It's Going to Be a Great Year

Hello parents!

I hope that you are all having a wonderful summer and enjoying the time with your children!

I'm so excited about next year!  We have some great things planned and I know the students are going to learn so much.  The units this year are some of my favorites so far.

This blog will mainly be for my third grade homeroom class.  Here you will be able to find out what your child is studying, items needed, lunch menus, supply lists, and more.  It also contains links to sites for my various classes.  The students will use these sites to communicate with me, find helpful links, and keep up with homework assignments.  Feel free to explore and let me know if you have any questions!

I will update this blog every Friday afternoon once school starts.  You may also want to follow by email, which will send you an email each time I make a new post.  If you have a Gmail account, you can become a follower and make comments on various posts.

A few ways you can get a head start:

• Make sure that your child has an email account.  A Gmail account is preferable, as some of the students will be creating blogs using Blogger.
• Make sure that your student is adept at checking email, surfing the internet, etc.  If your child just got a new iPad, make sure he/she is familiar with it before school starts.
• Practice typing.  There are many apps and websites to help your child.  I recommend this one: BBC Dance Mat Typing.
• If your child has not seen The Lion King recently, try to watch it over the summer.  I will be using it during some of our discussions in the first unit.

Have a great summer!  I'll be in touch soon with book lists for 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.

Newsletter May 21 - 25

Wow, how the time has flown.  It seems like only yesterday I was just getting started with my new third graders and now the year is almost over.  I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed working with your children this year.  They are a great group of bright, creative, and funny kids.  They've all touched my heart in so many ways.  I expect a lot from my students and they have rose to meet every challenge I've put before them.  I'm so proud of all they've accomplished this year and the many ways they have grown.  I hope that you all have a great summer and I look forward to working with you again next year!

News to Know

• Lola is this week's snack helper.
• Tuesday is future day, in which students must dress as themselves in the future.  Wednesday is favorite person in history day.  Students should come dressed as their favorite person in history or create a picture.  They should also have a few facts to share about their person.
• If you haven't set up a conference, please contact me to make an appointment.
• Students should arrive for Thursday evening's culmination at 6:00.  The performance will begin at 6:30.
• Friday is a half day with dismissal at noon.

Language Arts

We will finish reading The Giver this week.  Instead of a test, students will write their own endings to the story.  We will continue discussing adverbs and prepositions.

Math

We will continue our topic on statistics and probability.  I have some fun activities planned for this week to demonstrate probability.

Conceptual

We will finish discussing the future tomorrow.  We will also have You in the Future day and Favorite Person in History Day.

Science

We will continue our discussion on animal adaptations with Mr. Trent.  The students did a great job of creating their own animals with special adaptations!

Conferences

Hi parents,

Over the next two weeks, I would like to meet with all of you to discuss your child and his/her progress this year.  I will also have recommendations for the summer to continue your child's growth and prepare him/her for fourth grade.  Please contact me to set up a time.  I've listed my available hours for this week below, and my available hours next week will be similar.  If you cannot meet during these times, please let me know and we can work something out.

Tuesday: 1:00/1:30 or after school
Wednesday: 2:00-end of school
Thursday:1:00-end of school
Friday: 8:30 or after school
Monday: 1:00-end of school

Thanks,
Lisa

Newsletter May 14 - 18

Wow!  It's hard to believe that we are down to the last 2 weeks of school!  This year has flown by.

We had a great week last week.  We learned about the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  We created habitats and caring guides for our pet rocks and learned the "Thriller" dance.

News to Know

• Luke Weathersby is this week's snack helper.  Lola will be next week's helper.
• Students whose family order Scrip by Tuesday may come in free dress on Friday.
• Students will be dressing as themselves in the future on the 22nd and presenting their favorite person in history on the 23rd.

Language Arts

We will continue reading The Giver this week.  I'm so proud of the students for all of their wonderful insights into the novel.  I love hearing them beg for "one more chapter" as we finish reading each day.  We will continue working on adverbs this week.  The students had a lot of fun using Memrise last week, so we will do it again this week.  The link to the words for this week is below.

http://www.memrise.com/set/10027121/giver-vocabulary-week-3/

Math

We will take the Topic 17: Time and Temperature test on Tuesday.  I will send home the study guide Monday. This will be our last test of the year.  We will then begin a topic on data, statistics, and probability.  I think the kids are going to have a lot of fun with this one.

Conceptual

We will discuss the top events of the 2000s.  Students will work in groups to complete a What If? activity in which they must decide how our world would be different if something in history were changed. 

Science

We will pair up with Mr. Trent to discuss adaptations of living things.

Newsletter May 7 - 11

Hello!  I hope that everyone is having a great weekend.  We had such a wonderful week at school last week!  The kids are so excited about the new unit.  This week we learned about the 1950s and 1960s.  The students danced in a sock hop and created some awesome tie-dye t-shirts.  We had a great field day Friday as well!  Thanks so much to everyone who helped out.  I know the kids had a wonderful time.

Also, thank you to everyone who attended and helped out with the Star Wars party.  The students had a great time and we raised a lot of money for next year's conceptual budget.

