Moon Watchers

Be on the lookout for our class moon journal to come home with your child. Each evening it will go home with a different child. I ask that they look at the moon and then complete the journal. I began with observation #1.
Obviously there will be occassions where the weather or other activities will prevent your child from being able to complete the assignment so I'm including a link to a moon phase calculator that will show you what the moon looked like on that day. Feel free to use it if you were unable to see the moon that evening as well. Happy observing:)
http://stardate.org/nightsky/moon/

Silly Socks Winner!!

Congratulations to Annell Prochnow for winning the silly socks contest! She was one of 4 girls from our classroom who participated in the contest.

Please turn in your Dog Dash monies by Friday, Sep. 18th to be eligible for any prizes. Thanks to you all for your support of our fund raisers.

Grade Check

As we begin the 5th week of school, we have completed one half of the first grading period. As I mentioned at parent night, I grade just about everything your child does. It helps me see where your child needs additional support or on the other hand, if your child is ready to move forward.

At this point, I've entered many grades into PowerSchool. Please take a few minutes to look at what is entered for your child. For some students, you'll see a note next to the grade. For example, there may be an "L" for a late assignment or an "M" for a missing assignment. You may want to speak with your child if these notes frequently accompany their grades.

As you look the the Friday folders each week, please celebrate your child's strengths but also take some time to talk over the areas where improvements can be made. Some things I've noticed is turning in work unfinished, not meeting "at home" reading minutes, and not checking over work to see if the responses make sense. I consistently remind students to look over their work before turning it in but it probably wouldn't hurt to have that reminder from you as well.

Please email or call if you have any questions.

Next Week (Week of Sep. 8)

Hi Families and Students! Another week has flown by-where is the time going?

We will be taking the final two NWEA tests next week on Tuesday and Friday. Get lots of rest and begin those days (if not everyday) with a good breakfast. We are also hoping to get an SRI test taken next week so that we'll have a lexile to help with the selection of books from the library.

Because it is a short week, our spelling pretest will be Tuesday and the spelling pages will be due on Thursday with the final test Friday.

We'll have the Dog Dash on Friday to end our week. Please join us in walking or running during our scheduled time of 9:30-10:00. The information/collection envelopes went home in Friday folders yesterday. Please take a minute to look over it-there's a cool prize for anyone who collects a hundred dollars or more-lunch with a Colts player!!

Have a great three day break and I'll see all my shiny faced 3rd graders on Tuesday:) Speaking of shiny-faced

Things are rocking and rolling

We began this week working on the Monday routines of updating binders, spelling pretests, and reading logs. Please remember that the reading logs for home are for any kind of reading your child does at home whether it be a magazine, a chapter book, or reading a picture book to a younger sibling. Just record the date, title of the book, and the minutes read and at the end of the week have your child add up the total minutes then you'll sign it. Each Monday, when we update binders, that one will be turned in and a new one is put into the binder. The reading log is a part of your child's reading grade.

I've already put some grades in the grade book and those papers will go home in the Friday folder this week. I like them all going home at the same time. If you child gets a paper returned that needs to be finished or redone, it'll be noted at the top of his/her paper. Complete those as soon as possible and return them to me so I can get them in the gradebook.

Today was the best day so far:) As we become more comfortable with the routines and expectations, we usually end up with a few minutes to spare here and there and then we can add in some fun stuff (still learning opportunities of course). When we are waiting in the hallway we work on math vocabulary by playing a "Mystery Number" game. And then we also began a "Guess My Birthday" game today (inspired by Bryan).

It's going to be a great year:)

WELCOME

Hi students and families. Welcome to our classroom blog. In the school's effort to go paperless, this blog takes the place of a classroom newsletter. I load pictures and post events going on in the classroom as needed. Please add this link to your favorites and check it a couple of times a week. Here is our class picture from the first day of school.

SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT

I wanted to share with you what 3rd grade was able to do for Hendricks County Healthy Families. With your help, lots of items were donated. In the meantime, we wrote "Advice from a third grader..." Our students took some time to think about things parents have to do to take care of young children. Guaranteed to put a smile on some parent's faces, the students then gave their advice. Finally, we took what was donated in each 3rd grade class and sorted it all in the science lab. Then we created "home visit bags". Each bag had at least 5 items in it; anything from blankets to outlet covers and diapers to pacifiers. We were able to help 45 familes with newborn children by putting together 45 home visit bags!!
What a great opportunity to help people right here in our county.
Thank you all for your support!