The following post is from Friday...not sure why it didn't publish.

Please have your child login to ALEKS this weekend.  All students have logged in and should know their username and password.  A few students have taken their initial assessment and have a pie.  Ask your child about their pie.  If your child is still working on their assessment please have them continue so they will be up and running with a pie.  Please do not help your child with the assessment...it will be used to place pieces in their pie specific to their needs.  Next Friday, our first ALEKS log will go home and all students will be required to master at least 3 topics a week for homework.  This will take your child no longer than 45 minutes to one hour.  The log will be due back the following Friday.  If you have any questions or concerns just let me know.

Today we...
*wrote a paragraph trying to persuade a reader to not eat fast food.
*read a Scholastic News article on Curiosity and identified the main idea and details.  Ask your child about Curiosity!
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*participated in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.  Ask your child about this!
*solved more collection problems with 3 digit numbers.

Have a great weekend!

Today we...
*finished our Metric Field Day posters and presented them to the class.
*read a Scholastic News article about bison and sequenced events.
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*prepared for tomorrow's spelling test by brainstorming a list of words with the /oi/ sound.
*wrote a persuasive paragraph on whether or not ads should be placed on school buses.
*prepared for tomorrow's Religion test with a chapter 4 review.
*assessed our lastest skills in Math.

Homework:

Religion - study

Reading - log

English - DOL

Spelling - study

Math - pg.  19

Science - study

Have a great evening!

Today we...
*journaled about a photograph of a boy placing prayer flags in trees.
*attended Rosary and Mass.
*created posters to explain our Metric Field Day game.
*read a Scholastic News article about concussions in football.  The boys loved it! :)
*practiced work on writing, read to self, and word work procedures.
*reviewed for Math assessment.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - take home wkst.
             - study

Math - study
         - pg. 20
        
*Please spend sometime throughout the week working in ALEKS and First In Math.  If you have any questions about these programs let me know.*

Have a great night!

Today we...
*journaled a comic strip.
*read a Scholastic News article about hurricane hunters and answered the 5 ws.
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*created compound words.
*edited an article about monkeys.
*discussed the four types of prayer and wrote one.
*combined collections to solve problems.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study

English - DOL

Math - pg. 28

Have a great night!

Today we...
*journaled about what a car of the future might look like.
*found and labeled the features of nonfiction text.
*previewed unit 7 in Spelling (feet, land, side, without, boy)
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*read a Scholastic News article on the Presidential Candidates.
*listened to The Energy Bus.  Ask your child about it!
*wrote a response to The Energy Bus.
*discussed ways to show we believe in God.
*solved 2 and 3 digit equations in story problems.
*created a field day game that involves measuring.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study

Math - pg. 24

Have a great night!

Today we...
*journaled about a photo of a night winter scene.
*reread Johnny Appleseed for fluency practice.
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*found long vowel words and spelling patterns.
*evaluated our written descriptions based on our pictures.
*discussed ways to show appreciation to parents and guardians.
*solved addition and subtraction equations with 3 digit numbers.

Homework:

Religion - family connect

English - DOL

Reading - log

Spelling - study

Math - pg. 4

Have a great night!

Today we...
*journaled about community service.
*attended Mass.
*drew a picture from a written description.
*attended PE.
*reread a Johnny Appleseed play for fluency practice.
*practiced work on writing and word work procedures.
*brainstormed a list of ch, sh, th, and wh words.
*continued finding the amount of 10s in 3 digit numbers.
*found the temperature of different cups of water.

Homework:

Religion - family connect

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study
             - take home wkst.

Math - pg. 18

Have a great night!

Today we...
* journaled about a photo of storm chasers in a lightning storm.
* read a readers theater about Johnny Appleseed for fluency.
* practiced read to self and word work procdures.
* continued writing a description of a snow person.
* took test over chapter 3 in Religion.
* recognized groups of 10 in 3 digit numbers.
* attended art and music.


Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

English - DOL

Spelling - study

Math - first in math/ALEKS

Have a great evening!

Today we...
*journaled about man's best friend.
*discussed what we know and want to learn about Johnny Appleseed.
*sorted words by spelling pattern.
*continued benchmark testing.
*attended art.
*reviewed Chapter 3 in Religion.
*played Go Collecting.  Ask your child about it!
*wrote a description on a new snow person.
*continued measuring the capacity of a soda can.

Homework:

Religion - study

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study (children, food, form, until, keep)

Math - pg. 9

Have a great night!

Lots of important info coming home today...
**Progress Reports
**First In Math Information (see school newsletter)
**Book Orders, due 10/5
**don't forget about selling trash bags!

Today we...
*journaled about keeping peace in school and family.
*read a measurement article and wrote definitions for new words using context clues.
*continued benchmark testing.
*worked in ALEKS.
*added and subtracted collections of objects.
*found the capacity of a soda can.

