Getting Ready for Donuts and Dads

After a day of Acuity testing, we ending our day by making centerpieces that will be used on Friday for Donuts and Dads.  The kids did a GREAT job.  The pumpkin "leaves"  each have a message for dad!  :)

I loved this student's message to his dad :)

Wildlife Program!

What a Fantastic (and BUSY) Friday!!  This morning we also had our wildlife program.  The students were SO excited. Larry and Cheryl Batson were back again to teach students about some wonderful and rare animals that they care for.  It was a fun program!

 

Congratulations, Washington Elementary!!

What a wonderful place to work!:)  Congratulations Washington Elementary School.....WalMart's "School of the Year"  for Warsaw Community Schools!!  This mornining, before our wildlife program, Washington was honored by WalMart! Ten lucky teachers were honored with a $100 WalMart gift card to use for classroom supplies and I was one of the lucky winners!  WalMart was also generous enough to give every child a cupcake to enjoy.  Thank you, WalMart!

A yummy cake for the staff!

Cupckaes for our class.

Everyone loved the cupcakes!

My teacher reward!  Thank you, Walmart!

Writing Realistic Fiction

In Writer's Workshop, we have been working on writing Realistic Fiction.  The students are creating a fiction character who encounters and real life problem.  We have been using this awesome Fiction Unit by Amanda Nickerson of http://www.oneextradegree.blogspot.com/ .  

We started out by creating a character.  The students took several days to develop the character.  They were asked to fill out a character development sheet to really think about what the character would like/dislike.  

After planning out a story by developing a character, setting and plot, the students are creating a story rollercoaster.  

 Check out the entire file by Amanda Nickerson


The students will begin publishing their work within the next day or two.  They are doing such a nice job and I cannot wait to see how they turn out! 

Our Focus Lesson today was creating a Powerful Ending for our story.

New Year of School Party!

Happy New Year!! To start our school year off right, all of the third grade teacher decided to throw a New Year's Party! The party was complete with party hats, cake, and noise makers. Students also wrote new school year resoultions. It was a great way to our year together off with a "bang"! :)

Off to a Fun Start!!

What a fun first few days of school!! We have such an inquisitive, hardworking class! Today, we started our Writer’s Workshop. We began by telling lots of fun stories about special people in our lives. During this unit, we are writing Personal Narratives. Today, we learned that one strategy good authors often do is think of important people in their lives when writing a story.

Hard at work!

Welcome to Third Grade!

Dear Third Grader,

I am so excited for our school year together to begin. My name is Miss Small and this is my first year at Washington Elementary as a teacher. Believe it or not, I attended Washington when I was in school!!! I am so excited to be a "Hornet" again!

For the past 8 years, I taught first grade across town at Harrison Elementary. I love to read, swim, garden, spend time with my family, and take my dog, George, for walks. Above, you will see a picture of me and George. :) He is big and fluffy and LOVES being with people.

You are so lucky, because we will have a second friend and teacher in our classroom. Her name is Mrs. Brumbaugh. She will be working in our classroom during the fall semester. Mrs. Brumbaugh attends Grace College and can't wait to start teaching! I am excited to meet all of you and start our 3rd grade year together. See you soon!

Love,

Miss Small