Happy New Year!

I wanted to take a moment and thank you all for your generosity at Christmas!  I love the gift cards to my favorite places, as well as all the other wonderful gifts you all gave me. Wow! I am one lucky teacher!  You are all so generous and made me feel very special. I sure am grateful to have a job where I love coming to work every day. Having supportive parents is an awesome bonus. You are all so kind and deeply touched my heart. Thanks you from the very bottom of my heart!

I will sure miss you, Enrique!

We did a fun science experiment to see what liquid dissolves candy canes the fastest. Vinegar was the quickest liquid to dissolve the candy cane, while apple juice took the longest time (even longer than the water, which surprised me!).

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!!!

I am looking forward to seeing everyone in 2016!

Code Word = Happy New Year!

Week of December 21st

Two days and then the students get TWELVE days off! I can't believe that the next time I see you it will be 2016. Yikes! Slow down, time!

I am sure going to miss Enrique's funny antics :)

Bennett and I had a lovely snow day! I hope everyone had an enjoyable time as well. 

Next week we will do a few Christmas/Winter themed reading, writing, science, math, and art activities. 

Mark your calendars: We will be taking our Winter NWEA reading and math tests on Tuesday, January 12th and Wednesday, January 13th (we will retake these in the spring, too). We will also be taking our SRI test on Wednesday, January 6th. 

I hope everyone has a nice, relaxing, joy-filled Christmas! I sure am thankful for each and every student and family in my class! 

Code Word: Merry Christmas!

Mission Ridge Performance

Hot Cocoa Bar Sign-Up

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0849aca923abf85-hotcocoa

Week of December 14th

This will be our last full week before Winter Break... Can you believe it?

This week we will celebrate Carson's birthday. He brings so much joy to our classroom and I am excited to celebrate him!

In reading, we are going to take a week off of Lead 21 (mostly because I don't want to start a unit before the break). So, after the break we will begin Unit 4, which will focus on "Digging Up a Story" (Earth's geography).

In math, we will continue working our way through Chapter 5, which is taking multiplication to a deeper level (finding patters, unknown numbers, etc.). We will begin doing division this week, too!

In social studies we will learn about some Christmas traditions around the world and in science we will begin designing and testing our gliders.

Our elf, Enrique, is pretty goofy (and has a sweet tooth!).

Brennen is addicted to Xtra Math (good problem to have, I guess! ;)).

Owen's mom had front row seats and was kind enough to send me some awesome pictures of the kids performing... Thanks, Katie! :)

The students all looked soooooooo cute and handsome! I was impressed that every, single child dressed up. Terrific job, guys!

Code Word = Enrique the Elf

Inquiry Presentations

The kiddos did a fabulous job on their Unit 3 Inquiry projects.  These inquiry projects help the students practice on a lot of different skills - including presenting/public speaking, researching,  taking notes, cooperation skills, etc. I was very pleased with their hard work!

Mid-Week Recap

We have had a fun three days!

Just some of my highlights.....

I loved Ashlyn's Grinch shirt!

Audrey and Mira were my recess buddies (and I loved their shirts!).

Another shot of Mira's super cute shirt: HAPPY!

Owen was LATE returning his Little Miss Late book to the library - how ironic ;)

Here is our elf, Enrique! He's watching to report back to Santa!

I loved Ty's shirt that said "Rocking it!" These third graders really are rocking it - especially with multiplication :)

Five generous kiddos (Madeline was too busy socializing for our picture :)) donated toys to Toys for Tots! Thanks for your generous spirit, guys!

We had our music dress rehearsal and everyone did fabulous! I love getting to watch the first and second graders - too much cuteness in one gymnasium!

Ty wore another epic shirt. I love the movie Elf, so this one gave me a good chuckle! :)

Week of December 7th

On Monday, we will celebrate Tavie's birthday and have P.E. Our P.E. time was changed this week to accommodate other classes whose P.E. will be interrupted by our music dress rehearsal on Wednesday morning. 

In reading this week we will be rereading Living on the Land and Tops and Bottoms.  We will be comparing the two texts and reviewing the skills from this unit: sequence of events, context clues, homophones, multiple meaning words,  and monitoring our comprehension.  We will also present our Inquiry presentations (I helped the kids make their first D2 Slideshow last week). 

In math last week we will finish up chapter 4 and take the assessment.  We may even begin Chapter 5 towards the end of the week. Throughout Chapter 5 we will be applying our knowledge of multiplication to describe patterns and find the unknown factor.  The kids now really need practice on memorizing their multiplication facts, so please encourage your child to practice their flash cards at home!! 

In writing we will be writing and mailing a friendly letter to Santa.  We continue to improve with adding adjectives, adverbs, and figurative language to our writing. We will also be learning about action and linking verbs, irregular verbs, and verb tenses.  

In science this week we will start our glider trials.  

Please join us on Friday at either 10:00 a.m. or 1:30 p.m. to see the holiday program.  The kids have been working very hard in music and it is always a great way to get into the Christmas spirit!!  If you come to the 1:30 program you are welcome to take your kiddo home with you as soon as the program is over! 

If you were interested in donating a new toy for Toys for Tots, they are being picked up on Wednesday, so please have them in by then!  

I hope you have/had a wonderful weekend!  

Code Word: Ho, Ho, Ho!

Parachute fun, Sunset the chicken, Inquiry Research, Buddies, and the Arrowhead Chant!!!