Have a great weekend!

Today we...
* journaled about a photograph of a person walking a horse at dawn/dusk.
*began benchmark testing.
*brainstormed a list of /or/ words.
*created a list of descriptive attributes for various objects.
*explored ALEKS.
*discussed ways to show love and respect to our neighbors.

Homework:

Reading - log

Spelling - study

Math - pg. 5
        
Have a great night!

Today we...
*journaled about a photograph of a volcano eruption in Iceland.
*discussed why our written descriptions, pictures, and photographs did not match.
*read and pulled vocabulary out of another measurement article.
*wrote homophones pairs and sentences for each.
*created a 1,000 chart and located numbers on it.
*measured the volume of water in a cup.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study
             - take home

Math - pg. 2

**We will begin benchmark testing tomorrow so please be sure your child gets a good night's rest and a healthy breakfast.**

Have a wonderful night!

We are in need of empty soda cans by Friday.  If you have any, please send them in!  Thanks!

Today we...
*journaled about a photograph of a diver in the mangroves of Central America.
*read an article in our Measurement book and found new vocabulary.
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*brainstormed words with the /or/ sound and found spelling patterns.
*drew a picture based on a written description.
*discussed ways to show love to our neighbors.
*took a Math test over Unit 1.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study

Math - study addition combinations
         - pg. 40

Have a great evening!

Happy Birthday, Hayden!!!

Today we...
*journaled about ways to be a good citizen.
*found interesting words in our Science kit books about measurement.
*previewed Spelling Unit 5, world, going, want, school, important.
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*attended Art.
*discussed how to show love and respect to others.
*reviewed for tomorrow's Unit 1 test in Math.
*found a standard for measuring volume.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study

Math - pg 55
         - study

Have a great night!

Today I will begin recording grades for progress reports.  My Student Progress is not up and running so a paper report will come home next Friday with Friday Folders.

Today we...
**journaled about a photo of a seal and crab.
**answered comprehension questions for Chicken Sunday by using the question to answer in complete sentences.
**practiced read to self and word work procedures.
**took a Spelling test.
**attended Art.
**provided service to our school community.
**discussed and followed problem solving procedures.
**found the amount of water a small sponge can hold.  Ask your child about this investigation!

Have a great weekend!

Today we...
*journaled about making books into movies.
*practiced coaching during partner reading.
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*found words with the /ou/ sound and spelling patterns that made the sound.
*responded to Chicken Sunday in writing while practicing work on writing procedures.
*discussed how good acts are better than material gifts.
*attended library and PE.
*reveiwed concepts and skills with math games.

Homework:

Religion - all about me

Reading - log

English - Thursday DOL

Spelling - study

Math - pg. 52

***Don't forget we are collecting box tops and Zach Melton and his brother, Jacob, are collecting new or gently used coats for kids!***

**We will be providing service to our school community tomorrow, picking up trash, spreading mulch, etc.  Students can wear PE uniforms tomorrow for this service project.**

Have a great night!

ALEKS is now up and running!  All accounts are current and working so feel free to access it at home at www.aleks.com.  If you do not know your child's login and password, let me know and I'll send it to you.  I will not yet be requiring ALEKS for a grade.  As soon as netbooks are free, we will use them in the classroom to access ALEKS and I will give everyone a run through of what they can and should do at home.  As soon as ALEKS logs are given for homework I will let you know and explain how they work.  If you have any questions just let me know!

Today we...
*journaled about crocodile teeth.  Ask your child about it!
*met our student abassadors, Chris Golab and Aubrey Lowery.
*attended Mass.
*attended PE.
*practiced read to someone and read to self using our comprehension strategies.
*brainstormed contractions and the words that make them.
*practiced word work procedures.
*found many ways to make 163.
*measured objects using grams.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study
             - take home wkst.

Math - pg

Have a wonderful evening!

Today we...
*honored those who lost their lives on this day in 2001 by listing everything we are thankful for in our lives.
*observed a moment of silence at 8:46am.
*listened to Chicken Sunday.
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*answered reading response questions during work on writing.
*discussed how to show love toward one another.
*solved problems by adding up coins.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

English - DOL

Spelling - study

Math - pg. 46

Have a great night!

Today we...
*journaled about a photograph of people swimming with horses.
*activated our prior knowledge for another Patricia Pollaco story.
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*created contractions.
*took Chapter 2 Religion test.
*practiced close to 100 problems.
*continued finding a standard for measuring mass.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - write a sentence for there, their, and they're.
             - study (often, don't, together, asked, house)

Math - pg.  43

Have a great night!

Today we...
*journaled about the influence of television.
*listened to Thank You Mr. Falker via storylineonline.net.
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*took a Spelling test.
*reviewed chapter 2 in Relgion.
*continued drafting a letter.
*found all the ways to make 10 which helped us make 100.
*found a standard for measuring mass.

