Updates

• January Reading Calendars are due tomorrow, February 1st.  Remember we won't have the extra reading recess until Monday, February 4.  That sounds like much nicer weather too!
• Spelling Test is still tomorrow.  I know that we haven't had as much time as usual to practice our words, but we'll give it a try anyway.  If it goes really poorly I may throw that grade out.
• Cold Room - The room has been pretty cold so kids may want to make sure that they have a sweatshirt to wear in class.
• The Math Test will be early next week.  It will probably land on Monday or Tuesday.  That is also the halfway point of the math book.
• Stay Warm!

Math

We have moved on to the last section of this math unit.  The rest of this week and next we will be looking at pictographs, bar graphs, and plot lines in our measurement unit.  I think the kids are more excited about this part of the unit than any other this year.

Or next math test will either be on Friday, Feb. 1 or Monday, Feb. 4 depending on how well we do next week.  The test will include problems about units of measure (miles, pints, pounds, etc.), time, and graphs.

I also added several new games to the list.  Both of them work with bar graphs and collecting data.

• Math Data Games
• Bar Graph: Favorite Color
• Bar Graph: Favorite Vegetable
• Bar Graph Quiz 

Lots of Updates

• Reports cards get sent home tonight.  Don't forget to send the envelope back, but keep the report card.  I also sent home the rubric for their talent show presentations.
• January Reading Calendars are due next Friday.  We are going to do the extra recess on Monday, February 4th, but the calendars will still be due on Friday, February 1st.  The recess is pushed back so we can finish our country unit in social studies.  My class will be learning about Australia next week.
• 2,000,000 Words!  The class has combined to read 2 millions word read since the beginning of the year.  It took the class nearly three months to reach it's first million words, but only two months to reach it's second million.  That's great work!
• Thanks for the bags.  I should have enough plastic bags again.  We go through a lot this time of year with boots and snow pants.
• Everyday Math Apps.  Several of the Everyday Math Apps are currently free if you have an iPad, iPod, or iPhone.  They usually will only remain free for a couple of days, so if you are interested act quickly!  When you click on the link below it will have price at the right.  That's where you can check whether or not they are still free or not.  None of the games are very big either, most of them are between 10-20 mb.
• Addition Top-It 
• Monster Squeeze
• Beat the Computer
• Divisibility Dash
• Equivalent Fractions

5 p.m. Sunset

On Wednesday mornings we track the sunrise and sunset in our area.  Our sunset has finally officially gone back over 5 p.m. when we checked today.  The last time we had a sunset after 5 p.m. recorded was before time change on Halloween.  It may not be warming up yet, but more sunlight is at least a sign of warmer weather to come.

Report Cards

Just so everyone knows report cards will be sent home on Thursday, January 24.  Please keep everything inside the envelope, but return the envelope signed so we can reuse it next quarter.

Thanks.

Language Arts Test

First, a reminder that we don't have school on Monday.  It is the end of the 2nd quarter.

Next week we'll take our Language Arts unit test.  We will split the test up over three days (Tues.-Thurs.) and go over it on Friday.

Because of the testing we won't have spelling words next week.

Have a great weekend!

Quick Requests

I just wanted to ask for a a couple of things quickly if you had them.

1.  The first is very simple, if you have any extra plastic bags that you could send with your child that would be great.  I don't need hundreds of them, but my supply is gone and we use lots of them during the winter season.  We just can't stuff everything in those book bags.

2.  If you ever have old books that are laying around that you child is done with please send them to school and we'd be happy to use them in our library.  No matter how careful students are paperback books just don't last forever.  The kid's are always happy to have new books in the library.  Also, I have the students write on the inside cover it was donated by them.  If you have younger children still coming up then don't send any yet, it's only if you have books that your child has outgrown.

Thanks!

Apps for Kids

I know I haven't posted yet this week, but I have been working on a little project I have wanted to do since Christmas for the blog.  Several kids said their family got iPads, iPods, or Kindle Fires for as a gift.  Others I know already have several different tech tools.  I know it can be overwhelming looks for apps so I made a chart that I help will help.  I will also create a page on the blog that keeps the chart below.  Hopefully I'll be able to add more cool apps as time goes on.

