Weather Report

It's Wednesday, December 30 and that means it's time to check the national high and low temperatures as well as the sunrise and sunset (even on vacation). We'll check the blog when we get back to school and record the information.

National High: Miami: 75 degrees
National Low: International Falls, MN: -22 degrees
Difference: 97 degrees

Sunrise: 7:32 a.m.
Sunset: 4:35 p.m.
Amount of Sunlight: 9 hours 3 minutes

We've added 3 minutes of sunlight since the shortest day of the year on December 21st. Use those three minutes for some extra sledding today. It's supposed to get close to 30 degrees.

School House Rocks

Here's a preview of what we will be learning when we return to school. Another fun School House Rocks video.

Math Man

It's a math version of Pac Man!

Math Man

Happy Holidays

Thanks to everyone who gave us gifts for the holidays and for the donations made to the class. They were all very nice gestures.

Thanks again,
Adam, Jessie, and Alstan

Super Hyper Spider Typer

A fun and challenging typing game. I suggest you select the easy option. It starts off pretty easy, but it gets more difficult quickly.

Super Hyper Spider Typer

Star of the Week

Dec. 14-22

The Story of Snow

Here is an e-book called The Story of Snow. I would suggest clicking on the full screen button at the top of the page. I am planning on adding a couple of e-books and games over break so check back often!
The Story of Snow

Weekend Game

Connect all the wires to all the bulbs to light up the whole tree.

Tree Light Up

North Pole

Here are a couple of videos from the concert last night. It's all still pictures that I took before and during the concert. The first video has quite a few more pictures.



The second one is longer, but it has fewer pictures. The graphics that go with it are great.

Christmas Reminders

Gift Exchange
When: December 22nd
How Much: $3
What: Each child will bring a gift for another student. If your child is a girl they should bring a gift for a girl and if they are a boy they should buy a gift for a boy. We will draw numbers randomly to decide who gets the gift.

Holiday Supper
When: We’ll go food shopping on Dec. 17th or 21st.
How Much: Your Choice
What: I know students look forward to giving gifts to teachers, but please donate money to this cause instead of giving me a Christmas gift. Our class will donate a holiday supper to a family who otherwise may not have one. As a class, the students will plan the menu and prepare a shopping list. One or two days before our Christmas break, three students (with parental permission) will go with me to a local grocery store to purchase the groceries with our class donations. The family will be someone who lives in the Iowa-Grant school district, however, neither the students nor I will know who the family is. Mrs. Belken will deliver the food to the family without us knowing who the family is.

Holiday Concert

The Holiday Concert will be next week. It starts at 7:00 on Tuesday, December 15th at the IGEMS gymnasium. Please have your children come to our room by 6:45. After the concert is over, you will be able to pick your child up in the classroom as well. If there is a snow day on Tuesday, the make-up day will be on Thursday, December 17.

Talent Show

Next week the kids will be presenting a talent of theirs to go along with the story we are reading, The Talent Show. Since we are going to be working on the same story for two weeks we will not have spelling words next week. We also didn't take our spelling test this Friday (Dec. 11), because we haven't practiced those words enough. We will take the spelling test on Monday or Tuesday however.

Each child has a talent picked out for the talent show. We will be presenting our talents on Thursday. I plan on taking several photos and will post them in a slideshow on the blog.

Multiplication Station

Combine two numbers to solve the multiplication problem.



Or go to the link below for a larger version of the same game.
Multiplication Station

Snow Day Game

Here is a game for you play on your snow day.

Snowball Duel

Holiday Party

Get a Voki now!


The party will be on December 22nd from around 2:15-3:15. Allyson, Nathan, Keaton, and Kailey will be in charge of the party.

Snow Day Reminders

Here are the best ways to check to see if we are having a snow day, early release or late start due to weather.

The first two places where Mr. Slack will call are WISC-TV 3 and D99.3.

You can also call the school 608.943.6313 and there will be a recorded message from Mr. Slack saying if there is a delay. If there is not a delay it will just have the normal welcome to Iowa-Grant message.

Finally, you can go to WISC-TV 3's website for school closings and sign up for an e-mail whenever Iowa-Grant has any delays. Here's the closing website with the e-mail sign-up to the right of the page: Channel3000.com This link will also be in the top right of the page through the winter season.

