Calendar Changes

As we approach the end of the year I wanted to make you aware of some some activities and calendar changes due to snow days.  Mark your calendars!

 

*May 28th - End of the Year Celebration / Report Cards will be sent home!

 

*May 29th - Track and Field Day!  Notes were sent home this week about this fun day!  Students will need signed permission slips to participate. (Last Day for Students!)

 

*May 30th - Teachers' Institute

Let there be LIGHT!

This week we began  studying electricity and magnets in Science.  I am not a big fan of electricity.  It may have something to do with a past experience as a small child involving an extension cord, a vacuum, and...my mouth!  NOT GOOD!  But I am still alive to talk about it today and the story ends with a trip to get ice cream!  (Thanks Mom!) Anyways, back to Science...!  Today we experimented with creating our own electrical circuits.  Here are some pictures.

 

 

Stduents discovered that the metal paper clip is a conductor.

 

The rail in our room is also a conductor; however, the pencil did not light the bulb.

 

This circuit had a switch  to turn the light on and off.  We deicided it was a good day to be able to produce our own electrical current and turn some light on....just in case the power went out! 

 

Spring...Where are you?

We created these "Works of Art" yesterday in preparation for the 1st Day of Spring!  Hello, Spring, where are you?  It has been a long, cold winter and I am ready for some nice weather.  How about you?  Apparently, Spring did not get the same message!  Well, enjoy looking at these beautiful irises until you can see the real thing!

 

*I have not forgotten the Animal Power Point Presentations.  I am still working on these.

Dr. Seuss and Help (Anyone?!)

Well, I am still working on getting the Animal Power Point Presentations ready to post.  I have loaded them into Google Docs but am having difficulty getting the embed code so they will appear on a blog post.  Can anyone help?  I have scoped the web, and it seems that the code should be 'right there' but it is not!  I am determined though! 

 

In the meantime, here are some Dr. Seuss-like fish for you to check out!  I just love Dr. Seuss.  So many books teaching kids how to read!  My favorite is Oh, The Places You'll Go.  I don't think I read this book until about 5 years ago...but it could have taught me a meaningful lesson or two along life's bumpy road!  What is your favorite Dr. Seuss book?  Dr. Seuss's birthday was March 2nd so we created these fish to honor him!  Enjoy!

 

 



Rock the ISATs!

Tomorrow will be the first day of our ISAT Tests!  I told the darlings that we have worked hard all year and it is time to "Show what you know!"  To help your child do their best, please be sure they get a good nights rest and a healthy breakfast to get their brains alert!  They may not know EVERY question on the test.  Some questions may seem easy...some questions may seem hard!  I encourage them to take their time, use the strategies we have talked about and TRY THEIR BEST!  And no matter what, I will be proud!!

 

Here is the poster that will appear on our during during test time!

 

 

Animal Extravanganza

 

Students gave their animal presentations during our Animal Extravaganza.  No Extravaganza is complete without Jungle Juice (lemonade) and Animal Crackers.  I enjoyed watching the creative ways students chose to present.  May had props, photographs, or drawings.  During computers students created power point presentations to share the new information they learned.  They are putting the finishing touches on them now!  I look forward to putting these on the blog so you can see how hard they worked!  Check back next week!

 

*Reminder: There is a link on a previous post that will take you directly to the survey.  It only takes a couple minutes! 

 

Have a great weekend!!

PFS Trivia Night and Beach Basket!

Have you ever participated in PFS's Trivia Night?! If not, it is a ton of fun! And all the money raised goes to PFS (Parents for Students), which means it goes to our kids because PFS funds a portion of our field trips, supplies for students and teachers, and extra programs. They have also purchased technology for us!  This year PFS Trivia Night is April 13th...mark your calendars and get your team together!  They will have many items that will be raffled off that night.

Our Third Grade is sponsoring a basket for the raffle.  Our theme will be a Beach/Summer Fun!  We wanted to let you in on the fun too!  If you would like to donate to this basket, you may send a beach or summer item (new) or a monetary donation and we will purchase items for it…any little bits helps, even a couple of dollars.  Below are some ideas for items to include in our basket.  I am sure your child can come up with even more!  Please have items or monetary donations to school by Wednesday, March 20^th.

Ideas: beach towels, balls, bubbles, pool toys, sunglasses, sidewalk chalk, etc. (We already have sun block.)

Thanks for your help!

         

Illinois 5-Essentials Survey

We want your opinion!  Illinois is asking all Public school parents and teachers to complete a survey.  This information will be collected by the state and make up a portion of our school report card.  You can find the link by clicking below.

 

 Illinois 5 Essentials Survey 

 

The survey only takes about 5 minutes (max) and we are wanting at least 30% of parents to participate in the survey!  I believe you will receive an email confirming that you have completed the survey.  If you make a copy of this email and send it back to school, your name will be entered in a drawing for a $25 Casey's gift card.  If we meet our 30% goal, all PES students will receive a small treat!

*UPDATED: You may not receive an email confirming your survey so  you may want to print the last page that says you have completed it and sign your name to it.  Return this and you will be entered in the drawing.

 

Thanks for your input!

*Congrats to all of our Spelling Bee Participants.  There will be a short Awards Assembly on February 28th at 2:30.  All students that participated will receive a certificate!

*Just an FYI - I will be gone on Monday due to a family funeral.  Our Animal Extravaganza was scheduled for this day.  The Extravaganza/Animal Presentations will be Tuesday and Wednesday.  Students will read their report.  I encourage them to bring any props that may go along with their animal.  I can't wait to hear interesting facts!!

