lower case cursive---- check

We are happy to announce that we have now learned all of the lower case cursive letters. Now that we know them all, we will be practicing and doing our spelling in cursive. Starting tomorrow, tests will be done in cursive. It is important to practice your spelling words in cursive at least once before the test.

Once we finish the uppercase letters, the students will take their Cursive License Test and then be able to write in cursive whenever they would like in class, or at home.

Battle of the Books GROUPS

Students who are participating in Battle of the Books, have been grouped. Each child has been assigned 5 books to read specifically for their team. But, we would like all of the students to read all 12 books throughout the year. (The more books they read, the better the chance their team has of doing well.)

Tomorrow, during library we will be doing "mock battling" to show the students what the Battles will be like in March.

The official school wide Battle of the Books will be March 7th - 11th. Our class teams will be battling other 3rd grade teams.

Team Book Battlers
Tupu
Trent
Jazmin
Seritta

Team Real Vikings
Annie
Zoe
Jacky
Maia V.

Team Smarties
Tad
Braillen
Evie
Ray

Team Readers
Chloe
Inoke
Brooklynn
Emily

Team Black
Gage
Caleb
Maya
Tahlia

Book Assignments:
James and the Giant Peach
Mr. Poppers Penguins
Little House and the Big Woods
Sadako & the 1,000 Paper Cranes
Charlottes Web
( Tupu, Annie, Tad, Chloe, and Gage)

Muggie Maggie
A Lion to Guard Us
James and the Giant Peach
Mr. Poppers Penguins
Little House and the Big Woods
(Trent, Zoe, Braillen, Inoke, and Caleb)

My Father's Dragon
Tornado
Boxcar Children
Muggie Maggie
A Lion to Guard Us
(Maya L. Jazmin, Jacky, Evie, and Brooklynn)

Molly's Pilgrim
Freckle Juice
My Father's Dragon
Tornado
Boxcar Children
(Seritta, Maia V., Ray, Emily, and Tahlia)

Can you find your child? UPDATED!

(Sorry the internet connection wasn't working very well when I was uploading pictures!)

Last week we wrote a letter to Santa, and accompanied it with a self portrait. Here they are hanging in the hall. The students did a great job. Look for these to be coming home in a few days!

Multiplication Pass Offs

In December and January we will be passing off our multiplication facts. I have sent home sets of flashcards and a race track to help practice those facts. Please make sure that you are working on multiplication for 10 minutes a night.

You can print off practice sheets to practice at home or play games online if you would like during those ten minutes:
http://www.multiplication.com/worksheets.htm
http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/ttmult.html
http://www.math-drills.com/multiplication.shtml
http://www.mathsisfun.com/timestable.html
http://www.kwiznet.com/p/takeQuiz.php?ChapterID=1151&CurriculumID=4&Num=3.3

We started passing off this week and the class has done well.
Monday, 6th - 1's (Passed off)
Wednesday 8th- 2's (Passed off)

On Friday we will be passing off our 3's.

Next week we test the following:
Monday 13th- 5's
Wednesday 15th- 10's

In January we will be passing the rest off.
This means that during the holiday break, you need to be practicing your multiplication facts. If you don't practice, you may forget them by the time we test in January. Remember that we are passing off our facts and then having our Ice Cream, Master of the Facts party in February.

Jan 5th- 4's
Jan. 7th- 6's
Jan. 10th- 7's
Jan. 12th- 8's
Jan. 14th- 9's

Baggie Books

Thank you to the parents and students who are diligent in bringing back their baggie books. These books are a couple levels below your child's reading level. An easy read, is helpful in in allowing the students to enjoy reading an easy book.

Home reading books will be collected on Wednesday, December 15th and then will be sent back home on January 3rd.

If you have lost your home reading book, you will need to send in $5 to replace the lost book.

Thank you for all of your help in both reading with your child at home, or helping volunteer at school in the reading library.

Safety Posters

During our last rotation unit with Mrs. Peterson, she taught our class about Safety. One of the things they did was make safety posters to hang in the school.

Nov. and Dec. Book Orders

Book Orders will be due on Friday, November 12th!!!!!

It's time again for Book Orders! I will be doing one order for both November and December. I have sent home 3 catalogs with the students.

Lucky November -- Books geared for our grade level
Lucky December -- Books geared for our grade level
Click October -- This has interactive games, read aloud books, and nintendo type games.

If you login to scholastic you will be able to view a few other catalogs.

Firefly -- Geared toward k-1st
Arrow -- Geared toward 4th-6th

If you know of another catalog that you would like to order from, please let me know and I will add it.

You can send a check to school with the order form, or you can order online with your card through our class website.

Online Ordering Information
Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: GLPX2

Battle of the Books

In the TABS section at the top of the blog, there is a new tab. Battle/Books has all of the information about Battle of the Books. The list of books is included. If you have any questions about it, please email me and I'd be glad to answer them.

I'm really excited about this program and hope that everyone will participate!

November Book Project

Don't forget to look under the Book Project Tab (At the top of the blog) to see examples of this months project!

Due: Tuesday, November 30th!

Halloween Party

Our Halloween Party was a huge success! I would like to thank all of our parent helpers who came to put on our party.

We were able to make spiders out of cookies, twizlers, and m&m's.

The class played a fun game together.Mummies were created and wrapped using fabric.A Halloween story and a little Karate were also taught!

A Halloween Suprise

On Halloween I decided to play a small trick on the class. Before recess I had them decorate a tree with crayons. I told them that after recess we would paint the paper black, so it would be a tree at night.

During recess I took a white crayon and drew a ghost on all of the papers and wrote boo! When the class came back they had no idea and when they painted, they were very surprised to see a ghost on their page.

Bone Concentration

Before we took our bone test, we practiced recognizing different bones with a game. We played bone concentration. The kids loved looking for matches and did a great job.

Dividing by Sharing

Last week we read the book, The Doorbell Rang. This book is about a family who share cookies with each other. Each time the doorbell rings, the kids have to share with more people. We introduced division by sharing cookies.

Each child was given a few paper plates and a some cookies to divide. We had a fun time using real cookies and sharing them on the plates.

This is a great way to practice sharing at home, using cereal or small candy.

When the students finished their assignment, they were allowed to enjoy their cookies while reading.