I always tell the kids that the more we talk about a snow day the less likely it is to happen. With this post, the storm weakened and we'll only get 2 or 3 inches.

Star of the Week

December 7-11.

Snow Boots and Pants

It's that time of year again, when students have to start bundling up in snow pants and boots. As long as there is only a little bit of snow, like now, kids will be able to go out into the grass on the playground with only boots. However, when we get more accumulation they will need snow pants and boots in order to go out onto the grass.

If students don't have boots they have to stay on the blacktop to play at recess.

Spelling Bowling

On Thursdays we play a spelling game to practice our words for the week. This week's words were especially challenging because they dealt with singular and plural possessive nouns. This week we played spelling bowling. In order to roll a frame of bowling the students had to spell one of their words correctly on their white boards.

Weekend Game

Combine numbers together to solve the problems. There are some tough division problems in there, but don't forget if you divide by 1 the number stays the same.

Arithmetic Game

Holiday Notes

I also sent a letter home with the same information that is on this post.

Christmas Store
When: December 7 at 1:00
How Much: $0.50 or $1
What: Students are able to buy up to two gifts at the store for a 50 cents each. It gives students the opportunity to buy gifts for their parents or guardians on their own. Volunteers wrap the gifts and prepare them to take home.

Gift Exchange
When: December 22nd
How Much: $3
What: Each child will bring a gift for another student. If your child is a girl they should bring a gift for a girl and if they are a boy they should buy a gift for a boy. We will draw numbers randomly to decide who gets the gift.

Holiday Supper
When: We’ll go food shopping on December 17th or 18th.
How Much: Your Choice
What: I know students look forward to giving gifts to teachers, but please donate money to this cause instead of giving me a Christmas gift. Our class will donate a holiday supper to a family who otherwise may not have one. As a class, the students will plan the menu and prepare a shopping list. One or two days before our Christmas break, three students (with parental permission) will go with me to a local grocery store to purchase the groceries with our class donations. The family will be someone who lives in the Iowa-Grant school district, however, neither the students nor I will know who the family is. Mrs. Belken will deliver the food to the family without us knowing who the family is.

Party Committee
When: December 22nd
Who: Allyson, Nathan, Keaton, and Kailey
What: These committee members will bring drinks and treats as well as plan games and activities for our Christmas party.

Science

In science we are beginning Unit B: The Sun, Moon, and Earth. We will do several experiments and read about these things and space for the rest of December.

Multiplying by 5

Reading Calendar

Don't forget that November reading calendars are due tomorrow (Tuesday, December 1st). A couple of students turned theirs in today, but there several more that can turn theirs in tomorrow. The students won't want to miss playing outside tomorrow as the high temperature is supposed to be near 50 degrees! That'll be great for their extra recess.

Star of the Week

November 30 - December 4

Multiplication Baseball

This game goes along with our Everyday Mathematics series. This a game we learn during Unit 4, which is Multiplication and Division.

Multiplication Baseball

Little Grunt

The video should be working now. Give it a try!

Little Grunt and the Big Egg

Star of the Week

This week we began the Star of the Week. Each week we'll have a new Star of the Week who will get their picture posted on the website, get to be line leader, and receive a pencil.

I did not include the child's name along with their picture so their is not too much personal information shared. Also, we make a word cloud at www.wordle.net, which the kids get to take home with them. In the word cloud we list the different things each child likes as well as complements from his/her classmates.

Nov. 24 Update

I was home yesterday with a sick child so I haven't had a chance to make any updates. I'll try to add a couple things in the next couple of days before Thanksgiving.

Here are a few notes:
- We are taking our second unit test in Language Arts this week. The tests are kind of long so we split them up over several days.

- No spelling words this week since it is a short week and we are taking our language arts test.

- We will finish the story of the Mayflower this week as well. We are getting close to the end and if we have time we'll watch a video on life on the Plymoth Plantation.

- Today we are going to RIF (Reading Is Fun) and the kids will be able to pick out a free book thanks to many local merchants.

- We are also making our sparkling cornucopias this week, which is a third grade tradition (some parents may have even made them if they went to Iowa-Grant).

