicker for them to get it out of the locker. The lockers were a big hit! I did have to share that we don't allow them to decorate the lockers. BUT, when I get the schedule printed, I told them they would be allowed to put the schedule up in the locker with a special magnet. We have begun our first class novel, Be A Perfect Person In Just Three Days. We read chapters 1 and 2 together. Tonight for homework, they are to wear a broccoli necklace. If they absolutely refuse to wear the broccoli, it's not the end of the world, but I thought it would be a fun thing to do for homework the first night. You may want to take a look at their agenda/homework notebook to get familiar with the layout.
Thanks again for sending me such sweet children!

Great Orientation!

Thank you all very much for coming today. I enjoyed meeting both you and your child. Tomorrow the children and I will organize our materials and discuss classroom rules. If your child is missing any materials, I will contact you personally via email. They will also attend PE from 11:00 to 11:30, so please make sure they wear tennis shoes. I will escort the children at dismissal to help them feel more confident with the process. It would be wonderful if you could review the Parent/ Student Handbook that I gave to you this morning. It has a page inside that you and your child needs to sign and then return the form to me. I would love to be able to hand all these in to the office by Friday. Many thanks again for coming today. And thank you for sending such wonderful children.
Your child's new friend,
Renee Hensler

Welcome My Friends

Welcome to Third Grade! I am so happy that you are in my classroom. We are going to learn so many new things. Your are going to love our study of Native Americans of Florida. You will be a part of the first group to go to the History Museum in Tampa. We will play lots of math games, learn our multiplication tables and even learn how to write in cursive. I am excited to get to know each of you through your reading and your writing. I hope you have had a fun and relaxing summer. I traveled to visit my family in Virginia and spent some time in the Outer Banks. I also went on a cruise through the Caribbean and was able to read several good books. I look forward to you writing and sharing your summer adventures as well. Be thinking about a special time for you this summer.