Eagle Readers and a Little This and That

Two lucky students from our class have been chosen so far to be an Eagle Reader!  Kennedy and Jake have both had the chance to be an Eagle Reader.  Their names were chosen from a drawing of all third through sixth grade students.  Being chosen as an Eagle Reader, provides students the chance to help the varsity basketball teams as an assistant manager!  Students get to help with water and they even get a sneak peak into the locker room!  How exciting!  The more points a student has, the more chances they have in the drawing.  After every 10 AR points, students gain another chance in the drawing.  So keep on reading! I hope to see more of my students become Eagle Readers!  Great job Kennedy and Jake!

Read-A-Thon and our Christmas party will be on Tuesday, December 22, 2009.  Last day of school will be on the 22nd as well.

We are wrapping up the last few days of our first semester!  It's hard to believe that half of a school year has gone by already!  The kids are starting to get antsy for a few weeks off.  We've still got a lot to get done, however, it always tends to come together in the end.  The two snow days last week sure did put a kink in the old plans, but it's a good thing we are flexible! :)  I wanted to wish you all a very happy and safe holiday season!

Snow Days

Wow, those snow days were a nice bonus to get some things done around the house.  The only problem now is trying to get caught back up from the time we had off.  I spent my days cleaning and doing lots of laundry.  I also got the chance to do some reading and playing with my cat.  :)

Yesterday, I also had the chance to go to Topeka.  Diane and I went to pick up our caps and gowns for graduation!  Finally the day has come!  We have been finished for a couple of months now, so we have been patiently waiting on graduation day!  Well, this Saturday it will finally be here!  We graduate at 4:30 in Baldwin!  Unfortunately it looks as if Diane won't be able to attend due to a junior high girls basketball tournament.  :(  We are still holding out on hope that she will be able to join us!  Our Baker cohort is one of the greatest groups of people!

How did you spend your snow days?  I hope there was lots of snow playing and hot chocolate!

Sports

One of my favorite things to do is watch sports.  So, if your child is participating in anything, let me know and I would love to attend at least one of their games!  Send schedules to school or e-mail them to me.  I'd be happy to come watch, I just have to know when they are! :)

This Week in 3AB

This week we are starting our unit on lines, line segments, and rays.  This can often be confusing since they look very similar.  Be aware that students might require a little more assistance on their homework with this unit.

Don't forget to send the class Christmas presents to school.  We will begin opening one a day starting tomorrow.  If you are having troubles finding things, class games are always nice.  Some gifts in the past have included mittens for everyone, decks of cards, ornaments, and pencils/erasers.

Also, don't forget to send one or two boxes of toothpaste with your child for the Rescue Mission.  The fourth grade students are in charge of putting together the care packages.  Right now we are sitting at 13 boxes and we need 20 to complete the packages.  So if you haven't sent them, please send them as soon as you can so we can deliver our boxes to the fourth grade.

Friday, the students will get a chance to see part of the high school's musical, "Hello Dolly".  They will only get to see a portion, so make sure you get your tickets for the musical which will be Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon!  The high school students do an amazing job every year with the musical.

Well, I think that should cover this week at a glance!  I hope you enjoyed the extended weekend!  I know I did!  My family and I played lots of games!  Sometimes it's great coming from a large family!  We had tournaments to play Speed!  We also spent lots of time playing Rummikub, Sequence, Nerts, Hollywood Rummy and Pitch!  The pads of my fingers are a bit sore from shuffling the cards so much, but fun was had by all!   How was your holiday spent?

Thanksgiving

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving break!  We sure enjoyed our Stone Soup yesterday!  We sat down and had quite a banquet!  We shared at least one thing that we were thankful for.  Yes, you guessed it!  Their families ranked very high on their list of things to be thankful for!

Comments

So, I think I have finally figured out the comments on here.  So give it a try!  I don't believe you need to have any sort of an account to post a comment.  I think I have it set up so you shouldn't.  So comment away!  Let me know if you have any troubles!

