Friday, March 30, 2012

Friday, March 30th

Thank you to all those who came and met me for conferences! I hope that the information you gathered was valuable :) 

Mother Son Dodgeball is tonight at 6:30pm at Poupard!

If you ordered a cheesecake from the fundraiser the cheesecake pick up is Wed. after 2:30 instead of Tuesday.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Monday, march 26th

Thank you to Deondre's mom for being our mystery reader today!!

We also had Keegan's dad in today helping us with our math :) We worked on some math boxes that reviewed concepts from past lessons (making change, addition with carrying, dividing items equally among multiple people, shading in fractions, ect)

Our field trip is on Wednesday! All students who are age 7 or under MUST bring a booster seat!! Please remember to send a booster with your child to school on Wednesday.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Friday, March 23rd

Thank you to Quintez's Grandma for being our mystery reader today!!

Today in class we finished up our Er Ir and Ur word work unit and took our spelling test.  We also read with our buddies, with our book clubs, and by ourselves (yes, we are doing TONS of reading lately--which is wonderful!) In math we worked on 'ballpark estimates' as well as "finding the real answer" with long addition and subtraction.  We also did some math review boxes.

We had a tornado drill today before lunch and the kids did a great job :)

New homework went home today as well as REPORT CARDS!  I am planning to go over everything in the report card during our conference, but if you have any questions when you see it, just let me know! Thanks!

Have a great weekend :)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Thursday, March 22nd

Thank you to Keegan's mom for being our mystery reader today!!

Today in class we reviewed what we learned yesterday about maps.  Ask you child tonight what a compass rose is and show them where you might keep an atlas at your house (most students said they hadn't seen an atlas before)

**If you are signed up for driving to the beauty and the beast play next week, please plan to be at the school at or before 12:20.  We will leave at 12:30 sharp.  More info to come! :)


All students will need to bring a booster seat to school on Wednesday next week.  Please contact me asap if this is going to be a problem for you!

Report cards are coming home tomorrow with a slip reminding you about our upcoming conference time. I will put everything in the homework binder so you will know where to find it!

Have a good night


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

book exchange is tomorrow!!

Tuesday, March 20th

Thank you to those of you who sent back your book orders for the Author visit today! I've read some of the books to the kids and they are SO cute! If you ordered one, I'm sure you won't be disappointed :)

Thank you to the mystery readers from yesterday, Jacob's Dad!
If you ordered a book from the scholastic book order online, I just got the confirmation that they have been shipped and should be here tomorrow or the next day :)

Today in class we practiced with contractions and did work work with the "er" sounds (spelled ER, IR or UR) we also continued some measurement lessons and will soon be measuring volume.  **I am in need of plastic measuring cups for an upcoming lessons.  If you let us borrow yours next Friday, I promise to return in in perfect condition!
We also started our Map skills unit today by looking at different types of maps and learning about the compass rose.

The book fair will begin next week here at school. The schedule is as follows:
Book Fair Dates: Classroom Preview Monday, March 26th 
Shopping Hours:                 Tuesday, March 27th During School Hours, 
                Wednesday March 28th Open During School and 
                during Evening conferences
                Thursday March 29th Open All day and evening
                during conferences.
                FINAL SALES: Friday, March 30th 


Report cards are going home this FRIDAY!

**We are collecting pop cans for tornado victims in the Dexter area. Please send you pop cans in a plastic bag to school this week if you wish to contribute :)

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Thursday, March 15th

Thank you to our mystery reader yesterday, Nylah's mom and our reader today, Hailey's mom! The kids LOVE this time of the day and I think that they deserve this special treat for all the hard work they have been doing in class.

In whole-class reading right now we are working on formulating questions.  Adults formulate questions naturally as they read (I wonder who this character is, I wonder what will happen next, I wonder why that character is acting that way, ect) but children need to be taught to do this.  People who ask questions to themselves before, during, and after reading have a better understanding of the book they are reading.  During DEAR time, the students have an 'I wonder' bubble to record the things that they are wondering about as they read.  Tonight while you are reading Frindle, try asking your child to tell you when they are 'wondering' :)

We also worked today on strategies for taking reading tests.  We did not take a reading test, but went through one together and noticed that the answers to the questions can be found in the passages.  I had the students read the question and then go back to the passage and underline that part of the text.  Students have a tendency to try to recall answers using their memory alone, however, teaching them to find it in the text before bubbling in an answer will REALLY help eliminate errors. There are MANY more tests like this in 3rd grade so we are working on this type of format now in order to get them ready for what's to come.

Tomorrow we will be having an Irish Dance assembly at 1:30 :)

Homework due tomorrow!


