Throwback Thursday

This week I am featuring a flashback from Mrs. Weiler's blog, Far-Out First Graders. Mrs. Weiler began her blog with this class of third graders. Since many of them will part of our third grade community, I thought it would be fun to look back at them two years ago. Mrs. Weiler was more than happy to help out!
You can click here to see the original post.
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Sunday, September 4, 2011

A Few of the Many Things We Did This Week! 

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 Mr. Lovell read to us

  

 

We explored tools that we will use in Math. 

We played 'Find a Friend'.  

 And had our first Student of the Week share!

 

School Calendar

Throwback Thursday

What is your forever book? 

I'm back for another Throwback Thursday. First of all, it's August 1st!! In less than one month, we'll be welcoming in brand new third graders. It is hard to believe how quickly summer flew by! Throughout this month, I will post parent information, classroom photos, important dates for you.

Now let's flashback again to September 2011...Our third graders were just getting used to going to school ALL day. Forever Books was one of my most treasured lessons in the beginning of first grade. I would love to see if these students still care as deeply for the book they shared as they did two years ago. It's something we may have to revisit this year. Anyway, it was always fun to have other staff share their books as well. This past year, I had the privilege of sharing my forever book to Mr. Holden's class. I loved going in with the first graders to share my special memories of my book, which you can see below.

Have a fabulous weekend!!
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September 13, 2011


 We have been talking about our reading lives in Reading Workshop. I introduced the students to my forever book, Just Grandma and Me, at the beginning of the year. It is my forever book because it reminds me of all the special times I shared with my grandma on vacation when I was a little girl.

Today, Mrs. Cooper shared her forever book with the class. Umbrella is her forever book because her mom read it to her when she was a little girl and now she reads it to her girls. They LOVE to play in the rain, so the book has extra special meaning to her.

The students are sharing their Forever Books with each other. Some chose a book because it was read to them by mom. Others choose a book because they had a special connection to the story. Some students just LOVE their book and said they have read it over and over and over again.

Throwback Thursday

It's that time again, Throwback Thursday. Today, I'm thinking about Building Community. Community has always been an important aspect of my teaching philosophy. When we support and care for one another, we can excel. I'm a huge proponent of Responsive Classroom. As a first grade teacher, we would begin every day with Morning Meeting. I'm exploring what Responsive Classroom and community looks like in a departmentalized grade level. We are very close in third grade. Though we each have a homeroom, every third grader is OUR student. Mrs. Oppenheim, Mrs. Holt-Taylor, and I take an active interest in the "whole child." Two years ago, our class motto was "Room 105 C.A.R.E.S." I will be implementing a similar idea this year. Stay tuned for more!



 September 23, 2011 

I wanted to share about our introduction to CARES. CARES stands for Cooperation, Accountability, Respect, Empathy, and Self-Control. We focused on one word a day this past week. I read a children's book each day, showcasing the character trait and then led a discussion. Students are beginning to develop an understanding of these "big" words, but we have much more planned! Next week, we will be participating in roll plays. Students will also will be creating a page for our book "Room 105 CARES!"

Below you can check out the books used in introducing CARES.

COOPERATION

ACCOUNTABILITY 

RESPECT

EMPATHY

SELF-CONTROL

 

Word Work Wednesday

Yesterday, I recommended that parents download the app Spelling City.

Spelling City is a fantastic resource for teachers and students. I have used the site for several years both in first and third grade. As a teacher, I enter our weekly word wall words under my account. Students then can play games and take practice tests to prepare for our weekly assessment.

Well, our very generous PTO has awarded me a grant to purchase a Premium Membership for EACH third grader! Woo Whoo! What does this mean? More games, synonyms, antonyms, parts of speech, interactive and printable flashcards, and individual student log ins! And for me...time. Yes, time! Our weekly assessments give a lot of great data, but are very time consuming with several lists. The assessments took up over half of our block time each Friday. Now, students will take the weekly assessments online. I get automatic test results and record keeping. So I can see progress throughout the year. In addition, I can group lists and students. I'm ecstatic! Parents, much more information will be given as we begin the new school year, but if you have a mobile device, please download the app. Happy Wednesday!

Tech Tuesday

We just returned from Hilton Head and it was fabulous! We were blessed with gorgeous weather and a beautiful view from our condo. As Trent headed back to work, I decided it was time to think about the new year. I cannot wait to welcome in the new third graders. I know most of the students from when they were firsties.

This year I want to improve upon my use of technology in the classroom. I...do...not...have...a...SmartBoard! Let's just say I missed it a little more than I thought I would. I am lucky to have a projector in the classroom and it was used on a daily basis.  From a grant, we did receive Kindles. We have six for third grade and they are loaded with books! They are the basic model, but the kids LOVE to use them.

From the same grant, we also received 2 iPods. These are used during stations. We have several apps and I will be adding more prior to the start of school. Families, here is one app I recommend you download before school begins.

 I will be talking more about Spelling City tomorrow, but we used this app weekly in our classroom and will be using it much more this year. It is a free download.

I'm off to explore more technology! Stay cool!



 

Throwback Thursday

I'm linking up again with Cara from The First Grade Parade for another blast from the past. Mrs. Oppenheim told me at the beginning of last year that I would be blown away with what the students write in Third Grade. Wow! My students did in fact "blow me away." At first I was a little disappointed that we did not use "books" to write in during Writing Workshop. Instead the students had Composition Notebooks (and we did get to publish). My disappointment quickly faded after the first week of Writing Workshop. I kept bringing stories over to Mrs. Oppenheim to read. Well, let's flashback to October 2011. These now Third Graders are sharing their Pattern Books. Can't wait for what they have in store for me this year!



 October 28, 2011

Today we completed our Pattern Unit in Writing Workshop. The students chose one book to keep in the writing portfolio. We enjoyed sharing our books with friends. This opportunity not only allowed students to share their book, but also gave students practice on partner reading and helped build community.

I modeled how the student is to listen to their partner. We also gave each other compliments. After the sharing, we met together and discussed the compliments. Students noticed that others used punctuation. Others were impressed with the pattern in the book. Detailed illustrations was another compliment.

Here are a few other things we did this week...

We worked with short i.

We used the iPad during Guided Reading!

We worked on Quilt Squares.