The End

The desks are cleaned out.

The awards have been handed out.

Hugs have been shared.

It's awfully lonely in here.

Oh how I will miss them.

Farewell

We will miss you DB!!

Transition Videos

We made transition videos today. Students planned what they would say by writing in their journals. They used sentence starters that we put on the smart board as a basis and added other details they felt were important.

It was a great exercise to think about how we learn best. We talked about the things that it took me some time to figure out about students in our class. We also discussed what things are special about us. Some of us think a lot before we talk, some think while they are talking. One student said he learned this year that he learned that some people think he is arguing when he really thinks he is just telling someone his ideas. One student said he is trying to learn more English vocabulary and wanted his teacher to know that sometimes English is difficult for him. They talked about what they liked best about school in gr. 3 and what they hope for next year.

This is going to be a real great tool for teachers next year! Now I just need to get the teacher's of the students I will have next year to do this too!

Book Club Gala Awards Night

We had a fabulous night tonight! We had our awards night for the books we read this year. Best Character, Best Illustrator, Best Cliff Hanger, Best Villain and Best Overall Book of the Year were the categories.

We had finger food and mingled, gave awards, watched the book trailers kids made for the awards, and had some marvelous discussions about books. Definitely a do-again activity!!

 

I really needed to take more pictures though!

Kindergarten Readers Extraordinaire!

Our kindergarten kids came into our class today to read us some stories. Man, are they ever good readers!! We are so proud of them!

It was also very rewarding for me to see my grade 3 students read so well with them. We really worked hard this year on learning to snuggle up together so everyone can see the book, be sure we are listening, and give good feedback by helping sound out words and give compliments. Throughout the year, with our grade one buddies, we often had to review these things. Today everyone fell right into place, found good spots to read, and were very encouraging with their partners.

It warmed my heart!!

Racz-Kids

Today I introduced my students to Racz Kids. They love it.

Things I learned: 

- earning points is a lot more motivating than a mark on a comprehension quiz

- kids will read and answer questions endlessly when it is on a fun website

- the website gives great reports. They are detailed and they give you information about where students are having trouble.

I have long been a believer that kids should read real books. However, I think this is a great tool, especially for kids who are not quite into chapter books yet or who need extra practice with comprehension.

I Am.....

Our character committee came up with a brilliant idea. They wanted the children to focus on their many strengths. We made lists of our strengths, and helped each other with adding a few more. Now we are making I Am t-shirts to wear on one of our fun days next week.

Can't wait!

We had some interesting conversations when we started this project. Some of the children were worried it would look like they were bragging to put some of the words on their t-shirts. They eventually did come around to the idea that it is okay to be proud of what we are good at.

 

Censorship

Today, during Reading Buddies, a censorship momentum started. Guinesses Book of World Records has always been a popular read in my classroom. This year my kids think they are inappropriate though. I told them I wasn't entirely sure I agreed that they were inappropriate and asked them to sticky the inappropriate pages. A frenzy of stickie use began!!

Not even sure how to go about teaching a lesson on censorship in Gr. 3!!

Last of the PATs

Our province does standardized testing, however, they are phasing out the current testing practices. This is the last year for Gr. 3 PATs. We have written the first PAT, which focuses on creative writing. The majority of our writing program focuses on teaching students how to write a good story. We teach them a formula, and it works really well. While I think it has been to have such a laser sharp focus, it will be nice to have a little more opportunity to expand into other types of writing. I am not totally convinced that teaching children to write narrative stories is the most important writing they can do.

Today we did the second language arts PAT: comprehension. I hoped it would be more of a breeze for my students. It was quite a challenge though. I think there is a real skill in creating a multiple choice test that really gives good information about where students weaknesses are. The test we did today was a good one, I would say. It really got me thinking about what I can do to help students' comprehension improve. There is no simple formula.

Next year, we will be doing assessments in the beginning of the year. This change is focused on identifying where student's are at early on so that we can tailor our teaching to their strengths and weaknesses. In theory, it is a great idea. I hope it ends up being as successful as the sales pitch would have us believe.

One thing is for sure, next year I plan to do more read alouds, try to meet more reading needs through 

Book Club, and definitely be very purposeful in working to improve students' reading.

More is Caught Than Taught

I am a reformed defaced. In university, I loved to look through my books with all my notes in the margins. I can hardly read without writing.

Now that I have become a public library user to such an extreme I have had to change my ways (or subject myself to the wrath of librarians.....who wants that?!) 

The solution has been stickies. I put a few stickies in the front cover, and with pencil in hand, I am good to go.

Apparently my students have noticed. Look what I discovered today:

I guess it is true. Sometimes more is caught than taught!

Reading Celebration

After Spring Break, we set a goal in in our class to read 160 books before the end of the school year. To do that, each student would have to read a chapter book each week.

We reached our goal, with three weeks of school left! We plan to keep going and see how far past the goal we can get. However, in the meantime, we really needed to celebrate! When we set the goal, the students said they wanted to have a potluck. We just finished doing a novel study, Stuart Little. We decided to combine out pot luck with watching the movie, Stuart Little. 

 

We had a fabulous celebration today. Everyone was very excited to tell others in the school about our accomplishment. 

 

The students all wore labels that said things like:

 

·         Ask me why I love the number 160.

·         Did you know that some people thought we couldn’t do it?

·         Ask me how we reached our reading goal in 3A!

·         Ask me how many books our class read since Spring Break!

 

Our assistant principal stopped by in the morning during our spelling test and we shared our news with her. She was stunned…and made sure she stopped by for the party. Some of the children even went to our principal's office later in the day on their own to tell her about our accomplishment. She came to our celebration and brought BIG stickers for everyone and told them how proud she is of them. It caused their chests to swell with pride!

 

I'm so proud of our parents for the support they give with reading at home. Their encouragement and support really makes a big difference. They are becoming fabulous readers! I’m very proud of them.

Math Fun Day

My math students earned a reward today. We made a list of things they might like to do and then voted on how we should spend our fun day. iPads were the winner. I asked them to make a word problem using comic life or create a math story in book creator. They all got right to it and worked feverishly for the hour. Everyone created something unique. Definitely an hour well spent!

I Love This Place

Sometimes at the end of the day I take a moment to pause at the doorway, just before I shut off the lights.

Gee, I love this place.