Dinner Auction Sign Up

We still need lots of help with the dinner auction.  Our class is quickly falling behind filling the 2-2-1-1-5 volunteer challenge.  Here's the link again to sign up.  Thanks for all your help!

Dinner Auction Sign Up

Seasons Quiz

On Thursday, we will be having a short quiz on seasons.  Here is what the kids should know.  

Vocab Words
1. rotation
2. revolution
3. orbit
4. hemisphere
5. equator

The kids should also be able to look at a picture like this and tell me which season the starred point is based on it's positioning with the sun.  

I will also ask them to write a couple of sentences explaining how all of these words determine seasons.  This will be a short quiz to check for understanding and just a few points.  Happy studying!

4 Days and Counting!

It's almost Christmas break and I know we are all running around like crazy people (myself included).  Your kiddos worked extremely hard for me last week trying to finish up all the projects and assignments that I gave them.  Therefore, this week is the week of catch up and focus on the real reason for Christmas.  I refuse to be a part of the reason that your family does not have time to remember Jesus.  This is truly why we are here on this earth and why our lives have meaning.  Here's what our week will look like:

New Assignments
*Spelling Project - due Fri. (follow format from the blog)
*Seasons Quiz - Thurs. ( I will post what study for in a separate post)
*x10 Test/redos and all X 9 redos done by Friday
*Spelling and Memory Tests on Friday

Other than these assignments, we will be finishing things up in class and talking about Christmas.
Thanks for all of your hard work this quarter.
Only 4 more days!

CCLS Dinner Auction

We need your help filling a challenge quota for this year's auction.  I am passing this message along on behalf of the auction committee.  If our class meets this challenge, your kiddos will earn a free dress day!!  Thanks for your support.

The CCLS Dinner Auction will be held on 2-21-15.  The "2-2-1-1-5 Classroom Challenge" is a chance for all CCLS families to participate, even if they cannot attend the event.  Each classroom that collectively donates each of the following will be awarded a "Free Dress & Popcorn Day" (for Elementary and Middle School Classes) or "Teddy Bear & Popcorn Day" (for ECE Classes): 

2 Volunteers--2 Desserts--1 Auction Item--1 Table of Guests--5 Raffle Tickets

Parents can sign up to contribute these Challenge items, by classroom, on our Volunteer Spot "2-2-1-1-5 Classroom Challenge" site at this link.  We will post progress of each classroom in meeting the Challenge on our Dinner Auction Website.  The deadline for completing the Challenge is January 16, 2015. If you have any questions about the Challenge, or the Dinner Auction in general, please feel free to contact Jen Pawlitz, Dinner Auction Co-Chair, or Erica Eggerding, Acquisitions Manager, at auction@ccls-stlouis.org.

Week of Dec. 8th

Reading
This week's stories are Reader's Theater scripts about Christmas.  All of these stories are fun, but none of them talk about Jesus.  We will be working with story maps as we prepare these Reader's
Theaters and find ways to add Jesus into them.

Science
We are finishing up our weather unit by making our own weather forecast.  Please remember:
     10 days of Weather Logs are due on Friday.

Advent
I will be very intentional about giving little to no homework on Wednesday nights.  My hope is that this will free up your night so that you may worship with your family for Advent services.

Please keep working on Memory and Times Tables.
Have a great week!

1st Week of December

It's December and the temperatures show it.  I cannot believe how far your kiddos have come already this year.  The Thanksgiving Unit was a great testament to their hard work and I am so proud of them.  THANK YOU to everyone who came, volunteered, cooked food, told your child great job, struggled through the project at home with their child, or told someone else about our feast.  We count on all of these things happening in order for our feast to be a success, and it definitely was this year.  Thank you again for all the work you put into helping us!

This week we are back to normal school schedules.  Here's what's on the agenda:

Advent
Mr. Fishburn put together a series of Advent lessons for us that are based on the book Voices of Christmas by Nikki Grimes.  Talk about these lessons each day with your kiddos and I think you'll be amazed at how well they share their faith.  By special request, here is the song we discussed today.

Spelling
I have put directions for spelling on the spelling page.  We will continue with the posted schedule every week until further notice.

Math
We are getting back to normal math homework (facts sheets and homework pages).  We will also be teaching and testing multiplication tables 6-10 from now until Christmas.  I will post the testing schedule on my Math page to cut down on confusion.  After Christmas we will go back and continue reviewing multiplication.

Science
We are starting our Weather unit.  This will take us all the way up to Christmas break.  A calendar with major due dates went home in their Science binders today.  We may add a few small/in class assignments, but the major dates are listed.   Our ending goal is to have the kids do a mini version of what this young man does in the video below.

Reading

This week we are reading the fun autobiography of author Helen Lester.  The skill to focus on is the Author's Purpose.  Here is the link to the lesson we did in class.  It may help to review this at home.  Or maybe just ask your kiddos to teach you PIE.  Teaching concepts to other people is the number one way to solidify it in your own mind.  

Author's Purpose Lesson

Important Dates

Thurs. 12/4 - Last day to bring in Kirk Care items

Fri. 12/5 - Uganda Choir MS - 9am  ELEM - 2 pm

Fri. 12/19 - Last Day of School before Christmas Break/Christmas party @ 2pm

Week of November 17th

Spelling
We have a list of 10 Thanksgiving words that everyone will be learning this week.  The kids should be very familiar with all of these words thanks to the projects they have been working on.  They have also chosen 5 extra words of their own to work on this week.

I have assigned a spelling project that must include all 17 of their words.  They must choose one of the following projects to do by Thursday for a grade and then we will test on Friday.

• Use alphabet stamps and let them stamp out their words on paper.
• • Write words as "stairsteps"
• • s
  • sp
  • spe
    spel
    spell
    spelli
    spellin
    spelling
    It is fun to do on graph paper.
• Write spelling words in white crayon -or any light colored crayon, then paint over them with watercolor paint. The white crayon acts as a resist and the words "magically" appear.
• Rainbow Words: Students write each spelling word with their pencil. They then go back and trace each word with a crayon. They do this two more times with two different crayons.
• Make a wordsearch or crossword puzzle at Puzzlemaker.com with the spelling words.
• Cut letters from magazines or newspaper to spell the words.
• Spell words with alphabet macaroni (can be glued to paper) or alphabets cereal (yummy to eat!)
• Use the scrabble spelling sheet that was sent home (Must complete 2 sheets to fit all 17 words)

Thanksgiving

Our feast is coming up very soon and your kiddos have been hard at work.  Thank you so much to everyone who has already signed up to help or bring food.  Here's a few things to remember: 

• Thurs. Nov. 20th - Pie Donations and RSVP's due (I could still use some more donations for pie so that we can be sure everyone gets a piece.)  
• Pie Making Day - Mon. Nov. 24th at 12:45 pm - We still need some parents to come in and help if you are able.  Sign up Sheet 2 of the Feast sign up sheet below.  
• Feast Day - Tues. Nov. 25th at 11:30.  If you are bringing food please come by 11:15 and bring your food to the Friendship Hall.  

