Wow - it's been too long!

I sincerely apologize for the length of time between posts.  Unfortunately the blog is an easy thing to push to the back-burner!  Here is going to be a quick update on a few things we've been up to!


We have  a FABULOUS writing celebration for our first (long, difficult) unit of narrative writing.  The kids worked SO hard during this trimester.  It was fun to have a chance to share their writing with others in the grade as well as have a little "toast" to all the things we learned.

We also had a fun time with our kindergarten book buddies right before Thanksgiving.  We made a dinner plate glyph and also pumpkin muffins - YUM!

We also labeled Nolan as we began to learn about the bones in our bodies.  We only need to learn the common names in third grade but it was fun to try with the scientific names! 

Voicethreads to Review Soils

We tried the text comment feature on Voicethread, a program we will be using this year. Students were able to post the things they remembered about the three types of soil we learned about.

Click on the links below to see their Voicethreads.  (Please let me know if it doesn't work for you at home.  There isn't an easy way to put the Voicethreads on here, so I'm trying the links first).

Sand
Humus
Clay

Fire Safety

Some of the fireman from the Town of Lawrence recently visited our classroom to help us learn more about first safety.  The kids were sent home with a few tasks to accomplish.

1. They need to know their address if they don't.
2. They need to learn where their family meeting spot is in case of a fire,  if one hasn't been decided.
3. They need to check their bedroom to make sure there is a smoke detector there.

Make sure to ask your child about these things!  Here are some pictures from the visit.

Botanical Gardens Field Trip Video

Book Buddies

Today we got to visit our book buddies for the first time! We are paired up with Mrs. Neuen's kindergarten class. We had lots of fun getting to know them with M&Ms. We picked one out, matched the color to what we had to say (something we are good at, something about our family, etc) and kept going until we ate them all! I was very impressed with how well all the kids did the first time.

While we were down there, the Golden Apple representative came through and gave Mrs. Neuens and I golden bars from Seroogy's for the kick-off to Golden Apple. As a teacher of distinction last year, I can tell you that the program is a pretty cool one for educators. If you want to nominate a teacher who impacted your child/family, the forms are in the office or can be found here titletown.org/goldenapples if you prefer to email it.

Plant Wordles

We recently learned how to use the website Wordle.  It is a tool to put words together in a unique way.   We will be using it for a variety of projects this year, so we tried with a wordle about ourselves and also words that described our plants.  Enjoy a few of the plants ones below.

Back in the Swing of Things!

I can honestly say that this week finally feels like we are in the swings of things. It definitely took a few weeks to practice routines and learn expectations. We've had the opportunity to use both netbooks and iPads to learn some tools we will use on those. We've finished two MAP tests in the computer lab. We've launched our Daily 5 and CAFE routines in our classroom. Writer's workshop is definitely new and different but something we're working very hard on every day. Multiplication is in full swing! PLants are going and not quite blooming. Compost bags are stinking and rotting. Ew! It's been a busy few weeks and it's only the beginning!

PBIS Reward

The dunk tank was a lot of fun in spite of the rain!

What I Am

This video has a message that is near and dear to my heart. I have LOVED getting to know this group this year and all their personalities. I think they will go far and do great things. I hope that they take the message from this song with them in their future endeavors. They are SPECIAL.

Girls' Play

Yessenia recently wrote a play about an artist they were studying for Mrs. Scanlan. They practiced hard at recess and then performed it today for Mrs. Scanlan. Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Botanical Garden Field Trip

What a beautiful day we were blessed with!  The students were SOOO good and learned a lot.

Glow Stick Dance

The kids recently earned a staff talent show for earning Phantastic Phantom slips for March.  There were many cute and funny skits.  I was part of the Glow Stick Dancers.  Enjoy!

Author in Residence

Many of you probably heard stories of author Katie McKy who visited us this past week at school.  Besides two assemblies, we also got one hour with her.  Students helped with one of her stories and also worked on writing through distractions (leaf blowers, water).  

Schroeder's Flowers

We were fortunate enough to have Schroeder's come and teach us about plants recently.  Some of you were probably very grateful that your child brought home pumpkins or corn! :)  

We learned about bulbs and seeds and had fun getting dirty!

Dental Health Poster Winners!

Two of our classmates were chosen as Grand Prize winners in the Dental Health Poster Contest! The two students are: Lily and Allison! They will each have their posters professionally framed, and will be presented with a prize and recognized at a ceremony in May. At this time, we are pleased to inform you that their posters will be shown by WBAY, next week, presented by George Graphos. Here are the air times/dates:

• Lily :  3/18/2013 from 4-4:30pm
• Allison : 3/20/13 from 4-4:30pm

 Congrats girls! How exciting!

So cool!

Check out Zavion's mom and Zach's sister! So awesome!

Young cancer survivors shine in photos

Happy Valentine's Day!

Box Top Competition

Our next Box Top competition is among us.  In order to give each student a fair chance at a prize, we are going to do things a little different this time.  Every student that brings in 25 or more clipped box tops before February 15th will get a cool Box Top spirit stick.  In order for your submission to count, the box tops must be cut on the dotted line, placed in a small ziplock bag with a slip of paper stating your child's name, teacher and number of box tops.  The top four classes will also win an additional prize.

We are always in need of volunteers to help count and package up the box tops. Please contact Sue Planert to volunteer or with questions at planert@sbcglobal.net.  Let's try to make this another record breaking competition!

Happy Groundhog's Day!

We spent some time with our book buddies this morning making predictions about what the groundhog will see tomorrow.  I think you will find the video that the kids made pretty entertaining!  Enjoy!

eBooks - Cont.

If you want to send your device to school with your child, we can try to get it set up.  The only problem would be getting the app from your iTunes or other app store.  If your child can come with Overdrive or Kindle already installed as apps, I can help!   Please let me know if you need help!

eBooks

The kids and I recently looked at our school district's e-Book library.  This is a very underutilized resource that our library provides.  If you have a Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPod or computer, your child can read FREE books at home. Books are checked out for 2 weeks and will automatically be returned.  Right now the limit is 2 books per time, but students can add books to a Wishlist if they don't want to forget about them.

Go HERE to our school library page to start.  Click on eBooks and the kids will need to login.  They all know this.

If you need a tutorial on how to get your device synced to school's library, look HERE for that.

I highly recommend the Overdrive App and the Kindle App if you have devices that support them.

Please let me know if you need help. Ms. Zurawski is offering a session on these at Tech Night as well.  I hope more and more kids start using these books!

Fallen Timbers - January 2013

Below you will find the video from our field trip.  Please hit the full screen button in the corner to fully enjoy it!