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.