Thanksgiving Feast and Helper Sign Up

No Name Policy

Our class has been seriously struggling to remember putting names on assignments.  Mr. Donze and myself have had several conversations with the kids about how important this is.  I have also instituted several consequences (some as simple as reminders and some as severe as taking off 5 points), and it has not seemed to help much.  I want to inform you parents of the policy that I will follow the rest of the year.  If there is no name on your child's paper when they turn it in, I will automatically take them down half a letter grade (from an A to an A-).  Thank you for your understanding and support as I am working very hard with your kiddos on their individual responsibilities in any classroom.  

Short Week!!!

Here's what's going in this nice little week:

Book Reviews
We are doing another book review that will be assigned on Wednesday.  This time everyone will be doing the same book, "Thanksgiving on Thursday" (a Magic Treehouse book by Mary Pope Osborne).  We are just finishing up reading it in class this week, but it may be good to go check a copy of it out from the public library.  The format will be exactly the same as last time:
1st Paragraph- A summary of the book that hooks readers but does not give away the ending
2nd Paragraph - Your opinion of the book and who you would recommend the book to.
(Each paragraph needs 1 main idea sentence and at least 3 supporting details.)
These will be due on Monday 11/17

Multiplication Tests
We have tested through our 4's so far.  Here is the basic plan for how the rest of the tests will go.

• Every child will need to complete each set of multiplication tables in 40 seconds or less.  
• We will give them 3 chances to test on each set.
• The highest grade out of the 3 sets will be taken and recorded in MyKoob once they have all been completed.  (I am keeping paper records and sending home the tests immediately so they know what to work on at home.)
• If they receive a 100% on the 1st attempt they will not need to retake the test. 

Our goal is that we have all the students complete their times tables through 5's by Thanksgiving.  

If your child needs to retake a test on 0-5 we will give them a chance to retake those next week.  

Thanksgiving Feast

We are sending out invitations today.  Please be sure to RSVP on the paper invitation by Thursday Nov. 20th.  We also still have some spots to fill in on the sign up sheet for bringing in food items and helpers for the pie making day.  Here's the schedule of events: 

• Thursday Nov. 20 - RSVP's are due
• Friday Nov. 21 - Any Pie donations will need to be brought in by this day so that Mr. Fishburn and I can go shopping before Monday.  $6.00/pie (We still need quite a few)  
• Monday Nov. 24 - Pie making will begin at 1:00 pm and go until the end of the day.  We will need at least 10 parents to help with this.  
• Tuesday Nov. 25 - Thanksgiving Feast 
• The meal will begin at 11:30 am. If you are bringing food plan on arriving around 11:15 am
• Presentations will begin after the meal has finished and we will be having an open house to look at the projects in the classrooms until 2:00 pm.  

Thank You!!!

We understand this month creates a lot of extra involvement for you as parents and we are very appreciative of that.  We would not be able to do this with the kids without your help.  Thank you very much!

November is Here

This week we started working on our Thanksgiving projects.  Today they worked with their group to make a plan and assign jobs to each member of the group.  This project will be taking up the bulk of our time and everything we do for the next 2 and a half weeks will center around Thanksgiving.  Here's what to expect for this week:

Tuesday
Daniel Boone Home field trip
Leave at 8:30 am
Arrive at 9:45 am
Tour time 10:00-12:00
Lunch is dependent on the weather.  We will either eat there or on the bus as we drive home.

Please send to school:
1. sack lunch (no ordered sack lunches will be available because of our early departure time)
2. Warm clothes
3. Small umbrella or raincoat if your child has one (We will be walking outside and the forecast calls for rain all morning.)

Wednesday
No chapel
3rd and 4th grade have been invited to listen to a presentation at the Middle School campus in the morning.  We will leave around 8:40 am and be back before lunch time.  The presentation is on colonial life, which adds nicely to our Thanksgiving unit.

Thursday
Finally a normal day!

Friday 
Chapel in the morning
Book Review final drafts are due!

I have added information to the Spelling and Memory Work page for the next couple of weeks.  

Feast and Pie-Making Days

• Pie Making Day - Mon. Nov. 24th We will need a lot of extra hands so check your calendar.  More information will be coming at the end of the week.  

• Feast Day - Tues. Nov. 25th Invitations and sign ups will be sent out soon.  

What's coming up?

We have a lot of new things coming up and they are very exciting.  I will do my best to get them all

Daniel Boone Home
Tuesday Nov. 4th
      Please bring your own lunch and dress in warm layers.  The forecast calls for rain and chilly temps.  You may want to send a small umbrella or rain jacket as we will have to walk outside between each station.

Book Review
Today we practiced doing a book review in class.  They will be picking books tomorrow for the book review that we assigned as homework.  They were given a packet to help them organize their thoughts into paragraphs.  Here's the basic outline of a good book review:
Paragraph #1 -  Summary of the book
Paragraph #2 - Your opinion of the book.
Both paragraphs need a main idea sentence and supporting details.  They should have a good conclusion sentence as well.
(If they would like me to check a rough draft I need to have it by Mon. 11/3.  This will not be graded or mandatory.)

Multiplication
On Friday of this week I will be introducing multiplication.  Our goal is that the kids know their times tables through 10 by the end of the year.  This means they need to be able to complete each set in  40 seconds or less.  They will be tested according to the days we put on the Social Studies calendar.  If they do not pass the first test, they must take it again the next day.  We would like them to know 0-5 sets by Thanksgiving break.  This will be the main focus of our math lessons during the month of November so please help them work on it at home, in the car, waiting in line at stores, etc.  It's a great time filler!

How to Survive the Thanksgiving Unit as a Parent!

Hello parents,
We are beginning our Thanksgiving Unit this week.  Rather than read a ton of information, please watch this short video so that you know what to expect.
Thanks!