Third Grade Writing

Here is one example of the wonderful works your children have been providing for me!  This made me chuckle and so I thought you would enjoy it too!  

The Creepy Halloween


Once a long time ago, on holloween night, there was a ship out there I tell you!  And at Midnight, 12 pm 0 minuts, 1 secont, a giant, giant, giant (Giant squid) apperd and came out of nowhere!  It swoallodd the ship who-le!  Nowone in the world knew about it.... Until 5 years later...It did it again!  (At least till now)  and then the squid was never seen again!  BUT the crew of the 2nd ship that apperdd shot 3 billion riffles at the squid and THEN (like you thought....)  (they took it to a mueseum!)

Book Orders/Math

Sorry it has been a while since I have posted!  I always say the months of November and December are two of the busiest months of the year.  It's hard to keep up with this and that of everyday life sometimes!  So, my apologies if you have been waiting for a post!

So let's get to it:

Book orders were sent home today.  I know I sent home a note that says several of the books will make great Christmas presents.  I remember one of my favorite gifts when I was little was when I received the Nancy Drew boxed set.  There are two book order forms that you can order from.  Both have some amazing books in them.  If you decide to order online, you can also check out a different catalog online, giving you the chance to order books that have been clearanced.  Go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs and type in the username and password that was sent home today.  Write a note in your child's agenda if you are having troubles.  


Math:  We have started a unit on ordering numbers.  This is will be something that the students will see on their state assessments.  Please help make sure your child knows the difference in finding the numbers that are greater than and less than.


Ex.:


Put these numbers in order from greatest to least.


38,454
34,854
38,544
34,584




Make sure your child is looking in the ten-thousand's column, not the ones column to decide between numbers on greater than and less than. 


As always, your children are amazing me with the knowledge they share!  Thanks for all of your hard work.  Thank you also for helping give our class 100% participation in our recent parent/teacher conferences!

Don't Forget

This post will be short and sweet!  Don't forget these important events going on this week!

Parent-Teacher conferences:  Monday and Wednesday
Tailgate Party:  Thursday
No School: Friday
No School- Teacher Inservice:  Monday

Read-A-Thon

Hmm...another post about reading.  I wonder who loves reading more than me?!?!  Oh yes, that would be your children!  I can hardly get them to put their books down sometimes!  Sometimes they even try to sneak their books out in the middle of instruction!  However, they are not too sneaky for me!  :)  I enjoy seeing this passion to read in kids.  It reminds me of when I was their age.  I used to read for hours upon hours at a time!  In fact I used to get in trouble reading because I would much rather read my good books instead of doing my chores around the house!  So, to honor such a love for books, a Read-A-Thon day has been created.  Just as the word says, we will be having a reading marathon.  This will take place on Friday!    The students are welcome to bring in a small pillow and a blanket if they so choose.  They may also bring in food and a drink.  Please do not send pop!  We like to keep the Read-a-Thon day as healthy and fun as we can.  If your child would also like to bring in books from home, please make sure their name or the family name is on the inside cover so that we can return any borrowed books back to their rightful owner.  As for now, I'm excited for our day to celebrate the joys of reading!  If you would like to come in and join us in our reading, please let me know!

Reading

I know you might be thinking the week has already begun, but we have already put in over an hour and a half into reading this week.  I think this is by far one of my favorite weeks in reading.  Today in our small groups we started reading some reader's theatre.  Your children are hilarious with their voices.  Today we had a really good time getting into character.  The voice and emotion the kids put into their reading today helped us to have a few smiles and laughs!  I love when a book can put a smile on your face!  Can you tell I love to read?

I also wanted to share that we are starting our measuring unit in math.  Boy oh boy are we needing some help!  This unit throws a lot at the kids.  The kids will need to know how to measure to the nearest inch, 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch, and centimeter.  (Well that will get us to the end of the week anyways.  I wish I would have brought my Everyday Mathematics book home so I could be a little more accurate.)  However, any  help you can give us would be greatly appreciated!  This truly is a hard concept to master, so the more practice your child gets the better off he/she will be!

