Announcements

Next week is an exciting week. First, our class and three other sections of 3rd grade start the week off with a field trip to Cedar Falls. The students will be eating lunch in the UNI-Dome. This will be the first stop of the day after leaving FMI. After lunch, the students will get back on the bus and go over to the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center and see the play. We are planning to be back at FMI around 3:00. If you are sending lunch with your child. The more "disposable" your lunch is, the easier on field trips. I am all for reusing, however if things can easily be disposed of, there is less of a change of leaving or loosing part of your child's lunch. If you pack something which needs to be insulated, by all means, use your lunchbox! :) With the addition of a few new third graders this week and various associates. We did not have room or any extra tickets for volunteers to go with us. Sorry for the delay in communication, but numbers were changing daily! 

I did send home a gallon Ziploc bag for your child's electronic item. If you would rather they did not bring something, that is completely up to you. I will be collecting electronics in the morning and placing them in a backpack. They will be redistributed on the bus and collected when we park at the UNI-Dome. I will have the items in the backpack during the play, then pass them back out when we get on the bus for the ride home. 


On Wednesday, we will welcome our student teacher Ms. Wild. I will talk to the kids more about her on Monday and Tuesday, but will have her complete get to know you activities with the kids. Ms. Wild is a student at Mt. Mercy University and has an extensive background working with children. I will have her write up a small post if or when she feels comfortable, so you can all get to know her a little better. Ms. Wild will be in our class until the second week of December, so you will get a chance to meet her at conferences. 


On Thursday, we will have some guest readers come to our classroom for America Reads Day. We will also be doing some extra reading of our own. :) 


There is no school on Friday. This will be a professional development day for teachers. Next week I will add details about Halloween parties at FMI. Last year we had a parade around the track. I will talk to Mr. Murphy and see if one is planned for this year also.

Here are some of the things we did this week: 
 
Math- This week we continued to work on 3-digit subtraction with regrouping. Today we reviewed how to subtract across zeros. This is usually the hardest part of these lessons, yet this group of kids caught on to it quickly and enjoyed subtracting with zeros! You should see a lot of our math practice come home next week. We will continue to practice these, but will take a quiz over them next week also. It was awesome to see all the "light bulbs" going off in their brains this week, when they were able to make connections. 

   

Reading- This week we read Bat Loves the Night by Nicola Davies. 

"Bat is waking, upside down as usual, hanging by her toenails. Her beady eyes open. Her pixie ears twitch. She shakes her thistledown fur..." So begins the introduction to the world of bats. We followed mother bat as she awakens at dusk, flies out into the night hunting and searching for food, then returns home at sunrise to feed her batling, and sleep again until nightfall.We tied this with our guided reading books, not only by topics, but also by sequencing events.

Writing- This week we worked on verbs. We spent the first 3 days, looking at each type of verb, whether an action, linking, or helping verb. After studying these we added a few pages to our language arts notebooks. Next week we will go back to our Write Tools and review color codes and work some more on T-charts and paragraph writing. 

 
  Science and Social Studies- This week we did a lot of reviewing for our test, we had also taken our plants off the water and away from the light. This allowed them to dry up. Today, we opened our seed pods and collected the seeds. Completing the life cycle of our plants. The next few weeks, we will be making bee and plant models. Then the students will practice public speaking and share their models with the class. I am sad to see this unit end, but I am glad to have my counters clean again! :)

 

Additional Note: Some of you may or may not already know, my family is expecting our 3rd child in May. 

I have not yet told the class as I was waiting until after my next doctor's appointment on Friday, just to ensure everything was all and well. However, I had made an announcement on Facebook, which spread to others like wildfire. I just couldn't keep the secret any longer. Plus, all the staff at school had if figured out quickly. On Wednesday, I decided to foolishly ride a scooter, where I hit uneven pavement and rolled myself. I thought it was very funny. Many people watched my unsuccessful adventure and rushed over as I laid on my back laughing so hard I thought I might pee my pants. However, many wonderful FMI staff members became very worried and have shared my secret. I figured before you heard it from someone else, if you haven't already, I would be the first to share with you our excitement.



Upcoming dates:
Monday, October 14th- Field Trip to Gallagher-Bluedorn (10:00 am- 3:00 pm) *I sent a reminder note about lunch
Wednesday, October 16th- Our student teacher Ms. Wild starts
Thursday, October 17th- America Reads Day!
Friday, October 18th- No School, Professional Development All day
Tuesday, October 29th- Happy Birthday Justice and Vincent!
Wednesday, October 30th- Mrs. Yuska's birthday
Thursday, October 31st- Fall Party (usually 2:00-3:00) *I will send home more information as it gets closer.


Have a great weekend!
Mrs. Jodie Yuska