Fun Run and No Homework

Parents,

Our class is having a blast preparing for the Stamping Ground Elementary Fun Run coming up soon! Plus, we started learning how to “make a difference” through the Fun Run’s character theme, Backyard Box Office. We’re learning from REAL kids who are dedicated to making people’s lives better. From inventors, to work-class speakers, to business owners, to world-record holders, these five kid difference-makers are inspiring our students to practice five “Character Acts” so they can also make an impact in our community. 

Remember, as you connect to sponsors for the Fun Run, make sure all pledges are entered on funrun.com. The more pledges we get, the more incentives our class earns on our Pledge-O-Meter. Plus, for every $30 per lap our class pledges, three meals will be given to a local person in need through our giveback initiative, A Million Students Strong. Our students are excited to rise to the challenge and give back to our community!

Thank you for your generosity and supporting our school. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Make sure to register your child on funrun.com. He or she will receive a FREE GIFT just for being signed up. Use our school registration code: 765272

Since our class has earned a total of $17 in pledges, everyone got a NO HOMEWORK night tonight! Enjoy your night off from homework, but please remember to sign your child's agenda. If we can earn a total of $20 in pledges per lap, our class will earn 10 minutes of extra recess! We are so close! 

Have a great night! 

Ah....Summer....

Well, I quit using this blog last year as it didn't seem necessary anymore due to the new technology of "Class Dojo." Once Dojo got the messenger app, it became way easier than a blog post and more direct for parents. I know, as a parent, it's way easier for me when the info comes straight to my inbox than for me to have to go to the website.
Now that it's summer and I have time to actually THINK (it's amazing how I can't do that from August to May!), I miss this blog thing. At least I think I do. A little.  So I'm going to share a little something even just to test these blog waters a bit again.
Even though it's only June, here's what I've been working on. Third grade is moving to a new hallway this year. We will now be in "Wing C," formerly known as the 4th/5th grade (aka "big kid") hallway. This hallway is home to me. I taught fourth grade for 14 years before moving down to third and I was in room 171. Guess what? I am moving back to the exact same room! Back to room 171! Yippee for me!! Even better is that I will be closer to all of my besties that I taught with while I was in fourth grade (like Mrs. Price and Mrs. Rase, my former 4th grade partners)! This is all good news...and there's more! This year there will be three third grade teachers. Besides Ms. Fryman and myself, we'll have another teacher and that teacher will be my friend, Mrs. Bonner! This is GREAT NEWS! Could I be any happier!?!?!??! Mrs. Bonner and I coach Academic Team together, so she is already used to my craziness (and she still likes me). I am super thankful and excited for all of these big changes this year. There are lots of other changes in our building this year, so I can't wait to see what this new year holds.
Change can be hard, but I think change is a good thing. Sometimes change is needed for improvement to happen. After all, things can't improve if they always stay the same. So, along with this moving back to my "home" comes a lot of packing, unpacking, and wheeling stuff from one hallway to another; completely decorating a new classroom, etc.
Our school's theme this year is "Under the Sea" (although it's worded cuter than that but I can't remember exactly). The main idea is that we're all different but we swim together (like a SCHOOL of fish)! I love a good pun or analogy! :) You won't see fishy decor IN my classroom but there may be some nearby...you'll just have to "swim" on by to find out. (I told you I love some puns!)
This week, I've worked at home on curtains, decor for my desk, and some organizational materials for my "junk." Last year was one of the most disorganized years I've had and it made a big difference in the kind of year I had overall. I thrive on organization, so I am getting an early start this year. I can never be too organized! I have also been doing some research on guided reading and culturally responsive instruction. Literacy will be a big focus for me this year and I want to improve it in any way I can.
Well, that's enough for today. I plan to go get some sun and enjoy this summer day. I hope you'll do the same! See you soon!

It's Been Awhile...

