This past week in class we have been talking a little about the up coming election.  Mrs. McDonald discovered a video by the Ron Clark Academy.  It is a song/rap about the election and the choices each party expresses.  It does not favor either party, but talks about the changes our country is about to go through.  I have attached the video on our blog so that the kids can watch is whenever they want.

It was so wonderful to meet all of you last week!  I really enjoyed getting to visit with you about your child!  I believe that I met most of you at open house at the beginning of the year; however, since I have slept a little bit since then, it as great to refresh my memory!  Please remember to feel free to contact me for any concerns or questions you may have at any time.

This week we are going to finish up talking about how to summarize the books that we are reading and moving in to inferring.  This will be a more challanging strategy.  We will be working on it for about a week so that everyone can feel pretty confortable using the strategy.  In writing we will be finishing editing our scary stories and hopefully publish them and get them hung in the hallway as close to Halloween as possible.  We have started reviewing place value in Math and adding places after the decimal.  That means things will be pretty challanging during the next week.  I will be sending home some practice sheets so that we can make sure we are all comfortable with that.  Due to the presidential election that is quickly approaching, we will be touching on the voting process in our country.  Please use this as a time you can have a discussion at home about the candidates.  We will not be leaning toward either candidate in our discussions, we will just be discussion voting process and who is running in the election. 

Please remember to make sure your child is reading EVERY night for atleast 30 min.  Also, please practice their multiplication flash cards.  We have started 6’s this week.  I have noticed that just since parent/teacher conferences several of the kids have improved their times tables.  Thank you so much for working with them and please continue the hard work!

I hope that the weekend went well for everyone.  The kids came back full of energy, so I am assuming that they had a fun weekend!

This week will be our first parent/teacher conferences.  I look forward to meeting you if we have not yet met, or if we have meet, I look forward to discussing things further with you.  When I reminded the students that Thursday is parent/teacher conferences, they all got this look on their face like “all of a sudden I am remembering my behavior”.  Then they all proceeded to tell me what I needed to tell you on Thursday.  I told them I was excited!  I hope that you all will come and visit with me.

This week we will be finishing using graphic organizers and moving in to summarizing things that we read.  This is a vital skill for the students.  Also, we will begin the editing process in writing and finally get to publish some pieces of writing.  In Math, we are starting to extend our knowledge of place value into places pasted he decimal.  This is always challanging so I will be sending several sheets home this week for practice.  Please do all you can to help them and remind them of which place goes where.  We are finishing up the geoprahpy of Arkansas this week in Social Studies so quiz your child on the major rivers and mountian ranges next weekend and see if they can teach you something.  They should also know the states that border Arkansas.

* Remember – Please come on Thursday anytime right after school through 6:00pm.

As most of you know, the blog has been down for about a week or so.  I tried to post some updates at the end of September and the beginning of October but the internet did not want to cooperate.  Hopefully the website will get it’s act together and allow the site to stay up without any problems.

We are now into our third week of October and things are running smoothly. Thanksgiving is nearing and we are looking forward to the nice break   Recently in class, we have been talking about our world knowledge of different things on a map.  We have talked about the 4 Hemipheres, the Equator and Prime Meridian, longitude and latitude, all 7 continents, and all 4 oceans.  Ask you child about any of those and see if they can tell you something they have learned.  We did a project to try and sum up all the things we learned about each of those things.  Our globes are now hanging in our room and we are swimming in a sea of fish and globes.  Kind of a weird combination but it’s totally normal for us!  We have also started our multiplication facts in a last few weeks.  I know that the times tables can be challanging and frightening for students, so in order to make it as painless as possible, we are adding a fact a week.  We are starting our five’s today and starting this Friday, we will be having a timed quiz just over the facts we know so that we can get better and better.  We practice the facts each day in class and I have sent home flash cards that the students need to go over EVERY night.  This will help the process go smoother and make it less frightening.  In more news, we have been writing all different kinds of stories in writing.  The favorite by far has been the scary story.  They all seem to dwell on it.  We are all in different stages of our writing and it’s really a treat for me to see them grow so much.

