Working toward our 20 Book Challenge goal!

Scholastic book boxes are exciting for ALL of us, especially when they include new Diary of  Wimpy Kid books!

Also during silent reading time today, some students chose to use whisper phones to help them follow along!  These whisper phones are made with PVC pipes, and help children follow along better, read with expression, pronounce difficult words, and read more fluently!  

For Fruit and Vegetable Friday this week, we had watermelon! 

Have a restful three-day weekend!  See you all on Tuesday!

Back to School Night/First Fruit and Vegetable Friday!

Thank you to all who were able to make it to Back to School Night!  I know it's a big time commitment, especially in the middle of the week with so many other activities going on, and I really appreciate it!

I really enjoyed meeting all of you and I hope that you have a better idea of what third grade will entail.  Please count on it being more challenging than second, but hopefully very rewarding as you see your child progress throughout the year!

If you still have any forms left to return in the Back to School Night folder, please send them in!

We had our first Fruit and Vegetable Friday last week and we tried white nectarines!  They got a 5-star rating from every student in the class.  This is my personal favorite fruit (and one of the reasons why I love summer so much!) and I love it when they're crispy.

  For Fruit and Vegetable Friday, each student starts with a small taste (bite-sized).  Everyone waits for the whole class to be served, and we describe its look and feel.  Then we take a bite and describe the taste!  The writing journals the kids have out are for their observations, rating, and a picture.  By the end of the year, I'm hoping each student will have discovered a few new fresh items they love! 

Quick announcement--we found out this morning that all of third grade will have 40 minutes in the computer lab every Friday!  If your child can practice typing at home, or playing any computer/iPad educational game, that will help as we prepare for the SBAC (new Common Core testing, replacing the STAR test) in May!

First Day of Third Grade!

Welcome to Third Grade!

I am so excited to be starting this new school year with such a wonderful group of students!  I absolutely love teaching third grade, and I look forward to a super year.  

This year we will be learning about fractions, place value, multiplication, and division; writing a variety of paragraphs; reading hundreds (if not thousands!) of pages; discovering how governments work; exploring biomes and energy; and creating beautiful works of art. 

However, we will also be focusing on becoming super citizens--hardworking, responsible, respectful, kind students.  We will be completing community service projects, learning about bullying prevention, and studying a variety of important character traits!

My hope for the end of the year is that each student takes the educational and character lessons with them to fourth grade and beyond!  

Pictures of the first day to come soon!