Great First Week!!

Thanks so much for sending me fantastic kids...they are polite, well behaved, and ready to learn...who could ask for more?!

Here are a few pictures of some of the things we did this week...

We read The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown and discussed her style of writing. We then mimicked her style and idea of importance and wrote our own Important Thing pieces. I'm excited for you to see them tomorrow night at Back to School Night! 

(More about BTSN at the end!)

During our first two weeks we are participating in "A Week of Inspirational Math" designed by Jo Boaler and her team at youcubed. She is the co founder of youcubed and a professor of Mathematics Education at Stanford. The activities are centered around the fact that ALL students can be good at math and that a math mindset is extremely important. Her activities are very creative and visual and have the students doing math before they're even aware that's what they're doing. This particular activity below is where the students studied a visual representation of numbers that led us into conversations about multiples, factors, prime numbers, and so much more!

And hopefully you got to see your child working on the Four 4s...your kids would have blown you away with the way they were working with numbers...once I explained square roots (quick five min explanation)...they were doing things like the square root of four plus four times four minus four equals twenty...or when they figured out that four over four (the fraction) was equal to ONE!!  They went crazy solving for different numbers.  

We read the story The Kingdom With No Laws, No Rules, and No King. Then we collaborated in small groups to brainstorm important rules for our classroom. Finally, we collaborated as a class to write "Our Kingdom's Rules!" Take a look...

We sorted all rules that were similar and then categorized them into five main rules:

Act safely and be healthy.

Be responsible.

Be respectful.

Act fairly.

Be KIND.

I was very impressed with their cooperation!

Back to School Night is tomorrow night! The PTA meeting is at 6pm and then the evening begins at 6:45. There will be three back to back sessions that you can visit the classroom...each one is exactly the same, so you only have to come to one! If you cannot make it, I will send the information home and if you have any questions you can just email me! Email is the best way to communicate with me...or you can respond to the Remind messages I send out.

I hope you had a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow night!

Good job!

You must be on the back of your scavenger hunt if you're sitting here reading my blog!

GOOD JOB FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS!

If you brought your supplies, don't forget to unpack them and put them in your desk!  I am really excited for the upcoming year and so glad you're in my class!

Have a great rest of the week, a super weekend, and enjoy your families...

oh, and take a strip of paper with the blog address...

when you get home tell your parents to add it to their bookmarks or favorites, OK?

-Mrs. Wills

Welcome!!

This is the place where I will post information every month about the goings on in our classroom. I am guessing that since you found this blog, you have received my letter!!  If not, you should be getting it any day now. I am so excited for the upcoming year...we are going to have a great time together while stretching and growing our brains!!

I hope to get a chance to meet you all on Wednesday, August 29th from 3-5 pm at our Open House. Feel free to bring your school supplies and put them in your desk that afternoon...it will make the backpack a lot lighter Monday morning!!  

If you'd like to communicate with me BEFORE the 29th..maybe you'd like me to know what name you like to be called, or you'd like to tell me something interesting about your summer, or maybe you just have a question...please feel free to email me...karen.wills@fcps.org!

Enjoy the rest of your summer break...I will see you VERY soon!

Thought you were rid of me, didn't you!?!

I have so many more "end of year" things to share with you!!  So sit back and enjoy your very last long blog post!!

First off...I have two different resources I want to share with you that come from the Advanced Academics department. To view the 2018 Summer Program Options for Elementary and Middle School Students AND the 2018 Summer Reading Websites for Elementary and Middle School Students, please click here to access the PDF documents. 

Next...I have some end of year photos and thoughts to share with you...

FIELD DAY...was a ton of fun! 

We had great weather and I captured a few of the fun moments...take a look!

We also had our last field trip of the year...to UNO's Pizzeria where we saw PRODUCTION first hand...we toured and talked about how each job in the restaurant is important and that INTERDEPENDENCE is a real thing. We realized that SPECIALIZATION was key to making the restaurant run well, and we discussed customer service, supply and demand, and making a profit. AND we got to eat yummy pizza that each person created themselves!

Our school hosts a Volunteer Breakfast each year and I have been so blessed with wonderful classroom volunteers...thank you all so much! Here was the kids' thank you that hung at the breakfast.

And then, as you know, we ended the year with some amazing plays. The kids worked so hard on these plays...many of the props and practices took place while I was out for graduation...so they really did so much of it themselves. They were a ton of fun to watch...here are a few pics...I was acting as "director" so I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked!

Once Upon a Hundred Year's Nap

Two Pigs, A Wolf, and a Mud Pie

Live! It's Fairy Tale News

 

On the second to last day of school, the entire student body met on the back fields to create a memory that will move to Sugarloaf with us, and then return to the new UES in two years. It's pretty spectacular...it was done by a drone and the kids were in the hot sun for about 15 minutes and did an amazing job! Then we all sang (800 of us) the UES school song...I have to admit, I got a little choked up in that moment. It was very special. 

 Drone picture courtesy of David Toth and Meye Media LLC.

And then on the last day, right before our school participated in "Move Up" Day, where the kids get to go meet their teacher for next year, I asked the kids to think of things for every letter of the alphabet to represent what we did in 3rd grade. I've never done this before, but will do this from now on...it was so eye opening what stuck with them from the year and to hear from them what they learned and loved. Take a look...

Finally...I'd love to hear from your kids this summer...I will post updates every once in a while on this blog about our class if I receive pictures, and a few details about what's going on in the pictures, from your kids, so please have them email me!! I hope you have an amazing summer with your children...I will miss them lots...they are such good little people.

Oh! And I said it in the Remind message, but let me say it again...

THANK YOU for the wonderful book from the kids and for the generous gift cards...

they are ALL very appreciated.

It was my absolute pleasure teaching your kids.

Love, 

Mrs. Wills