Have a great weekend!

My email seems to be up and running, however I lost all my contacts.  Until I'm able to add you all back into my contacts list and create a group I will continue using the blog.  Mrs. Parsons has asked that we use it as well.

Today we...
*journaled about a picture of a tornado in North Dakota.
*read Thank You Mr. Falker in learning clubs and asked questions.
*practiced read to self and word work procedures.
*wrote long a, long i, and long o words.
*continued drafting a thank you letter.
*
*attended library and PE.
*created flash cards and clues for addition facts.

Homework:

Reading - log

English - DOL

Spelling - study

Math - pg 37

Have a wonderful night!

Today we...
*journaled about our favorite pizza.
*attended Rosary and Mass.
*made measurement comparisons in Science.  Ask your child about it!
*listened to Thank You, Mr. Falker.
*practiced read to someone and word work procedures.
*brainstormed a list of long a words and found spelling patterns.
*continued drafting a letter to a favorite teacher.
*took a Math assessment.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study

Math - pg. 33

Have a great evening!

Email is still down so please write a note or call the school office if you need to contact me.

Email is now down so back to the blog!!!

Email will possibly be down all week as we change servers.

Today we...
**used a circle map to activate prior knowledge for Thank You Mr. Falker.
**practiced read to self and word work procedures.
**previewed a new Spelling unit.
**began a letter to a favorite teacher in our writing draft books.
**discussed using the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us to build up the church.
**reviewed for tomorrow's math assessment.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study

English - DOL

Math - study

Have a great night!

Today we...
**journaled about camp experiences.
**celebrated Mass.
**measured our desks by length and width.  Ask your child what happened!
**used the strategy check for understanding when reading When Jo Louis Won The Title.
**practiced Read to Self.
**fixed grammer and punctuation errors in a sentence.
**practiced Word Work.
**continued work on writing in our draft books.
**solved story problems using a number line.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min. continued

Spelling - study

Math - pgs. 24/25

Have a wonderful Wednesday evening!

Today we...
**wrote a paragraph about our dreams.
**listened to Mrs. Ray read and think aloud When Jo Louis Won The Title.
**practiced Read To Someone procedures.
**found long o patterns.
**practiced Word Work procedures.
**continued writing about our name in our writing draft book.
**used test taking strategies during our first Religion test.
**played Capture 5 in Math.  Ask your child about this game!

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.

Spelling - study

Math - pgs. 11/12

Have a great evening!

Today we...
**brainstormed 5 ways we can help others this week.
**discussed why people might be proud of or embarrassed by their names to build prior knowledge for a new story, When Joe Lewis Won The Title.
**started procedures for a new work station, Read To Someone.
**practiced our new core words for Spelling Unit 2, below, saw, something, thought, both.
**reviewed Chapter 1 in Religion to prepare for tomorrow's test.
**used a number line to solve subtration problems involving 100.
**began a writing a draft about our name.
**tested ways to make "Debbie" spin as she fell to the ground.  Ask your child about our first Science experiment!

Homework:

Religion - study chapter review

Reading - 90 min

Spelling - study core words and words to learn

Math - pg. 17

Have a great night!

Today we...
**answered comprehension questions for Miss Nelson is Missing using complete sentences.  Ask your child how we do that.
**took our first Spelling test.
**attended Music.
**discussed our unified Church.
**solved story problems using a number line.
**took a descriptive writing pretest to help us determine what areas we need to work on this year.
**finished our lifeline posters.


** In your child's Friday folder you will find the list of grade 3 core Spelling words.  Feel free to practice these as well. **
Have a great weekend!

Today we...
**created wanted posters for Miss Nelson and Miss Swamp using lots of adjectives!
**read Miss Nelson is Missing during read to self.
**reviewed patterns for short vowels, this skill will be tested on tomorrow's Spelling test.
**reveiwed Word Word procedures and practiced.
**made a list of forms to write and recorded it in our writing draft book.
**discussed how the Holy Spirit helps us share the Good News.
**attended Library, using a new strategy to pick a "good fit" book, and PE.
**added and subtracted using a new strategy called adding and subtracting by parts.

Homework:

Reading - reading log

Spelling - take home wkst.
             - study

Math - pg 5

***Please return the Highlights forms if you still have one!***

Have a great night!

**Planner money is due on Friday!**  Each third grade student received a planner and the cost per planner is $5.  Thanks for helping your child become a responsible student!

**Entertainment book information went home today...please check your child's backpack for it.**

Today we...

**reveiwed our Mass Manners and attended our second Mass together.
**attended PE.
**summarized Miss Nelson Is Missing using a story map.
**discussed the IPICK strategy for choosing a good fit book to read.
**found antonyms for words in Miss Nelson is Missing.
**brainstormed a list of forms for writing, letter, narrative, etc.
**solved story problems using a strategy called adding by place.
**continued working on lifeline posters in learning clubs.

