Monday, November 16, 2015

The holiday season is upon us! We have many fun activities planned, including a Thanksgiving party next Tuesday, November 24th. Our Party Chairs are Crystal Stott and Melanie Barker. They are planning a fun craft and activities. A special thanks to them along with our Halloween party organizers which were Brock, Kim Parson and Amy Barrick. They put a lot of effort into that party and the students had a ball!

The following is a list of the sign-ups for the Thanksgiving party:

Apple Slices: Amy Barrick
Chips: Becky Burrows
Chips: Becky Burrows
Cheetos: Becky Burrows
3 cans of olives: Ember Merriam
Cheese cubes: Kim Parson
One jar of pickles: Cassie Nakken
Boxed Apple Juice: Hollie Jewkes
Boxed Apple Juice: Jamie Hunt
Boxed Apple: Melanie Barker
Napkins and Plates: Tara Oldroyd

Next Monday and Tuesday, all of the 3rd grade classes will be taking the SAGE Interim test. This is a tool that will help us determine where are students are at and what we need to do as teachers to help our students improve. This will most likely take the bulk of the time on each of these mornings. Don't plan on any homework these two days(other than the reading).

Have a great week!

Thursday, October 29, 2015

We have now started the second quarter. Our 3rd Grade Thriller was a blast! Thanks to all of you that helped us pull it off!
Here's our class schedule over the next few weeks:

CKLA- Spelling has started with our CKLA program! Word lists will come home on Mondays and the tests will be on Fridays. The students seems to like our Unit 2, Classification of Animals. Through this unit, we are able to cover our living/non-living science curriculum. Ask your child about the characteristics of living things.

Daily 5- Although we are heavily involved with the new LA curriculum, the students are still participating in Daily 5 Read-to-Self, Listening etc.

Math- Students are now working on Chapter 4 which continues on with Multiplication Facts. The students did extremely well on the Chapter 3 test and are excelling in their multiplication assignments. Thank you for your help with homework at home!

Times Table Pass-offs: We are still working on passing off our 0's, 1's & 2's. Thank you to the mothers that so kindly volunteer their time to help with this!

Keyboarding: The unit will conclude with lesson number 20. We are currently working on lesson 12. We will plan to finish up in 3 weeks.

Unit Study: Right now, our unit study is Living/Nonliving, which is taking place along with our CKLA Classification Unit as stated above.

Art: The students are finishing up their bird masks. We sure have creative students!

Music: Students have enjoyed learning dances and seasonal music each week.

Thanksgiving Party: Our Thanksgiving party will be on Tuesday, November 24th @ 2:30. The following is a sign-up list for that party. Thank you to everyone that donates time and supplies so the students can enjoy their holiday parties!

Apple Slices: Amy Barrick
Chips: Becky Burrows
Chips: Becky Burrows
Cheetos: Becky Burrows
3 cans of olives: Ember Merriam
Cheese cubes: Kim Parson
One jar of pickles: Cassie Nakken
Boxed Apple Juice: Hollie Jewkes
Boxed Apple Juice: Jamie Hunt
Boxed Apple: Melanie Barker
Napkins and Plates: Tara Oldroyd


Monday, October 12, 2015

It's hard to believe that soon the first quarter of school will be over. The class has settled in well and is proving to be wonderful! Here is the update of events over the next couple of weeks:

Third Grade Thriller- Those students who have reached 80% or above on their progress report will have earned the opportunity to go to our "Thriller" activity on Friday, October 23rd in the afternoon. We have some dance students from Cedar High coming to teach the Thriller dance to our students. The children will rotate through three different stations, all having to do with a Halloween theme. Those students that are not qualified will need to use the time to catch up their work.

CKLA- We are finishing up our "Classic Tales" unit and are moving onto a unit discussing the classification of animals. The students seem to really be enjoying the stories that go along with our daily lessons. They will also continue working on their word work through the skills strand of the lesson each day. Included in the writing portion of CKLA are many "Think, Pair/Share" topics and discussions. The students have responded to specific questions through writing and are currently exchanging their work with the other 3rd grade classes. Each child will have the opportunity to edit another child's work (anonymously) and have their work edited.

Framing Your Thoughts- We have continued working on sentence structure and predicate mobility this past week.

Math- We have just finished Chapter 2 and will start Chapter 3 today. Please watch for your child's test that is coming home today. Each child can have the opportunity to fix any missed problems and send it back for an improved score. Chapter 3 deals with Multiplication, which we already have a good handle on.

Times tables- We have started out pass-offs. If your child hasn't had a turn to pass off 0's, 1's, &2's, they will soon.

Keyboarding- We are not quite half-way through with our keyboarding lessons, but I'm encouraged to see the class doing so well. Thank you for your help at home!

Cursive- We have completed all of the lowercase letters and have moved on to uppercase.

Fall Break- Please note that Fall Break is next week. The students do not have school Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. (Oct.19-22) Please enjoy your break!

Let me know if you have questions or concerns!


