Things to Turn In

Two things for Friday!
- First, students need to bring in things for their hobby fair. Just enough to fill their desk.
- The other is their May Reading Calendar.

Other Things Before the End of the Year
- Registration forms need to be turned in before the year is out.
- Finally, any library books that haven't been returned need to be in.


The last homework of the year went home tonight. Several kids had saved a card to get out of their last homework too.

Notes

- The Hobby Fair is on Friday, June 1. Students will need to bring in something for their hobbies to share. It is a pretty informal sharing time and other students will go around and ask them questions about their hobbies. They will get prepared in class, but just need things to share that fit on their desk.

- The May reading calendar is due on Friday, June 1. We'll have our last extra recess on that Friday too. If students are done early they can turn them in tomorrow to make sure they won't forget.

- Next week I'll also be sending home a summer reading packet. Students are not required to them at all, but I wanted to build something to help students stay motivated reading this summer. I'll have more information on this later.

- Finally, last week I sent out an e-mail saying you could donate books if you would like because the library was getting low. Thanks to all those who brought in books. Also, the same day I sent that post I found out that St. Mary's Catholic School, which is closing, was selling their books for $1 each. We were able to add 50 or 60 books to the library with many great series perfect for third graders like Junie B. Jones, Magic Tree House, Boxcar Children, and Bailey's School Kids.

Schoolhouse Rock - Adverbs

We have one more Schoolhouse Rock video for the year!

Math Unit

We will finish up our Unit 10 for math about measurement on Friday of this week. I don't want to push the test into the last week of the school year if possible.

The last week of school we'll only have math on Monday anyway. We'll review the test that we just took. Tuesday we have our field trip, Wednesday is the awards show, and Thursday is a half day.

A Few Notes

- Tomorrow morning is the last day to buy books at the book fair. If you still want to get them I'll send kids down right away in the morning or come tonight to buy.

- Our 50 state test will be tomorrow, May 25.

- We'll also have our last spelling test of the year tomorrow too. Next week we are going to do a reading series that looks at lots of different versions of the Three Little Pigs. We won't do spelling words with that project.

- Pillows are sewn! We got them all done. Thank you Sharon and Sherry!

Hobby Fair

The kids will be presenting a hobby of theirs to Mrs. Moen's third grade class on Friday, June 1st. This is a pretty informal presentation where they share information about their hobby to the students who come to their desk. We started coming up with hobby ideas today, and students can start bringing in materials

Students can bring in whatever hobby they would like, but whatever they have needs to fit on their desk. In the past, some students have needed to take a picture of things because they were too big. Some have asked if they can change their outfit to match, and that would be great too. They could also have things that they hang in front of their desk.

No live animals or real weapons please:)

Books

We are going to the book fair this afternoon to do a tour. The students will bring home a wish list tonight. You can either come buy books with them on (it is open until 6 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday) or send money back to have them buy the books. Remember it's buy one, get one free!

Also, I have noticed that my bookshelf is getting a little thin. I have asked students to check at home to see if they have any books from my library. All of the reading counts books from this room have a sticker with a handwritten red R on the bottom of the spine. That should be a quick and easy way for the kids to double check to see if they have any books to return.

Finally, if you have any old books your child has outgrown, and you want to get rid of I'd love to add them to the library. Paperbacks only last so long and I'm always looking to build my classroom library. Of course if you have younger kids still coming up or relatives to give them too that is great too. Thanks.

Changes, Changes, Changes

We did a second drawing for the field trip as Josh's mom got selected to go on the second grade field trip too. Both are on the same day. Avery's mother was selected the second time around.

Also, the states got changed up. Mrs. Moen had a different list of states than I thought, so we had to change some of the students up so that every student in third grade has a different state. Fortunately, we haven't started our pillows yet, so that wasn't a big deal. Here are the students and their states:

Jaiden – New Mexico
Avery – New York
Donavin - Ohio
Ryan – South Dakota
Luke – North Carolina
Mason – Rhode Island
Marissa - Pennsylvania
Josh - Conneticut
Isaiah L. - Virginia
Jalen - Wyoming
Elly – New Jersey
Lauren - Vermont
Madison – New Hampshire
Colin - Nebraska
Olivia - Nevada
Nic – North Dakota
Lindsaye - Oregon
Courtney - Delaware
Brena - Utah
Brie – Montana
Austin – South Carolina
Grace - Washington
Brynna - Texas
Isaiah Z. - Michigan

A Couple of Notes

- Don't forget to bring in two pieces of 12x12 fabric for our pillows. We are going to start designing them next Tuesday, May 22.
- Registration packets also went home on Thursday. Be sure to return those before the end of the year.
- Finally, the 50 States sheets I sent home tonight are not homework. They are simply practice if the kids need them. We'll take the test on all 50 states next week. There are only a few Western states we haven't covered yet. If you would like more copies of the 50 states worksheet you can get them here: US States and Answer Key

Have a Great Weekend!