- We are also retaking our last Math test this week too. The kids had a difficult time with the test so we went over it last week and we'll try it again this week.

Friday Game

Decide which math symbol you should use to get the correct answer. Move quickly, but be careful! This game is great for mental math practice.

If you play with the kids make sure they use the terms add, subtract, multiply, and divide instead of calling it by its symbol: plus, minus, and times. That is something we have been working on all year!

Quick Math

Three is a Magic Number!

We will start multiplication today. We will start with mostly the lower numbers during the first unit and then do the larger numbers (6, 7, 8, and 9) later in the year.

Rosie: A Visiting Dog's Story

This weeks story is Rosie: A Visiting Dog's Story, which the students will need to read as their Wednesday homework. The whole story is not on Google Books, but we are going to read the first part of the story in class today so they can read the second half on the computer if they would like. The story is a bit too small to read so here the link too if you want to have the story go full screen: Rosie

Multiplication

In math we are going to begin unit 4 on Thursday (Wednesday is a halfday and we won't have math). In unit 4 we work on Multiplication and Division. We don't learn individual numbers in multiplication, but there are School House Rock videos for each number in multiplication that I'll be adding to the blog during this unit. The first video is about the number zero.

Little Grunt and the Big Egg

Here is the video of the play. It ended up taking over 10 minutes so the quality isn't the best, but it's not too bad. Once again, great job third graders! They really did a great job of being animated.

You can save the video by right clicking on the link and going to Save Target As. From there you can name it and put it in a folder. Since the video is so big, it may not be able to be left on school website past this week (Nov. 20).

Little Grunt and the Big Egg

Little Grunt

The third graders did an excellent job on the play this morning. We practiced all week and they did their best work in front of a rather large audience. Thanks to all those who were able to come. For those who couldn't make it, the tech. staff is working on posting the video and hopefully it will be done by Monday (it's quite a job posting such a long video and the other third grade classes recorded theirs too). As of right now, we will not need any permission slips to put the video up because of the Acceptible Use Policy that was already signed. The video will be posted on the Iowa-Grant website and I will link it on the blog when it is done.

Finally, if any parents who took pictures of the play want to send me pictures I'd love to post some on this site. Please send as many as you have and I'll try to create a short slideshow. I had planned on taking pictures, but got busy and forgot. My e-mail address is avanovermeer@igs.k12.wi.us

Thanks and have a great weekend.

Weekend Game

This is one of my favorite ones yet. We have been working on geometry and area in math and this fits right in. In the game Shape Inlay you will need to place all the shapes into the existing shape. Enjoy!

Shape Inlay

First Quarter Attendance

According to my unofficial figures the Van Clan was here for 97.67% of the time! That means on average, each child missed only a little more than one day per student. That is excellent attendance for the first quarter, especially considering that the flu has been causing many absences in the area.

Keep up the great work!

Testing is Done!

Congratulations third graders on finishing your WKCE testing!

Little Grunts Play

The Little Grunts play is going to be on Friday, November 13 at 9:30 a.m. Mrs. Peat's class is going to come watch the play too. Parents are invited to come as well, but if you can't make it I am planning on recording it and posting it on YouTube.

Weekend Game

Here is the weekend game. Remember that all the games are also linked at the right side of the page. You may want to save this game for another day and go outside and play this weekend. It's supposed to be in the 60s!

Bus Driver's Math

No More Kings

Next week we will begin reading a story about the Mayflower. This Schoolhouse Rock video is a little preview of our upcoming unit.

Lowercase Cursive

We finished lowercase cursive today. Next, we will begin working on the uppercase letters. Even though the kids are very excited to begin writing in cursive, I have asked them to wait until we learn the new letters. The one exception will be cursive, where all the letters are lowercase. To begin with they will write their words in print and cursive to make sure they aren't missing words because of cursive errors. Then after a couple of weeks we'll move to just cursive on the spelling words.

Parent/Teacher Conference Schedule

Below is the schedule for parent/teacher conferences. I will also leave this list on the right side of the page. Each conference is scheduled for 10 minutes so that is why you may see more than one name at each time slot.

