Hey, kids, Club Geek is broken right now. I went to update the software that runs it and I am having some conflicts with the theme that it shows. I will be working on it and hope to have it working shortly after Christmas. You can still upload photos, music, or movies to your digital briefcase to embed later. No worries, I will get it up and running soon!

By the way, thanks for all of the wonderful gifts. I am humbled by the generosity you have shown me for doing what is just my job. I am sincerely grateful to be your teacher and be a part of your life. Thanks so much! More to come on this later . . .

Happy Birthday, Noah!!

I just posted a flash gallery of photos of pictures of us back stage from the performance. Check them out! Click here.

the big performance, and all through the school the third graders were practicing, performing, and preparing . . . Oh, sorry, just was thinking about our big day tomorrow. Most of the day we will be at the PAC practicing, then performing for our school in the afternoon. In the evening we will be meeting in the balcony of the PAC by 6:15. I will be there around 5:45. Just look for me and you will be in the right spot. The performance will begin right away at 6:00. Those who are in the choir will be starting the show, the rest of you will be with me.

In other news, we have earned a reward for all of your hard work finishing your homework. We will be watching a science fiction narrative called 2057 The City. It ties into all of the concepts of social studies that we are learning. What will communities be like in the year 2057? What will kids' toys be like? What will computers be like? What will traveling be like? All of those questions and more are ones that are addressed in this movie.

You are welcome to bring a personal snack on the morning of Friday, December 21, when we will be watching 2057 The City. The snack cannot be sugary, though. Crackers, dry cereal, pop corn, granola bars, and other similar snacks are fine. If you have any questions about snacks, ask away in Club Geek or by commenting this post.

Not much to say today kids. Make sure that your writing projects are finished for tomorrow. We will be sharing them in small and large groups for the next few days. Here is the classwork for the day:

This week marks the beginning of our 12 week of spelling. Our words have the spelling rule that is in the title of this blog post. Go on over to Club Geek to practice writing them with a buddy!
Here is the list:

1. song
2. law
3. because
4. soft
5. dawn
6. crawl
7. lost
8. taught
9. long
10. pause
11. frost
12. lawn
13. hawk
14. laundry
15. author

Challenge words are:
sausage
cafeteria
mustard
tablecloth
service

Also, I just want to state another reminder about our Holiday Program on Thursday. Details are in the sidebar. Can't wait to see you all perform and hear you all sing! How fun to perform at the PAC. You all have been working so hard, it will be fun to see all of that work pay off.

Don't forget to invite your parents to our classroom winter party on Friday from 2:00 to 3:00.

Our winter party will be from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. next Friday, December 21st. All are invited, so let your parents know! If you have not turned in a soft cover book for our party game on Friday, please do so as soon as possible.

Also, we will be having our Holiday Program on Thursday of next week at the PAC. Times are in the sidebar.

As far as our tests go, today our reading comprehension test class average was a 95%! Wow, we cannot get much better than that! Our spelling class average was also a 95%. Great work this week, kids. You, again, have made me one of the proudest teachers in the world. Your hard work every week is the key to your great grades.

As requested, here are our class averages for first quarter and up to this point in second quarter. As you can see we are improving in our ability to turn work in on time and do our PODs. Over all we are doing a very good job on all of our work. Great job!!

Boy, oh boy, did we get geeky today in math class. We played with different data series figuring out the median, mode, and range of the data. We learned that we needed to collect data, then organize it, then interpret the data. Median, mode, and range are just a few ways that we interpret (or understand) what collected data tells us. It felt really geeky in the room. Take that as a compliment! You kids were very intelligent with your work. Your parents should be proud!

Reminder - We have a reading test tomorrow on The Stories That Julian Tells and a spelling test. Study up. Listen along to the story here:

*Link taken down by teacher*
Here is the classwork:

Today we began our writing project that has a bit of a twist to it. Stories can be in many different forms, not just in books. Stories are in magazines, told orally, in poetry, and in . . . (wait for it . . . ) . . . ROCK VIDEOS!!!!! We watched an oldie, but a goodie from the 1980's. The song is from the band Aha and the song is called "Take on Me".

Our job today was to map the story and take some liberties in creating character names, settings, problem solutions, and events. Here is the video again for you to watch as many times as you want. Share this with your parents, kids! They will have a blast! I'll also post a copy in Club Geek if requested.


Comment to this blog post what the names for your characters are and what your favorite part of the video is!

Happy Birthday, Mackenzie!!

Not much for work that may come home tonight, kids. Our writing was done in class, our fake vocabulary tests your wrote for your friends in reading was all done in class, and we did not have spelling today due to guidance class. Please be sure to somehow practice your spelling words at home tonight. You can write them in a thread in the Classwork section of Club Geek, or you can comment them to this post. Or, you can practice them any way you wish.

We all voted and took our math test early because we saw how easy it was. Most of us had a 100% or one wrong. I will get you your scores tomorrow.

