Happy Friday!!

Hi All!!  It has been a fast week here in room 205.  My student bloggers, Max, Bella, Brandon, and Tori are busy writing their summaries of our learning; stay tuned for that post.  As for me,  I have a long list of events to tell you about:

Parent Orientation: 

This upcoming Thursday is our Parent Orientation.  It will be from 6:00 to 7:30.  Parent Orientation is a great way to find out about your child's day, the procedures, and expectations of the classroom and school.  You will also sign up for parent/teacher conferences at this time.  The students have been hard at work preparing for your visit.  Please mark your calendar to attend.

Fundraiser:

 

Monday, I sent home a packet for our PTA Fundraiser.  Our PTA is an amazing organization that helps to support the students of our wonderful school.  PTA helps pay for field trips, supplies for students and teachers, and contributes to wonderful social events for our school community.  By participating in the fundraiser you are helping our PTA continue its long standing tradition of serving Hawthorn's students. 

Fundraiser packets are due Sept. 10th.

This year several Hawthorn staff members are sponsoring exciting clubs!  Below is a list of clubs available to our students.  Please read the descriptions of each club carefully because many have grade level restrictions.

Watch D.O.G.S.:

An RSVP was sent home today for the upcoming Watch D.O.G.S. Pizza Night on Tuesday, Sept. 11th from 6-7 pm.  If you are interested in becoming a Watch D.O.G.S. or learning more about the program be sure to attend.  Hawthorn kids truly LOVE working and playing with their Watch D.O.G.S.

The 10th Annual Hawthorn Fall Festival will be on Friday, Sept. 14th from 4-8 pm.  and we need your help!

At the fall festival each class will have a basket to raffle off to earn money for our PTA.  Raffle tickets will be sold for $1.00 each.  Each grade level has been assigned a theme.  Simply find a new item that fits the theme and donate it to your child’s classroom basket. All donations are needed by Tuesday, September 14^th.  Thanks for your help!

Grade Level themes are:

Kindergarten: Action figures & dress up
1^st  grade: Arts and Crafts2nd  grade:  Disney items
3^rd grade: Board games, lego,  or puzzle

4^th grade: Sports
5^th  grade: Movies

Finally, for those of you who like having a hard copy of reminders, I have included a link to a newsletter reminding you of next weeks upcoming events.  

Have a great Labor Day weekend! 
-Mrs. Coen

A Great Week of Learning!

This week we just started ''read to someone''. Read to someone is when two people read to each other.We have different choices like I read,you read. I read you read is one partner reads a page. Then the other partner reads the same page. This helps us with fluency.  By Bella Holland

In math, we listen to a rapping song. The song is called what makes ten. We are learning what digits make ten. By Josh Alaniz

Last week we did saving Fred.  Fred is a sour gummy worm but it is cruel to eat Fred. Fred is our very best best friend. We are also talking about citizens. Every one is a citizen. We also learned what a bad and good citizen is. By Max Guerrero

At library I got a book about a girl.named Amelia Bedelia and it is a good book for me. by Viqtoria Lynn Howell.

Student Bloggers Share Their Week

I'm so excited to turn over some of the blogging duties to our student bloggers.  They worked as a team today to summarize what they felt to be the highlights of the week.  Here is what they had to say:

ART:  In room 205 we went to art. I thought we drew dragons. I thought it was scary. I learned that dragons have short teeth and they can eat people.

SCIENCE:  We did our first experiment! Our first experiment was called drops on a penny. One group got way more than every other group. We learned that is called an outlier.

READING: We have been practicing "Read to Self".  We are practicing the bad way and good way.  So far on reading we read 14 minutes.  We could not get into college or have a job without reading.

MATH: We are learning how to make ten.  For practice, we played "Circle the Number".  In that game we circle the number of bugs the teacher says.  The teacher calls the numbers really fast.  We also did Mountain Math.  We told time and multiplication.  I think the hardest for the class was 3x3. 