We will be sending out more information about the Feast shortly, but please mark Tuesday November 25th, as a day to be available for a lunchtime feast here at school.  

Thanks for all you do!

Book Fair

Special Events 

• Monday, 10/27 from 6-7:30pm: CANDY CORN FESTIVAL! Book Fair will be open during this preschool/kindergarten event. 
• Wednesday, 10/29 from 7:30-8:15am: BREAKFAST WITH A BUDDY!  Students may invite a relative or special friend to join them for a light breakfast and book fair shopping!

Student Led Conferences

Your kiddos have been putting away hours of work preparing for you to come see us this Thursday and Friday.  We will be finishing up their presentations and fine tuning things the rest of this week.  Therefore, we WILL have memory on Thursday but will NOT have spelling words this week.  Everything will be back to normal next week.

Field Trip
Thank you so much to all the parents that joined us on our trip to the farms yesterday.  It's always so helpful to have more hands around when we are walking through such open spaces.  Also, I need to apologize for the confusion with the hayride this afternoon.  I believe that I misheard information on the phone when planning and then took you parents by surprise with unexpected costs.  I am very sorry if this inconvenienced any of you.  I'm going to try and clear things up now before we go on our next field trip.

1. I payed for the kids to go on the hayride, but that amount still does need to be reimbursed.  ($3 + $5 for the bus).  If you can pay the $3 directly to me that would be helpful.  I will add the bus fee for the Oct. 20th field trips to the cost of the Daniel Boone Home to make it easier on everyone.

2. I contacted the Daniel Boone Home and they are fine with us adding people to our group for the parents who really want to come.  Just remember everyone in attendance will get charged $7.50 for admission.  My list of parents attending so far is :

Brenna Maserang
Lisa Byers
Kerrie Karsten
Damon Daher
Beth Scott
Laura Sauer
Kippin Schelp
Becky Zecharias

If I missed your name please let me know.

3.  Here is the cost breakdown:
*$3 to Miss Besel for hayride at Stuckmeyer

*$17.50 (student price) ($5 bus on 10/20, $5 bus on 11/4, $7.50 for admission to Daniel Boone Home)  - This will automatically be charged to your TADS account

*$7.50 (adult price) for admission to Daniel Boone Home

Google Drive

Dear parents,
I know that there has been some confusion between home and school for about where to find directions for projects if they are posted on Google Drive.  In an attempt to help clear things up, this post is dedicated to Google Drive.

First of all, there will be several times throughout the year that Mr. Fishburn and I will share directions or copies of things with the kids.  CCLS uses google quite often all the way through the middle school and we are beginning to teach them how to use it this year.  In order to teach them, CCLS has given every student a google/gmail account.  Here's how to access it:

1. go to www.google.com on any computer
2. Click sign in and use your child's username and password that the school gave them. ( I have taped these to the inside cover of their planners, however they should already know it since we use it so much at school.)
3.  From there, they can access the google apps by clicking on the icon of tile squares in the top right corner.
4.  Click on "Drive" and they should be able to access any document I have "Shared" (sent) to them.
5. They can also create their own blank documents in My Drive.

This will come in handy for you at home when they bring longer projects home.  I will use Google Drive to share information directly with your child, but not necessarily with you (although you can access it with their account information as well).  I have found that this teaches a number of 21st century skills at a young age, and helps reinforce responsibility by being able to retrieve teacher given information on their own, but away from school.

Please remember: the blog is my communication tool to you parents, Google Drive is my communication tool and resource for the kids.  They have been taught how to use Google Apps at school and should be able to start transferring those skills to use at home as well.

I am hoping this cleared some things up, but if you still have questions feel free to stop in and I can show you these steps in person.

Week of Oct. 13

Dear parents,
Conference time is almost here.  Our class will be diligently preparing for your visits next week, so you will only be seeing some math homework and a Social Studies map assignment (due next Mon. 10/20).  Please be sure to send back the salmon colored scheduling sheet to ensure we can schedule your conference at a convenient time for your family.  I must have these back no later than Wednesday before school is out.

Field Trip Information
Our Farm field trip is next Monday.  If you are joining us here is our schedule:

• Leave Webster's campus at 9:50 am
• Arrive at Fresh Pasture Farms around 10:30 am
• Tour the farm and eat lunch
• Leave Fresh Pasture Farms by 12:15
• Arrive at Stuckmeyer Farms by 1:00
• Leave Stuckmeyer Farms no later than 2:10 to return to school by 2:30

Parents joining us please let me know if you will be meeting us there or if we should wait for you to follow the bus at school.  

1. Fresh Pasture Farms

   Directions
3. Address: 1931 Kropp Rd, Millstadt, IL 62260

   Phone:(618) 719-1983

1. Stuckmeyer's Farm Market

   Directions
3. Address: 249 Schneider Dr, Fenton, MO 63026

   Phone:(636) 349-1225
4. 
   

I have arranged to do a farm lesson at Stuckmeyer farms.  It is supposed to take about an hour.  If there is extra time before or after the farm lesson the kids can pick a pumpkin with the money they bring from home.  I cannot guarantee there will be time for pumpkin picking though.

Please send the following with your kiddos to school on Monday:
-Layers (high of 60 degrees, but sunny)
-Good walking shoes that can get muddy
-Sack Lunch
-Jacket or small blanket to eat lunch on (optional)
-$10 for pumpkin (optional)

Last week of the Quarter!!

Well you all made safely to the end of 1st quarter, hopefully with some of your sanity and patience intact.  Thank you so much for all of the hard work you have put into helping me help your kids.  They have come along way already.

This week we are going to be finishing up projects and assignments that need to be completed by Friday.  That means there won't be a lot of new assignments until we start 2nd quarter next week.  Your kids have been working on some neat things that they want to show you at conferences, but that means we have to do them here to keep it a surprise.

I have told the kids that any redos or missing work MUST be turned in by Friday.  I encouraged all of them to look at MyKoob with you at home so that they can see the whole picture.  If they need new copies of things or have questions, please send them to me (you can come too if you'd like). When they themselves have a conversation with me, it helps solidify concepts and forces responsibility.

Thanks for all you do!
(I have tried to stay up to date on grades, but there are few that still need to be entered.  I will do my best to be timely about it so they have time to correct things if needed.)

Field Trips!!!

I have confirmed our field trip dates and times and am so excited to take the kids out and around our community.  You as parents are more than welcome to join us as long as you are willing to drive/carpool and meet us there.

