Neat new website

I have found a cool website to practice spelling words!
Spelling City.com Mrs. Bowden's lists
This link will take you directly to word lists I have entered in the system.
Spelling City.com
This link will take you to the main site.

This is a cool free site. Enjoy playing the games - and learning new words. :)

I'll try to get word lists up ASAP.

Back to the regularly scheduled program

Welcome back!

I hope you have had a good 5 day break. I know I did! I rested, ate, shopped, slept, and ate some more. Isn't that the great thing about Thanksgiving?

Remember that school is back in session tomorrow. We are counting down 3 weeks until Christmas break begins! Here are some things to remember for this week:

1. Science Fair part #2 is due on Wednesday.
2. Christmas Trees are due on Friday.
3. There will be regular homework - Spelling and Math - this week.

Have a great night's sleep and I'll see you tomorrow bright and early!

Science Fair

I've been reviewing Science Fair Assignment #1. So far they look good! I'm impressed by the ideas you've come up with. There is more information on the BCES homepage if you are looking for it. I'll try to get it printed and sent home before Thanksgiving. Assignment #2 will also come home before Thanksgiving.

Here are some interesting things to look at while you are enjoying your time off:
The Mayflower

Plimoth Plantation

Life on Plymouth Plantation

Thanksgiving Games at Kaboose.com

Have a great, SAFE Turkey day! I'll see you at school on December 1! Remember to do your Reading Log DAILY!! I'll give you a special extra page so you have room for all your reading.

More Cool Websites

Here is a website you can visit to practice your grammar skills.

Grammar Blast

Just click on 3rd grade and have fun! You can try some of the stuff from other grades, but it may be too hard or too easy!

Updates

This has been a fast week! We've done a lot, even though we were out Tuesday. Next week will be just as busy.

We will be moving on to study Thanksgiving and Colonial America. You will read Molly's Pilgrim and Thanksgiving on Thursday. We'll read some books about life in Colonial America too. In Math, we are moving on to Geometry. We'll continue to talk a little about multiplication - but we will also come back to it in January. In Writing, we will work on parts of speech (nouns, verbs, etc.), friendly letters, cursive, and sight words. We will also have a Spelling Bee on Friday! We will use basic sight words and some "Spelling Demons" that are kind of tricky!

And the best news?!?!?! No spelling homework until after Thanksgiving!!! Hooray!

Happy Friday!

Great Math Website

Hi Kids!
Today in the computer lab we are going to a COOL math website. It is called ThatQuiz.com. Click the link below to go to the site.

http://www.thatquiz.org/tq/classpage?0014f74deeb34C9

You will click your name and then enter your lunch name for your password.

You will see a list of quizes you can do.

Have fun!!

Wow!

The Bone Healthy posters look great! There were a few kids who didn't turn one in. Make sure to get it done this weekend! You won't be able to get a 100%, but a 90% is better than a 0%!

Here are some COOL websites to keep you busy this weekend. We'll be studying individual muscles next week - this will keep you fresh!

Muscles Game

Skeleton Game

Skeleton Match-Up

See you Monday!!!! Remember to fill out those reading logs!

Thursday, November 6th

Today was a busy day! We learned more about having interesting beginnings in our stories. We learned that there are 3 main types of beginnings: sound, action, and thought/question. We practiced identifying them and tried our hand at writing one for an old story. In Math we worked with a partner to go over the homework and try some more subtraction with borrowing. There will be a helpful sheet in STAR Binders tomorrow to help know when to trade/borrow. In Reading we are learning about non-fiction conventions. Conventions are certain ways of doing things. When we read non-fiction books, we need to know about different things. Things we pay attention to are headings, captions, labels, charts, tables, cutaways, and indexes. There are many more things too! Next week, each student will be working on a "Nonfiction Conventions Notebook" where they will document the examples of nonfiction conventions they find. To help this study, everyone will be asked to check out 1 nonfiction book when they go to the library next week.

Thanks for a great week! Remember, there is no school next Tuesday, November 11! Call a veteran and say, "Thanks!"

Great website!

Here is a GREAT website to practice the subtraction with borrowing. Go here:
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - Base Blocks Subtraction
Students have seen this used in class and it is always good to get some personal practice.

Thanks parents, for coming to conferences! Students, I had some VEEEERY interesting conversations with your families today! Can't wait to see you on Wednesday!

Just call me Mrs. No Voice

What a Monday! All our kids were great - dealing with another day of a teacher with no voice. No worries - I went to the doctor and have an asthma flare up/bronchitis. I'm on some powerful medicines and I'm sure I'll be better soon.

Tuesday is a work day. I'll be having more conferences with parents. I really enjoy meeting you and sharing what our kids have accomplished. They are just so smart!

FYI - We will be out on Nov. 11th as well. That will be a holiday for Veterans' Day.

The Spelling Contract has changed somewhat. I hope you find it has been modified for the better. The highlights are:

• Students need to earn at least 80 points, instead of 100.
• There are more options for each level of points.

Please keep the contract in the Spelling Notebook. I use it as a reference when I check the contracts on Fridays/Mondays.

Another important note for 2nd quarter: Reading Logs will be given a WEEKLY grade for participation. Students will be given a grade of 100, 80, 60, 40, 20, or 0 based on how many entries they completed (out of 5 possible). Students have had a full 9 weeks to get used to the routine, so this should not be a big deal. Also, look for a list of "ideas" for summaries/responses to be included in the reading log sometime late this week. I may also "upgrade" all students to a new Reading Log folder if I can find something suitable in the closet.

Have a great day off tomorrow! I'll be thinking of you as I work on our room! See you Wednesday!

Happy Monday!

