Friday, October 28, 2011

Busy Busy Bees!

What a crazy, busy couple of weeks it has been. 

Here's a short list of some of the main upcoming events: 

10/28- Stoney Creek Halloween Bash 11a-2p
10/31 - Halloween and Half Day - Dismissal @ 11:45am
11/11 - Book Orders Due 
11/11 - Field Trip to Meijer Gardens 
11/7 - Half Day Parent Teacher Conferences 1p-8p 
11/10- Parent Teacher Conferences 4-7:30p
11/23-11/25- Thanksgiving Holiday
Halloween Party
Monday is our Halloween Party -- due to the half day, the party will not be that elaborate, but we will still have some fun!  Our party starts at 10:00am with a school-wide recess.  If you are a parent who volunteered to attend - you may come in at this time and help set up while the students are at recess.  When we come in at 10:20 - we only have 10 minutes to get into our costumes - yipes!!  We will need some help here as well.  Then, all guests will head to the gym while we line up and join the parade.  The parade will flow through the hallway, picking up all the classrooms, and through the gym for our guest audience to admire.  
Afterward - guests are welcome to join us as the students enjoy a special snack and a game or two.  
* Please send your child to school in their normal clothing - with costumes in their backpacks!  We will be having a fairly normal morning routine up until our recess!! *   

Multiplication
This week we have officially begun our adventure in times tables!  We had our first quiz on the "2's" this week.  With our multiplication quizes, the students are given 3 minutes to complete the problems as accurately as they can.  Each fact family must be completed with an A to move on to the next.  Example, Henry must get an A on the 2's before getting to take the 3's quiz.  
We started 3's today - though some will still need to take the 2's when it's quiz time.  
Practice, practice, practice!!



Tickets
You may have heard chatter about red tickets and coupons.  Your child is earning red tickets in our classroom.  These are given out for simple tasks - such as being responsible with their planners for the entire week, turning in homework on time, and being a model student throughout the day.  Once every week or two - I will open the Coupon Store.  Here they may spend their tickets on fun coupons (all worth different "red ticket" values).  Some coupons are eat an extra afternoon snack, do half of the homework, write in pen all day, wear a hat, or even sitting at the teacher's desk for a day (super fun for them ... not so much for me! :P ) 

This weekend I will do my best to prepare a newsletter explaining the new grading and redoing criterea now that October is over - along with a Volunteer Sign Up for Nov/Dec - and I want to prepare our next Job Applications to come home this week.  Wish me luck on getting all these tasks completed!! 
Happy Weekend! Hopefully I will see some of you tomorrow at Stoney Creek's Halloween Festival!!


 

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Long time, no post!

Wow - I'm a slacker blogger these days huh?  Sorry!!

Here are our Word Study lists for the week: 

Unit 7: 3rd Grade Word Study
10/24/11
Long i patterns
(-i_e, ie, igh, y, -ye)  

 Regular 

combine
silent
mind
provide
define
write
polite
bright
delight
deny

 Challenge
 
describe
appetite
cried
exercise
hibernate
realize
twilight
tonight
lightning
 pry

CMW
want
new
too
also
      our


Upcoming Events: 

10/31 - Halloween and Half Day - Dismissal @ 11:45am 
11/11 - Book Orders Due 
11/11 - Field Trip to Meijer Gardens 
11/7 - Half Day Parent Teacher Conferences 1p-8p 
11/10- Parent Teacher Conferences 4-7:30p
11/23-11/25- Thanksgiving Holiday

Monday, October 17, 2011

Important Notes!

How many times can I post in one day? :)

In today's Communication Folders there are several important notes for you to fill out and return to school!

1.  Parent/Teacher Conference Requests

2.  Field Trip Permission Slip

3.  Lunch for Field Trip Request

If you have any questions on any of these - please contact me!

Facebook Frenzie


About half of our classroom's families expressed interest in a Facebook group for our class. 

However, instead of creating a group page - it was easier for me to create a classroom "Page".   This is much easier for me to manage and control.  If you're interested, log into Facebook and search for "VandenBergs Third Grade" then "Like" it.   This is a public page under the "Education" category - so anyone who "likes" our page can view the information.  I'm still looking into the additional security settings to make sure we're as safe as possible. 

The blog will still be a main form of communication - but this is a way for you to connect more with other families in our classroom!

Busy Week!

Wowza - we've got a lot going on this week!

Tomorrow we'll be taking a 2-part Math MEAP test.  Please make sure your child is well-rested and has a healthy breakfast tomorrow morning! 

Wednesday we'll be taking our Chapter 3 Math Test.  This will mainly be on rounding, estimating, and comparing numbers with up to 6 digits. 

Friday we will be taking our first Social Studies Test with Mrs. LaRoche - look for the Study Guide to go home soon.  

This week's spelling lists: 

Regular
rotate
behave
daily
layer
eight
break*
plead
scream
valley
breeze
*rule breaker 

 Challenge
translate
entertain
available
highway
decrease
proceed
ceiling
chimney
sneaker
steak*
 *rule breaker 

CMW
always
when
then
said
      into