Monday Oct. 20th
Fresh Pasture Farms and Stuckmeyer Farms
We will be visiting Fresh Pasture Farms in Millstadt, IL at 10:30 am.  We'll be having a picnic lunch and then heading over to Stuckmeyer Farms in Fenton, MO for an afternoon tour.  Your kids will have an option to buy a pumpkin at Stuckmeyer farms if time allows, but they will need to bring their own money for it.  These two farms are adding to our lesson in Social Studies on rural and urban neighborhoods.  We will compare the two farms and then look at the differences between our city lifestyle and their rural lifestyle.
We need a lot of parents to come on this one since we'll be walking quite a ways through fields. 

Monday Nov. 4th
Daniel Boone Home
3rd Grade does a huge Thanksgiving Project and our introduction to it is our field trip to the Daniel Boone Home.  They do a wonderful program on pioneer living that helps the kids see a glimpse of what the pilgrim lifestyle would have been like.  The Daniel Boone Home is in Defiance, MO and is quite a drive, so we take the whole day to go out there.
I only have 10 chaperone spots for this field trip.  We will take chaperones on a first come first serve basis (5 for each class).  Let me know ASAP if you'd like to come!

Please let me know if you are able to join us on either of these field trips.

Week of September 29th

Dear Parents,
We have some fun things coming up in the next few weeks.  Here's the run down:

Math
We will be spending the majority of the week working on fractions.  Today we started by working with Hershey's chocolate bars (which the kids hated of course).  The rest of the week you will be seeing math papers that look a little different from the normal ones.

Reading
We are reading a play in our book this week and working hard on using our voice inflections correctly.  The kids are going to be paired up to work on presenting a small reader's theater.  We'll be using the ipad voice recorder to create a final project for the week.  Maybe read some to kids and use your best pirate voice to help them practice voice inflections at home.

Social Studies
Mr. Fishburn and I paired the kids up and had them working on a webquest about maps and globes.  If they finished in class today, they have nothing to bring home.  If they didn't finish today, they will need to complete the webquest at home and bring it back on Friday.  They should have a paper copy in their Social Studies binder and electronic copy waiting for them in their google drive.  You can log into their google accounts and home by following these directions.
1. go to www.google.com
2. Click sign in and use their student email and password (taped to the inside of their planner).
3. Find their google drive and open the document called Maps and Globes Webquest.

They should be able to find everything they need from here.

Field Trips
I am finalizing getting our first field trips confirmed.  We will be having 2 of them before Thanksgiving, one to Stuckmeyer Farms and the other to the Daniel Boone Home.  We'd love for you to join us if you can.  I'll send out the dates as soon as they are confirmed.

Responsibility 101 - 3rd Grade Style

Hi parents,
Today has been such a great day with your kiddos, actually this whole week has been.  I am just so proud of them and I wanted to share what our class has accomplished.  It seems like this week something all of a sudden started to click for most of the kids.

*They have been wiping down their own lunch tables and sweeping up their crumbs before they leave to go to recess.
*They have started getting the hang of how to keep their desk organized without as much help from me.
*They were given individual lists of missing assignments and every one of them came to me to either hand it in or find a solution to the lost assignment.
*They were complimented by the librarian on how well they handle checking books in and out AND how respectfully they carry themselves.
*They have started saying please and thank you for things without prompting from me.
*They know their morning routine much better and don't need constant or immediate direction from me.
*At recess they handle disagreements in a very civilized manner.

All of these things were a large struggle when the year started, but they have worked hard and have accomplished a lot.  Thank you for helping me reinforce these things at home as well.  All of their teachers have told me what a lovely bunch they are!

Sentence Game

Today we were working on making complete sentences with subjects and predicates.  Part of our activity was a game on the smart board.  The kids apparently loved it and begged me to put it up on the blog.  So here is the link if they would like to play:

Sentence Subjects and Predicates

A great way to use this in real life would be to turn their sentences into writing prompts.  This would be a great rainy day (or sick day) activity to pull out when you don't know what else to do:)

Week of September 22nd

Hi Parents,
Thanks for helping your kids find time to do their "Penguin Chick" comic strips.  At first glance they look great.  Here's what we are doing this week!

Religion
We are talking about the 6th and 7th commandment in religion.  The 6th commandment is tough for kids to understand and they do ask questions.  I try to put things as delicately as possible to try and help maintain their innocence a little while longer.  They do ask questions, and a lot of times (depending on the nature of the question) I will direct them to talk with parents at home about these things.

Reading
We are reading a story about a girl who wants to find a pet.  I'm taking this opportunity to let them talk about their own pets in their writing.  If you would like to send/make a copy of a picture of their pet to include in their writing, they would probably love that.  It's completely up to you at home and absolutely not mandatory.

Social Studies
I mentioned last week that we will be doing a lot with Social Studies from now until Thanksgiving.  We started that today and will be focusing on map skills to start us off.  While you are driving it could be fun to hand them the phone and let them use the map apps to guide you home.  The more exposure they get to maps, the easier it becomes.

I am also looking for a farm field trip to take the kids on this fall.  If anyone knows of a family member or anywhere for that matter, that may let us bring 50 kids, please let me know!

Have a great week!

Bones Test

Here is the information the kids should know for their test on bones on Monday.  Mr. Fishburn gave this to his class a couple weeks ago, but the information has not changed for our class.  Have a great weekend!

Bones Test Information

Week of September 15th

Hi Parents,
I've rolled our Reading story into two weeks so that we can extend some concepts in class.  This and other things have made it so that I have not had too much to share until now.

Reading
Your child will be making a "comic strip" for the story Penguin Chick.  This will be due on Monday and is replacing a comprehension test that could have been given.  They should bring home a large paper with boxes AND a full sheet of instructions.  We went over how to do this in class and they were given some time to get started.  I expect that they will take a decent amount of time on this since they are not receiving other homework (besides math).  Please let them bring it to school to work on tomorrow and ask questions if needed.  Please also let them work as independently as possible and only guide when absolutely necessary since it is in place of a test.  They should use their books as much as possible to glean information.

Science
They will be having their final test on Bones with Mr. Fishburn on Monday.

Religion
I have found that breaking the meaning of each commandments into "Do" and "Don't" categories helps them keep the words straight and understand it a little better.  This may be a helpful strategy to try at home.

