Happy Holidays

     Our first semester has come and gone, and the crew is now halfway to fourth grade!  Hard to believe!  I hope each and everyone of you have a great Winter Break and come back in 2014 ready to make the final push. A BIG thank you goes out to all of the parents who helped with our party Thursday.  Special thanks to Mrs. R, Mrs. P, Mrs. J, and Mrs. N for all of the help setting up, cooking, and cleaning up.  Thanks also to Mrs. A and Mr. L for coming by to help.

From our whole gang to all of yours, have a wonderful Holiday season!

Trick or Treat

Check out our friends and their amazing Halloween costumes!

Can you figure out which of your friends are pictured?

Iron Patriot

Zombie

Wesley and the gang from The Princess Bride

 

Lily Munster and Werewolf

 

Help From Your Pantry?

       I hope you all had a great break!  Tomorrow morning will be here all too soon. 

       I was wondering if you might be able to help the class out this week by donating items you may already have at home. As you read in the e-mail, we will use the story of Stone Soup to introduce a unit on culture and community. I would like to mix up a batch of soup in the class. We will need small quantities of items to mix up the "recipe." I will be making the soup in a large crock pot, so we don't need much of each item--only 1-2 cups of the vegetables. If you are able and willing to send in some items, please respond in the comments section of this post. Thank you so much for being willing to help out with such late notice!
       What we could use:

• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2-3 medium potatoes, skinned and diced
• 1 cup corn kernels
• Favorite seasonings
• Anything else you thing would work!

Please send the items in by Wednesday.  Thank you so much!
     Please know that conference day is coming up soon--November 1.  Look for a note to come home tomorrow about signing up for your time.

We "Mustache" You To Take Us More Seriously

We finally had everyone at school to take our class photo with the mustaches!  Here they are.  The scary thing is that some of the students don't look too bad with them! I also have individual shots of each mustachioed student for you.  Those will be emailed out this weekend.  I hope you enjoy the photos as much as we did wearing the hairy little things!

There's an App for That!

Today in class some students were asking about the educational games learning activities I have on my iPhone.  If you have any cool apps that you would like to share with others, please leave a message about them in the comments section of this post. 

The one I was showing them today is free--the best kind--and it is called Montezuma Puzzle.  It is similar to tangrams.  You have to try and fit specific pieces into a given frame.  It really tests spacial reasoning.  There is a volume two if you master the first. It is one of those addictive apps!

What apps are you using to entertain and educate?  We do have a class iPad, so I'm always looking for good, engaging, and relatively inexpensive apps to use with the class.  Please share!

Oops! Already?!

I can't believe it!  It's week 2 and I neglected to send home your newsletter.  They are right here on the table ready to go home.  I am so sorry for not getting those to you today.  In short, the main reminder is about Open House Thursday evening.  We will meet from 6:00-7:00.  Please note that Oliver is also having an Open House that night, so parking may be tricky.  Also be sure to send in the City Saver envelopes as you sell them (or return the booklet if you choose not to sell). We want to be sure your child gets his/her mustache!  (I'm not sure I've ever said that before!)

Have a great evening, and look for your newsletter tomorrow.  (I promise--I will get this new schedule thing down soon!)  I appreciate your patience.  Keep reading!

It's a New Year; It's a New Grade!

I can't believe we start a brand new school year tomorrow.  I can remember when August 1 was still a part of the summer!  I want to thank all of the students and parents who came by during Meet the Teacher night last night.  It was my pleasure to meet you and get to know you and your child.  (And for my former students who dropped in, it was good seeing you, too!)  For those of you who couldn't make it, I look forward to meeting you very soon!

I truly believe we have amazing things in store for us this year.  It is going to take a little while to get back in the swing of things, but we will be a strong classroom family before too long. 

This blog is just an additional means of communication for both parents and students.  You will receive a newsletter each Monday, but updates and other news will be posted here during the week.  You can leave comments any time.  (I ask the students to not use their last name when posting, just to be safe.)  So, until next time, welcome to our class.  It's going to be a great year in 3rd grade!