Gingerbread Houses

We spent some time this morning creating gingerbread houses. Melissa White, Brian's mom, headed up this project. She spent a lot of time gathering goodies, gluing graham crackers, and even bringing breakfast! Thanks Melissa for your time and thanks to everyone who sent supplies. The kids had a blast! Here are some pictures:

Our Class Snowball Fight!

Thankfulness

As Thanksgiving approaches, we are focusing on the history of Thanksgiving and being thankful for things in our own lives. I am so thankful for each student in my class! They are such a blessing my life. They keep me on my toes and a smile on my face.
We are writing some paragraphs about what we are thankful for. You should know that the most popular thing in our lives that we appreciate is our families. These students realize how important you are in their lives. Here are a couple of my favorite thoughts that they wrote; "My mom is always around to help, kind've like God." "My dad loves me and supports me no matter what I do." "Without my family, I wouldn't have any friends." These thoughts are encouraging to me! Eveyone deserves a safe place to fail and a place to be loved.

Goosebumps Webcast

We did the coolest thing today! We participated in a webcast today with the author of R.L. Stine. A webcast, for those of you who are technologically challenged, is similar to a live television show. It is broadcast over the internet. The webcast was hosted by Scholastic and there was a moderator that interviewed R.L. Stine, author of the Goosebumps books. Kids were also allowed to participate in polls before the webcast, and Mr. Stine used the poll answers to tell a ghost story to us. We had the BEST time! The kids were brainstorming and taking notes as he spoke. I'm so glad that we have the technology available on our campus to be able to participate. I hope it was a memorable and inspiring experience. Mr. Stine gave some tips about being a good writer. Ask your child and see what they remember!

Chicks

We have completed our egg to chick project. Our class was the proud parents to eight baby chicks! And when I say proud, I mean proud. They did such a good job of caring for the chicks. If you can spoil a chicken, then we did it. We cleaned their box, checked their food and water, and played with them. We did have several eggs that were fertilized, but did not hatch. We had a couple that tried to hatch and were not strong enough to survive. We made it through without any tears. Over all, I think it was a wonderful experience for everyone. However, it was time for the chicks to go. The kids were sad to see them go, but I can't say that I felt the same. They were begining to STINK!! I will post a couple of pictures of the chicks.

Pictures

All of Our Eggs in One Basket

Well, "the chicken lady", Jennifer Shawker, was in our classroom yesterday to deliver our eggs and incubator. We will be taking care of the eggs until they hatch. I think this is a great process for 3rd graders to be a part of! They are so excited!
Mrs. Shawker came and spoke with us about how to care for the eggs. She also explained the different parts of the egg and how the embryo grows. She even cracked open an egg and showed us the germ spot.
It will be our responsibility for the next 20 days to monitor the humidity and temperature in the incubator. The better job we do of this the higher our hatchability rate will be. We are looking forward to watching the chicks hatch. The big day is Oct. 19th! Stay tuned for updates about our Egg to Chick project!

End of the Day Chatter

I am sitting at my computer and am cracking up at the chatter coming from my class! They are starting on their homework with the extra 10 minutes at the end of class. While working they are discussing anything and everything! I see a few sticking their tongues out at each other. Then one of them says, "Hey, do you know that band KISS"? They all giggle and say they saw them on American Idol. One kid even confesses that their mom is a BIG fan! The other table is working and discussing video games. They are trying to decide which game system is best. It fascinates me that they can still be working and solving the problems of the world at the same time. I love it!!!

Reading Tracking

Part of starting a new school year is evaluating each student. I love the opportunity to spend a few minutes one on one with each of my students. The conversation I have with them gives me a good gauge on their vocabulary and communication skills. I also get to hear them read! I have some phenomenal readers this year. I even giggled at a few who like to add a little "drama" to their reading. I can tell that they have great adults in their lives who have been reading to them. Give yourself a pat on the back for reading with your child.

The First Three Days

After the first 3 days, my thoughts are what an amazing group! I am SO impressed with all of them.
Today during Math we were working on reading and writing numbers. Everyone was so quick to catch on to writing numbers in expanded from! We wrote them in standard, word, and expanded form all the way to the thousands place. I am looking forward to going all the way to the hundred thousands place next week.
Not only are they a smart bunch, but they are considerate too. Today I shared one of my favorite books, You are Special by Max Lucado. The characters in the book go around giving each other stickers. They give gold star stickers for things seen as good, and gray dot stickers for things viewed as bad. The main character, Punchinello, seems to only be getting dots! He gets really down and out. With some help from Eli, Punchinello realizes that the he shouldn't worry about what others think because he was made special. When he realizes this, his dots begin to fall off. We got into a deep discussion about how we sometimes use our words to give each other stars and dots. Then we connected it to making deposits and withdrawals in a bank account. We have decided that we are going to work on making more deposits than we do withdrawals. What a goal!

About Me

Teaching is my passion! I believe that teaching makes me a better wife, mother and friend. This is my 8th year in education, and my sixth year teaching 3rd grade. Third graders are my favorite! They are independent thinkers and workers, but they are willing to listen and follow my direction! I love to see their excitement while reading a new book, and the amazement when they learn a new skill!

I have been married to my husband, Michael, for ten years. He is also in education. He teaches World Geography at Central Freshman Campus. We have two amazing children, Abi and Mason. Abi will be in Kindergarten here at Lamar this year. I am thrilled to have her at school with me. Mason is two years old, and stays with his "Mimi" during the day. He is a WILD man who keeps us laughing!

Trying Something New

I always love reading other people's blog, so I thought I would give it a run. I plan to blog about my life as a third grade teacher. I hope to share my thoughts as we learn and grow together as a class.