Social Studies
Next we will be starting a long series of Social Studies lessons.  In 3rd grade our Social Studies curriculum fits so easily into our fall schedule.  This means that we will cover Science more heavily during 2nd semester and focus a lot on Social Studies from now until Thanksgiving.  Please be assured that all the necessary topics will be covered by the end of the year.

Collecting Papers
I am making every effort to get graded papers home to you in a timely manner.  I just want to make you all aware that I am having the kids sift through their mail before bringing it home each day.  I have asked them to save samples of their work in a binder to show you at conferences.  This will explain why they may not be bringing home papers with extremely good or extremely low marks.  If you notice a trend however, please feel free to ask and we can make sure that is what is happening.  I have left it up to the kids to do this each time without asking my permission.

Thank you for being so supportive and helpful up to this point.  You're kiddos are really starting to get in the swing of third grade and you should be proud of their progress so far!

Friendly letter homework (and graded papers)

Graded Papers
I have quite a large stack of papers to pass back to your kids.  I am planning on keeping them until Monday.  I need to have a chance to explain what they should be saving for Student Led Conferences.  Once I have done this, I will let them choose what to save here at school and what to bring home right away.  Until then, I will keep posting grades on MyKoob.  Thanks for being patient!

Friendly Letter Homework
I started some examples of letters in class with the kids today.  I will need your help with 2 things:
1. Please help them type up AND memorize (in the next few days) their address.
2. Please help them get on to this link to write a letter to another classmate.  The interactive site helps them to break up the parts of the letter and be sure they get all of the correct information and punctuation.

Letter generator

When they finish the letter, they can print it at home if they would like.  Please also have them email it directly to me at:  bbesel@ccls-stlouis.org

Quadrilateral Book Instructions

Here are the instructions for the math homework they are bringing home tonight.  They can find all the information to put in the "Word Bubbles" in their notes.  They MUST have more than just "I am a quadrilateral and have 4 sides".  I need to know the difference between all of the shapes.  If they cannot find all the information in their notes, I would encourage them to look up the definitions of each shape in a dictionary or online.

These are the example pages of a book that I made.

Bring on September

I think I heard about 15 parents and kids walk into my room this morning and grumble something to the effect of "Dumb tornadoes.  NEED more sleep!"  I have to say, I wanted so badly to be a part of the grumbling since I saw 0 tornados but received 3 phone calls and 5 texts while I was asleep.  This is of course very sweet of my family, but I didn't feel the sweetness of it this morning.  So here's to a week with no more tornados and plenty of uninterrupted sleep.

Religion
Memory: 2nd commandment and it's meaning

Math
We are doing an extension on our lessons with quadrilaterals from last week.  The kids are making a book of quadrilaterals at school that shows the different properties of each.  They will also prove to me that they can measure correctly as well as combine some math and language arts skills together.  This will be homework tomorrow if they do not finish it in class.

Reading/Writing
We will be working on our first full fledge writing assignment this week.  We are starting a letter writing unit that will extend into next week.  This week's story is not from the Reading Book.  It is a book called "The Gardner" by Sarah Stewart.  After reading the letters that a little girl writes back and forth to her family, we will begin writing letters to each other, and to pen pals from a mysterious location.

Science
We are almost done learning about muscles.  I will be posting the videos and robot arms that the kids made shortly.

A review guide should have come home today.  They will receive all the correct answers to it tomorrow and it needs to be turned in to me on Thursday.  They will have a test on muscles on Thursday as well.  If they know the review guide, they will be ready for the test.

The Week After the Crazy

Well the carnival is over.  So is the wedding that I was in this weekend, and some other crazy mishaps that may have occurred Friday through Sunday.  Hopefully you got some sleep and escaped the heat through all of it.

Speaking of heat, we will be watching the heat index carefully each day to make sure it's safe for your kiddos to be out.  Please send water bottles with them to school if you can.

Religion
We are starting to talk about the 10 commandments.  This will be our memory work for the next 10 weeks.  Please continue to work on the Books of the Bible when you have a chance.

Math
We will be making a polygon book this week, as well as working on other skills that need to be reviewed from last year.  The big ones right now are:
-time
-measuring
-calendar
-speed of addition facts

Language Arts
We will have our first "regular" week of reading with spelling lists, grammar, etc.  The story this week deals  with writing letters.  Find a friend or family member to write a letter to and say hello.

Science
The next two and a half weeks will be all about bones and muscles.  I will be teaching muscles to our class while Mr. Fishburn teaches bones to his.  After we finish up those sections, the classes will switch teachers so they get both topics covered.  We will have a test at the end, but there will be fair warning given.

Art
Thanks for helping your kiddos find time to do their art this last weekend.  It turned out really great.  Come see it all down in our hallway.

Have a great week!
Miss Besel

P.S.  No school next Monday 

Try to look at everything like it's ART!!

I did not personally like Art until I got to college.  I always thought that I was horrible at it and I could never come up with good ideas.  I was lucky enough to have a wonderful professor in my "required art general education class".  He never judged our work on how lovely or professional our product turned out.  He gave us suggestions and taught us how to look at things.  He then judged our work based on personal progress and following directions.  I loved that because it made me feel comfortable and I could try, fail, ask...repeat.  Finally I would grasp the concept and make personal progress.  That is my goal for your kiddos.  I have attached the rubric for how every project this year will be graded.
Elementary Art Rubric

My first lesson in Art is always a little challenging.  It's personal, it connects them to their world, and it forces them to look at space differently.  It also makes it very clear if they did or did not follow directions.  I love using their names to start off with because it helps me see how they view things.  This project may take awhile and they will probably need reminders at home.  Here are the directions and examples that I gave them at school.

There should be absolutely NO white left on the page.  In between the letters must be filled in as well.

The 1st Monday of the year

I cannot tell you how much I am already loving my class this year.  Your kids are so much fun to be around.  Here are some little tidbits of information to help get the year going smoothly.

Mr. Donze
We have a wonderful teacher aide helping us in 3rd grade this year.  Kevin Donze will be floating between both rooms every room to help out.  If you get a chance to say hello and introduce yourself please do so!

Memory
We are learning the theme verse this week and it is posted on the memory page of the blog.  Your kiddos can find it in their Bibles or look it up on the blog.  They all wrote down the reference in their planner this morning.  It always helps to have them write it down, so have them copy it from their Bible into their planner.

Religion
We have been learning the "10 Ways to Pray" this week and your kiddos have already started volunteering to pray in class.  If they seem nervous about it, give them an opportunity to practice at dinner or before bed in front of family.  That way they aren't always in front of such a huge crowd.

