Sunrise/Sunset

Every Wednesday in math we check the sunrise and sunset in our region. We record the sunrise/sunset and also figure out how much daylight we have on that particular day. Calculating the amount of sunlight in a day can be tricky! We graph it on a chart in class. The students will also graph it themselves later this year.

In a couple of weeks we'll also check the high and low temperatures in the continental United States on Wednesday. We'll find the difference between the high and low each week too. This is especially good practice when the lows get in the negatives (something positive about negative temperatures).

Nate the Great

This week we are reading Nate the Great: San Francisco Detective in language arts. As usual, the students will have their Wednesday reading homework tonight. I had them make one change however. Since the story is rather long we read the first half of the story in class and they are responsible for reading pages 82-94 at home. They made the change on their homework assignment as well.

Weekend Game

Name that number is a game we just started playing in our Everyday Math Series. It may ask you to update your Adobe Shockwave player before it works.

Name That Number

PTC Fund Raiser

The Parent/Teacher Club is starting off their Fund Raiser today. They are an active organization who donates lots of time and equipment to Iowa-Grant. The youngest child in your family will be bringing home a packet.

Here are the important dates:
Friday, Sept. 16 - Sales Begin
Tuesday, Sept. 27 - Order Deadline
Thursday, Oct. 20 - Delivery
Thursday, Oct. 27 - Green and Gold Experience (Party for kids)

There are prizes and awards for students as they reach certain sales, but every kid gets to take part in the Green and Gold Experience. They do not need to make any sales to participate on that day.

Here is their website to see more: http://greenandgoldexperience.com/

Updates

There are just a few updates and changes I wanted everyone to be aware of.

The calendar has been updated.
- Homecoming is on Sept. 30 and I assume we'll have a parade at the school again.
- There will be a book fair from Oct. 19-25 at IGEMS. This is the same time as parent/teacher conferences.

I have also added a couple of helpful links on the right hand side.
- Healthy Snacks - I didn't want that post to scroll down the page and be hard to find. The healthy snacks link will now be left on the right hand side.
- IG Lunch Menu - The students mentioned to me that we didn't get lunch calendars for September so I left a link so students and parents could check easily.
- Scholastic Book Wizard - This is a place where students can check their books to see if they are reading at a book at their level.

Finally, a small change to posts being sent to your e-mail. I noticed that the posts I put up weren't being e-mailed until 3 or 4 in the morning. I finally found where to change that setting, so now those posts should come you your e-mail account between 3-5 p.m.

Punt, Pass, and Kick

Here is an activity available to third graders that I am passing on.

Who: Interested girls or boys, ages 6-15 by December 31st, are welcome to participate.

Where: Iowa-Grant High School football field.

When: Saturday, September 24, 2011 3:00pm RAIN or SHINE

What you need:
*Tennis shoes (NO cleats allowed)
*Signed waiver form. (Reverse side of this page)
*All participants must show proof of age if you win your division. This will need to be given by Monday of the following week for you to participate in the next event. (Birth certificate)
Questions: Contact Mike Peat at 623-2048
Please come early and support the IG Youth Football team during their games.
Games start at 11:30

Forms for students interested will be sent home.

Map Skills

In social studies we are starting the year with map skills. We talk about several things with maps including keys, cardinal directions, intermediate directions, map scale, latitude, and longitude.

These students may never use a map when they grow up as they will have a GPS cell phone, GPS watch, GPS car, and even a GPS collar for their dog; however, several of the skills are still needed to read a GPS as well. We do discuss how a GPS is kind of like a digital map and you still need to be able read a map when your GPS sends you astray.

Weekend Game

The weekend game is hangman, although it's more like a shrinking catapillar.

Hangman

Courtney and Snacks

Courtney's mom, Lauri, came into class yesterday to share information about Courtney. Last year she was diagnosed with diabetes, and Lauri did a very nice job of sharing with the kids what diabetes is. As many of you know, this weekend Courtney will be in a Walk to Cure Diabetes in Madison. To learn more about Courtney as well as make a donation if you'd like go to this website: Courtney's Page.

One thing that the class can do to help is bring in healthy snacks. This is in the Iowa-Grant welness plan too. We are supposed to have healthy snacks when we eat at school. Here is a website with some healthy snack ideas: Healthy Snacks. If you are planning on bringing in treats and would like to ask Courtney's mom you can e-mail her at lauri.spease@deancare.com.

Thank You

Morning Meeting

At the beginning of each morning our class does a morning meeting. These are short activities that help kids interact and get to know their peers better. The activities are only 5-10 minutes long, but help create a friendly classroom environment. We will do different things each day such as sharing weekend highlights, shaking hands and saying good morning, or playing different team building games.

Homework

In third grade we do homework most nights, but there are a few exceptions. I try to print all the home work assignments in the same color so they are easy for the students and parents to identify. This year the homework color is light purple.

First, there won't be homework on Fridays. Sometimes I'll send out optional homework on Friday though. The students will be able to sign up for a prize on those days.

On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday we will do our math homework or "Home Links". These are to be done and turned in the next day. There are answers sent home as well with the parent letter. Home Links shouldn't take more than 15-20 minutes to finish. If a lesson takes more than one day to finish they may also not have homework on that day.

On Wednesdays the students have a language arts assignment which usually consists of reading the weeks story and one other task such as a vocabulary worksheet or answering questions with the story. Since I can't see them read there is a short form for you to sign. Students can read the story aloud, silently, or partner read with a parent. They may also use the time reading for their 15 minutes on their reading calendar.

Weekend Game

Here is our first weekend game of the year! Most Fridays I will post an educational game that students can play if they would like. I will also keep a list of all the weekend games on the Games page. That page is located near the top of the blog under the button games. Also, I try to find sites that have games, but few or no advertisements on the page.

For the game Math Lines the goal is to add two balls up to ten to destroy them.
Math Lines

Reading Calendars

Yesterday I sent home a reading calendar with each student. We will do a reading calendar each month and the rules will stay the same throughout the year.

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 (Monday, October 3rd).
- 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!

Great First Day!

The students got through the first day very well and they were very well behaved! Unfortunately, I forget to bring my camera for a first day of pictures.

We got through all the rules and proceedures so tomorrow we'll able to get more into learning!

If you have any questions as the year goes on feel free to e-mail me at avanovermeer@igs.k12.wi.us or call me at 943-6313 ext. 1048.

Welcome to the Blog

Welcome to the Van Clan blog for the 2011-2012 school year. I will update this page often throughout the school year. This website will have things that are happening in class, give upcoming events, include online games students (and parents) can play, include videos we watch in class, and much more.

My goal is to make the blog a place where parents and students visit often. The easiest way to keep up with posts is to subscribe to the blog via e-mail. At the right of the page there is a Follow By E-mail box. Insert your e-mail there and every time I send a new post an e-mail will be sent to you. You may also want to bookmark this on your home computer if you would like your child to access it.