Thursday, Nov.12
4:30 - Elizabeth, Brandon, and Trysten
5:00 - Brylie
5:30 - Haylee and Hunter
6:00 - Carter
7:00 - Keaton
7:30 - Hannah

Tuesday, Nov. 17
4:30 - Allyson
5:30 - Nathan
6:00 - Peyton
6:30 - Kailey and Charity

Little Grunts Play

Next week, Friday, Nov. 13, we will be doing a play with our story Little Grunts. I will send out more information about the time later if parents would like to come watch. I will also video record the play and post the video on the blog for parents who can't come.

Reading Calendars

Congratulations to the following students for turning in their reading calendars: Allyson, Brylie, Carter, Elizabeth, Hannah, Haylee, Hunter, Kailey, Nathan, Peyton and Trysten. If you forgot to turn in your calendar you can still turn it in on Tuesday and get your personal pan pizza.

On the student's new reading calendar Sunday, November 1st is a free day that has been crossed off. Since they didn't get their calendars until the 2nd they don't have to read on that day and it does not count as a skip day.

New Challenge: In addition to the extra recess and free personal pan pizza I'm adding a new challenge to go along with the November reading calendar (I feel like a sales person). If everyone in my class turns in their reading calendar finished on December 1st then they will get to vote for what kind of facial hair they'd like me to wear for one whole week! Below are the options they have to choose from.

Crazy Scheduling Week

We have a crazy schedule this week. Below is a list of what is going on each day.
Monday - Practice Language Arts test in the morning. Practice math test in the afternoon. Extra reading recess in the afternoon.
Tuesday - Language Arts and math WKCE test.
Wednesday - Language Arts and math WKCE test.
Thursday - Language Arts and math WKCE test.
Friday - Language Arts and math WKCE test both in the morning. No school in the afternoon. End of the first quarter.

WKCE Testing Week

Here are a few notes about this week and some of the changes that occur because of WKCE testing.

- Monday's Practice Test - I'll grade the multiple choice questions and we'll go over the test together. I'll also send home a sample of what is expected for the writing portion of the test.

- No Spelling This Week - Since we use quite a bit of time testing this week we have to cut out some things. We'll continue spelling again next week.

- Limited Homework - Don't be surprised if your child doesn't have homework most nights. We just don't have a lot of time to go over new material this week.

Reading Calendars

Don't forget that the reading calendars for October will be due after the long break. We will have our extra recess on Monday, Nov. 2nd and beginning this month they will also receive a personal pan pizza through the Pizza Hut Book It program.

I will hand out the November reading calendar on Monday, Nov. 2nd. They will get a free pass and won't have to fill out the calendar on Nov. 1st.

Weekend Game

Line up three pumpkins side by side to keep them from piling up.

Halloween Pumpkins

Galapagos Islands

This week we read Wild Shots, which was about a photographer who took pictures of the wildlife on the Galapagos Islands. On Wednesday we are going to watch a couple short clips of video from the BBC about the islands.

WKCE Testing

When we return from break the students will be taking their WKCE testing. On Monday, November 2nd we'll take the practice test and go over it. Then on Tuesday through Friday we will take one section of Language Arts and one section of Math everyday.

Please try to have your child here for testing (hopefully we got by the flu bug). Also make sure you child gets breakfast and a good night's sleep on that week.

There also won't be much homework on that week either as we won't have much time to go over new material while testing.

Friday Game

Here's a pumpkin carving game.

How to Carve a Pumpkin

The last two weeks in writing we've been working hard on writing a paragraph about how to carve a pumpkin. Below is a great little program that gives very specific details about how to carve a pumpkin. Give it a try!

How To Carve a Pumpkin

Family Reading Fest Cancelled

Due to the vast amount of illness going around Iowa-Grant the district has decided to cancel the Reading Fest scheduled for Monday, October 26. It will be rescheduled in the spring. I will be sending home letters about the cancelation as well.

Parent Pictures

We will be beginning a unit in science next week on the life cycle. The first part discusses changes animals go through in their lifetime.

Our class will be doing an activity that requires them to observe changes, too… but they will be looking for ways you have changed through your life.