The only thing you may have had to take home was our social studies paper for chapter 3, lesson 3. Have a great night, kids.

p.s. I was really impressed with how well your showed the other Mr. M (our guidance teacher) respect when he was leading you today. Nothing makes me more proud than to see you kids behave so well without me. It shows how much you care about your education.

This week we have created our own spelling lists. Some of you chose to have as many as 25 words! Good luck, kids! The reason we are building our own spelling lists is because the spelling rule is one that we covered in English class. So, we get to have a bit of fun this week. We will be having a math test on Wednesday. Today and tomorrow are review days.

We just began a new science chapter on the properties of matter. Today we all took part in a science experiment where we looked at common objects with a scientific mind. We observed some very basic properties of matter. Hope you all had fun! I know that I did.

This week we had a science test were we were using our text to find specific information. We also had a spelling test on /ou/ sounds spelled with either ou or ow. We also had a reading comprehension test for Rosie, a Visiting Dog's Story. Our class averages were as follows:
Reading: 92%
Science: 91%
Spelling: 98%
Great job, kids!

Have a great weekend and see you later!

Just as a reminder, we will be having a spelling test on these words tomorrow. We will also be taking a test on our reading story for the week: Rosie, a Visiting Dog's Story. Take some time tonight to read that story out loud to a family member. Do you have any examples of a working dog or animal. Comment to this post your bright ideas! Can't wait to read them! Have a good night and maybe I will see you in Club Geek.

I would also like to say thanks to all of you that submitted writing samples for the district third grade writing contest. You personalities sure come out in your writing, you all make me proud.

Lastly, I have just finished correcting your science tests. If you remember, we took the test in cooperative small groups using our text books. You were to spell words correctly using proper nouns when necessary. I have decided to take half value off for each spelling and proper noun mistake. The extra credit portion is worth one free mistake. If you have questions, comment to this post. You will get these tests back tomorrow.

We worked quite a bit with calendars today. I thought I would offer one up for download for you. Maybe you want to make one for this month counting down the days to something fun later tocome in the month. Also, re-download a calendar later for January, February, and so on. Or just print off as many as you like. Have fun!

Also, I have added all of our pictures and movies to the Albums page. Check them out.

Lastly, keep on trying to embed those photos! I love seeing your pictures, hobbies, interests, and families!

Well, kids, half of you have logged in and created your Digital Briefcase. Nice work. I have also noticed that a lot of you have begun uploading photos and pictures. Keep it up - you do have a whole gigabyte of space to use up! I have noticed that some of you are able to embed the photos in the posts and private messages, but some are still struggling. No worries, this is hard stuff. Here is a hint for you:

Copy the address generated by the Digital Briefcase and paste it in the post you want. Make sure that "[img]" is in front of the address and "[/img]" in right after the address. This little tid-bit of code lets the forum know that what is between the "image" tags is an image and not a link. The "/" signals the end of the image. Be sure not to use the quotation marks, though. Hope that helps.

I have gone in and fixed some kids photos. Eleanore, what a beautiful dog!! Go in and check out the photos. Great work, kids. I would like to try to keep all the photos, music, and other media in the forum labeled "Pictures, Movies, Music and More". We will save our polls and chit-chat for the "Friend Forum"

Not much to say today, other than that I would like you to log in to your Digital Briefcase and see if you can upload a picture or a song. I have started a thread in Club Geek for you to ask your questions if you are having trouble. You can also test out your coding skills in that thread. Remember that there are a few steps, further directions are here.

Happy Birthday, Toni!!

Well, we are on to list 10 in spelling studying words that have the /ou/ sound. We learned that /ou/ can be spelled with ~ou~ and ~ow~. Practice your words in Club Geek!
He re is the list:
List 10 /ou/:

1. crown
2. proud
3. however
4. count
5. crowded
6. around
7. south
8. loud
9. house
10. shouted
11. howl
12. growl
13. bounce
14. fountain
15. sound

Challenge Words:

• special
• trust
• companion
• trained
• behave

Just a reminder that we are collecting paperback books for our holiday party. So far we only have 3 books, only twenty more to go! Kids, please, remember to bring one in. Also, it will help if the book is not too boy-ish or girl-ish. We will be exchanging these books randomly in a game.

Club Geek has been upgraded to allow you to upload photos, movies and documents of any type to your "Briefcase". I have alloted each of you 1 gig of space, enough for more than 200 photos, 1000 documents, or 100 videos (depending on their size). You can then embed any of your media into your posts. This should allow for us to have multimedia discussions, along with just test and my movies and pictures. Go over here to read the directions on how to upload and embed your media.

Lastly, you entries into the School District writing contest are due on Thursday if you wish to compete. The topic is: "What does your teacher do to make your days special at school." With the uniqueness that our class has with technology, your writing is sure to stand out. Use the commenting on this post to brainstorm ideas with your friends. Good luck and have fun!

Happy Birthday, Trisha!!