Meet the Teacher: This or That?

Hello there!  Today I'm linking up with Trina for:

I prefer my pumpkins to be left alone, but someone in the family usually carves up a pumpkin.

We always give out candy on Halloween - Gabi the Dog spends A LOT of time barking.

I LOVE wolves.

I'm not really into costumes, but I would probably buy one.  I prefer being creative with my clothes; today I wore my pencil knee socks - I forgot how much I LOVE knee socks - I can see why they're making a comeback!

We watched The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown yesterday - I LOVE Snoopy and the gang!

BEST NEWS - I survived the full moon/Halloween week!

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Five For A Fall Friday!

Friday is my favorite day of the week.  It's also the time to link up with Doodle Bugs for:

We've been learning all about matter - even in Morning Meeting!

The information is also on an anchor chart:

On Thursday at Computer Lab, we worked more on our Sentence Powerpoints!  I'll take pictures for next week.  The kids LOVE making Powerpoints and exploring all the different presentation options.  It just means that I spend an hour running around helping everyone.  I really miss having a Computer Parent!

We had our first Raffle Sale of the year on Friday.  Our PTO raises money by having monthly raffles.  Each grade has a turn bringing in the raffle items, and all the kids can buy tickets for 25 cents.  I won a Scholastic Children's Dictionary!

I changed out my focus board to reflect what we're working on these days in Reading.  As a class, we've been reading Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion by Suzy Kline.  The kids had a blast thinking of "ant" words!

Check out this beautiful new book I'll be reading next week (thanks to my 3rd grade colleagues, Ms. Aufiero and Mrs. Johnson!):

I also just had to add this in because I'm always talking about life skills like following directions for later in life:

Have a wonderful week!

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Five Fall Favorites!

I'm trying out a new link-up with The Ordinary to Extraordinary Classroom for:

This week's question is to list your five fall favorites!  Here are my picks:

I just love pumpkins and apples in the fall - so much fun!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it's such a cozy time.  My birthday is on October 12th; I just turned 55 so I'm glad my next one is still far in the future.  Also, I do love the beautiful leaves; it's just too bad that all have to fall off and be raked - which all goes to prove that there's two sides to every story!

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Fantastic Five For Friday!

It's time to link up with Doodle Bugs for:

This week we started learning about matter and physical properties.  We did an experiment in which the kids observed a variety of objects like a key, a coin, gimp....Here a picture:

I gave them each a magnifying glass so they could look even more closely at each object.

We had a delightful visit from author Heidi Stemple:

Before the assembly we read Owl Moon by Jane Yolen who is Heidi's mother.  Heidi was also the little girl who goes owling in the book.

At the assembly, the author shared information about her family and home; how she writes books; how long it takes to get a book published,...

We had an amazing author visit with Heidi Stemple. thanks to our very generous PTO!

We continue to work on multiplication, division and some place value.  Mrs. Perry and Mrs. Borselli love my anchor charts so much that they made their own to keep for reference in the Resource Room:

I'm so honored!

Last Monday - the real Columbus Day - was my birthday.  I went apple picking with my family and took Gabi the Dog to the beach:

Gabi couldn't wait to wade into the water with the little kids!  I don't think she was expecting to lap up salt water - even if it looked pretty tempting!

Our progress reports go home next Friday so I've been working on those.  Next week is our 6th week of school - it seems like we've been in school for so much longer, but on the other hand, the time has flown by.

This picture was taken on Nantucket last summer - I just love the quote!

Have a wonderful week!

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Fab Five For Friday!

Happy Columbus Day Weekend!  It's time to link up with Doodle Bugs for:

Last Monday I went to a professional development for Mastery Connect.  According to their web site, here's what you can achieve:

Designed with the teacher in mind.

Through MasteryConnect’s patent-pending MasteryTracker, teachers can effectively assess core standards, monitor student performance, and report student mastery to parents and administrators.

Assess with any content – Use multiple choice, rubrics, oral assessments, writing assessments or any curriculum or content type.

You can sign up for free or there are "paid" versions.  Once I get a chance to figure all the features out, I'm sure I'll be able to use this tool.

We worked A LOT on understanding the concept of division:

In addition, we worked A LOT on verbs:

Those non-action verbs are very challenging for the kids to understand!

Our Morning Messages reviewed the math vocabulary we are learning:

In our district math assessment, one of the questions asked, "What is the difference of 11 and 7?"  Well, many of the kids couldn't answer the question because they didn't know what a difference is.  That just means review, review and more review!

Last, but not least, check out how the Goodyear students decorated this sign under the guidance of Mrs. Valerie Mahoney:

Beautiful!  Enjoy the rest of the long weekend!

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Have you noticed that it's Currently October?

It's already managed to be October which means that it's time to link up with Farley for:

It's Sunday night which means that it's time to wrap up the weekend.  Of course, my husband has already taken a nap and is now watching football - even though the Patriots are having a week off.  (It's a good life for my husband.).  Me, I've been doing laundry all day, but I've done IT ALL - this is an impressive accomplishment!  It's been quite cold here - in the 50's - which feels very cold because September was very HOT.  Right now I have to go prepare for tomorrow and next week - this means that I'm procrastinating!

My favorite parts of October include pumpkin and apple picking.  When Columbus Day weekend comes, I'll start wearing my tights and warmer clothes.  I try not to turn on the heat until after Columbus Day, but I was just too cold - I justified my decision by needing to ensure that the heat works (it does).

Have a marvelous and wonderful week!

 

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Five For First Friday In October

Happy Weekend!  I'm delighted to link up with Doodle Bugs for:

We had a visit from our favorite environmental and educational group - Change Is Simple.  (Click here to learn more about them).  They taught the kids about trees, and then they made homemade paper.  We have two pieces of homemade paper still drying in the classroom!

In Social Studies the kids need to be able to locate Massachusetts on a map.  This week we started USA and World Map rotations.  I have 2 World Map puzzles and 3 USA Map puzzles, and the groups will rotate until they finish the puzzles.  If they finish early, they can draw a picture of the completed puzzle:

In Math, we have started division!

We reviewed and practiced our vocabulary for Chapter 1 in Social Studies.  I like to include the words in our Morning Message:

We have just about completed our first Paragraph of the Week project. (Click here to read more about it).  The kids wrote about a trip whether it be to a friend's house or to Disney World.  I'm looking forward to seeing how their paragraphs turn out - that will have to wait until next week!

Have a wonderful weekend!

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