Showing off!

First two art projects completed and displayed!

To create our Contour Line names we selected 3 colors to trace around and around our names. Every student's name was a different font, and since many selected different colors each one looks so unique!

The second project was based around our goal setting for third grade. We read Nobody Owns the Sky by Reeve Lindbergh, the story of Bessie Colemen. "Brave Bessie" was an African American woman who wanted to be a pilot, but she lived in America during the time both women and African American were dealing with segretation issues. Bessie chose to not give up on her dream, even though everyone told her she should, and ended up moving to France and becoming a well-known pilot. We used this story to begin a conversation about goals and dreams, and how we shouldn't give up if there are challenges and it seems we won't ever achieve what we've set out to do. We then took some time to talk about goals for things we could do during this school year, so they would be attainable. Finally, we created our peeking faces to display these goals. They will be up for you at conferences in October!

Things to watch for next week...

1. September calendar
2. Book order
3. 2 Home Links
4. Remember...no school on Monday for Labor Day!!!

Week 1 Kickoff

Welcome back!!! I am so excited to have the opportunity to offer you a "window into our classroom" through this blog. This is the first year I'm kicking off with it up and running, and I am so looking forward to enhanced communication between school and home. Throughout the year you'll be able to see pictures of students in action along with our current projects, and you'll also gain insight on what specific skills and learning targets your kiddos are working toward each week. I will provide many tips and study strategies for activities you can do at home to boost student learning even further. It's going to be a great year!!!

WRITING

Yesterday began our first full week of school, and we hit the ground running in order to get many of our fall benchmark assessments completed and out of the way. We also dove right into Writing Workshop. During the first few months of school we'll be learning about and writing many personal narratives. Personal narratives are stories about ourselves, and as we learned yesterday (from Mrs. Clarey's ridiculously boring story about going to get a popsicle...ask your third grader about it) they need to have a PROBLEM! Our goal for the week is to compile a list of at least 15 ideas about problems that we could write about. It's been so much fun to listen to students share a story verbally with a friend, only to hear their partner respond with, "Oh! That reminds me of a time when..." We're all making connections to each other and coming up with lots of great ideas to write about!

EVERYDAY MATH

Today we dove into our first math lesson and began to study the way we use numbers in everyday life. We worked on counting by 10s or other numbers (both increasing and decreasing), and solved number puzzles. AND, we learned our first math game...number line squeeze!!!

Read Alouds = Addicting!

One of my favorite times of the day as a student was when my teachers would read aloud, and that has also become one of my favorite times of day as a teacher as well. The first book I chose to read this year is Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. So far we've met Dallas and Florida and figured out that Ruby Holler is a place. I'm not going to spill the beans with any of the details, but you can ask your child about it or check out this page from Sharon Creech's website!

Coming soon to a hallway near you!

We have nearly completed our first two art projects for the year, and I cannot wait to get them up for you to see! Here are a few pictures of the students in action!!!

First day jitters!

Excitement, anticipation, and nerves all began working their way into our room this morning as students began arriving on our first day of school. But by the time everyone left, I could definitely sense that everyone was feeling comfortable and at home in our new little classroom community. Even though my poor kiddos had to listen to me explain a variety of rules and routines, we still found quite a bit of time to get to know each other and have some fun. Here are a few highlights:

• Playing the MM game and sharing different things about ourselves
• Beginning the year as an "active classroom" and skipping or stomping down the hallway 
• Creating nameplates to help everyone to get to know names and show a little about ourselves
• Reuniting with old friends and welcoming a few new faces
• Being one of the first classes to get to check out books from the library
• Reading one of Mrs. Clarey's favorite first day of school books...First Day Jitters!!!

I am so thrilled with the group of students I get to work with this year, and I'm anxious to get to know them and get our routine going! Here's to a great year!!!