CES Room 3

This blog's purpose is to keep you informed on the day-to-day happenings of our classroom. It's also a place where you can communicate with me. So please leave a comment, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

 

For math today we learned about area of a rectangle using sqaure feet, square centimeters and square yards. Homework tonight is a continuation of today's lesson.

For reading we read, Guys from Space which is in our reading books. It was a cute story about a boy who is visited by aliens and he introduces them around his home, and shows them what rootbeer is and ice cream. After reading the story we did a little work with nouns and then we wrote a postcard about traveling to a different planet. They had to use vocabulary words from the story and tell one thing they would really miss while they were gone.After they finished writing, they were supposed to illustrate the front of the postcard.

For science we did some exploration with wing spans of bats using different units to measure the distance. The second part of homework tonight is finding things around the house that would be the same as the wingspan of a microbat and a megabat.

Thanks for reading!

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 29, 2003 00:43 | link | comments (1) |

Dang! I knew Kitna was going to burn the Hawks. If I would have went with my guts rather than my heart, I wouldn't be 10-4 now. Even the Yankees went down this weekend. Then on top of that, I got kicked by a wild animal last night up on Green Bluff. My little Pete wanted to ride on a pony, so I ponied up (now I know where the phrase comes from) 4 bucks and walked beside him while he rode. He was doing so well that I started to fall off the pace and got towards the rear end of the insane animal. Next thing I knew I felt a hard object colliding into my left knee. Thankfully the beast missed my actually knee and and I took a grazing shot. I got a little bruise, but all I could think about was that scene from "Blazing Saddles" where Alex Karris decks the horse.

Before I let Mrs. Florko tell you about our day, I'll give you my MNF pick: The Dolphins will beat the Chargers in Tempe tonight. Did you hear the game was moved to Arizona because of the California wild fires? Probably far away from wild ponies too.

For math today we continued finding area using pattern blocks and finding perimeter using the straws to make triangles. The class, did an awesome job today working independently, I was very impressed.

For reading we did a brief skills lesson on realism vs. fantasy. We read two short stories form their books and make a list of things that were real and things that were fantasy. After that we continued into the grammar lesson reviewing what a noun is and identifying nouns in a sentence.

For social studies we started out by going over their test, you should be able to find them in their red folders tonight. We then started a new chapter about the Ojibwa Indians, and how they lived their lives by the change of the seasons. We compared their environment to that of the Hopi Indians since they lived in the desert. We found a lot of differences between the desert and forest and what advantages they have over the Hopi Indians.

We ended the day by taking the spelling pre-test and they will be bringing this home to correct for homework.

 

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 28, 2003 00:03 | link | comments |

Mrs. Florko had to leave right after school tonight so she won't be able to blog about the day.  The students were quietly reading their Time for Kids magazine this morning, and I also saw them working hard to figure out the length of daylight and the difference between the high and low temperatures.  This afternoon Mrs. Florko led them all in a drawing lesson. 

Next week is Mrs. Florko's last week as the full time teacher, and I'll return to the lineup right after Halloween.  Speaking of Halloween, Mrs. Florko did want me to remind everyone that the Superstar Review has the school rules or guidlines for our celebration.  As usual we will have a school-wide parade that will begin at 1:00 with our party starting as soon as we return back to our rooms (around 1:30).  I don't know who our "room mom" is this year, but as soon as we find out we'll call and get the party organized.  We'll need lots of treats and something to drink as well as some prizes for our Bingo game. 

Now for my picks:  I'm having a tough time with my Seahawk pick this weekend.  They play the Bengals and are the better team, but I just have a bad feeling about ex-Seahawks quaterback Jon Kitna.  Now, I don't think Kitna is a great quarterback but he'll have that "revenge" thing going for him and he had a red-hot week last weekend...plus they're playing in Cincy.  I guess I'll take the Hawks but this one is prime for an upset.  I hope I'm right. 

Have a good weekend, everybody.  Go Yankees!

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 25, 2003 01:06 | link | comments |

Good Afternoon This is Mrs. Florko here to tell you about another day....

In math this morning we explored perimeter of polygons a little more, and introduced the pattern blocks, which we will work more with on Monday. They were given the perimeter and had to find the length of the missing sides.

For Reading we finished up our pitcher plants that we learned how to make in our "How To Article" from yesterday. The students had to read the directions and follow the steps to complete the project.

For Science today we learned the differences between mega bats and micro bats by loking at their facial features and listing differences betweent the two bats on the board. We then put them into two categories and glued them in seperate boxes. The students also wrote a sentence about something they learned about the two bats.

Our Homework tonight is a spelling worksheet because our final spelling test is tomorrow.

Thanks and have a good night!

