Happy Friday

Hello, lovely third grade parents!  I am writing to you while your awesome kids are practicing their keyboarding skills in the computer lab!  They are such a great group of kids and I missed them quite a bit this week while I was sick.  I left school on Tuesday at around 12:30 and was in bed for the next two and 1/2 days with a virus...this am I was fever free for 24 hours, so I happily returned, but I admit...I'm not up to par yet.  Hopefully the weekend will help me recover...who am I kidding...5 baseball and softball games in two days...oh well...'tis the season!

I sent detailed plans each day for my subs, so rest assured, a lot was accomplished while I was gone.  One of the things I'm most excited about is the narrative writing pieces your kids are doing!  This week the kids were introduced to "writing groups"...where they sit in threes and listen to each other read their narratives.  Then they were instructed to find TWO things they liked about the story and TWO questions they had...the questions help the author identify the places where more details are necessary...Mrs. Schuch said the kids did a REALLY great job with this.  Today the kids were editing and revising their narratives focusing on the six traits of writing.  Next week they will have one more opportunity to read to their "writing groups" before completing their final draft.  I'm excited to see their completed products.

In Math, we have been focusing on measurement, lines, angles, and triangles over the past two weeks.  The kids will have a quiz sometime next week on all of the information we have been covering...its not really something they need to study for...it will only cover things that have been taught and practiced in class...but this heads up allows you to work with your child a bit before then if you'd like!  Don't forget that there is a link to the right that connects you to our text book where you can find tons of resources!!

One of our Literature Circles has finished their novel!  I continue to be SOOOO impressed with your kids.  One of the ways you can keep track of the job your child is doing in Literature Circles is by checking out their written products as they bring them home...unfortunately, as I type, I think I have seven different sets of papers to grade...this is definitely the place I am being hit the hardest with our "work to contract"...but I will prevail!  Just be patient, please!

In case you missed it...I posted two different movies this past week...our field trip and our outdoor science lesson from two weeks ago...check them out!

ALSO...checklists have taken a back seat and I know many of you are curious how your child is doing...I am going to try REALLY hard to get them out today (however, I need the 11:15 planning time to get math ready today and prepare for Monday)...but I think a few of my friends are definitely "slipping" due to NO checklists, so I really need to get them out.

I hope you have a great weekend with your family...and I look forward to seeing your lovelies on Monday.

DON'T FORGET...keep collecting science fair data...the kids need to show some sort of data collection to me on May 1st!!