Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Snow and Ice days= slight change of plans

I was actually hoping this would be our 1st normal week since Christmas! You know what people say when we try to make our own plans, right? Well, I am Not getting the last laugh this time either. 

I had hoped that we could have a normal Spelling week with new words Monday, (ha, ha!) and our normal tests Friday. Then i figured, ok, Tuesday-Friday... Rushing it a little but still do-able right!? (I think the thunder was laughing this time!) 

So, here's the 3rd plan. We will move this week's assessments to next Friday and keep the same spelling words from Wednesday(?) until the 27th. Please note:  We will still do FastFact quizzes this week

Please tell your kids "Hi!", and that I miss them. 

G

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Buckle up, this is a long one!

I've received notice that we will not have school tomorrow. Please have the kids begin Spelling City and read for at least 20 minutes. Maybe make some flash cards with the spelling words. The kids could sort them by endings/suffixes or make sententes for the words. 

You guys could also make flash cards for the addition facts. We have many kids who have not mastered the addition facts (according to out Fast Fact computer game). While they may be doing well getting90+ in 5 minutes, they are not making gains. We do have 2 boys who are now practicing the subtraction facts in class! Yeah!

Now is the time when the kids need to start transitioning to more independent work and expectations. 3rd grade is VERY VERY independent! While we will continue learnig in center groups, what's really more important will be how much work each individual student completes within that center's time frame. 

Writing! Oh my, writing! Time to step this up too! This is my most dreaded activity, the same way it is for the kids. I really need your help from home! If writing has no purpose for the kids then they don't want to do it! Here are some ideas:

1. Begin with writing notes to your child, or have family members send letters or emails to them. Encourage the kids to write/email them back. Be specific, remind the kids to tell what they did, how they felt, where they were...

2. After special or dreadful activities, show your child how to begin a journal. Write your experience, your feelings, the good and the bad. Then on the next page encourage your child to tell how they felt! Maybe glue tickets, pictures taken, maps, postcards, or even let them draw a picture in the journal. This is something you'll treasure when they leave for college, and something they'll treasure when they are our ages.

3. Simply practice penmanship! Their writing needs to begin to fit into the lines of notebook paper. They hate this, but as many of you have mentioned, some of their writing is hard to read. You should see the mad looks they get when I say I can't read their writing (lol and I am pretty good at decifering gibberish too!). I'd like to start teaching cursive in March, but worry that I can't read their print so why try?! 

4. Make their own comics. Read the Sunday Funnies, or Sunday Comics together. Ask them to make the next square of the cartoon or have them then create a 3-5 event comic strip. They can write the words that the characters say (captions). 

Hope you take at least 1 of these ideas to enhance your child's skills. 

Peace! 
G

Friday, February 13, 2015

Valentine's "Game Day!"

We had a good time. 1 grandma, 2 moms, and 2 siblings joined us! Hoping more family members can join us next time!



    























 
Games we learn and play with:
Blockus 
Topple
Headbands
Skip-bo
Uno
Scrabble Jr
Scrapple
Banana-grams
Boggle Jr
Rack-o
Sequence Dice
Yathzee


Thursday, February 5, 2015

Math Strategy Videos

Well, since I'm going between youtube and the blog, I figured I should remind or shw you where we are heading with out 3-digit addition and 3-digit subtraction...  GET READY!  I know how much you loved the strategies for 2-digit addition. I hope this will help you...

Addition Using Base10 with regrouping


Subtraction Using the Number Line

Addition using Expanded Form 

Addition using Partial SUMS (Coming soon!) 


2-digit subtraction with regrouping base10                   

Intro to partial difference                                                 

Partial Difference #2                                                         

Partial Difference #3                                                     

Subtraction- Number line with Friendly numbers           

Think Math Subtraction

Day 3 of Robot Presentations

Yeah!  We made it to day 3 of our presentations! the Robots are all around the media center and are pretty awesome!  Again, you can only view these video clips if you are logged in with the email I have for you or the google+ name I have for you. Also, do not share any videos.  Click on the child's name and it will lead you to their presentation...







Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Continuation of Project sharing! Days 1 and 2! It was taking forever to edit, but I found a much easier way to do IT!!! :)

Only have so much room to post these videos, (OMG!! I have been trying to trim the video clips for hours! Forget that!) so here are links to the presentations on a private youtube channel...

You can only view them if you either log in to your google + or use your email address. They are on Private settings!  Do not share any of them if they are not your child!


So now that you have your movie snacks and the volume is as loud as you can make it, we hope you enjoy the show!!!


















Hope you enjoy the show!!

Day 1 of project sharing! :)

I love when the kids share their projects! They are so proud of themselves, and the work they do with their families. you might have to turn the sound up really high!


Fitzgerald was the first to go. He was very brave! In between project shares the kids were given the chance to ask 2 questions and give 2 complements. 





Carter was excited to share his robot Kevin with us!





Janiya was so proud of her Robot too!