Please send a picture of one parent/caretaker from each of the following time periods with your child:
· Infant through 3 years old (or approximately)
· elementary age level
· teenage years
· adult

Enclose the pictures in a Zip-Loc bag or envelope with your child’s name on the bag. It is a good idea to write your name on the back of each picture too. Your pictures will not be harmed or within reach of curious fingers, etc.

Your child needs these pictures no later than Monday, October 26, please. You may send them ASAP, and I’ll hold on to them.

Thank you. The children’s work will be displayed by their coat hooks. I hope you have a chance to look at them the first couple of weeks of November!

School House Rocks Videos

I left a link at the right of the page for the School House Rocks videos that we have used this year in class. It is linked next to the games that we have used this year too.

Nouns!

Early Release

Don't forget that tomorrow, Friday, October 16, is an early release day. We get on the bus to go home at 12:20 tomorrow.

Class Parties

Get a Voki now!


There will be four class parties during the school year. For each party there will be a committee to decide what treats to bring and activities will take place. Each party will take near the end of the day.

Here are the parties and whose in charge of each party:
Halloween
Elizabeth B.
Hannah C.
Haylee C.
Peyton C.

Christmas
Allyson C.
Nathan D.
Keaton D.
Kailey E.

Valentine's Day
Carter G.
Brandon P.
Hunter S.

Spring Party
Charity S.
Trysten T.
Brylie W.

I'll also leave a list of the party committees at the bottom of the sidebar at the right.

Conjunction Junction

This week in grammar we are working on compound sentences, and we're going to talk about conjunctions. The School House Rocks video is Conjunction Junction What's Your Function.

Weekend Game

Beat the computer in adding three numbers to 15. Circle any combination of numbers so that three add up to 15 before the computer gets there.

It's a tough one!

How to Carve a Pumpkin

Vancouver Olympics

Here is a video previewing the Vancouver Olympics, which take place in February. We are going to watch it in class to close out our story about the Olympic Games.

Homecoming Parade

If you are coming to the homecoming parade tomorrow and would like to take your child home when it is over that is okay. Please let me know when you leave with them and sign your child out in the office. It's kind of hectic day so we want to make sure we can check to make sure kids are with their parents or should be on the bus.

Thanks

Reading Fest

The Family Reading Fest will be held on Monday, October 26th at 7 p.m. this year. The theme is "Read Around the World in 180 Days". Hopefully you'll be able to come and be part of the festivities!

Along with the theme we also have passports that get stamped when we read at home. So when they finish their October reading calendar they'll get a sticker that goes the country of Africa for their passport.

Jump Around!

I showed the kids a video of my son's jump around video and they said they couldn't find it on YouTube. So I'll post it here so they can watch it at home if they'd like.

MAPS Testing

The third grade will begin taking their MAPS (Measures of Academic Progress) testing today. This is the first time they have taken this kind of test. The students often get confused and think that the test is about maps when it's really a measure of Language Arts and Math.

Here's an overview:
- The test is taken twice a year. In the fall and in the spring.
- Third graders do two days of testing. One day is langauge arts and the other is math.
- Each day of testing takes around 45-60 minutes.
- The test is taken on the computer and each test is customized for the students.
- When a student gets an answer correct the next question is a little harder and when they answer incorrectly the questions become a little easier so the test measures their current level better.
- The test is designed for the students to miss approximately half the questions.
- The test results will come back within a week or two of all the kids finishing the test so I'll be able to show parents the results at parent/teacher conferences.

PALS

Last week we began training for PALS (Peer Assisted Learning Strategies) and beginning on Tuesday we will start using PALS.

Here is an overview of what we do in PALS.
- Students are paired up into groups of 2 by the teacher.
- One person reads while the other is the coach, checking for questions and asking questions when needed.
- Students take turns reading for about 5 minutes each.
- It takes place three times a week for about 15 minutes each day.
- Each day we have a different objective for our reading (Partner Reading, Paragraph Shrinking, and Prediction Relay).
- The objective is to help studens with oral fluency and comprehension.

This group began PALS in second grade, but there are a few more parts to it in third grade.

Olympic Games

In language arts we are reading about the Olympic Games. I tried to find videos previewing the different games of the winter olympics, which begin in February in Vancouver. I couldn't find any videos previewing the events, except for this preview of a Winter Olympic video game.