The Students' States

The students drew their states today for the pillow that they are making. We will work on finishing the states next week and make the pillows. If you would like to help sew pillows (May 24-25) please let me know as soon as you can. Thanks!

Jaiden – Louisiana
Avery – Indiana
Donavin - Alaska
Ryan - Arizona
Luke - Maryland
Mason – Rhode Island
Marissa - Pennsylvania
Josh - Arkansas
Isaiah L. - Virginia
Jalen - Wyoming
Elly - Kansas
Lauren - Vermont
Madison – New Hampshire
Colin - Nebraska
Olivia - Nevada
Nic – North Dakota
Lindsaye - Missouri
Courtney - Maine
Brena - Utah
Brie – Massachusetts
Austin - Kentucky
Grace - Washington
Brynna - Minnesota
Isaiah Z. - Michigan

I also put the states game on this post again. It just moves it to the top of the blog again. We'll test on all 50 states late next week.

Updates

- All the students turned in their permission slips for the field trip on Tuesday, June 5! We are set for Folklore Village. We also did the drawing today, and Josh's name was picked. His mother or father will be the chaperone. Thanks to everyone else who volunteered to help.

- Registration packets will also sent home tonight. Many of the forms don't need to be returned. The registration form, which is on the very front has to be signed and returned. There are a couple of other forms later in packet that may be needed. Students do not need to worry about headphones as we pass those on to the fourth grade teachers.

- We have our viewing for next weeks book fair scheduled. We will be going on Tuesday, May 22nd at 12:45. If students want to buy books they'll need to bring in their money to purchase them by Friday, May 25.

Pillows

This is the letter that is being sent home tonight too. If someone can help volunteer to sew that would be awesome as I don't know sew! We will pick out our states tomorrow (Thursday).


As a culmination to our study of the states of our country, each student will be researching one assigned state and creating a pillow with key information on it. The pillows will be displayed for a few days and then sent home the end of the year.

Your child needs to bring in (1) piece of white fabric and (1) piece for the back both measuring 12X12 inches. The back can be any color, print, etc. For the white piece, an old pillowcase or piece of sheet will work fine if you don’t care to purchase material.

Please cut or help your child cut the material at home. Doing two pieces individually is quicker than us doing 50 at school. These pieces need to be brought to school by Tuesday, May 22.

I will provide the thread and stuffing for the inside of the pillows. The children will be doing their own sewing with an adult right beside them. If anyone knows how to sew, would be available and willing to come to our classroom May 24 or 25 and help the children sew, I would be elated!

Yearbooks are In

If your child bought a yearbook they will be going home tonight. There are some extra yearbooks that are in the library that can be bought. They are $17, but are only available while supplies last. They won't be able to make any new copies.

Math Test Next Week

On Tuesday or Wednesday of next week we will be taking our next multiplication math test. This will have problems that include multiplying two digit numbers. The students have been very excited about multiplying large numbers, especially using the lattice method.

Next week we'll also start taking the End of the Year Math Assessment. We'll do that over many days though, and only do a few problems each day.

Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day!

Book Fair Dates

I will be sending home a letter for the book fair dates tonight. It will not be here as long as I had on the Van Clan calendar. The students will have a chance to make a book wishlist during class. We will return to the book fair to purchase books later in the week. You can certainly come to the school and pick out books with your child too. I hope being able to pick out books near the end of the school year will be a good motivator to read during the summer. Remember, this book fair is buy one, get one free!


May 22-25
Room 100

Tuesday - 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday - 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Thursday - 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Friday - 8:00 a.m. - Noon

Field Trip Permission Slips

I am sending home the permission slips for our field trip to Folklore Village tonight. The field trip is on Tuesday, June 5. For more information about the location you can check out the website: Folklore Village.

There is also a place where parents can volunteer to be a chaperone. We'll draw the chaperone on Friday, May 18, when the permission trips are due. If all the permission slips are in before that I will do the drawing earlier.

Finally, please send $3 along to help offset the cost of the field trip.

Thank you

Star of the Week

for May 7-11

The last Star of the Week of the Year!

Weekend Games

We are still working on our multiplication unit. I tried to find an online game that had lattice, but couldn't find one. If you want to see how lattice multiplication works this website has a good example: Cool Math 4 Kids - Lattice

Here are two multiplication games for the weekend though:

High Flying

Tic Tac Toe Math

April Reading Calendars

Congratulations to the following students for turning in their April Reading Calendars! May's reading calendar is sent out and that is the last one of the year already!

Avery, Ryan, Luke, Jalen, Elly, Lauren, Colin, Olivia, Nic, Lindsaye, Courtney, Brena, Brie, Grace, Brynna, and Isaiah Z.

Super Job!

50 States Quiz

We took our pretest for the 50 states yesterday and will begin studying the New England States on Wednesday. Here is a cool flash game that the students can use to practice. They won't know most of them yet, but it can give them a head start if they'd like. Click, drag, and drop the names of the states into the correct location. Delaware and Rhode Island are both a little tricky to get in there.