Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, we can definitely kick off the Thanksgiving holiday with being thankful for a mini vacation! We will not have school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week. When we come back, we will have 3 weeks before we leave for Winter Break; it's so hard to believe that 2008 is almost over!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

Thank You Veterans!

We have a short week this week, since we have Tuesday off for Veteran's Day. It is important for us to remember why we observe Veteran's Day- to celebrate and reflect on the bravery and sacrifice of U.S. service men and women. To learn about the history of Veteran's Day, check out this website: http://www.military.com/veterans-day/history-of-veterans-day.htm. Thank you Veterans and current military men and women for your sacrifice and service!!

In phonics, we are focusing on words with consonant clusters (-tch, spr-, str-, thr-) and contractions. Our vocabulary words come from our reading selection for this week- The Talking Cloth. In reading, we are honing our summarizing skills and noticing details in stories. In writing, we are finishing up our fictional narratives and looking forward to beginning report writing- yay!

Hello 2nd Quarter!

Wow! Can you believe that our first nine weeks of third grade is over? I know I sure am amazed! The start of the second quarter is bringing about some changes; gone are the days of second grade silliness, it's time to get down to business! We still have plenty of fun with learning, but we are working very hard on making sure that we are focused and on task with our activities.

Please remember, homework is NOT an option. Throughout the last nine weeks, many students did not turn in their homework regularly. Homework is an important and useful tool to help practice and review what we work on in class. Remember to turn in your homework when it is due!

Check back soon to see our class "quilts" we are constructing to go with our weekly reading selection- The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco!

Week of October 20

This week is a short week for the students- they have NO SCHOOL on Friday. There are no spelling words this week, so make sure to focus on getting your books read!

Let's have a great week and have a wonderful long weekend!

October 13-October 17

This is going to be one exciting week! Friday, the 17th, marks the end of the first nine weeks- can you believe it? Also, this week is very exciting for me because I will get to find out if Baby Batycki is a boy or a girl. I don't know who is more excited about that- me or the students!

Please continue your nightly reading; we are expected to have 8 chapter books completed by this Friday! Also, remember to complete your homework each night!

Let's have a great week!

Week of October 6

Wow! I am so sorry that I didn't update the blog last week. Fortunately, our spelling words and homework have all been updated for this week!

Remember to keep working hard and reading! The end of the first quarter is coming up quick!

September 22-26

Another week has begun! This week we are working on the reading strategies of predicting/ inferring and monitor/ clarify in Readers Workshop. In Writers Workshop, we are working on how to improve our writing. We began the week with a discussion about dialogue- what it is, how it can help our writing, and why it is important. There were a lot of busy writers during during our work period!

Please remember to check the panel on the right side of the screen for this week's spelling words and homework. Let's have a great week!