Writing Across The Curriculum

Every year the third grade students
participate in writing across the curriculum, also know as their WAC project. For their first project the students created a brochure about one of the ancient civilizations they have been learning about. The civilizations included Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. The week before winter break was packed full of research, picture printing, and the writing process. The students did an excellent job and will earn a grade in both social studies and writing.

Why I do what I do...

You know what makes my heart absolutely happy? Seeing a group of boys in my class quietly organize themselves and help another young student who has been absent for several weeks. Nothing more needs to be said...I think the picture captures it all :)

Brag Bracelets

My students have been working very hard the past few weeks to improve their scores from the first 9 weeks. As a little encourager I found this awesome idea for brag bracelets online. These let the students show off their improvements to their friends and family! They include rewards such as spelling superstar, terrific test taker, rockstar reader and I also made a special award for rockfish moments. Those of you that are familiar with TES know that our students are "rockfish" and this award is made to accompany their fish chips. Great job everyone!!! I know you can keep improving!! 

Fun with Words!

The students had a great time today using our new magnetic letters during their Word Work center. In this center they must complete a variety of activities using their spelling words or word wall wards for the week. One activity is using the magnetic letters to spell their words out on the wall. Successful center if you ask me!!

The first year...

The first day, the first week, the first month, THE FIRST YEAR!!! What a struggle this can be for a first year teacher. After a tough day yesterday I just wanted to share how thankful I am for my mentor and my third grade team this year. They have been such a help to me these first two months! While unpacking some boxes back in August I found this sign my sweet friend Katelyn made for me. I decide to hang it up behind my desk just to remind myself that I can do this. I just wanted to share this with the rest of all you first year teachers...and the seasoned veterans as well. WE CAN DO THIS!! 

Read For The Record!

Today the nation took part in "Read For The Record". Schools and classrooms across the country read the book "Bunny Cakes". I decided that I would incorporate this into our instruction for the week. We have been discussing the reading strategy visualization and how it can help you determine or infer different character traits. I played a reading of the story on the computer and only allowed the students to listen. They were not allowed to see the pictures. They had to visualize the characters, their actions and their dialogue. I asked them to draw a picture of what they visualized and to write down character traits they determined from the visualization. THEY DID AWESOME! I was so impressed with how quickly they picked up this skill and how great they executed it. 

A new reading series!

The third grade at TES has started their new reading series this week. Benchmark Literacy is currently being incorporated into the entire school and we are hoping all the students will really enjoy it! I am absolutely excited about the Readers Theater portion that accompanies the series. Super fun!!!