Week of Feb. 10th

         If you had walked into my classroom this morning, the student to teacher ratio would have been approximately 1:5.  It was so lovely to have the guidance counselor, our new executive director, myself, our seminarian, and a college student observer in there all at the same time.  At lunch, Mrs. Endorf even told me that she thought she was missing a party.  Apparently my room has become the fun place to be in the mornings!
       We will be saying good bye to our Seminarian, Joe Leech, this Friday.  If you happen to see him in the mornings be sure to thank him for all his hard work the last few weeks.   I also have a college student, Miss Natalie Grimm, observing for a couple days this week.  She will not be doing any teaching, but I will use her as an extra hand on our project in math this week.

Mornings in 3rd grade
I am feeling the need to ask all of you parents for help in getting our mornings started a little sooner.  Hopefully getting to school before 8:20 will help your child get organized and feel a little less stressed.  I realize that the winter weather and lack of sun makes it difficult to get up and get going.  However, the last few weeks I have had 6 or 7 students trickle in after 8:20 nearly every morning.  When this happens it makes it hard for your kids to get themselves organized, ask questions, and be prepared for class.  It also makes it difficult for the kids who are already there because they have to wait for me to help the kids who are late.  I will be shutting my door at 8:20 and starting my day promptly.  If they are not ready for class to start then, they will have to finish these tasks at recess.  I greatly appreciate any help you give your kids in this area.  Thanks a bunch!

Math
We are learning how to use find the area of squares, use exponents to simplify these equations, and recognize perfect squares.

Social Studies
We are using this week to look at the current events happening in Sochi.

Science
Next week we will be starting our space unit.  This will be a long unit and will involve some out of class work on projects.  More information will be coming next week, but plan on having a due date of March 14th for several projects.

Valentine's Day
If you send Valentines with your child, please make sure there are enough for everyone.  We have 22 students in our class.  If you would like a list of names, I can send one home with your child in their folder.  I do not want to post all of their names on the blog for safety reasons.  Another option would be to just leave names off and send enough for all the kids.  Our party will be at 2 pm on Friday this week.  Thank you to all of the parents that have volunteered to help with that!

Volunteers needed!!!
Mr. Fishburn and I are planning to do some hands - on stations for our space unit and that will require at least 5 parents between both classes to help things run smoothly.  We will be doing this on Monday February 24th from 1:15 - 2:45pm.  If you can come in and be an extra hand that day we would love to have you join us.  We'll give you the directions that day, just bring yourself.  Let me know if you are able to come help us out!

Art
I will be putting up the Treasure Maps that your kiddos made for Art/Social Studies.  Be sure to check the hallway at the end of the week to find your child's map.