Monday, September 21, 2015

Welcome Back for another great school week! I am looking forward to SEP's next week and the chance to meet with each of you. Your child will be bringing home an appointment time that will hopefully work for you. If not, let me know and we'll work something out.

A couple of things I have remembered, but not told you about:
Snacks- Students are allowed to bring a healthy snack to school to eat at their morning break. They are not required to do this, but some students are very hungry at this time and have a hard time concentrating on their work.
Homework- When your child turns in homework, it should have a parent, sibling, grandparent etc. signature. The signature tells me that it has been checked over. I don't have enough time to check everything, and it is helpful if I can see it's already been corrected.
Library-We have had to change our library time from Thursdays to Tuesdays. This will start tomorrow.
Picture Day- This Friday, September 25th, will be picture day. Information has been sent home and more will be sent before Friday.

Classwork-

GoMath- We are finishing up chapter 1 and will take the test this week. Please watch for a review assignment that will be coming home. Mr. Rowley, our math specialist, has asked teachers to work the majority of the GoMath assignments in class rather than send it home for homework. When possible, I will follow his instructions. The majority of the math coming home will be drill and practice.

Times Tables- We will continue our times table study and look to start our pass-offs the week after next.  We will start with 0,s, 1's & 2's. Please study these times tables with your child on nights when no math homework is sent home.  After 2's, we'll move to 5's, 9's & 10's.

CKLA- We are progressing through our new L.A. program. The students have enjoyed classic tales and especially, "The Wind in the Willows". We have also reviewed core phonics skills and are working through our beginning of the year assessment.

Framing Your Thoughts- Our class is also working on sentence structure through our "Framing Your Thoughts" program.

Keyboarding- We have been able to get the students logged in and ready to start Keyboarding this week. Next week, the first homework will be sent home.

Unit Study (Science/Social Studies)- Right now, keyboarding will take up our "Unit Study" time. As soon as this program ends, we will be hitting science especially hard. We've been able to fit Social Studies into other subjects during the day.

Art/Music/P.E.- The students are enjoying art, music and P.E. each week. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings we have music, and Art is on Thursday mornings. P.E. is on Mondays @ 1:30.

You have sent me wonderful children! Have a great week!


Tuesday, September 1, 2015

September 1st News:
I really enjoyed the "Me Museums"! Thank you for your help at home with them. Our August reading records are now due. Please help your child remember to bring them to school if they haven't already.

We will be having our first store this week. Thank you for the donations that have come in. The students love the store, but it can be quite an expense to do it on my own. Thanks again!
This first store, I am not imposing any grade requirements. After this one, each student will need  80% on their grades to participate. Every Thursday, I plan to have a student-teacher conference where I can help the students make sure they are where they need to be.

CKLA is going well and I am seeing that the students are benefitting from this program. Classic Tales is the topic for the first unit and The Wind in the Willows is the focus story, although we are discussing many stories.

Cursive- We have already learned 7 lower case letters. We will continue working on them in class.

Math- We are on the 2nd lesson of GoMath. Hopefully, you've noticed homework coming home. I plan to send math homework 3 days a week, but normally not on Fridays.
Times Tables- We have worked on Times Tables 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, & 11's.  Please quiz your student on these times tables. We will start pass-offs next month after the students have some time to practice.

Keyboarding- We have had to put off keyboarding because of some technical difficulties. I will let you know when we plan to start.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Friday, August 21, 2015

It has sincerely been a wonderful first two days of school. I have had the best time with your children! I also appreciate the donations that have been sent in and the volunteer help that you are willing to offer.

Almost every child turned their folder in today. That never happens! Thank you for your support with this. No GoMath or LA homework will be sent home throughout next week, but keep your eye out for the reading calendar. The required reading is twenty minutes each school night. They need to be turned in at the end of each month.

This is our schedule for the year:

-Mondays: 12:30- 1:30: P.E.
-Tuesdays: 10:30- Music
-Wednesdays: 10:00-Music
-Thursdays: 10:00-10:45- Art

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
email- marie.holmes@ironmail.org

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Only 4 more weeks of school- It's so hard to believe! The following is an outline of the schedule for the rest of the year:

Reading/Language Arts- The 3rd Graders benefitted greatly from the lessons presented by Mrs. Eves' regarding narrative writing. The students are now working on a narrative writing assignment about our unit of study, which is "A Trip to the Moon". We are also working on the other components of the Daily 5.
Battle of the Books- During our read-aloud time, I have been reading the books from the battle list. We also have several students that have read the whole list and received a treat from Mrs. Marriott.
The students still have a chance to earn this prize.
Reading Celebration- Our reading celebration is scheduled for next Friday, May 1st. The author focus of the celebration is Mo Willems. The point of the reading celebration is to celebrate all of the reading the students have done during the year, along with giving them an incentive to do even more reading during that week.
Math- You've probably noticed that we've been moving rapidly through these last couple of chapters. We have recently finished chapter 10 (Time, Length & Volume) and are midway through chapter 11(Perimeter & Area). Our last chapter, which is 12 and will focus on 2 dimensional shapes. Thank you for your support at home.
Times Tables- Please continue to work on times tables with your child. I will be passing them off until the last week of school.
Unit Study-We have started our "Moon Unit". The students are having a ball and already know so much about this subject.
Mini Mall- I have promised the students that they can give the "Mini-Mall" another shot. I have tentatively scheduled it for Thursday, May 14th in the afternoon. The students can bring items from home to sell to each other.
Store- Our store will be winding down in the next couple of weeks. After that, I will let the students use their "sticks" to purchase raffle tickets. If any of you are willing to send in a prize to be raffled, that would be great. Some ideas: $5 gift cards, books, bags, beach toys & craft sets. Thank you for your continued support this year to make school a fun place!