 

 

 

Landform Maps

In Social Studies the kiddos have been learning about Geography and Landforms.  Ms. Barton had them make land form maps.  Their map key illustrated what land form each material represented.

 

 

Green Tissue = Coastal and Interior Plains

Cheerios = Appalachian Mountains

Yellow Tissue Paper = Great Plains

Sandpaper = Great Basin

Golden Grahams = Coastal Range

Shredded Wheats = Rocky Mountains

They painted the oceans blue. 

 

 

Don't they look great!?  You can check them out in the hallway!

What a fun way to learn!

 

Animal Experts

 

Over the past week students have been researching their animals!  I hope they are find some very fascinating facts....I know I am!  Today we started our first draft of our report.  Students thought of an interesting way to 'hook' their reader.  Over the next couple of school days, we will work on this draft and then revise and edit to make a published copy.   When we are finished each student will give a presentation.  I encourage you to brainstorm with them to think of a creative way to present.  (Props are allowed!) 

 

When we are finished, we will truly be animal experts.  There will be an Animal Extravaganza!

Love is in the Air!

 

 

LOVE MONSTERS!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are our Love Monsters!  Don't you love them!  We created them last week to get us in the mood for February!  I hope you noticed the list of class names for Valentines in our class newsletter.  It will be included again this week in case you missed it!  Also, check the newsletter for those who volunteered to help with supplies for the party.  Thank you to everyone who volunteered!  Anyone interested in games?  If so, let me know!  This is a quick and busy month. 

 



Penguin Family

 

Here are our Penguin Families we worked on over two weeks. Many of our art projects involve drawing, so it was a nice break to bring out good ol' fashioned construction paper.  (You can see our snowmen hanging with them.)  Many of the darlings wanted to add more penguins for their family, but for the sake of time we stuck with four.  They can always add a penguin later or recreate this project at home.

 

 

 

 

Aren't they cute?  They tried to pick scraves that their own families would like!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Go Math!

As we have been working though our new Math series, it is interesting to see how what is taught and when it is taught is completely different than our old books.  By the beginning of this December, we had already finished teaching three multiplication chapters in this book.  Usually we are just beginning multiplication  right now.  I thought you might be interested in the layout of the chapters.  This will give you a heads up with what to expect. 

 

Chapter -

1: Addition and Subtraction Within 1,000

2. Represent and Interpret Data

3. Understand Multiplication

4. Multiplication Facts and Strategies

5. Use Multiplication Facts

6. Understand Division

7. Division Facts and Strategies

8. Fractions

9. Compare Fractions

10. Time, Length, Liquid Volume, and Mass

11.  Perimeter and Area

12. Two Dimensional Shapes

 

This should take us through the end of the year.  Then there are several "Getting Ready for Grade 4 Lessons."  This series definitely gets more in depth.  It really wants the students to understand the process and strategies in solving a problem.  Does your child talk about Math?  What do they like or dislike about it?  Is there anything that you notice about math?  Just some questions to ponder...feel free to leave comments below.  I am curious to hear what you think.

 

Here is the direct link to get students to the Go Math! online resources.  They were given user names and passwords at the beginning of the year.  If they forgot, just have them ask!

 

https://www-k6.thinkcentral.com/ePC/start.do

Agriculture in the Classroom

Once a month Mrs. Clodfelter from the Whiteside County Farm Bureau visits our classroom for Ag in the Classroom.  She has taught students about apples, pumpkins, soy beans, and this month her lesson was about cows.  They learned about the cow's stomache, different breeds, and all the products we get from beef and dairy cows.  The activity with her lesson this month was "Making Butter." 

 

Each student was given a little plastic container, which she filled with heavy whipping cream and the students started shaking...and shaking....and shaking.  Eventually they got butter.  Here are some pictures from other day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They got to taste the butter when it got to the right stage.  They added some salty pretzels to enhance the flavor.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let is Snow!

On to the post...Tuesday we had Art. We have Art every Tuesday after lunch for a half an hour. As many schools do away with Art, I feel it is an important outlet for kids. They can be creative and use their brains in a completely different way. Some kids who struggle in other academic areas excel in Art!

  

Here is my disclaimer...I am not an artisit, I am afraid my twin got all of those genes; however, I can be art-ish and that is what I encourage the little darlings to be also. Here are the snowmen we created  using highlighting with an oil pastel and shading with charcoal. I think they look FABULOUS!

 

 

 

 

Happy Winter!

 

Welcome 2013!

Do you make New Years Resolutions?  I usually don't.  I mean I always want to eat healthier, but those resolutions can be quickly broken....on January 2nd!!  However, this year I really want to make sure I am doing my best to improve blog post.  If you have checked back here to see if there is anything new, then you know what I am talking about!  I had really great intentions, but it is a challenge to find the time.  Just as I know all of you can have a hard time finding a good balance and getting things done.  Please tell me I am not the only one!  I will admit there were many times I picked up the school camera just to find the batteries needed changing or weren't charged and I would just return the camera and figure I will take the picture later.  Well, not this year.  I will try to make sure I am at least making 1-2 regular posts each week.  I love that this blog can give you a peek at what we are doing in the classroom.  I know it can be a useful resource.  I do ask that maybe you can leave some comments!  Let me know if you enjoyed a post, need more information, or have a request about what you would like to see!

 

 

Update**With that said, I tried for about an hour last nigh to upload a picture of our snowmen art work and am having difficulties...go figure!  So, I will post this and try to get those up as soon as I figure out how.  I think blogger changed how I need to upload.  I will investigate! Next up will be changing the screen... I know Halloween was several months ago!

 

May you have a wonderful 2013!!