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 24, 2003 01:58 | link | comments |

Sorry, but we had another meeting after school tonight and have run out of time to blog. We'll be back tomorrow...hopefully.

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 23, 2003 01:57 | link | comments |

Even though there was an exciting finish, the Chiefs managed to hang on and send me to a 10-3 record. We'll see how the Yankees fare tonight.

I hope everyone saw the conference forms last night. Please let me know as soon as possible if the conference time is inconvenient, and I'll be glad to reschedule. Feel free to leave a comment here, e-mail, send the form back in, or call me. There's lots of ways to communicate!

Mrs. Florko has been working hard in the classroom so I'll let here tell you about the day.

Good afternoon-

For math this morning we continued with our estimation and measuring and then did some math boxes for review. We didn't have any homework in math tonight as usual instead we are just practicing our spelling words because they are a little more difficult this week. In reading we read about carnivorous plants, one being the venus fly trap. One of our students brought in a venus fly trap to share with the class. It was a very interesting story that talked about a variety of plants and how they trap their prey. For writing we invented our own traps by drawing a picture, naming the trap, and labeling the picture just like the graphic resources we learned about yesterday. We will share them tomorrow.

We finished our social studies test this afternoon and moved on to spelling practice. I handed out a quick words booklet so they can use it as a reference to finding information and words they don't know. We went thorugh and highlighted our spelling words or wrote them down if they were not listed. There homework was to finish highlighting the words and practice spelling them to an adult.

Please make sure to send back conference sheets if you haven't yet tomorrow so we can schedules times for everyone.

Thanks and have a great night.

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 22, 2003 00:42 | link | comments |

Thanks to the now regularly occurring pull-it-out in the last two minutes Seahawks victory, I'm now 9-3. How many other teachers in the country have that kind of winning percentage? Aren't you glad that your child is in that kind of classroom? It looks like I might even increase my percentage tonight when the undefeated Chiefs take on the bad old Raiders. Never being a Raiders fan, I'll gladly take the Chiefs to win and remain undefeated.

I'm feeling so confident this afternoon that I'm even going give my pick for the World Series. After the dominating win last night, I'll take the Yankees in six.

Mrs. Florko will tell you about the day in the classroom. I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Good Afternoon Readers,

Today for math we continued on with our measurements. We used measuring tape to measure parts of our body to the nearest 1/4 inch. Next we discussed how to use personal references to make estimations for measurement. We learned in the US customary system there are inches, feet, yards, and miles we can use to make measurements. For reading today we learned what a graphic organizer was and the different types we had around the class. We wrote a short article discussing flowering plants and used a digram to help us answer question about the article. After the story we continued our personal narratives in writing. Almost the whole class finished their story which I will be typing tonight and posting up in the hall along with their illustrations this week.

We took our social studies chapter test today alothough we didn't finish it we got half way through. We will be finishing it tomorrw. For spelling we had our pretest on compound words. Homework tonight is correcting the words at home and bringing them back tomorrow.

We sent home conference schedules and times on a green sheet of paper so make sure you read and send back the time you would like to come in.

Thanks Mrs. Florko

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 21, 2003 00:04 | link | comments |

What a great baseball game last night.  I wish the Yankees were playing the Cubs, but I'm still looking forward to the World Series starting on Saturday.  The Marlins are young and hungry.  I think it will be more exciting than I first thought.  But, as you might guess, I'll take the Yankees to win another World Championship.   

On the football front, the Seahawks will be hosting the hard-luck Bears.  Everybody is picking the Hawks and I think I'll join them. 

Mrs. Florko and I have another meeting after school tonight, so I don't know how much time she'll have to blog.  I can tell you they did our usual Friday activities and are going to enjoy an art lesson from Mrs. Uhlenkott this afternoon.  Don't forget any parent who would like to come in and lead a craft/art project is more than welcome.  Just let me know when you'd like to come in.  We'll be looking for a fun Thanksgiving craft project soon...leave me a comment if you're interested. 

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 17, 2003 23:56 | link | comments (2) |

I have a meeting tonight so I won't be able to blog, but the day went really well and I sent home a fun math homework page to measure an adult. Have a great night.

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 17, 2003 01:35 | link | comments |

Hello Mrs. Florko here with another day to tell you about...

For math this morning we shared the measurement ads kids brought from home and then we learned how to read a ruler and practiced measuring lines with the rulers. Homework tonight is a continuation of this measurement. They should be able to show you where and inch mark is, 1/2 inch mark and 1/4 inch mark.

For reading today we read about "Allie's Basketball Dream" in our books. After reading the story we learned that the author's message was that boys and girls are equal and they can do anything they want to. We also talked about characters and how you should treat other people.