I hope all you kids have a great day off! I'm excited to be at school working on our classroom. I plan to re-arrange a few things so we have more space to work. I think we had some wasted space. I'm also excited to be meeting with 12 of your parents tomorrow! I can't wait to talk to them about how much you've learned and all the progress you've already made. Hooray! Report cards will be sent out on Thursday - and the Terrific Kids ceremony is Friday. We will also recognize Perfect Attendance and Honor Rolls too! We'll have a bunch of kids on Honor Roll! You'll find out on Thursday. See you on Tuesday! Don't forget to work on your Spelling Contract and READ and write in your log!

Testing This Week

Hi everyone!

As the kids have mentioned, we are administering a test on Tuesday (today) and Wednesday of this week. It is vital that all students be at school on these days. The test, called the Cog-AT, is used to make sure we are using the right instructional strategies for each student. The results will not be used in any other way by any staff member.

Please remember that Monday, October 27th is a Teacher Work Day. You may have a conference scheduled that day. Please be on time and prepared.

Thanks for your support! See you soon!

Changes to Spelling Homework

Guess what? Beginning Monday, you will not turn in daily spelling homework. You will have a contract and will turn in everything on Friday morning. Sounds cool? Here is what you have to do.


Directions

Choose from the activities below to make a total of 100 points. Do each choice on a separate piece of paper. You may use the fronts and backs of pages. Write the choice name at the top of the page. Attach ALL your work to this sheet. Assignments are due Friday morning. Incomplete assignments or missing assignments will be completed at Fun Friday. Please do not turn in work early.

10 points

* Write each word three times.

* Write each word one time using this code: vowels are blue, consonants are red.

* Write each word one time using a different color for each letter. (Rainbow Words)

* Have a helper give you a practice test on your words.

20 points

* Write a sentence with each word. Underline the word.

* Write all your words in ABC order.

* Find your words in a newspaper or magazine. Cut them out and glue them to a piece of paper.

30 points

* Write a joke or riddle for each spelling word. Include the answer!

* Write a silly story using all your spelling words.

* Find the value of each word if vowels are worth 10 cents and consonants are worth 5 cents.

Exciting Math Activities

We are going to be doing some interesting things in Math this week. First, we will learn about the properties of addition. You did some with this while I was gone. I hope you remember! I'll need your help to fill out a chart.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we'll use book orders to practice our addition. Then, on Thursday and Friday, we are going to read this book:

Then we are going to do a webquest from this website. We will learn about addition and problem solving. I think we will have lots of fun AND learn too.

What can be better?

Welcome!

Hello!

Welcome to our classroom blog. You will be able to post from home, with your parents' permission.

A blog is like an online journal. You've been writing in your personal journal for a few days now. This blog is like a journal for our whole class. We will post about what we do and what we learn.

On the left side <------ there are some GREAT websites for you to visit. Take some time to check them out. You'll be learning about them in class and playing with them on Fun Fridays.

I'm SO glad to be your teacher this year. We're going to have a GREAT year!!

Uppers are UP!

100_1455
Originally uploaded by mrsbthirdgrade

Here is proof that we ARE re-doing our kitchen. And the upper cabinets are done! Hooray! Tomorrow we tackle prepping to floor to install the lower cabinets on Saturday.

Meet the author

Mrs. C and Mrs. S went with me to meet Jon Scieszka. He is so super funny. I had a chance to talk with him briefly and he signed a new book. I bought a copy of Baloney. It is really funny! I'll read it to you Friday. Enjoy these pictures of me and the other teachers. My face is funny because Mrs. C took the picture while I was still talking! That lady!

Books, Books, Books!!!!!

Hey from Atlanta! I went shopping with my mom and she got our class library a BUNCH of books. Here is a little list - we've got over 20 new books coming!

• 6 new Dear America books (the diary books!)
• the complete Narnia series
• 3 Captain Underpants
• 2 Horrible Harry
• bunches of other books :)

Can't wait to show them to you on Monday, March 31!

Enjoy your last 3 (yes THREE!) days off!!!

I do actually miss you too! Hope you are reading!!!! (hint, hint)

Whew! What a week!

Hey kids! Here it is, Friday afternoon. I sure missed you today. (And Thursday afternoon, and Wednesday afternoon!) I would have loved to be with you today, instead of with my very sick daughter. She will be fine - but it is no fun to be sick! It will be good to be back on Monday. We have a lot to do!

We need to do a Spelling test. I hope you are all studying the words this weekend! I would love to have that popcorn party!! There will be no new spelling words this week - my Easter gift to you!

We need to be ready for another crazy week! I have to be out (AGAIN!) Tuesday to go to a class so I can be a better teacher. Wednesday we will have an assembly schedule - block will be at 9:55 that day! Thursday we will all just be so excited - almost free!

We need to get those biography report posters made. I've been reading over your assignments so far and they look great! I think you will have a lot of fun putting them together and decorating them. Remember - they will be laminated to last forever, so work hard!

You are reading this Monday morning - I put it in the slide show. After you finish reading it, come give me a giant, welcome back hug. I've missed you all!

Rainforest Maths

Found another cool new website - Rainforest Maths. It is made by Jenny Eather. She is from Australia. Down under they say, "maths" not "math." They also go by Year not grade. When you visit the site, you will need to click on Level D, Grade/Year 3. Some of our students may move up to Year 4 - but only after checking with Mrs. B! Got it? Have fun!!

http://www.rainforestmaths.com/

Very cool!

New website alert! This website has TONS of cool information on it. Be sure to check out the Multiplication and Geometry sections.

There are games and puzzles too! Look up math words in the illustrated dictionary.

Take me to Mathisfun.com!