We are also learning how to look up verses in the Bible, which means we are learning the books of the Bible.  Here's a song to help.  (It's seriously catchy.)

Morning Routine

Our morning routine in 3rd grade is very important.  This is the time that I can help your kiddos get organized and have a chance to ask questions.  Everything takes a little longer right now, so please make every effort to allow them the time to get organized before school starts.  This really helps them feel less stressed the rest of the day and they can focus on class.  

Everything Else

We will be hitting the books pretty hard next week.  This week we are reviewing a little bit and doing a lot of introductions to the subjects.  Let me know if you have questions.  Have a great week!

Who am I? Collage

The first homework assignment is meant to be a "get to know each other" type of assignment.  Your child should have brought home a plain and empty manilla folder in their homework folder.  Here's how to have them set it up:

Follow this link to Mr. Fishburn's blog where you will find pictures and directions for completing the assignment.

http://cclsfishburn.blogspot.com/ 

The idea is that we will hang these up in the hallway for other people to stop and play our "game".  The kids are more than welcome to use real photos, copied photos, drawings, magazine clippings, etc.  Let them make it their own so that we can really see who they are.  They may need help coming up with clues and making them look nice and neat on the front.  You may offer help with typing or writing if they need it, but please just guide them when coming up with the clues.

I can't wait to see how they turn out!  Thanks for all of your help in making our first couple of days great!

Week of May 12th

Hi Parents,
We are almost done with the year and here are all the things you will need to know (or at least what I can think of right now).

• Friday 5/16-  Field Day  Bring in $1 for Ted Drewe's if you haven't already
• wear good tennis shoes
• bring extra socks and shirt/shorts (they will get wet)
• Monday 5/19 - Forest Park Field Trip (leave at 9:15am  and return by 2pm)
• Please bring:
• sack lunch
• good tennis shoes
• wear CCLS spirit shirt
• Thursday 5/22 - Graduation at Concordia Kirkwood at 7pm
• Friday 5/23 - Last Day of School
• Closing chapel at 8:45 am with Installations for Mr. Butterfield, Mrs. Shirley, and Miss Besel (Webster campus)
• Early Dismissal at 11 am

Book Club

We are doing a book club for Language Arts until the last day of school.  This really won't involve much homework.  Ask your child about the book their club is reading right now!

News Stories

Last week your kiddos did a research project on issues around the world.  They then wrote news scripts and recording their own news broadcast reporting on an issue.  Check out my Reading page to watch their videos! 

Zoo pictures

"My child took pictures at the zoo and now says they are supposed to do something with them? Help?"

Thank you to everyone who sent a camera/device for their student to use.  Finding animals within ecosystems and taking photos for science helped enrich the field trip, but now for the information about what to do with those photos...

Preferred Option:

It would be very helpful if you would be able to download them into your child's Google Drive.  Here are some helpful tips on how to do this:

1) Your student will need to log in to their Google account (just go to www.google.com and click sign-in in the top right corner).  They should know their username and password (same as what they use for Chromebooks).

2) Go to Google Drive (you are now logged in to the Google platform) and I would recommend creating a new folder (Create --> folder) and naming it something like Zoo Pictures.

3) Once you are in this folder click on the little up arrow next to the "Create" button.  This is the upload button where you can select file or folder and access individual files or folders on your device, select, and "open" to download them into Drive. 

You can select more than one file at once by holding down the shift key while clicking files to use and then "opening" them all at once into Google Drive.

2nd Option:

Send your child to school with their device, preferably on Wednesday, (with any USB cords necessary) and I or Mr. Fishburn can help them move their pictures to the correct location.

3rd Option
Email the photos to me, and I can forward them on to the students and we can get them into Google Drive.


If your child shared a device with someone, once we get their photos into their Google Drive, it will be very easy to share them with your child.  If something happens that we cannot get your students photos, it will not effect their grade; it might just mean a little extra work and being resourceful to get what we need from others.

Week of May 5th

I'm starting our countdown to the end of 3rd grade.  Summer is always exciting and much needed, but I will be a little down in the dumps when your kiddos aren't in my class in 13.5 days.

Zoo pictures
Thank you so much for everyone's help with the trip to the zoo and providing cameras.  I know some kids took a ton of pictures and some kids only took a few.  No matter how many they took, it was great to see them thinking about what we have learned.   If you could help them email their pictures to their school accounts that would be a big help.  We will be sorting and adding to them in class on Wednesday.  

Forest Park Field Trip
Monday 5/19 - I have quite a few parents, but can always use extra hands.  I will be sending out a list of things that I need help collecting next week.   These are pretty simple items, but we will need them to do our amazing race.  I will keep you posted.

Guest Teacher
I'm sure most of you have heard about our guest this week.  In case you didn't, my sister will be here all week helping me.  She will also be teaching the literacy block this week as an end to her education classes.  This is her final project before she goes to student teach in the fall.  Her name is Kierstyn, but since she will be teaching the kids, I will be having them call her "Miss B".   She didn't like the idea of having two Miss Besel's (it's just too confusing for all of us).

Book Clubs
Next week we will be doing another 2 week book club to end the year.  It will be a lot less homework, but a lot more independent reading in class.  This also means that we will have no more spelling tests, but just work on things in class.  I will be giving a partial spelling grade based on how well they apply their skills to the rest of their daily work.

Field Day
There is a note coming home today about field day.  Please watch for a blue sheet in your child's papers.

Have a great week!
Miss Besel

Week of April 28th

We have exactly one month of school left.   The kids and I both agree that this year just flew by.  There are just a few things left to accomplish, but they are pretty big tasks.  Please encourage your kiddos to keep working hard.

Book Club
We have one chapter left in Sarah Plain and Tall.  The kids have done a great job with their discussions in class.  They have worked hard and stayed on topic the entire time.  Here are the due dates for their assignments on the book.

• Tues 4/29 - Chapter 9 read and vocab completed
• Wed. 4/30 - Question packet (all highlighted items should be completed)
• Mon. 5/5 - Tic tac toe board project (This was sent home on Friday.  We spent a long time talking through how it works on Friday.  I told the kids that there are not a lot of detailed guidelines for the projects on purpose.  I want them to try and think outside of the box that I normally give them.  I expect the projects to be done well and have a lot of thought put into them.  Otherwise, I just want them to show me what they can do.)

