Has your family set up a routine for signing your child's assignment book each night?

September 7, 2012
As you are now well aware, each 3rd grader will bring home his/her assignment book (planner) each day. Each night please check the assignment book and initial it. Your child can check off the homework tasks directly in the assignment book. Please help him/her by setting up a routine for getting it signed each night and returned to school each day.

Finally please mark your calendar for Back to School Night from 6-7 p.m. next Thursday, September 13. It will begin with an address by our principal and then you will visit our classroom. I'm very excited to tell you more about the 3rd grade curriculum and our classroom routines!
 

How We Express Ourselves-focus on Poetry

September 5, 2012

During our first unit of inquiry titled I'm a Poet and I Know It,  under the theme How We Express Ourselves, the students will be looking at how people express themselves with poetry. This unit's central idea is "Expression of ideas, priorities, emotions, and images are communicated through various forms of the written word." Over the next four weeks, we will be reading and writing poetry. During Guided Reading and Writing, students will use a variety of strategies to read poetry and then pra...


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First Week=Done!

September 1, 2012
What a fabulous first week and we ended it with a bang! Check out the photos I posted of our class "expressing themselves." They looked fantastic and we learned a lot about each other!

Today students learned their A.R. Zone and set A.R. reading goals. This is the zone in which they select books to read independently.  If a student picks a book from the library and isn't clear of the level, they can check on the A.R. website. I also sent home book orders today, which are also leveled. As part o...
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How We Express Ourselves

August 31, 2012
Today we launched our first unit of inquiry under the theme How We Express Ourselves. We looked at photos and the variety of ways people across the world express their beliefs and values. On Friday students are asked to come to school "expressing themselves." They can consider clothing, hair, and bringing small items. Students are very enthusiastic and have a lot of ideas!

I'm excited to report that our assignments books arrived! They will come home for the first time on Tuesday. Please send i...
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Day 2: Hot Children in the City

August 28, 2012
Today we continued to build community, specifically focusing on "My Job" as a teacher and "Your Job" as students. We then created Essential Agreements, or rules, to help us be able to do our jobs to the best of our abilities. Our Essential Agreements are:
1. Be a communicator
  • Listen to others who are speaking. Make eye contact.
  • Ask questions when you are curious or need help.
  • Participate
  • Use the correct noise level
2. Be a Risk-Taker
  •     Ask questions
  • Present new ideas
3. Be Caring and Respectful
  • Trea...

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Day 1: A Great Start to a New Beginning

August 28, 2012
Despite the high heat, we had a fabulous day. Luckily our room is on the cooler site of the building and we have air conditioning and a fan. We spent a good chunk of time building our classroom community with getting-to-know you activities and reviewing the I.B. Attitudes. I also introduced the 3C's, our school's new positive behavior program. Be Cooperative, Be Curious and Be Committed. We did a bit of writing and spent some time engaging in math centers, working with different math manipula...
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