Once again, I hope you all have a great week!  :D

It's Been Awhile!

Sorry, I have not had the chance to make a post lately!  Things are so hectic!  I feel like Dory on Nemo...Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!!!  Hopefully soon I will feel like I have the chance to maybe get ahead.  For now, I guess you will have to deal with a post that has been in the making!

Can you believe it is October already?  Where is this year going?  I love October for many reasons.  The weather first of all is my favorite reason.  Who doesn't like to put on a hoodie and sweatpants?  I love the crispness of the air and the colors that arrive during the Fall season.  I also love it because I begin reading one of my favorite books ever!  The book is The Old Willis Place by Mary Downing Hahn.  Your kids might be coming home to talk about this book!  It is usually voted as one of the favorite books the kids have read/been read to at the end of the year.  I love this book because it is suspenseful and it keeps the kids guessing and enthralled till the end.  It is a story about ghosts, but you really don't know the characters are ghosts till the end of the book.  Have I said how much I LOVE this book?  It is one of the few books that I can continue to read year after year.  There are a couple of other books I feel this way about.  They are Where The Red Fern Grows and the Harry Potter series.  What are some of your favorite books you love to read, or what is a book you have read recently you just couldn't put down?

You might be asking yourself, "What have the kids been up to lately?"  We have been super busy!  In Spelling we are doing a review unit this week.  We will begin a new unit in Reading next week, which will also begin a new spelling unit.  We will also be starting to learn about nouns in English.  Today, we began a huge unit on continents and oceans in Social Studies.  The students will need to know where each of the continents and oceans are located.  We will be spending 1-2 days on each continent learning about the cultures, animals, landmarks, and other interesting facts about each of the continents.  You should ask your child to sing the continent and ocean song.  Here are the words in case if they forget:

There are seven continents on this Earth and lots and lots of islands.
Well there are seven continents on this Earth and islands too, let's go traveling through.
There is North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa too.
And there is Australia and Antarctica, and lots of islands its true...Woo!



Whew.  That has been our busy week(s) in a nutshell!  I hope you all have a very safe and wonderful weekend!

Party Sign-Up

I have added the Party Sign-up sheet to Google Docs. You can access this via the link on the left side of the blog. If you would like to add your name to the list of treats please do so. You can edit this in Google Docs. Thank you for signing up to bring treats!

Open House

Thank you all for attending open house! We had a great turnout! If you didn't get a chance to make it into the room and would still like to sign up for holiday treats, please send me an e-mail! I hope you enjoyed the chance to get into the elementary school to see what your children have been up to! They sure have been busy little workers!

Weekly Postings

Hi all, I hope you have been enjoying my weekly posts. I will continue to try to add posts at least once a week if not more. Please feel welcome to leave comments or ask questions! I'd be happy to answer them!

Week at a glance:

We are working on long o spellings this week. You can work with your child on the long o spellings with oa and ow. Examples: boat, float, blow, flow, etc.

We are also starting to work on addition facts in math. Today we worked on learning about fact families. Throughout the remainder of the week we will be working on extended fact families. Example: 2 + 3 = 5 12 + 3 = 15 22 + 3 =25 42 + 3 = 45

Don't forget: Wednesday is Open House! Open House will run from 6-7. The PTO is selling Smencils which are smelly pencils. Each pencil is $1. They will be selling them from 6:30 - 7:00. Open House also marks our annual Book Fair! Please come and support the school in our Open House activities! This will be your chance to sign up for holiday treats! So come one, come all, and see what has been happening at the school so far this year! I can't wait to see you all!

Volleyball also will be starting to have their regular games this week. We will be in Wamego tomorrow night for volleyball games. Also the "C" team is traveling to Nemaha Valley in Seneca on Thursday. Saturday the varsity will be at the Hayden Volleyball Tournament. Come cheer on your Lady Eagles!!!

Whew...What a week!

