Halloween

I hope your child had fun at school today!  It was filled with fun and games. We had a school wide parade and then our classroom party.  Thanks to the many moms who planned our party, donated items and came to help out during the party.  We couldn't have done it without you.  Our PTA planned some games for the students to do during lunch recess.  We also took some time to enjoy the beautiful weather today by going outside for a longer recess than normal.

Drawing a Halloween picture on a paper
plate while on our heads 

Laptops

We have spent a couple weeks working on our first project on the laptops in our classroom! The students created a newsletter all about penguins to go along with our Arctic unit in science.  We looked forward to the days that we could get on the laptops and work.  This project took a lot of listening skills and total focus because for many of my students this was their first time doing something on the laptop besides playing games. :) Their projects look great!  We will be putting our projects in our portfolios so come to parent conferences so you can see your child's work!

Great Artist

We had our first Great Artist art lesson a couple weeks ago and the kids loved it!  They drew and painted a Picasso art piece called, Mediterranean Landscape.  The students really enjoyed this art lesson and we were lucky to have Mrs. Osborn come and teach it.

Multiplication!

One of the things that my students have been looking forward to since DAY ONE of 3rd grade is multiplication.  We day finally arrived!  We had our first day of multiplication today.  We discovered (or were reminded-for those who learned this last year) how multiplication and addition are related.  We used fruit loops to practice repeated addition/multiplication and make the connections.

I look forward to watching the students approach multiplication with an eagerness to learn!  I shared with the students my experience with learning multiplication facts when I was their age.  It didn't come easy for me and I fought my mom every time she told me it was time to practice flashcards.  I think it's important for them to see that at times, it might be with multiplication or it might be in some other area of school, things may not come easy and it will take a lot of grit.  But with determination they will be able to learn anything they set their mind to.