December Update

Lots has been going on in 3rd grade! Time to catch up on our posts!!


Reading Workshop is in full force! Students visit each of the following stations each week:

• Writer's Studio
  
• Buddy Reading Station
• Listening Station
• Content Area Station
• Word Work with Ms. Combs
• Story Elements with Ms. Fox

Writing Silly Stories in the Writer's Studio

Reading Two-Voice Poems in Buddy Reading Station

We are loving the latest theme in our Open Court Reading Series: Imagination. We are quickly seeing that imaginations are most important if we want our dreams to come true!

In math, students are continuing their work with multiplication tables. We are also learning about geometry. Students show their knowledge of polygons (and their creativity), by creating Polygon Pals.

Snowflake Cafe was a huge success!! For four days in a row, students worked together to run a real live business in our classroom! Students were servers, cooks, cashiers, and clean-up! Not only did we learn a lot about economics, we also made some money too! :)

Our fabulous wait staff

Counting Money as a cashier

Too many cooks in the kitchen?

In last few weeks before Christmas Break, we have been reading The Nutcracker. With all it's wonder and magic, this was the perfect way to end a wonderful first semester of school. So, we celebrated with Nutcracker Day on Dec. 20th. Students crafted their very own unique nutcrackers out of toilet paper rolls, made masks of the Nutcracker Prince and the Mouse King. We even had a math battle on a floor size coordinate grid between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King! To sum it all up, we enjoyed a viewing of the popular Nutcracker Suite Ballet. We enjoyed comparing and contrasting the written story to the artistic dance and music of the ballet.

Our Class Nutcracker and Mouse King, Liam and Alex

Liam and his life-size Nutcracker Prince

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe Holiday Season! See you next year! :)

October Update

We have been so busy in 3rd grade! Students just finished up their first quarter and I have been so proud of their hard work. Not only have they been working hard on learning, we have really created a special classroom community where students are truly learning how to treat each other with kindness, fairness, and honesty. Here is a run-down of what we've been up to in third grade:


In math, we've been reviewing telling time. The students can now not only tell time to the minute, but they can also tell time "the smart way" (ie. "quarter after", "half past", "quarter 'til"). We also began discussing how much time has passed between two events with our study of elapsed time.

Here we are showing our time telling skills as a Floor Clock. The students had to identify which student would be the hour/minute hand based on their heights and then they had to show me the time I stated.




Once a week, third graders are buddying up with our kindergarten friends in Mrs. Forestieri's room for Reading Buddies. The third graders love the opportunity to be role models to our younger friends and read our stories to them. It's been a great way to collaborate and show responsibility across the school.



The second and third graders have been working hard in their Music Class with Mrs. Burns and they put on a fabulous music program in October. The students showed that they have been working on reading and playing rhythms on instruments. In conjunction with our school-wide theme this year, their finale showed us just how we can all "DREAM BIG!"

Below is a clip from Forsyth Academy's 2nd and 3rd graders performing Big Tyme Rush's "If I Ruled the World"

Our First Music Video!

This past week, students have been reviewing and learning the steps to rounding numbers. My students in the past struggled with some of the steps, so I got some inspiration from our friend Beyonce, and changed the words to one of her songs.

Our new song is "It's Replaceable" and the students performed it so that they could share their knowledge with the world!! :)

(We apologize...The papers that the students are holding are supposed to give the viewer an idea of how this works with numbers, however, you cannot see the numbers from far away. We are in the process of working out a way for you to see this process.)

Thanks for watching!!





Song Lyrics:

You must be rounding
You must be rounding
All you need to know is place value
Find hundreds, tens, ones and then you (baby)
You must be rounding
You must be rounding
0 through 4, do no more
5 through 9, and don't forget it, add one more
It's replaceable!

To the left To the left
Everything you had leave it all to the left (ooo)
To the right To the right
All you should have are zeros in sight

Why Rock Stars?

Your child may be coming home, claiming to be a total rock star...and if they are, cheer them on!! :) You may be wondering where the idea for this theme came from and what in the world it has to do with 3rd grade. Some of it has to do with my own personal dream to be a rock star myself, but you may be surprised at just how appropriate it is for a classroom theme.

Is your behavior in tune? Behavior Management System

In the first few days, I explained to the students that being a "rock star" is not just fame and fortune. To be a rock star, it means that you have worked and worked hard to achieve your goal and because you have done that, you have tons of fans cheering you on. We discussed the process to becoming a total rock star:


Today's Playlist (Objectives for the Day) & Key Vocab

1. A rock star must have a goal.

Whether it be to do well on a test or to stay out of trouble in a day, students need goals. We are practicing how to discover things we are good at and things we need more work on. We, then, have to set a goal to reach. A musician would make the goal of having a band and performing and getting praised by their fans for reaching their goal. In the same way, we must all continuously make goals to achieve so that we can stay focused.

2. A rock star must work well with others to make things work.

In order to have a high-functioning band, members must work together. They have to be respectful, motivated, and willing to compromise with others so that the final product is something that everyone is satisfied with. Once the members work together long enough, they even begin to form a special bond as they share their art together. In the same way, 3rd graders (and us adults as well) must work with others in our everyday lives to make things work. We must be willing to listen, to speak with honesty, and to compromise in order to reach a goal. Teamwork is a extremely important in achieving success. This includes teamwork from their fellow 3rd graders, the teacher and parents.