Written by, Max G., Tori H., Isabella H., and Josh A.

We fit a lot into the week!  Max, Tori, Isabella, and Josh didn't even have a chance to tell you all of the fun things we did.  However, your own child should have a "Weekly News" in their take home folder.  This is your chance to find out what your child thought was the best part of the week.  Then you or your child can comment below.  Also, here is the August 22 Newsletter. 

Okay, I think I'm ready to wrap the week up and get started celebrating the weekend with my own kiddos.  But before I end this post I wanted to share some fun pics from the week. 



 Some super creating for our "Super Power" writing!



We all had to work with our teams to save a poor worm named Fred!

 What was your child's favorite activity of the week? 



A Great First Week!

Well, we eased into it and I can confidently say we had a great first week of school!  I have 26 amazing kids in my class with a wide variety of talents.  In fact, the majority of them had no trouble at all writing about their own "super power" today. 

(Don't see your "Super Kid"?  I added more pics in the "About Us" tab.)

We spent a lot of time this week learning procedures and expectations for being successful third graders.  We even learned the proper way to organize a desk!! 



Along with establishing routines during the school day, I also sent home the first homework assignment.  Typically, I send homework home on Friday and it is due back the following Friday.  If your child finishes the homework early, they are welcome to bring it back before the due date.  This week's homework is an introduction to the Reading Log. 

Remember what I said about spending 3 days establishing routines at school? Well, establishing a routine of nightly reading will do a lot to advance your child's reading ability; not to mention, your relationship with each other.  In my home we began "family reading time" as part of our bedtime routine.  After pjs are on and teeth are brushed, we power off the t.v. and other electronics and spend a minimum of 10 minutes reading.  Now, I know many of you have extra-curricular activities that keep you very busy.  It is for that very reason I allow 7 days to finish the homework.  This way you can find time in your schedule to read 90 minutes.

Finally, I wanted to share a link to the weekly newsletter.  In it you will find information about our upcoming encore schedule, school-wide events, as well as a little "this and that" regarding our classroom. 

Did your child have a SUPER first week of 3rd grade?  Let me know below.

First Day = Success

Yesterday was the First Day of School and it was wonderful!  Our theme yesterday was "first day jitters".  We spent time reading stories about students and teachers who are nervous about going to school.  (Yep, teachers get jitters, too!)

We also played some games which helped us meet some new friends and learn about our classroom.  Looking back, it doesn't sound like a lot, but boy was I exhausted by the end of our day!

I hope your child came home with a smile on their face and felt reassured they would have a fun year in grade 3.  I think we are going to have a terrific year!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

One of my favorite parts of being a teacher, aside from working with children, is the feeling of anticipation I have each August. Everyone is feeling excitement and nerves, wondering if this will be their best year, yet. Unlike other professions, teachers enjoy a "fresh start": the ability to celebrate a new year in August and January.  As with traditional New Year's celebrations, back to school always includes some New Year Resolutions of its own.

I thought I'd share with you a few of my Back to School Resolutions:

1. Get up earlier! Recently, I read a book called What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast by Laura Vanderkam.  Clearly, I have not been taking advantage of the "magical" time of  day described by Mrs. Vanderkam. It seems Ben Franklin was right over 200 hundred years ago when he wrote: "The early bird gets the worm." 
2. Blog. Blog. Blog!  I created this blog as a way to effectively increase communication and  involvement between school and home.  My hope is to keep it up to date and relevant so everyone can see the important work the children of Room 205 are doing.
3. Streamline my organization.  This one has everything to do with my continued desire to become more adept at using technology, lessen my forgetfulness, and be more productive.  What is the good of a list...if you forget it on the kitchen table? 

I'm on my way to Hawthorn to begin preparing my classroom for all of the bright, beautiful faces I will meet a week from today!  I can't wait to find out what "Back the School Resolutions" my new students and their parents have in mind.