So here is a little preview of some of the Olympic Games from Mario and Sonic(however this is not an advertisement to buy the game:)

Name That Number

It's a little early for the Friday game, but today we played Name That Number in Math. Here is a demo of that game from the Everyday Math Series. In the card game we do at school you can add or subract more than two numbers and you can multiply or divide, but in the online version you can only add or subtract two numbers.

Name That Number

September Reading Calendars

Don't forget that reading calendars are due tomorrow (October 1). I have reminded the kids several times too. In order for them to earn their extra recess they need to turn in their calendar with four or less skips and have it signed by a parent.

Below is a picture of the October calendar. I will be sending those home on Thursday. The rules for reading will stay the same.
- 15 minutes a night
- 4 skips
- Have an adult initial that they read that night

Parent/Teacher Club Fund Raiser
The parent teacher club fund raiser is packet is being sent home tonight to the youngest child in the family who is in school. Parent/Teacher Club has been able to help the classrooms a great deal in the last year by buying many of the document viewers and projectors in the classroom. If you participate, money must be with the order form and the due date for orders is on October 9th.

Math Tests
I sent home the math tests tonight (Monday) for the parents to look them over. Overall, the kids did very well. After you have looked over them please sign the tests and return them with the students. I keep the tests for grading purposes. Thanks.

Optional Weekend Homework

I sent home optional weekend homeword tonight. Sometimes, when I have extra home links that we didn't use during the week I send home extra homelinks. They do NOT have to do the homelink. The extra incentive for the students is that they can sign up twice for the homelink boxes we have. If their name is drawn from the box they can win a small prize.

Have a great weekend!

Weekend Game

We have been working a lot on directions and maps. I wish this game also used the cardinal and intermediate directions.


Path Memory

Are You Smarter than a Third Grader?

We have been quizzing the high school tutor when she comes in to see if she knows the answers to the things we are working on. I decided it'd be fun to put the same question on the blog.

So here is the question:
What is the median number in the following list of numbers?
99, 5, 17, 79, 19, 1, 105, 42, and 75

P.S. I put the answer in the comments section. You can check your answer there.

Sept. 24th Update

I will be sending home the student pictures today. Sorry, I had them yesterday and as we dismissed I forgot to hand them out. They will sent home with the kids tonight though.

Also, tomorrow will be our first math test. The first unit reviewed a lot of different math concepts such as time, counting money, counting by 2s and 10s, using a name collection box, and reading tally charts. I think the students will do well on it.

Subjects and Predicates

This week in language arts we are going to work on subjects and predicates. Fortunately, there is a School House Rocks video on this. These videos are my favorite and make for a good introduction whenever possible.

High School Tutor

The Van Clan has a high school tutor for about an hour each morning. Tia will be helping during our reading class.

Gone Friday

I'll be gone tomorrow. Mrs. Fisher will be my sub, so please call the office if you need to make any changes with buses or anything.

Have a great weekend!

Scholastic News

On Fridays we read Scholastic News. It's a kids magazine that goes over current events that insterest third graders. We read our Scholastic News during our Social Studies time.

Keyboarding

About twice a week we go to the computer lab and for much of third grade we focus on learning to keyboard properly. We use Type to Learn 3 and the kids learn two new letters each lesson. As the lessons progress they'll also learn punctuation and numbers.

Word of the Week

This week we add a Word of the Week. Each week we have a new word that the kids will use in their writing and speaking. We come up with a definition for the word on Monday and then use the word throughout the week. Some of the words come from the WKCE Power Words and other words just come from words we use in stories or see from other subjects.

Weekend Game

The weekend game this weekend is hangman. Although when you play the game it's more like a catepillar losing sections of his body when you miss a letter.

Hangman

Cursive

After recess we work on cursive. We work on one letter a day, and today we did the lowercase i. It will be a little while before we are writing in cursive regularly, but by the end of the year we will be writing paragraphs in cursive!

Phone System

Last year we got a new phone system, so teachers now have phones in our room. The phone's ringer is turned off during the school day however, and calls are sent directly to voicemail. If there is a message that I need to hear before the end of the day please contact the IGEMS secretaries.

Below are some common extensions you may use this year. I'll set leave them on the toolbar at the right too.

