A Week in Review.....

Whew!  The first week of school left me feeling

COMPLETELY EXHAUSTED.  

Thank goodness for the weekend to recharge my batteries!

Our district started back on Monday with a district institute day.

Then on Tuesday, we  FINALLY met our students.

It's only been four days of school, but I already LOVE my

24 little 3rd graders.  We had such a fun week getting to know each other, and

they truly are a great group of kids.  I'm SO fortunate!

With this first week of school, my goal this year was to really focus this first few weeks on

developing a caring community in our classroom.  I wanted my students to 

work together as a team.  We also spent this week 

discussing a lot about the Very Important Principles of our district,

and ways to work together in our classroom.  

I used several ideas from Mrs. Fultz's Back To School Community Building Activities.

My favorite activity was the classroom pledge.  On Friday, after we had spent several days working together and discussing the Very Important Principles and our school's V.I.P. contract, my class worked together to create a classroom pledge.  Then they signed the pledge and made paper plate faces of themselves that I placed next to the pledge.  Here's a peek at our finished pledge:

In math, I used the  Easy As 1-2-3 Math Centers from Amy Lemons.

These centers were a great way to review with my 3rd graders.  They LOVED them!

My favorite center was the word problems.  I think I will also set these centers

aside and use them throughout the year at my math table.  This is a place

where students can go if they finish with their work.  Here's  a few pictures of my students

hard at work at their math centers.

Even though the Olympics are finished, I still wanted to use the Hour of the Olympics Literature study and Olympic stations I created.   My students have been truly enjoying this.  It's been a great way for them to work together, and I can't wait to include some of the Greek Mythology that can be incorporated using the Hour of the Olympics Magic Tree House book. 

I LOVE that the Hour of the Olympics Literature study already has a page listed with how this unit is aligned to the Common Core.  It made it easy when writing in my lesson plans the Common Core standard that was being taught.

One of the last things I wanted to share that my students did this week was " Saving Fred".  This was so much fun, and a great way for my students to work together as a team and problem solve.  I found this idea from Lorraine at Fabulous Fourth Grade Froggies.
In this activity, each team is given a gummy worm, gummy ring, plastic cup, and paper clips.  Fred ( the gummy worm) is on top of his capsized boat ( the cup) and his life preserver ( the gummy ring)  is below  the boat.  Students must rescue Fred by getting Fred on his life preserver.  BUT they cannot touch the boat, Fred, or the life preserver with their hands.  They may only touch the paper clips.  Students must brainstorm together in their teams to determine how they are going to save Fred.  Here is Lorraine's link for a better explanation of this activity:http://www.fabulous4thgradefroggies.com/2012/08/1st-day-of-school-fun-currently.html
Take a look at this fun activity!  What a hoot!

I also began the Daily 5 this week with my students.  We have gotten through the 3 ways to read for read to self, and my students have been working on improving their muscle memory by reading to their self for 10 minutes.  This is my first year implementing the Daily 5.


Have a fabulous week!  For those of you beginning your new school year on Monday,"Good luck".

Thanks so much for stopping by!