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed that miniature winter break we had last week! This week has been a little crazy trying to catch up! Please remember that our PTO will be hosting our annual chili supper and auction tomorrow night, February 27th at Stamping Ground Elementary. The chili supper will start at 5:30 PM and the auction will begin at 6:30 PM. The school book fair will also be open from 5:30-6:30 for families wanting to make purchases with their children. Please bring your family for a very fun night of delicious food and wonderful items to purchase! We look forward to seeing you there!!!
Next, we will be having a DR Quiz tomorrow over Week 21 (we skipped Week 20). We are also having a Math Test over Chapter 8. I didn't think we could get it all in this week, but we want to wrap it up so we can move on to Chapter 9 (more fractions!). Students completed a study guide today in class and should be bringing that home for review tonight. I made the actual test a little shorter than the study guide AND it will be mostly multiple choice tomorrow. Even as we continue with fractions, I cannot stress enough the importance of working on basic multiplication and division facts!!!! This really does help in ALL parts of Math!!
Next week will be I LOVE TO READ WEEK! I will send more details home tomorrow about the exciting things happening each day next week for that. Please be sure your child has something to read (appropriate for his/her reading level) in his/her free time for the next week! The Book Fair is happening this week, so this is a GREAT time to buy a new book if you need one! Our class will visit the Book Fair again during our library time on Monday, so please have him/her bring money on that day for shopping!
I will collect Reading Logs tomorrow, so be sure those are signed tonight and brought back tomorrow. Thanks for all you do!!
Have a great night!
BBF

Happy Veterans' Day

Today was a great day! We had some ROTC students from the high school visit us today and discuss the American flag and how we fold/care for it. The class had many questions and were very interested! We also had some guest speakers during our assembly this afternoon that shared some of their military experiences with us. One of the most important things we learned today was to HONOR our vets by THANKING them for their service...so THANK A VET TODAY!! Be sure to ask your child what it means to say "OOOH, RAH!!"
Here's a pic of our class during the assembly today:

 

 

 

In other news, tonight's homework is over the Associative Property of Multiplication. This is a little challenging, so your child may need some extra help. The Associative Property is the "grouping" property. This means no matter how you group the factors in an equation with more than 2 factors, the product is the same. *Important reminder is to always solve what is in parentheses first! So....

if the problem is (2 x 3) x 4, you would multiply 2 x 3 first. The product of 2 x 3 is 6, so you then multiply that 6 x 4 for a product of 24. You could group it differently and still get the same product. Example: 2 x (3 x 4). 4 x 3 = 12, and 12 x 2 = 24. Hopefully this will help if you get stuck tonight!

Other homework tonight is Reading Log and study for DR 12 Quiz on Thursday. There is no Language Arts test this week, but your child should have brought last week's test home yesterday.

Remember to turn in the RSVP if you are planning to join us for Thanksgiving Lunch next Thursday, November 20th. I also sent home a form yesterday about what to do in the event of early dismissal. If you didn't return this today, please send in as soon as possible (just in case!).

Finally, if you are able to send in any treats for our Treasure Box, that would be so helpful!! Everyone has been so good that our supply is running low!

Thanks so much for all you do!

Marvelous Monday

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a restful and wonderful Fall Break! Many of us were tired today as we returned to our regular routine.
Some important things I want you to know:
1. I am submitting the Scholastic Book Order for October tomorrow. If our order totals $100, each student in our class will get a FREE book. We currently have $70 in orders, so if you want to order something, now's a good time! However, there is also the upcoming Book Fair at SGE...and information came home about that today.
2. We will be celebrating Grandparents' Week next week. Our class will receive guests for lunch on Monday, October 20th. A paper came home about this today also. The cafeteria asks that you RSVP if you (or someone else) will be joining our class that day. Our lunch time is 12:10-12:35.
3. Thanks so much to all who contributed to the Sweet Blessings Cake Mix Drive!!! Our class won! The most asked question today was "When is our cupcake party?" The truth is, I don't know and will have to wait until they tell me. However, I think many children will truly be blessed by those donations!
4. Report cards for the first grading period will be coming home THIS Thursday, October 16th. Your child's MAP report for the fall will come home with the report card. The MAP report is yours to keep. If you have any questions regarding the report or the report card, I will be glad to meet and discuss them with you. I do ask that you sign and return the report card after going over it with your child.
5. Thursday is also Kentucky Kids' Day! There will be no scheduled specials classes that day. This means no Music, PE, or Library. We will have some guest speakers joining us that day instead.
6. No school (for students) on Friday! Enjoy the day off with your kids (unless you're a teacher and have to work LOL).
7. On Friday, October 31st, SGE will be having "Dress As Your Favorite Book Character" Day. In order to dress the part of your character, you must have the book with you when you come that day. To go along with this, third graders are going to be required to do a book report and present it (as their character) on the 31st. More info will come home this week about the report and presentation, but students will want to begin choosing and reading a chapter book (or appropriate leveled book approved by the teacher).