IGEMS: 608.943.6313
Mr. Van Overmeer's Ext. 1048
Mrs. Quam's Ext. 1040
Absent Student Ext. 1001
Bus Changes Ext. 1000
IGEMS Office 0

Homework

Students will get homework most weekdays except Friday. I will print all their homework on blue paper so they can quickly recognize that they have homework when they open their folder.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday the students will get their math “Home Link” assignment. These go with the Everyday Math series that they had in second grade as well. They should do them at night and return them the next day. So far the students have been excellent at turning in their homework!

Each Wednesday, beginning today, the students will get a language arts assignment. I’ll send home a sheet of paper that has what their assignment will be for that night. When there is a reading assignment they can use that towards the 15 minutes of reading on their reading calendar also.

Homework should not take more than 15-20 minutes a night. If your child is spending longer than that consistently please contact me.

Calendar Updated

The class calendar has been updated to include motivational speaker and homecoming. It's also been moved to the top of the page so it's easier to find.

Summer Reading

Congratulations to the following students for turning in their summer reading calendars. They will be getting their pictures taken on Thursday and I think they will be in the Dodgeville Chronicle the next week.

Great Job!
Allyson
Charity
Hunter
Peyton

Weekend Math Game

Here is a link to a math game for the weekend. In the game you shoot the ball in the middle at another ball on the outside to equal 10. Give it a try, it's kind of fun!

Click the link below to open the game:
Math Lines

Friday Homework

On Fridays I usually don't give any homework to the students. Sometimes I will give optional homework on Fridays that students can do if they want to. They will still have their reading calendars to read and get intialed though.

Side Note

On an exciting personal note, my son had his first tooth peak through last night! It's kind of hard to see with all the baby food, but it's there.

Math Journal Pages

I have the students tear out their math journal pages and take them home when they are done. They will have their first journal pages in their Iowa-Grant folder tonight. I like to send home the pages as the students do the work so parents can see what we are doing.

Milk and Snacks

We have our milk break at 9:00 in the morning after P.E. Your child can bring in a snack for themselves if they would like. Please try to find snacks that are fairly healthy and avoid candy bars, potato chips, and cookies.

Map Skills

Below is a video clip of an introduction to map skills. Throughout much of September we will be working on map skills and working on things like cardinal directions, intermediate directions, longitute, and latitude.

Reading Calendars

I sent home reading calendars today. Below is a rundown on how it works.

Here is an overview:
- Read 15 minutes or more each night.
- Have an adult (can be a grandparent or babysitter too) initial that they read that day.
- Four skips are allowed each month.
- Have a parent or guardian sign at the top of the page.
- Return on the first day of the month (Thursday, October 1st).
- If a student forgets their calendar they won't get the extra recess.
- Earn 30 minutes of extra recess.
- If the calendar is not returned the student will read during the extra recess.

Later in the year, the kids will also be able to recieve a free pizza at Pizza Hut through Book It. That program has not begun yet though, so this month they just earn an extra recess.

Good Luck!

Spelling Test

We will be taking a spelling test on Friday, but it is more so they see how the routine works. We will take a pretest on Wednesday and the test on Friday, but I won't keep track of how they did for the first test.

The morning has been going very well. We're getting through all the rules and directions.

Picture Day!

Don't forget that picture day is on Wednesday, September 2nd. Don't forget to have your child bring in their order form and dress nicely.

Our pictures are at around 11:00 a.m. so we won't have had any recesses yet, but we do have P.E. right away in the morning. Hopefully, they won't get too sweaty during that time.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to the Van Clan News. This year instead of a newsletter I am going to use a blog to update parents about what is going on in the classroom. If you do not have Internet access I will copy and paste all the posts and send them to you once every other week.

As for Internet safety, the blog will have photos of the students, students first names, and possibly student work. In accordance with the school's acceptible use policy the blog will not show last names or personal information (phone numbers, address, e-mail accounts, etc). If you have any questions feel free to ask me or e-mail me about them: avanovermeer@igs.k12.wi.us

As the year goes on I will give parents updates of what we are doing in class, have photos of class activities, have links to useful sites or educational games, and link to educational sites and videos.

Cartoon Characters

Cartoon Characters

Cartoon Characters