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Tuesday, March 13th

Tomorrow is GREEN AND WHITE day.  We are having a spartan themed assembly so wear your spartan gear! If you are no a spartan fan, we still ask that you wear green to support the theme of our assembly but you can just say that it is green for St. Patty's day :)

GREEN conference forms are going home today for you to sign up to have a conference with any special area teacher (if you want a conference with Mrs. Cline, the gym, art, library, or music teacher, or any of the reading teachers) fill out the form and send it back if you'd like! The reading teachers & resource room teacher have a copy of my schedule so that they can try to make your appointment right before or after your appointment with me.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Monday, March 12th

Thank you to our Mystery Reader-- Eleanor's mom!! The kids really enjoyed the book you brought :)

Today in class we worked on fractions with skittles.  We wrote phrases like, "3 out of 16 of my skittles are red."  We also used number lines to compare fractions and find equivalent fractions.

In reading we did a lesson focusing on plural nouns, possessive nouns, and proper nouns. Ask you child what it means when a noun has 's at the end of it tonight!

**A Mom and Son night flier went home today with all the boys as well as a note about Market Day.  If you need further info about either of these events, email or give me a call.  Katharine.Stewart@gpschools.org

Have a good night!

Friday, March 09, 2012

Friday, March 9th

Thank you to our Mystery Reader-- Anthony's mom!! We had a great time with you today :)

New homework went home today.  There are NO Everyday Math pages in the homework this week because we are not ready to move onto the remainder of Unit 9.  I am spending some extra time with the kids reviewing some borrowing and carrying, as well as place value and more practice with FRACTIONS.  I don't want them moving on until we have mastered these concepts so I sent home some addition and subtraction practice for this week. Also, there is not Challenge list in spelling this week.  The list is all contractions and this is an important concept for all levels.

Today in class we practiced rhyming and made a " _______ in my pocket" modeled after the book "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" that our Mystery Reader (3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Davenport) read to us yesterday.  Ask your child what he/she created!

I didn't give the kids any important reminders for their daily behavior sheet today because I honestly couldn't think of any! Everyone is already signed up for conferences, I have all the field trip forms and $, we don't have anything new due, and there aren't any half days or schedule changes I could think of! I guess this means we can all just enjoy this low-key week :)

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Wednesday, March 7

 Thank you to our mystery Reader, Mrs. Halty for coming today! We had a great time :)

In reading we talked about the difference between fiction and non-fiction and started writing a new fiction piece.  Ask your child to explain to you the difference between fiction and non-fiction tonight at home :)
In math we did some (more) fractions.  We compared fractions using fraction strips and then divided large groups of items into small parts and wrote fractions to represent the pictures we drew.


doing some math outside today!


Monday, March 05, 2012

Monday, March 5th

Today in class we finished our George Washington Project (that we worked on last week) and finished some work on the story "Horton Hatches the Egg."   We also got to watch the 10-minute movie of the book as a bonus :)  We have been working A LOT on "making pictures in our minds as we read" and have talked about the "TV in your mind where you imagine" how everything looks, how the characters act, how they talk, ect.

Tonight is the first night of the school-wide book Frindle!!! I hope you all enjoy reading Chapt. 1 aloud to your children :)  Remember, part of the goal is to get families reading together so include your other children, have a Grandparent do the reading, have a high school sibling read aloud to your 2nd graders, ect.  Do whatever works best for your family :)

Regular Day tomorrow!

Sunday, March 04, 2012

Friday, March 2nd

Read-Across-America Day was a success in our classroom on Friday. The entire day was filled with fun activities for the kids and I hope they loved every minute!
Drinking SeussJuice!

We explored the SeussJuice with our 5 senses and used sensory words in our investigation

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Graphing

Green Eggs and Ham :)

We wrote our own "I do not like _____" poems with rhyming words.  Check out what your child wrote this weekend (it's in the orange folder!)

Writing the recipe for SeussJuice :)



NHS Students from Parcells came to our classroom to read us a book and play a rhyming game with us!! They also brought the kids a word search and a maze just for fun :)
We also had our first MYSTERY READER on Friday!! It was Carson's Dad!! I can't post the pic online but I will be hanging it up (with pics from all our mystery readers in March) at school so you can check them out when you come to conferences :)

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Thursday, March 1

***PARENT READING WORKSHOP TONIGHT!! 6-8pm.

****Please read what I wrote yesterday and earlier in the week regarding conference forms and field trip info.


Today EVERY Family in Poupard received a new book!! The book is called Frindle and it is a chapter book that ALL families are going to be reading during the month of March.  Use this book as your "Reading Log" book All month.  This is a HUGE school-wide activity so please make time to participate with your child at home.

Today in class we visited the website Seussville.com Try it out at home!