More to come later!

Sweet Blessings and Language Arts

 

Sweet Blessings:

We are losing badly! If you have a box of yellow cake mix that you'd be willing to send in, we'd really appreciate it! This "Sweet Blessings" contest ends tomorrow!

 

Below are the tallies as of today:

Napier – 25

Gomez – 45 – currently winning

Duncan - 1

Bonner-  23

Celestino – 3

Fryman – 24

Fredericks-  5

Carpenter - 39 – 2^nd place

Holbrook – 0

Price – 9

Portwood – 2

Bays – 30 – 3^rd place

Walker – 3

 

Language Arts:

There is a Language Arts test tomorrow  over the story "Penguin Chick." This will include the vocabulary, story comprehension, main idea, and words with V/CV and VC/V syllable patterns. I sent home a list of these words today to review sorted by vowel sounds in the first syllable. Only a few of those words will randomly be tested for correct spelling. Common and Proper Nouns are the grammar skill that will be assessed also.

 

The only other homework for tonight is to do the Reading Log. Don't forget that tonight is Giovanni's Night!! Consider picking up a pizza and helping our school earn money.

 

Just one more day....then enjoy your Fall Break!!

 

The week ahead...

Hi! I want to thank everyone who attended the Family Fun Night last Friday night! It was a lot of fun, and I think it was a success for our school. Thank you to everyone who donated in any way. A special thanks goes to Mrs. Gibson, Mrs. Ruber, Mrs. Iwankovitsch, Mr. and Mrs. Spore, Ms. Palmerton, and Mr. Gallagher for volunteering to work our class game. The Basketball Shoot was a lot of fun!! Our PTO worked hard to put this together, and I think it was evident.

One of the biggest complaints from students this year is how hungry they are long before lunch time. I realize that it is a long time from 7am breakfast to lunch at 12:10. The hour before lunch is our Language Arts block which includes reading, writing, grammar, and spelling. This instructional time is far too important to be focusing on how many minutes until lunch. "How long until lunch?" IS the most often-asked question during that hour! So, I am going to try something new this week. I am going to allow students to bring a snack to eat at 10:15 each morning. Students who wish to participate in this must bring their own snack, and it must be appropriate. This means no sugary snacks or potato chips. Suggestions would be granola bars, dry cereal, fruit snacks, pretzels, etc. Absolutely candy or cookies. It also has to be something that can be brought in their lunch box or backpack and does not need to be refrigerated. Drinks will not be permitted. Students will be allowed to get a drink from the water fountain after finishing their snack. This will not be a break from learning, so students will be expected to eat the snack while continuing to stay on task and complete work. IF the snack becomes a problem, or interferes with learning in any way, then it will no longer be permitted. Your child will be responsible for his/her own snack and cleaning up his/her own mess. If a child forgets or loses a snack, then they will face the natural consequence of not having one. Extra snacks will not be provided. So, if your child is hungry and would like to have a snack in the mornings before lunch time, then feel free to send one in this week! I hope this will help us to be able to focus on learning instead of being hungry. :)

Don't forget that Friday is Picture Day! A picture order form went home last week in yellow folders. If your child did not get one, please let me know and I will send home another one. These will be the pictures for the yearbook, and they must be ordered in advance.

Thank you to everyone who helped their child correct his/her Chapter 1 Math Test and return it this week. I know Math is a bit challenging with our new Math series. Even after having this last year, it does get more difficult each year. The "Go, Math!" series includes a lot of reading and problem solving. We will continue to work on these skills throughout the year. This first test reviewed a lot of addition and subtraction skills from 2nd grade, and these are skills that are continually revisited throughout the year. Subtraction with regrouping continues to be a developing skill for many. Thanks for working with your child at home on these skills.
I will average your child's original score with the corrected score for their grade on this first test. I hope this will be a learning tool for students to see what is expected as the year progresses.

Thanks so much for all you do!