First Week of School

Happy Friday! What a great first week of school we have had. Here are just some of the highlights:

This week has been all about building a classroom community. We started on Wednesday by getting into groups of 3 for an activity called "Saving Fred." Ask your child about the challenge and what they learned about teamwork.

 

On Thursday, we did a team building cup-stacking activity with Mrs. Swyers' class. The race was on to see which groups of 4 could build a 6 cup pyramid using only a large rubber band with 4 strings tied to it.

On Friday, we partnered up with Mrs. Lilleboe's class for the "Spaghetti Marshmallow" challenge. It's been great to get to know students from other classes in third grade.

Some students have already shared their decorated book boxes and told us about their favorite books and some special items. It is such a great way for me (and their classmates) to get to know them. I look forward to the rest of them presenting next week.

We spent some math time this week exploring various math tools. Students worked in groups and rotated among 4 stations to brainstorm ways we would use the particular tool to help us in math. I overheard some great discussions as I moved between groups!

We had our first experience with our new touchscreen Chromebooks on Friday as well. Students learned how to log on, how to check and send email, and we set up our Google Classroom accounts. They did a great job of following a lot of very detailed instructions, so I rewarded them by letting them play Game About Squares for 15 minutes before lunch.

Next week, we dive into our curriculum with learning reading strategies to improve comprehension, writing personal narratives, graphing and data in math, and science careers. I hope you all have a great weekend!

School Supply Drop Off!

School Supply Drop Off is Friday August 19 from 4pm to 6:30pm. Stop by any time during that window. While you are there, I will have you fill out the online information form here.  Or if you are unable to attend, you can do it from home.

I look forward to meeting most of you this afternoon, and seeing everyone bright and early on Tuesday morning!

Welcome Back!

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful summer, and is looking forward to a great year in third grade. I am so excited to begin my 4th year at England, and 8th year teaching in RRISD.

I look forward to meeting my new students and their families on Friday August 19 from 4pm-6:30pm. If you ordered school supplies, I will have your new supplies in the classroom to unpack. If you bought your own, Friday is a great time to bring them in and get settled in your new classroom. And if you were in my class last year, I would love to see you if you have time to stop by.

The first day of school is Tuesday August 23, and we have new school hours this year. The tardy bell will ring at 7:40am (instead of 7:45am) and students will be dismissed at 2:50pm (instead of 2:45pm).

Here a few pictures from some of my family's summer fun...enjoy!

Last Week of School!

I can hardly believe I am writing my final blog post to you all. What a great year we have had together, and it has truly flown by. I have watched your sons and daughters grow and change so much this year, not just in size, but in their confidence and academic skills. They have made new friends, strengthened old friendships, and learned about kindness and community as we became a family this year. I hope they have happy memories of their third grade year, and please know that each one of them will always have a special place in my heart. Let them know they can email me over the summer, and I certainly hope they will pop in for a visit when they are big 4th graders next year!

I will leave you with some fun photos of our final visit with our kindergarten buddies, as well as some photos of our Hot Wheel track challenge....boys versus girls! I couldn't decide which track was better because both groups did a great job and their cars stayed on the track the whole time.   

Enjoy the photos, and have a wonderful summer!!