Welcome Back!

How exciting it is to begin another year!

 

 

Even more exciting is that with each new year, come new friends and faces--and this year-- a new classroom!

 

 

 

We spent our first week getting to know each other and becoming acclimated with our class schedule, routine, procedures, and expectations.

 

 

Ask your child about our color chart, BBQ Bucks, and our class pet, Ike.

 

 

Today, we launched our first math unit on place value. Here we will be exploring the 4 unique ways to represent 3- and 4-digit numbers. Standard form uses only digits. (243) Expanded form shows the sum of the value of each digit. (200 + 40 + 3) Word form uses only words. (two hundred forty-three) Place value blocks allow students to hold and manipulate a number using flats (100), rods (10), and cubes (1). We will also work on comparing numbers and ordering numbers.

 

 

We have published our first piece of writing which we are eager to share with you on Monday, September 12, at Memorial Park's Back-to-School Night from 6 pm until 7 pm. Today, we finished drafts for our second published pieces entitled "This Summer was One in a Melon!"

 

Stay tuned for more information about our daily schedule, class contract, and book nooks.

 

Before you go, take a peek at a few of our read aloud favorites!

 

     

 

 

We're back in session!

It was a pleasure meeting my newest batch of third graders just a few days ago! 

Thank you for the abundance of supplies! It's amazing how quickly we will go through cleaning supplies and pencils!

 

We were all smiles for our first day photo shoot!

Wednesday's read aloud, First Day Jitters, was a perfect fit for the first day of school. Readers were surprised to learn who that teachers are nervous for the first day of school too!

We began a back-to-school activity--iPad style. In addition to sharing facts about themselves as "apps," goals they have, and hobbies they enjoy, students also guessed my age, favorite food, and the number of years I have taught. I can't wait to read all of the responses!

 

Thursday we started the day with some capitalization editing. 

We continued our morning working with trivia involving the number 3...

What is 3 x 3?
What was the third state to join the union?
What is the third planet from the sun?

We dug into a science bin in our classroom library in search of answers...

Thursday's read aloud was Margaret Wise Brown's The Important Book. We noticed patterns in both Brown's writing and in the illustrator's use of color on alternating pages.

Writers then got to work drafting their own pages in our class version of The Important Book.

In math, students had the opportunity to "show what they know" on a pre-test covering basic operations, counting coins, problem solving, and equal parts. 

This week we will draft a class contract, begin work with place value, and build our reading stamina in Reader's Workshop.

See you in the morning!

'Twas the Night Before School Started...

And my first day of school outfit is all laid out--no vest or turtleneck this time! :)

 

And all through the house were the sounds of prepping, cutting, sharpening, labeling, and typing.

I can't wait to meet my newest batch of third graders!

We will read, write, learn, laugh, explain, explore, and experiment all year long!

See you in the morning for a bright start to third grade!

 

First Week Completed!

We wrapped up a short but busy first week with All About Me posters and kicking off place value.

After conferences, students transferred facts and details about themselves onto their larger All About Me posters. Be sure to check out their colorful posters on display Monday night at Back-to-School night!

Next students took a fun quiz about...me! After hearing a statement about me, students had to choose if the statement was true or false. Many were surprised to learn that I have tried alligator, I waitressed at Friendly's Restaurant when I was in high school, and I was on the swimming and diving team in high school!

We spent some time consolidating school supplies into our table caddies. You never know when the Table Fairy might flutter by and award the tablemates bonus BBQ bucks... :)

Mrs. Mack's words to live by...

If you know Mrs. Mack, you know she loves technology! What better way to get to know students, brainstorm class rules, share our specialist schedule, and facts about me than with a Back-to-School iPhone activity? In the iPhone students worked to complete "apps" such as "Travel," "Glance at the Year," and "About Me."

We ended our day in Math taking picture walks through our math textbooks. We explored upcoming lessons, new vocabulary, and got a peek at a few of the many math topics we will soon dive into--multiplication included! 

Our first lesson discusses place value and ways to represent numbers. Using place value wheels, we showed thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones in standard form--that means using digits only.

This week we introduce our weekly spelling list and the Tic Tac Toe assignment that students will turn in on Friday. We will be launching Reader's and Writer's Workshop.

First Day Fun!

Phew! What a day!

My newest batch of third graders were welcomed into the classroom to a few goodies at their table spots this morning.

As a getting-to-know-each other activity, students completed their own Facebook profiles--complete with a profile picture, status update, and Friends list.

While working on their profiles, students got in front of the camera for their First Day photo shoot. Some of these kids loved the spotlight! Can you tell?

After labeling, sorting, and organizing subject folders and notebooks, it was snack time! We had a request for a read aloud snack courtesy of StoryLineOnline.net. Enemy Pie it was!

The students got to know their peers and me a bit better with a Welcome Scavenger Hunt.

After recess, lunch, and Music, we headed to the reading rug for our first read aloud. Many of the kids were shocked by the ending. Be sure to ask them who Sarah Jane Hartwell really was... The kids loved the story! They wrote about their own First Day Jitters after the story.

 

Our day ended with our First Day time capsule. It will be a treat to revisit these on the last day of third grade and see how our handwriting and answers have changed.

A school occasion like the first day wouldn't be complete without a batch of...cupcakes!

Back-to-School Shopping

Retail stores LOVE back-to-school season--and teachers do too! The look and feel of brand new crayons and markers, freshly sharpened pencils, unopened glue sticks, matching crates, and rolling cart organizers...the list goes on! But alas, you don't need all of the fancy supplies offered on store shelves. 

What does your third grader need?

Click here to check out the third grade school supply list. (Remember, we can never have too many pencils, erasers, and Clorox wipes!)

Welcome!

Welcome to Mrs. Mack's Batch of Third Graders! I'm so glad you found us. This blog will be a valuable resource for classroom information, upcoming events, long term projects and deadlines, weekly newsletters, and other important information about the daily happenings of Room 16.

Stay tuned for information about our daily schedule, specialist schedule, and the exciting events in store for us in third grade! 

I'll leave you with a back-to-school goody I'm looking forward to using during morning work, small group activities, and whole class review!