Monday, March 23, 2015

Next Tuesday, March 31st, the 3rd Grade will be traveling to the west side of town to Diamond Z Arena for our district wide Farm Field Day. The bus will be leaving at 9:00 or so that morning and will bring the students back in time for lunch. That afternoon, we will have our Easter Party. The following is a list of those who signed up:

Plastic Filled Eggs: Amy Wittwer
Plastic Filled Eggs: Sandi Lunt
Plastic Filled Eggs: Robyn Ekker
Plastic Filled Eggs: Brynda Thomson
Plastic Filled Eggs: Tori Jenkins
Boxed Drinks: Lacey McGarvey
Boxed Drinks: Kim Holyoak
Boxed Drinks:

Thank you all for helping with our class parties. The students really enjoy them.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Our schedule has slowed down for the time being while we prepare for testing. The testing window opens April 15th and we will soon be making a schedule for the individual classes. I will let you know as soon as that is figured out. The following is the content that will be covered in the next couple of weeks:

Math- We are almost through with Chapter 8 - "Understanding Fractions". Chapter 9 will focus on "Comparing Fractions". Thank you for your help at home with the homework.

Times Tables- We have had a few students pass off all of their times tables. We will continue working on these until the end of the year.

Reading/Language Arts- Daily 5 continued. To address our 5 reading strategies, we are reading "Third Grade Angels" and "Fourth Grade Rats".  We are reading them in a guided reading setting while completing a work book. Comprehension and fluency are two components we are working very hard to improve. We are also looking forward to some special writing lessons by Rosalyn Eves, a professor at SUU and Andrew's mom. She will focus on narrative writing strategies. Mrs. Eves will be coming in on Monday and Wednesday mornings for the next couple of weeks.

Unit Study- We are still practicing our keyboarding skills three times a week. We have had to put off the moon unit a bit longer so we can get our testing practice in. More science and social studies lessons will continue as testing gets under way.

Music/Art/P.E.- continue as usual

Please let me know if you have any questions. I will be sending home a reminder of the Easter Party in the next week.


Monday, February 2, 2015

It's hard to believe that half of the year is over! Each student is working hard and making so much progress. Thank you for your help at home!

Math- We are getting ready to finish chapter 6 and move to chapter 7. Both chapters deal with division and the students seem to be understanding the concepts.
Times Tables- We are continuing times tables pass-offs. Generally, we are working on 3's, 4's, & 6's. Please keep drilling your child at home.

Reading/Language Arts- We are concentrating our efforts on writing since our writing SAGE assessment is so early this year. (February 10th & 12th) The students are finishing an informative writing on simple machines and will tackle opinion writing next.
Although we are mostly working on writing, we are still doing a lot of reading. All of our Daily 5 areas are covered each day. We are also reading "Third Grade Angels" as a class. The students are working on vocabulary, comprehension, fluency and much more with this unit.

Keyboarding- Yay! All of our 20 lessons are complete. We will still have keyboarding twice a week to keep up the students' skills.

Unit Study- We will soon be working on our "Moon Unit" as soon as our schedule slows down.

Art/Music- In music, the students are working on patriotic music along with the regular core standards. In art, the students have been working on graphic art and mural making.

Valentines Day Party will be on Friday, February 13th @ 2:30 p.m. The students are able to bring a valentine for each student if they wish.  (Please make sure they have one for each student.)Below, I will include a list of students in our class. I will also include the party sign-up list:

Valentines Sign-ups:

Sugar Cookies- Kim Holyoak
 (unfrosted,  one dozen heart-shaped from Lin's- will want to call ahead and order)
Sugar Cookies- Lacey McGarvey
Sugar Cookies- Brynda Thomson
1 container Pink frosting- Kris Slack
1 container White frosting- Amy Wittwer
Small candy for decorating- Sandi Lunt
Small candy for decorating- Rosalyn Eves
One gallon milk- John Jenkins
One gallon milk- Vicky Heiner

Our class:

Lydia
Aidan
Charlie
Madelyn
Andrew
Preston
Conner
Simon
Jace
McKinley
Jantzen
John
Kailoni
Koden
Dontay
Joshua
Katen
Tristan
McKay
Ariana
Bella
Gavin
Bladen
Brooklyn
Levi
Ammon