Homework:

Reading - cont. 90 min.  (reading logs will go home with Friday folders and be due the following Friday)

Spelling - study words

Math - pg.  6/7

Have a great evening!

Today we...
**listened to Mrs. Ray read Miss Nelson Is Missing and think aloud.
**reviewed Read To Self procedures and practiced.
**changed the number of vowels in words to create short and long vowel sounds.
**reviewed Word Work procedures and practiced.
**created a list of topics to keep in our writing draft notebook.
**reviewed Work on Writing procedures.
**discussed how early Christians shared the Good News.
**used pictures to solve addition and subtraction story problems.
**attended Music and Art.

Homework:

Reading - cont.  90 min.

Spelling - study core words

Math - pgs. 3/4

Have a great night!

Forgot the "see below"!

Today as we reviewed school wide and classroom procedures the students were shown our "time out records."  If a student is not following procedure or our lifegoal a verbal warning and redirection will be given.  If a student then continues to choose to not follow a procedure a time out record is completed.  This record allows the student to record an explanation of the behavior, a plan for improvement, and a student, teacher, and parent signature.  The student will bring the record home and talk it over with you, you will sign it, and return it the next day.  I'm also "catching" students using our school wide and classroom lifelines and giving them tickets for end of the week rewards.  Please ask your child about these tonight!

Today we...

**discussed a new learning goal procedure.  (see below)
**took a picture walk through Miss Nelson Is Missing and completed a vocabulary activity.
**previewed Spelling unit 1.  (core words: along, while, might, next, sound)
**brainstormed good news in Religion.
**explored math manipulatives.
**began writing draft books by establishing procedures.
**created lifeline posters with learning clubs.

Homework:

Reading - 90 min.
             - Miss Nelson vocabualry paragraph

Have a great night!

Today we...

**read You Are Special by Max Lucado and created retelling envelopes.  Ask your child to retell the story!

**attended Music.

**wrote a story using a picture prompt.

**learned more about the members of our learning club with a "team talk."

**discussed lifelines (character traits) and named one we have mastered and one we can get better at.

**created a Big 5 group of lifelines to focus on as a class,

It's Friday so lots of important papers are coming home today.  You will find a Highlights magazine information sheet.  Please fill it out for me even if you do not want to receive a Highlights subscription (you can check NO).  If 12 families return the form we can receive a classroom subscription for FREE!

Thanks so much to those families that have brought in loose leaf paper!  I really appreciate your help!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Today I attended a Smart Notebook training with Ms. Hill.  This was the second of three trainings that we will attend over all the wonderful things we can do with the smartboard in our classroom.  Not the best of days to attend, being that it was the fourth day of school :), but I'm very excited to put into practice all the fabulous skills I'm learning.  We should have a smartboard installed no later than fall break.  Even though we do not have one now, I'm still able to use the program and project it onto the whiteboard.  We can't interact with it but it's better than nothing right now!

Your child was probably surprised by my absence today so their first activity was to predict where I might be and write a paragraph about it.  We also created learning clubs with procedures yesterday so they spent most of today practicing skills within their club.  Ask them about their club name, greeting, and handshake! 

I look forward to being back in the classroom tomorrow!  Have a wonderful night!

Today we...

**brainstormed and discussed Mass Manners before we attended our first Mass together.

**created learning clubs with a name, greeting, cheer and/or handshake.

**attended our first PE class.

**completed language arts and math problems as a learning club to practice teamwork.

**listed the parts of a paragraph and wrote one about our favorite part of grade 3 so far.

Looseleaf paper was accidentally omitted from the supply list.  As you are out and about, if you see it go on sale after the back to school rush please let me know where and I'll pick some up.  Thanks!!!

If you have not returned the student information survey, please do so by Friday.  If you need another copy let me know and I'll send one home.

Have a great night!

Today we...

**shared a survey to learn more about each other.
**continued discussing school wide and classroom procedures.
**brainstormed what third graders can, have, and are.
**toured the classroom to find words beginning with each letter of the alphabet.
**reviewed the 5 parts of a sentence and wrote many sentences about the first day of school.
**attended art and music.
**discussed teamwork and created learning clubs.

Have a wonderful night!

Welcome Back!!!

What a great first day! 

Today we...

*created name tags and shared a bit about ourselves.

*introduced new procedures and our school's new pledge.

*discussed this year's theme...Faith In Action, Winning With Team Spirit.

*problem solved during school wide team building activities.

*reflected on the day's ups and downs.

No homework!

**If your child hasn't already brought in supplies, please be sure he/she has at least all folders and notebooks by Friday.**

Have a great evening!