Apps for Kids 

App Name	Price	iPad	iPhone or iPod	Kindle Fire	Categories	Notes
Storia	Free	x			Kids	Free - Includes 5 free books
						New books are for a fee
Educreations	Free	x			Kids	Drawing and presention program
Cursive Writing HD	$0.99	x			Kids	Found this free during a preview
Addition Top It	$1.99	x	x	x	Kids	This program has been offered
Everyday Math						free several times.
Beat the Computer	$1.99	x	x	x	Kids	This program has been offered
Everyday Math						free several times.
Divisibility Dash	$1.99	x	x	x	Kids	This program has been offered
Everyday Math						free several times.
Name that Number	$1.99	x	x	x	Kids	This program has been offered
Everyday Math						free several times.
Multiplication Baseball	$1.99	x	x	x	Kids	This program has been offered
Everyday Math						free several times.
Fractions	$1.99	x	x	x	Kids	This program has been offered
Everyday Math						free several times.
Bluster	$1.99	x	x	x	Kids	Word work.
Everyday Math
Dinosaur Zoo	$1.99	x	x		Kids	Cool dinosaur program
						Large download - 1 gb after downloads
Reading Timer	Free	x	x		Kids	Sets up a timer and keeps track
Scholastic						of a child's reading time.
PBS Kids	Free	x	x	x	Kids TV	Need to have a WiFi connection
						to watch
Animal Planet	Free	x	x		Kids TV	Need to have a WiFi connection
						to watch
Disney Jr.	Free	x	x		Kids TV	Need to have a WiFi connection
						to watch
iBooks	Free	x	x		Adults	Books are a fee again
						Better adult selection than kids choices
Google Docs	Free	x			Productivity	Free word processing option
						Need google connection
AppShopper	Free	x	x		Productivity	Gives list of top selling/trending apps
Back Soon
Bet You Didn't Know	Free	x	x		Fun	Off beat facts and information
Photon	$4.99	x	x		Productivity	Allows you to play flash games
						from the Internet

Telling Time

We are switching over to telling time this week and next.  We didn't get nearly as much done as I wanted so the kids have one page to do for homework this weekend.  A few decided to stay in from recess to work on it so they didn't have homework for the weekend.

I also included a weekend game, which we haven't had for a while.

Clockworks

Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla

We're spending some time working on pronouns in language arts.  Today we watched the School House Rock video for pronouns.  The person in the story is Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla, and it's much easier to use he than that name.

Language Arts

• First of all, the kids did a great job presenting their talent's for our Talent Shows.  We didn't spend too much time preparing again after break, but they certainly knew what to do.  I was equally impressed with the way they listened to the other classes present their talents too.  Outstanding job third graders!
• The talent show presentations took longer than expected so we didn't do our spelling pretest until today (Tuesday).  Those tests are coming home tonight.
• Wednesday I will be sending home the reading assignment for Ramona Forever.  This story is longer than most of our stories so I did not include any additional homework.  It will just be the reading assignment.  Since it is longer, it would also be a good story to take turns reading.
• Also, on Wednesday we will also be taking our second set of Benchmark Assessment tests.  These are the tests where students read to me individually.  I will have a sub for tomorrow, however I will still be in the building and listening to each child read.  It's one of the best chances of the year to listen to students read and be able to ask them questions about what they read.

Social Studies

For the next week we are going to do a short unit on Antarctica.  This unit will just touch on several of the features of the frozen continent.  I have several YouTube videos that are located on the Educational Videos page of the blog that we'll check out too.  It is more impressive to see the video showing the vastness than to talk about it.

Starting next week we will be doing something new in third grade.  Each class will study a different country with a different teacher.  The students will rotate to each teacher to learn about the different countries.  Each unit will last one week, so the students will be with the same teacher for a week then switch.  My country is China, Mrs. Frey's is Australia, and Mrs. Moen's is Denmark.  I think it'll be a cool way to explore new areas of the world and be able to work with different third grade teachers.

Talent Show on Monday

A few students still have to bring in their props for the talent show.  They asked me to put a reminder on the blog, so here it is.  Don't forget your talent show props.

Have a great weekend!

Did You Know?

Do you know why pound is abbreviated lb. and ounces is abbreviated oz.?  Well I didn't, so we looked it up.  In math today we started the measurement for the U.S. customary system and weight.  We were talking about pounds and ounces and I wasn't sure why those abbreviations where so much different.

Here is the answer:
The lb. abbreviation originated from the Latin work libra, which means scale and balances.

Oz. comes from an old Italian word onza.


One more reminder too.  The Christmas/PJ party is tomorrow.  Don't forget to wear your pajamas!

Reading Calendar

The January Reading Calendar went home tonight as I forgot to send it home last night.  Since I made a mistake the students DO NOT have to get January 1st or 2nd initialed for reading.  Some students said they read already, which is great, and they can still get those days signed too.

Also, Congratulations to the following students for turning in their reading calendars:  Mariah, Emma, Abby, Montanna, Nicole, Jackie, Hailey, Skyler, James, Hailee, Zach, Owen, and Savannah.  Great work!

A Couple of Notes Today

We had our extra reading recess today and had an excellent turn out.  I was impressed with how many students turned in their calendars.  A couple said theirs were done and they are going to turn theirs in tomorrow so I'll send home Pizza Hut Pizza Coupons tomorrow.

I sent home some extra multiplication work with the students.  It's not homework and they do not need to return it.  I made a copying mistake and offered to send it home if they wanted.  ALL the students volunteered to take it for practice.  What an awesome attitude to start 2013.

Calendar notes (again):  Our Christmas/PJ party will be this Friday, January 4.  The talent show will be on Monday, January 7.

Finally, we won't have spelling this week with the short week.  We'll continue spelling as normal next week.