Science

Our animal unit is the last science unit of the year.  We are going to be making dioramas and putting together an animal picture book for their final project.  You will receive more information on this next week.  For right now, please respond to my email about digital cameras.  I need to know ASAP so that I can round up enough devices for all 44 kiddos.  

Field Trips

$10 total - this is only for the bus fee.  There are no admission charges for either field trip.  

Monday 5/5 - St. Louis Zoo (bring sack lunch)  I could still use quite a few parents to help the kids get their pictures for the books we are making.  

Monday 5/19 - Forest Park (Amazing Race Day) I need at least 10 parents to help run stations.  So far I have 2.  

I realize many of you can't take off of work for a whole day, but if you are able to come for part of the day I can use that type of help as well (preferably mornings).  Thanks for all you do to help your kids as well as myself.  

Have a great week!

Week of April 21st

There are so many things to be cheerful about this week.  Here's my list in no particular order:

1. Achievement tests are completely finished
2. Warm weather seems to be here to stay
3. Last Sunday was Easter 
4. We had a nice break on Good Friday
5. We are trying something new in Reading!
6. Our floors got cleaned over the weekend
7. My sister will be a guest presenter in our class in a couple of weeks

Hopefully you can find lots of things to be cheery about too.

Reading

I am starting a new reading strategy with the kids called "Book Clubs".  We will start by reading Sarah Plain and Tall as a class.  Your kiddos have been given 3 important things:

• a book
• a question/vocabulary packet
• a packet explaining how to ask questions while reading

All of these items MUST be brought back to school every day.  I will not be giving out extra copies for any of these items.  Please do not take them out of your child's folder and leave them at home.  

Book club is set up like this:

• Each night they will be assigned chapters to read at home.  As they are reading, they should fill out the vocabulary sheets that go with that chapter.  (If 2 chapters are assigned, I will have pre-selected the vocabulary words so that they do not have to do double the work.  
• The next day in class we will reread the chapter together.  
• They will then break into groups and complete a variety of activities based on what they read.  

If they do not complete the reading ahead of time, it will be very difficult for them to participate in class.  

The completed packet will all be due on WED. 4/30

After the book is finished:

Students will receive a list of projects to choose from.  They will get this list next Monday and the project will be due on MON. 5/5.  This is a separate grade from the question/vocab packet.  

Spelling

We will not be doing a regular spelling test for a couple of weeks.  We will be doing activities to work on spelling in class instead.  

Art

I have an art project that I would love to do but I need a lot of help collecting shoe box lids.  I only need the LIDS.  Please send them in if you have them.  

Science

We have started our last science unit on animals.  You will be getting more information in the coming weeks.  

Achievement Test Week/Holy Week

I don't know if you all remember what it was like to take these silly tests when you were in school, but I sort of forgot until this year.  I know that sounds weird.  I'm a teacher and I've been taking or doing tests almost my whole life.  But....until this year I forgot how nerve wracking they can actually be.  Yesterday the kids all walked in to class and I swear I've never seen a group of 22 kids be that quiet voluntarily.  I am doing my best to help calm their nerves and teach them how to relax.  Hopefully it's working.  Thanks to a lovely parent we have been using this website to do breathing exercises, stretches, wiggle breaks, and stress management.  You can check it out and try using it before bed time to help them slow down or get wiggles out on a rainy day.
www.gonoodle.com

Here's a few reminders for the week:

• Please try to be here on time so that we can start testing without interruptions
• No homework this week
• There is Memory this week!! (6th commandment)
• They may chew gum or suck on candy this week.  I have a supply in the classroom if you don't want to send it in with them.  

• No school on Friday
• No chapel on Wednesday.  We will have 2 chapel times on Thursday instead.  

Pictures

Yesterday your kiddos practiced their tech skills AND their teaching skills.  Mrs. Schulz brought her 2nd graders down to learn how to use the chrome books.  Instead of me teaching them, your kiddos each taught a 2nd grader how to use them.  You can check out the picture page to see how they did.  

Week of April 7th

First things first:  You're kiddos have been absolutely wonderful the past week and a half.  It's like they just grew up over a weekend and things are starting to click for them.  Thanks for all that you've been doing at home.

Religion/At home challenge
During 3rd and 4th quarter I have been reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe aloud to the class.  I always use this as a tie in to Religion.  It has so much symbolism in it that helps readers better understand the Bible and the story of Jesus.  We have done a lot of comparison between this book and the Bible.  Next week during holy week we will read the whole account starting at Matthew 26.  This book has brought so many good discussions into our class and I would really encourage you to ask your kids about at home.  It could be a very easy to start talking to them about their faith.  They have so much to say and so many questions at this age.  I have loved getting to know your children and their faith this quarter and I'm sure you will too.

Writing
I am going to spend a lot more time helping your kids evaluate their own writing.  We will be grading our writing using rubrics in class.  This is also what I use to help determine what their grade should be.

Achievement Tests
Next week is achievement testing.  We will be doing activities in class that do not require homework.  I want to help your kiddos do the best they can.  I will be sending out an email with more info about the tests and the week.

Government/Economics Test
Friday  will be our government/economics unit test.  The test format will be multiple choice.
We have done a lot of activities in class to get the kids ready for this. 

Test content:

• Be able to distinguish general responsibilities/roles between the three branches of government
• Be able to distinguish which branch of government a person or group is from
• Be able to distinguish which level of government a person or group is from
• Some government unit vocabulary (definition given, match to person/group)
• Economics: Distinguish between a need and a want
• Economics: Be able to predict an outcome for a situation (supply and demand)

Social Studies

I have sent home the last part of our government unit with your kiddos to finish this weekend.  The google doc with the definitions on it has been shared with all the kids.  I have also put the resource links on my Social Studies page to make it easier to get to.  Have a great weekend!

Grammar Test

As it turns out your kiddos are quite a creative bunch.  We have been working on contractions in class and someone asked me if they could do another powtoons all about contractions.  I am taking their suggestion and giving them a couple of options to be creative instead of doing a paper test.  I sent home instructions today and helped them get started.  This project will be due on Monday and they will present it to the class.  As long as they include all of the required information that I shared on the Google Docs they can be as creative as they want.

There is a paper copy that got sent home AND I shared it with them in Google Docs.  (Contractions Project/Test)  Have Fun!

