Spring Fling:
The Spring Fling will be held on Saturday, March 5th. The time of the Spring
Fling is 11:00 to 1:00. If you are interested in volunteering to help at the Spring Fling on
Saturday, March 5, 2011, please contact Melissa Myers at myers243@yahoo.com. The
shifts will be 10:45-12:00 or 12:00-1:15. For those of you who are new, the Spring Fling is like our school carnival.
Classroom Basket:
We are collecting “Movie Night” items for our classroom basket!
This basket will be at the Spring Fling for parents to bid on during the silent
auction! Ideas for the basket include: family friendly DVDs, popcorn, candy, soda….be creative! If you donate items for the basket, your child will receive a ticket for each item donated. These tickets can be used to play games at the Spring Fling. The tickets are usually distributed on the Friday before the Spring Fling.
Spring Fling Donations:
The organizers of the Spring Fling said that they will also need 2-liter bottle donations (no red soda), full-size candy bars, bite-size candy bars, fun-size candy bars, baked goods for
the Cake Walk, and suckers. The baked goods would not be brought in until
Friday, March 4th. The other donations can be sent in at anytime & we will collect
them at school. If you donate items for the games, your child will also receive a
ticket for each item donated (1 bag of fun-size candy bars – 1 ticket, 2 liter bottle
– 1 ticket.) Thank you in advance for your donations!
Penny Battle Information:
PENNY BATTLE TO BENEFIT RILEY HOSPITAL
Feb. 14-18
$ - All money collected will be donated to Kids Caring & Sharing for Riley Hospital.
$ - The grade level with the most points wins. We are working with the 3rd Grade.
$ - All silver coins, paper money & checks accumulate points at face value.
$ - Every penny subtracts one point.
$ - Students help their grade level by adding silver coins, paper money or checks to their grade level’s jar.
$ - Students can sabotage other grade levels by placing pennies in the other grade level jars to lower their total amount of points.
$ - Contest starts on Mon., Feb. 14th and will end on Fri., Feb. 18th.
$ - The grade level with the most points wins their own special spirit day.
Yearbook Orders
Your child was given a yearbook order form this past week. Yearbooks are $14. The completed order forms are due back on Friday, February 25th. If your child has misplaced the order form, they may get another one at school.
January WOW Winners
January's character trait was determination. Isaiah Appleget and Emma Hart were chosen to be our class winners for January! Congratulations to Isaiah and Emma for showing determination. February's trait is kindness, which there seems to be a lot of in our classroom!
ISTEP
Third graders will begin the first round of ISTEP testing from February 28th-March 9th. This first round of testing is the Applied Skills sections of the test, where students have to show work and explain their answers in written form. As we get closer to testing time, I will make sure you know our testing schedule, so you can avoid scheduling any appointments during those times. In math, third graders have been working hard to make sure they are prepared for the test. Of course, there are no worries that high ability students will fail the test, but I would like for the kids to get Pass +, which is better than just passing! This week, we looked at the 2008-2010 tests to get a feel for the format, types of questions, and how to show work. One thing that many of the kids struggle with is showing their work.....since often the answer just pops into their heads! Students seemed to learn a lot this week about how to explain their thinking in written form and how to show each step of their work. Second graders will not be in the room when we take ISTEP. They will go with another adult to do a special project of some kind....information coming soon.
Reading
We are one day away from finishing our novel, Chasing Vermeer. Students have been enjoying this mystery and have been eager to read ahead! We have been discussing literary devices, such as similes, metaphors, cliffhangers, analogies, and the use of irony. On Friday I passed out project choices for the end of the novel. Projects are due on Tuesday, February 22nd and will be presented in front of the class. Check Moodle for a copy of the project choices and a great link to some resources related to the novel that may help with projects. Next, in reading, we will study the genre of Biography and students will be reading biographies in literature circles about famous Hoosiers.
Spelling
Have you noticed the lack of spelling tic-tac-toes? I have decided to take a break from the spelling tic-tac-toe assignments for awhile because of some projects that are coming up this semester that will require extra work at home. As long as students STUDY their spelling words on Spelling City each night, they should be fine with their words.
Cursive
We are working our way through the lower case letters still. I have been writing in cursive on the board more, so that students can become accustomed to reading it. Students will receive new nametags for their desks this week so that they can also see the proper way to write their first and last names in cursive. I will continue to send home optional cursive practice pages that are due on Fridays.
Science
We have been very busy in Science with our Motion and Energy Unit. Students have learned about different types of energy. We have conducted experiments in class and we recently had two distance learning experiences about electricity and magetism. We will finish up this unit by learning about sound energy. After this unit, we will begin our large unit on Invention, which leads us to our Invention Convention! The Invention Convention is one of the favorite events that students and parents in 2/3 have the opportunity to get involved with. Your child will become an inventor! Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.
Don't Forget....
- Feb. 14 Red or Pink Spirit Day/ Students may bring in valentines
- Feb. 18 All Pro Dads breakfast at 7:45 a.m. in the DT Cafe.
- Feb. 21 NO SCHOOL (Observance of President's Day)
- Feb. 22 Chasing Vermeer Projects due
- Feb. 23 Student Council Spirit Day and Snack Sale- Hat Day, snacks for $0.50
Thank you for reading this very long post! Please always remember to read the Delaware Trail Blazer on our school website as well. The secret word today is Vermeer. I am getting caught up on a lot of grading, so look in your child's binder in the next several days for graded papers. Have a wonderful weekend!
