Career Day

Today was Career Day at our school.  It was so much fun!  My class got to attend 8 stations.  My favorites were the lawyers and the audio tech.  I learned so much. For example, how to solve a case, how to film a movie, and parts of a computer.  "I think career day is a good idea because it gives kids an idea of what they want to be when they grow up." 

Students pretend to be a jury as lawyers demonstrates their case. 

Welcome Back to School!

Wow!  I can't believe it's another school year!  I'm happy to announce that I have moved back to my first love...4th grade! It was great to watch the looks on the kid's faces who knew me from third grade.  They were very confused!

Our Classroom

I can already tell this is going to be a great year!  Kids walked in ready to work. We started our day by getting to know one another and understanding the culture of our classroom. Our theme is "change your mind, change your world". I want kids to know they have the power to change their world just by starting with their words. 

The Power of Words

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!

Students learn how to read books on EPIC.

Our First Week:

We are off to an amazing start! I've only had these kids for a week and I'm in love! They are very sweet and excited about learning! This week was full of getting-to-know each other, transitions, and classroom procedures. They did a great job working as a team to meet our class goals. My favorite part was watching them make new friends. I can't wait to see what next week brings!

Field Day Fun!

Free photo slideshow generated with Smilebox

Meet the Teacher Night

Once again, I spend a summer reading, researching, and pondering lessons. I get to school a few weeks earlier than required to decorate and create an environment of learning for my new kiddos! The day finally comes when I have a chance to see their smiling yet scared faces. Our eyes meet and I know they belong to me for at least 180 plus days!

Meet the Teacher Night was a great success! I met just about all my new kids along with their parents, grandparents, and siblings!  Each child had to go through 9 stations to learn and receive information about our class and school. The last station was a selfie with the teacher!!! This is going to be a great year!

              3rd Grade Rocks! 

Science Fun!

It's the second week of school and we are off to a great start.  I'm still spending time going through procedures and expectations.  By slowing down and making sure the kids understand what is expected will make our classroom run smoothly in the future.

This week we've been studying science safety.  The students have watched videos, created thinking maps and now using technology to learn about safety.  They really enjoyed the QR code scavenger hunt!

Welcome Back to School

I've spent weeks preparing for this day to come! It's almost here! I am anxious, but excited about the new school year.  On Thursday, our school had Meet the Teacher night.  I enjoyed meeting my new students as well as their families. When students arrived I gave them a scavenger hunt to complete. After completing the scavenger hunt, the last item on the list was to take a selfie with the teacher!

Winter Wonderland

Well, we finally had another snow day.....at school! The kids couldn't concentrate watching the beautiful flakes hit the window, so I did what any great teacher would do! Yes, we went outside and played in the snow! Enjoy our slideshow! (Can you tell I love exclamation marks???)

Another free slideshow design by Smilebox

The Preamble

September 17, 2013 was Constitution Day. We learned about why our Constitution was important and the meaning.  We decided to create a quick iMovie to recite the Preamble. (Yes, I know I'm late posting this!) Enjoy!

Continents, Continents, Do You Know Your Continents?

                                                                                                                                                                         

Click on the globe and watch it spin!

This week, my students are researching the continents.  It started out small, but has turned into a huge project. The kids are learning about the environment, culture, climate, animals, and other important facts about the continents. I'm so impressed how they have worked together. The best part was using Google Earth.  Check back soon to see their finished product. 

Augmented Reality Comes to Our Class!

For the past couple of weeks my students have raved over our new found app colAR Mix! This app brings coloring pages to life!  No, seriously! Seeing is believing! This app has blown our minds!

The first page we colored was the pumpkins. Of course the kids thought it was just fun to color.  They had no clue what was coming up next! Using the colAR Mix app, we placed our iPads over the paper and out popped these moving, dancing, 3D pumpkins! Unbelievable!

Today, we completed our movie trailers about "The Bird". Once again we were amazed by the moving 3D bird that actually ate a worm!

If you want to have some fun and be amazed, download the app!

Welcome Back to School!

The first week of school was filled with excitement as the children scurried down the hallway to their classrooms. The look on their faces was priceless! This week has been the same! I can't believe we are already in the second week of school!  I can tell that this is going to be an exciting year of teaching AND  learning!

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is annually observed on May 5, the anniversary of a victory in 1862 in the fight for independence from French forces. It is a festival of Mexican pride and heritage in the United States.
Cinco de Mayo is seen as a day to celebrate the culture, achievements and experiences of people with a Mexican background, who live in the United States by promoting Mexican services and goods, food, drinks and music.

Today, we observed this annual day in our classroom.  My students learned about Mexican heritage and culture by tasting delicious foods from hot salsa to sweet breads! We also had a few volunteers to wear their festive clothing. Of course we had music!  I downloaded a few of their favorite artist! Ole!
It gave me great joy to see my students so proud to share their heritage with their classmates!

Historical Figure Poster

Inspiration and creativity can come from anywhere! During the reading STAAR test I was so bored that I began to read posters outside of the classroom where I was assigned.  The poster was about Harriett Tubman and was left up from Black History Month.  It wasn't what the poster said that caught my eye, but more the structure of it. The poster was designed almost like a scrapbook page. (By the way, I LOVE to scrapbook!)

  I quickly went and looked up our state standards to see how we could recreate this poster. I decided to use the social studies standard where the students had to identify the importance of historical figures and important individuals who participated in the democratic process.  Bingo! Today the kiddos are researching their chosen historical figures and tomorrow we put it all together! 

National Library Week

All over the country students, community members, and teachers are celebrating National Library Week. The theme this year is "Communities matter @ your library." This is definitely true about our library as well as our librarian, Mrs. Lisa Mead.  Mrs. Mead has opened up an entire new world when it comes to making our library a community.  Every morning around 7:30 you can walk into the library and feel the excitement.  Children are often found reading, researching, or just chatting.

Testimonies:

Nsikan says, "The library is a place where you can be creative." She usually can be found reading inspirational books.

Luis says, "There are lots of books to be enjoyed!"

Aaron P says, "It's a great place to do your homework and explore new books that you haven't read."

Today, we celebrate Mrs. Mead and our school library!

Click Here to visit the library!

Remembering Angel.....

On Saturday April 6, 2013 one of our classmates passed away.  He was small in stature, but big in heart.  He'll never be forgotten. 

Our Quest to Learn Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots

This week we focused on vocabulary development by studying prefixes, suffixes, and root words. Although my students seem to enjoy my teaching, they love technology even more.  While searching on the web looking for fun ideas, I came across a webquest. I introduced the task and process and they were off!  I promised I would add a link to the blog, so here it is! Enjoy!

Click Here! Webquest: Prefixes, Suffixes, and Roots

Remind 101

If you haven't signed up for Remind 101, please do so.  Although the end of the school year is near, there is alot going on in our classroom and I want you to be informed! Communication is so important and this is just one way to do it.  (I promise I won't send more than two a week.)

Happy Valentines Day!

I am so thankful and overwhelmed by the love shown to me today!  My kids brought me everything from big chocolate hearts to stuffed animals.  Although Valentines Day is only one day, I hope everyone feels love everyday! Thanks kiddos!

Brianna all "dressed up!"

One Day. 12 Minutes. Discover the Joy!

Read to a child. Change his or her life. It's that simple.

Today, we participated in Dallas Reads by stopping for 12 minutes to enjoy a book. Members of our community volunteered to read to our students to promote literacy and help create life-long readers.

This campaign strongly encourages reading from our community to model the success that comes from reading. Since our classes didn't have a volunteer, we chose to listen to Polar Express on www.storylineonline.net. What a great story for this time of the year.

 
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