Week of 3/31

Dear Parents,
I apologize for getting the blog updated so late this week.  It was not at all intentional.  Your kids should have brought home their spelling lists on Monday though, and they have had their memory assignment since Monday as well.  We have worked on both of them in class so they should not be behind too much.  Thanks for your patience.

I do not have a lot of other things to update you on right now.  The main things are:

• Achievement Tests - April 14th - 18th
• No School on Good Friday
• We do have classes on Easter Monday.  

Have a great week!

Week of March 24th

I hope you all had a great Spring Break.  I think this was the best one that I have had as a teacher so far.  Please keep in mind though that 2 years ago I blew out my knee when I attempted skiing over spring break.  And last year I spent it in snow stormy Iowa while my roommate went to California for the week.  Not the best track record.  Anyway, I had your kids write about their spring breaks in their journals today and some of the responses were pretty funny.  They ranged all the way from "I can't remember a thing I did!" to "I got green Ted Drewe's!"  and "I flew to Baltimore and then Florida".  The most impressive memory was the kiddo who could tell me what she did at 3:15 on Saturday and then 11:55 on Sunday.  I must say, this child is probably very good at staying organized and being on time.  But now that we are all back at school, here's the game plan for the week.

Reading
We are working on homophones (sound the same, different meanings and spellings ex. hear and here) and slogans this week.  These are both very hard concepts to understand and memorize so any extra conversations and examples you can find at home will help a ton.

Math
We are going to cover adding fractions a bit more to review from our lessons before break.  We will also be introducing more money concepts, especially writing checks.  This will feed in perfectly to our next social studies topic.

Social Studies
We are going to spend the next couple of weeks talking about government and economics.  I will be sending a little more information about this home towards the end of the week.  FYI though, we talked about how gas prices are going up and down today.  I told your kiddos that you parents are dealing with this right now and they were just shocked to know how relevant this topic was in their lives.  Money talks at home a lot of times go farther than money talks at school can.  Take this opportunity to teach your kiddos!

Achievement Tests
Our achievement tests are coming up in a few weeks and we will be spending some time in class getting ready for them.  We will take practice tests and learn good test taking strategies.

Reminder
No school on Good Friday
In school on Easter Monday

Have a great week!!

Week of March 10th

Science
The space project is coming to an end.  Here are the due dates for things:

Friday 3/14 - The whole packet is due (We are doing stars and constellations today and distance from the sun on Wednesday in class.)

Friday 3/14 - Book Review

Wednesday 3/26 - Powtoons

We have decided that because of our snow days we will not have time to give the kids a test on their space unit.  Their packet and projects will give us enough grades for the unit.

Reading
We will have a normal reading lesson this week with spelling and vocabulary.  This spelling words are posted on my Spelling page.

Memory
We have just enough weeks left in school to learn one of the 10 Commandments each week.

4th Quarter Goal

Hello Parents,
I had such a revelation this morning as we were in the middle of Religion class.  For those of you that are teachers, maybe you can relate with this scenario:  You plan your lessons and you think you know where they are going, and then a kid talks.  Sometimes it's an ordinary comment and then sometimes it's a game changing comment.  They hit you with an idea that is even better than the one you had planned and you have no choice except to go with it.  Well that happened this morning and I want to share with you what our class has decided to do.

We discussed how we are made in God's image and how that makes us more special than the rest of His creation.  This then led to us being unique and having fingerprints.  And then somehow we got to talking about how many things God does for us that we should be thankful for.  As we read Psalm 103 the song "10,000 Reasons" by Matt Redman immediately popped into all of our heads and I can't tell you how uplifting it is to hear your kiddos sing this song.

Psalm 103:1,8 "Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me.  Bless his holy name....The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."

After singing this song, one of the kids said, "We should try to find 10,000 reasons to thank God!"  So that's what we are doing this quarter.  I am covering my door with paper and leaving markers beside it.  I just love this idea and encourage you to come and add to our list when you are in the building.  We take so many things for granted and it's easy to overlook the endless blessings God gives.  My first reason to be thankful on the list is going to be your kids and their faith.

Week of March 3rd

Operetta
We will be having Operetta practice every afternoon this week.

Pennies for Playground
Our class has been volunteered (by me of course, but don't let them know that) to count the coins that are brought in each day.  We will then be making a bar graph to put in the hallway as we keep the totals.  This will be the majority of our math period this week.  You can count on facts sheets going home with them every day though.

Reading
We will be reading a different Dr. Seuss book each day and working on different grammar, spelling, or literary skills with them.  This is because Dr. Seuss' birthday is this week.  Also, we will not have time to do a regular Reading story with a spelling list and reading test because of all the other things this week.

Science
Your kiddos will be working quite a bit in class on their science unit.  Last week we introduced them to Powtoons.  They should have brought home the sheet of instructions on it.  There are links to my example powtoons as well as directions to set up an account and then where to find the tutorial.  I suggested that the kids just play around on it and see what they can create before they try to do their project on it.  This may save you and your kiddo some headaches when doing the actual assignment.  Please let me know if you have any troubles with setting up their account.  Otherwise, we told them to be creative and have fun exploring and learning about their planet.

Friday
Friday is pajama/comfy day.  Friday afternoon we will be showing the K-4 kids a Dr. Seuss movie in the gym.  I will allow each kid to bring in one item to sit/lay on.  This could be a pillow or blanket, but please no large stuffed animals.

National Lutheran School's Week

National Lutheran School's Week

There's a lot going on at the Elementary Campus next week.  

   Pennies for Playground

   All week we will be collecting change to help improve our playground.  Each class will have a container to collect change in.  The goal is to have more pennies than all the other classes.  There's a twist though, you can try to "sabotage" other classes by putting silver coins or dollars in their containers. One penny will give the class a positive point and 1 silver coin/dollar will give the class a negative point.  Whichever class has the most pennies at the end of the week will win a prize!!  Save your coins and look through those couch cushions and dryer vents!!

   Dress Up Days

     Monday - Go Green for Jesus

     Tuesday - Team Tuesday (wear your favorite teams spirit wear)

     Wednesday - Dress Your Best (wear your sparkles and tuxedos)

     Thursday - Wear Your Best Uniform

     Friday - Pajama Day

We will be spending time in small groups where the whole school gets mixed up together.  In our small groups we will be doing devotions, fun activities, and other fun things together.  

     Special Events

     Wednesday - Breakfast for Belize/Uganda (7:30-8:15 am in the gym)

     Thursday - Grandparents Day/Special Guest 

     Thursday - Operetta (7pm)