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!