News to Know

• Will Brett is this week's snack helper.  Luke Weathersby will be next week's helper.
• Students need to bring a shoe box for a conceptual project on Tuesday.  If you have any extras, we'd love for you to send those as well!
• On Friday, students may wear their tie-dye shirts.
• A lot of the students are getting hot at recess.  Please remind your child to dress appropriately for hot weather and to bring a water bottle.

Language Arts

We will continue reading The Giver.  I am so impressed by the students' insights into one of my favorite books.  Although I've read it many times, I'm getting a completely different perspective as I read with them.  We will begin studying adverbs.  We will have a vocabulary test this week.  Students may want to use the link below to study for the words.  This is a great website for students to monitor their progress as they learn new words!

http://www.memrise.com/set/10025657/giver-vocabulary-week-2/

Math

We will continue learning about time and temperature.  We will wrap the unit up this week and I will send a study guide home.  We will take a test on Monday.  The students should not have to study too much, as most of them are picking up time really quickly.  On Tuesday, we will do a retake of the Topic 18 and 19 tests.  I will send home a couple of practice sheets on Monday.  I really want the students to have a good foundation in multiplication and division as they move into fourth grade math next year.  I encourage all of them to keep working on their math facts and longer multiplication and division problems over the summer.

Conceptual

This week we will be discussing the 70s, 80s, and 90s.  We will also be creating habitats for pet rocks, learning the dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and performing some popular 90s songs.  I'm sure your children would love to hear about your personal experiences during these decades!

Science

We will be teaming up with Mr. Trent to continue our study of biology.

Newsletter April 30 - May 4

Wow!  What a year it's been!  I can't believe that we are already to the last unit.  It's been a great year!  I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed having each of your children in my class.  They are all such bright, funny kids and we've had a great time.  I feel so blessed to be able to work at such a wonderful place.

I'd like to commend the students on their work during the World Wars unit.  Their insight into our discussions during both conceptual and reading was wonderful.  The field trip was a great time as well - I was really impressed to see the students so interested in the exhibits.  I'm so proud of all of them!

Thanks to all of you for everything you did to make this unit so great!  The students had such a great time during the Blitzkrieg simulation on Friday.  I really appreciate your help with all of our activities!

News to Know

• Luke Antinnes is this week's snack helper.  Will Brett will be next week's helper.
• If you haven't sent in your Star Wars party form, we will still take them on Monday.
• Please send $1 and a plain white t-shirt by Wednesday.  We will be tie-dying!  This day will also be a free dress day.  Please make sure your child wears clothes that can be stained.
• We will have field day on Friday, May 4th.  Students may wear their BDS jerseys or t-shirts.  We will meet at the Bellegrass fields at 8:30.

Language Arts

We will begin reading our next book this week.  I cannot wait to share this one with the kids.  We will also have a pronouns test on Wednesday.  I will send home a study guide on Tuesday.  We will take the spelling pretest on Wednesday and the posttest on Thursday due to field day.

Math

We will review division on Monday and take a test on Tuesday.  Please review long division with and without remainders with your child.  This is a new concept for the students and they need lots of practice.  On Wednesday, we will begin our topic on time and temperature.  Please encourage your child to practice telling time at home.  Students also need to work on concepts of elapsed time.

Conceptual

I won't say too much about conceptual just yet, but we've got an awesome week planned.  We won't only be be learning history, we'll be experiencing it!

Science

We'll be discussing living things and classification this week.  We will be taking a test at some point.  I will send home a study guide the day before.

Newsletter April 23 - 27

Hi parents!  I hope you are all enjoying this chilly weekend weather!  We have a great week planned for our last week of the world wars.

News to Know

• Emmy is this week's snack helper.  Luke Antinnes will be next week's helper.
• McCall needs a ride for the field trip on Wednesday.  If you can take her, please let me know!
• We will be meeting at the WWII Museum in New Orleans on Wednesday at 10:30 AM.
• On either Thursday or Friday (I'll let you know ASAP) we will be doing a Blitzkrieg simulation activity.  Students should bring a swimsuit to change into - 1-piece or tankini and shorts for girls, trunks and shirts for boys.  We also need water guns (all sizes), water balloons, and water tubes.  Anything you can send will be most appreciated!  I know this activity will be one of the kids' favorites of the year.

Language Arts
We finished Number the Stars last week.  I really enjoyed reading this book with the students - they had some great insights that led to some wonderful discussions.  This week, we will be reading some WWII picture books and doing some activities with the text.  Books include: Baseball Saved Us, Yertle the Turtle, Terrible Things, The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants, Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot, and The Yellow Star.  We will also be creating our own World War II picture book with Mr. Trent's class.

Math
We will begin Topic 19 on Monday.  This topic covers simple long division, with 1-digit dividends.  We are scheduled to finish the topic on Friday and I will send home a study guide this week, but we will not take the test until next Tuesday.

Conceptual
We will discuss propaganda, wartime entertainment, the Blitzkrieg style of fighting, and the end of WWII.  We will be creating our own propaganda, staging a radio show, and simulating the Blitzkrieg.  It promises to be a fun week!

Science
We will team up with Mr. Trent's class to continue our unit on living things.  I will be sending home grades for students' cell models / presentations.  The kids did a great job!