Homework: I will be sending home math sheets at least 3 days a week in order to keep their adding and subtracting skills fresh as well as give them practice on word problems.  When learning multiplication skills sometimes we forget how to add and subtract.  Please ask them about any math homework and see if they need a little help.  As always, they will bring a guided reading book home each night.  Please make sure they are reading that book and are being successful.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate for contact me.  Have a great week!

I just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow is Grandparent’s Lunch!! Don’t forget to come if you turned in your sheet. I know the kids are sooo excited about lunch with you tomorrow Tomorrow will be bitter, sweet because they won’t be able to sit still all morning due to all the excited but I’m so happy for them. 

Also, don’t forget that Thursdy is PICTURE DAY!  You child should have brought home an information sheet about when pictures are and when you can order them.  In a few weeks we are told that there will be an order form with your child’s proof attached to it.  That is when you can send money back to school for pictures.  Please don’t send any money to school until you get the proof and order form.  Just a reminder – The uniform policy DOES APPLY! Please make sure your child IS IN uniform form pictures.

Also, I wanted to remind you about the book order that is due this Friday.  You child should have it with them.  I will remind them to bring it home if they have not yet. 

Thank you for the comments that have been posted.  I will be sure to check the blog everyday before and after school so that we can keep things up-to-date.  As always, feel free to leave a comment, call, or e-mail me at anytime.  Thank you!

I know it has been a long time since I have posted so I thought I would give you a few updates that you may be missing.

1.  I enjoyed going to the football game last Tuesday to watch our little Pee-Wee football players It was great to see them having so much fun and getting out some of that pinned up energy. 

2.  I passed out book order forms on Wednesday.  They are due on Friday, September 19th.  Please make sure to look through them with you child and think about buying some books!

3.  This coming week, we will be finishing up learning about visualizing, forming a picture in our minds while we read.  We will start talking about asking questions when we read.  In writing, we are talking about capitalization for abbreviations and titles.  In math, we are talking about rounding and estimating and we will review adding and subtraction 2 digit numbers.  In Science we are finishing up rocks and minerals, and we are heading into the layers of the earth.

4.  Each night, please take time to read to your child in his/her guided reading book.  They should be bringing their book home each night to read it. 

5.  Remember, Grandparen’s Day lunch is THIS Wednesday at 11:00am!

6.  I passed back quite a few graded papers on Friday, please ask to see them!

7.  As always, please feel free to contact me or e-mail me at anytime if you have questions or concerns!

I hope that everyone had a great weekend.  Just a short note about the up coming week.  We are getting ready to start our 4th week of 3rd grade.  I hope you are looking forward to a brand new week!

Please remember to read with your child each night.  Each 3rd grader should bring a book home EVERY night to read to someone atleast once.  The more people they can read to, the better!!

Also, remember that Grandparent’s Day is September 17th!

Here is some upcoming news at school! Mark your calanders~

Grandparents, you are invidted to have a FREE LUNCH with your grandchid Wednesday, September 17 at 11:00-11:30am.  The menu will be Mexican chicken, tossed salad, roll, fresh fruit, spice cake, and milk.

If you plan on joining your grandchild for lunch, please sign and return the Grandparent’s flyer that your grandchild brought home by Friday, September 5th. 

I handed out the flyers early last week.  Please let me know if you need another one.  We would love to see you at school for lunch!

Hello! Welcome to 3rd grade!  I am so excited for a new year.  This will be my first year teaching 3rd grade, and I can’t wait to experience it with you!  We are going to enjoy building on things we already know and learning new things together this year.   I hope you are looking forward to 3rd grade at Augusta Elementary School!

Parents: This blogspot is designed to help you keep up-to-date on what we are doing in our classroom this year.  I will make sure to post what we are doing in class each week as well as school activities and events that you may want to attend.  Please do not hesitate to e-mail me (raich18@hotmail.com) or call me at school (347-2432).  Thank you in advance for your help in making this year successful.