Student-Written Social Contract

3. A rock star must practice, practice, practice.

No one can go out on stage and give a rockin' show without countless hours of band practice! In the same way, there is no way we can expect our students to perform well without constant practice at school and at home. This is in the form of daily review, drills, questions, and challenges. Practice is something that should be constant and consistent. "Practice makes progress" is one of my favorite philosophies of education. Without practice, there can be no progress.

Our classroom library

4. A rock star performs...and does it with confidence!

As a musician myself, I can say, there is no greater feeling than the adrenaline that flows right before you enter the stage in front of a huge audience. You know that you have put in multiple hours of practice for this one performance and you MUST have confidence in your abilities to perform well. Any time students are asked to show their skills, this is their opportunity to shine! There is a positive sense of "pressure" in that opportunity to show what you've got. Third graders must understand that tests, assessments, projects and assignments are not created to "catch them" or to stress them out...but they are opportunities to show what they've got and if they've done their part in practicing, they will have the confidence to perform well! :)

5. A rock star has lots of fans.

You are your rock star's biggest fan. From day one, I have told them that I, their teacher, am one of their biggest fan. We are each other's fans. We are here to support and cheer each other on. Even when our star may fall and have a rough "show", we are here to cheer, encourage, and show love for our favorite rock stars.


The students give each other "Grammys" (affirmations to each other)


So, please encourage your rock star, no matter where they are on their journey to being "The Ultimate Rock Star". They know that in our classroom, the red carpet is rolled out for them each and every morning and I hope that that can encourage them to continue to strive for all of their goals.

First Day of School

We're off to a great start! We just finished our first day together as 3rd graders. After speaking with each other, we all learned that the first day of school can make us feel all kinds of things: nervousness, excitement, anxiousness, even sleepiness! However, I think we all had a good time getting to know each other and getting ourselves back in gear for school.

We spent a good portion of time getting to know CHAMPS. You may hear your child talk about this so I wanted to let you in on the idea. CHAMPS is basically an acronym to help communicate expectations during a given activity. It means:

C- Communication (How should I communicate?)
H- Help (How do I get help?)
A- Activity (What are we supposed to be doing right now?)
M- Movement (Where can I go during this activity?)
P- Participation (How does the teacher/leader know that I am working?)
S- Success

These are not a set of rules, but a helpful tool in communicating procedures in the classroom. The students are involved in the decisions for our expectations of the activities and soon, this will become second nature for all of us.



Just a couple of things for parents and students:

NWEA testing begins next week! Here is Ms. Fox's class schedule:

• Tuesday, Aug. 23- Reading NWEA (12:20-1:20)


• Friday, Aug. 26- Language Arts NWEA (12:30-1:30)


• Tuesday, Aug. 30- Math NWEA (12:30-1:30)

Again, this test is a fantastic way for us to assess where exactly your child is perfoming in these areas and is a great tool for us as teachers and parents to truly see where students strengths and weaknesses are. We will use this data together to plan your child's goals for the year.

Keep posted here for some upcoming photos and info on what your kids are doing in our classroom! :)

3rd Grade Supply List

In case some of you were looking for the 3rd grade Supply List, it is as follows:

• 1 pencil bag (standard size box ~ 8 ½ x 5)
• 1 black Sharpie fine tip marker
• 1 highlighter
• 1 pack of loose leaf, wide ruled notebook paper
• 2 purple solid color two-pocket folders
• 2 orange solid color two-pocket folders
• 2 yellow solid color two-pocket folders
• 2 red solid color two-pocket folders
• 2 blue solid color two-pocket folders
• 2 green solid color two-pocket folders
• 1 fancy pocket folder of your student’s choice (label with your child’s name)
• 2 packs of 24 count Crayola or Prang Crayons (do not label)
• 12 good quality (Crayola or Prismacolor) sharpened colored pencils
• 1 composition books (label)
• 4 dozen good quality #2 pencils (sharpen 1 dozen pencils)
• 1 dozen pencil top erasers
• 1 pair of student scissors (label with your child’s name)
• 4 good quality glue sticks (label with your child’s name)
• 4 low odor dry erase (Expo) markers
• 1 bottle hand sanitizer
• 2 boxes unscented baby wipes
• 1 box sandwich size zipper bags
• 3 large boxes of plain tissues
• 1 box band aids (generic is fine)
• 1 package of paper plates (Optional)
• 1 package of paper or plastic cups (Optional)
• 1 package of napkins (Optional)
• 2 rolls of paper towels
• 1 package of plastic forks and spoons (Optional)
• 1 old clean sock (used as an eraser)
• 1 pair of scissors-( labeled with your child’s name)

**Please label all items that will be kept at your child's desk (pencils, crayons, scissors, folders, etc.)

You may bring these items at Open House or throughout the first week of school. Thank you so much!! I know it seems like a lot at first, but believe me, we use it throughout the year! :)

You Found It!

Welcome to our Class Blog! Here you will be able to keep up-to-date on newsletters, upcoming events, and exciting things that are happening in our classroom. Watch out for what totally rockin' stuff we'll be learning in 3rd grade!