First Day of School

Tomorrow, August 15th is our first day of the new school year.  I am so excited and "pumped" about the students coming.  The classroom has had a make-over and is ready for them.  On this first day we have a few "usual procedures" to manage in the morning.  At 10:45 the students will begin a Math Scavenger Hunt inside the school and outside (playground).  Each item to be found or solved is directly related to a Common Core Learning Standard.  I plan to use this as a Pre-Test of sorts to help guide my instruction. In March or April we will have the same scavenger hunt as a post-test to help determine growth. 


In the afternoon we will be working on a few writing activities and sharing our illustrations from the summer. 


Year long hint for success...be prepared to write, write and write some more.  3rd Grade is a hallmark year.  It's very important to strive for excellence and have stamina in all we do.


See you soon!

A Shift in Direction

It seems my trend of updating my blog is a yearly event.  Once school begins each year and life takes hold of my brains cells, not much time or energy is left to blogging.  I created this blog to be a place where people could readily find educational news and popular concepts.  


I'm changing my direction to chronicle my new position at our school.   In the past two years I have been our District's Reading Specialist and Interventionist.  Due to budget concerns and a possible consolidation with another school district next year, our School Board shifted me back into the classroom.  The 3rd Grade classroom.


At first I was overwhelmed with thoughts and feelings about the change.  It took me about three days to get my mind wrapped around it and then I was off to planning and getting inspired.  The classroom I moved into was once occupied by a wonderful, top-notch teacher. The expectation is already high for me from the start.


So, with that being said, I plan to use this blog for more than just educational news and trends.  It's for my students and their families to get information about our class, assignments, projects and important information.