This has only been the second day of the week, but we sure have covered a lot in those two days! The math assessment went really well today! Continue working on counting money by dollar bills and coins at home. Also work on telling time to the minute. Both of these things were things we covered in this first unit in math and will appear multiple times throughout the year, especially on the state assessments.

We are also studying (ay) and (ai) spelling patterns this week. Both of these make the long a sound. Ask your child to spell some of these words with the spelling pattern.

Another big thing we have started this week is Bal-A-Vis-X. This program involves using racquetballs and bean bags and are a series of exercises used to enhance Balance, Auditory, and Visual skills. Here is the website if you would like to learn more: http://www.bal-a-vis-x.com/About.htm

Finally, I was able to get grades posted online tonight so make sure you check those out. I look forward to seeing you for open house next Wednesday! Be thinking of which party you would like to sign your child up for treats/drinks.

School Supplies

3rd Grade List

Two - 1 Subject Spiral Notebooks: One is used for vocabulary work with reading, science, and social studies. The other is used for journaling.

1 Packages Loose Leaf Wide Ruled Notebook Paper

2 Pocket Folders (1 Red & 1 Yellow): The red folder will be used for unfinished work and the yellow will be used for writing/center work.

2 Packages of 24 pencils each

6 glue sticks

4 Low Odor Dry Erase Markers (Blue or Black): Please make sure the markers are blue or black if you can. When looking for just blue or just black markers, you can try Sunflower School supplies in the Gage Shopping Center. The red and green markers found in most of the Expo Dry Erase markers packages are often difficult to erase off of the white boards. Definitely make sure that they are low odor. It should say on the package/marker. The markers that are not considered low odor often cause lots of headaches, especially when there are two or three students using them. We use individual whiteboards multiple times daily.

2 Red Ballpoint Pens

Pink Eraser

Soft Zip Pencil Case

24 Count Crayons: Please do not send more than 24. We don't use crayons too often and the students have limited space inside their desk.

Colored Pencils: A set of 24 should be sufficient.

2 Yellow Highlighters

Pointed Scissors

Large Box of Kleenex

Please do not send any extra items. Our desk space is limited. Please keep all personal pencil sharpeners at home. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to e-mail me or call me!

All About Ms. Broxterman

Well parents and students, the summer is quickly passing by. I am very excited to get started with another year! I thought I would let you know more about your teacher!

I am from a very small town, Baileyville, where I grew up on a farm. One of my favorite things to do on the farm was to take a book out under our big tree in our front yard with a blanket. I would read like that for HOURS! We also spent our summers shucking corn, podding peas, and stemming beans. We had a huge garden! Mom and I would spend the time freezing or canning these vegetables indoors while the boys spent their day out in the field. Speaking of boys, did I tell you that I have 5 older brothers?? So girls, I know how you feel when you have an older brother picking on you!

After high school, I went to Emporia State University. GO HORNETS! I earned my Bachelors of Science degree in Education in May of 2005. I started working as a first grade teacher in the Emporia District. This was the same school district that I student taught in. I then decided to move closer to my family. That's when I started working here at Silver Lake as a 3rd grade teacher! This will be my 5th year in the district! So that means I have will be starting my 6th year teaching this year!!!! This seems so hard to believe! The past three years I have also worked as the freshman volleyball coach, but I will not be resuming that position this year. Last August I finished my Masters of Arts in Education degree through Baker University. It was exciting to get back into the classroom as a student and use what we were learning in our classroom.

Well, I am very excited to meet all of you! I can't wait to hear more about you and your family and the things you enjoy the most! For now, keep reading and enjoy the beautiful Kansas weather (that is if you like all of this heat)!

Welcome to 3rd Grade!

Get excited kids!

Animals

Presidents

Multiplication

Inventors

Because of Winn Dixie

These are just a few of the things to get excited about because these will be just a few of the things you will be learning about in 3rd grade! For now, I would like you to continue enjoying your summer! Also, make sure you continue reading throughout the summer! Ms. Broxterman LOVES books! If you have a favorite book that you would like me to read, leave a comment! I can't wait to hear all about your stories when we start school in August!