For science today we started our bat unit and drew a picture of a bat and put the class into three catagories depending on if they liked bats, disliked bats and if they weren't sure. They also recieved a bat packet that we will be going through over the next few lessons. We ended science today by creating a question flap book about bats. We will answer these questions at the end of the unit.

Thanks and have a great night.

 

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 16, 2003 01:44 | link | comments |

Good afernoon this is Mrs. Florko to tell you about how our day went.

Our math this morning was a  lot of fun. We started our new chapter on measurement and today we discovered how to find a standard unit of measurement. We used class shoe size to determine what the average unit of measurement was, then we got up with partners and estimated and measured objects around the room.

For reading today we introduced the vocabulary for the story we are reading tomorrow and we talked about basketball and how the game is played and some of the students shared their favorite sports and why they liked to play.

After reading we continued with writing by prewriting for our narrative we are working towards completing. We brainstormed some more to add some detail and excitement to our stories.

For Social studies we learned about the jobs of the Hopi Indians, what the children did in the villiages, and how they learned to do their jobs. We pretended we were Hopi Children when we finished reading, and wrote down what job we might have, what we would do at our job, and what resources we would use.

Finally we ended the day with more spelling practice. I worked with a group today and we have some potentially winners in our class. They are getting a lot better at spelling the words aloud. Homework tonight was math worksheet on finding measurements at home.

Have a good evening.

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 15, 2003 02:04 | link | comments |

I know, I know that last night's pick was an easy one, nevertheless I'll take it and move my record to 8-3!  Let's hope the Yankees get back on track this afternoon with a win over the Evil Empire. 

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 14, 2003 23:38 | link | comments |

Thanks to the Seahawks' great effort last night, my record now stands at a healthy 7-3. I'm looking to improve on that record tonight by picking the Rams to defeat the Vick-less Falcons. I would actually like to see the Falcons win for the sake of the Hawks, but I don't think it will happen.

Did anyone watch that crazy Yankees-Red Sox baseball game on Saturday? I have only one thing to say about it: "Let's go, Yankees!"

Since Mrs. Florko is now in charge I'll let her give you a recap of the day. Please leave us a comment and let us know how your Pizza Hut reading is going.

Today for math we went over our tests that we took last week, and did a little addition and subtraction puzzles. We also did a small introduction to the next chapter on units of measurement.

Next we started reading after snack and the skill we learned today was on character. I had 4 volunteers come up in front of the class and act out a certain character I had written on a card. After I asked a question the class had to guest what kind of character they were by the way they responded to my question. It was a lot of fun and we definetly have some good actors in the class! Then we read a story called the "Newcomer" and talked about how the characters acted in the story and what made them act the way they did.

After PE and lunch we went over our postcards we made on our environment form 2 weeks ago and tried to guess what the other third grade class had written on their postcards describing what environment they were in. It was fun to share together. We also got our classes back and read what other studnets had to say.

For spelling today we are getting ready for a spelling bee we are having on Friday against the other 3rd grade class. I sent home a list of all the words and they are supposed to practice them with a parent for homework. These are words we have already taken tests on so it should be review.

They also recieved catalogs for the fall fundraiser to begin selling items to their family. They have a money envelope and checks are to be made out to Cahttaroy PTO.

Thanks and have a great night.

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 14, 2003 00:14 | link | comments (2) |

While the students are enjoying their day off, we're here at school learning more about our new reading curriculum.  But during this break I wanted to write about two things.   First I need to make my Seahawks prediction.  As you sports fans are well aware the Hawks play their divisional rival, the 49ers, at home.  It's a big game for the Hawks to bounce back and show that they're still a playoff caliber team after getting pounded last week.  If they lose the questions will begin.  So, I'll be confident and take the Seahawks to beat the Niners. 

Second, I wanted to remind you that Mrs. Florko will be doing her full-time student teaching beginning next week.  She will be teaching all the subject areas and creating the lesson plans.  Contrary to the rumors, I will not be flying off to watch playoff baseball games, but will be here each day to greet your children and stay on top of the curriculum.  I'll be observing Mrs. Florko, checking student work, helping students who are struggling, and helping with lesson plans.  I hope to use some of my time though to get familiar with the new software in the computer lab and will be bringing down some students to test it out with me.  So, if you have any questions, send me an e-mail or give me a call and I'd be glad to talk with you. 

Have a great weekend!  Are you keeping track of Book-It minutes?  Remember there's free pizza waiting for all those who read 250 minutes this month. 

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 10, 2003 23:54 | link | comments |

Good Afternoon- This is Mrs. Floko here to tell you how today went.

We started out the day by doing our math projects finding out the sunrise and sunset for yesterday and we found out that there was 11 hrs and 15 min between the two times. The class is getting much better at finding the difference. We also learned that the highest temperature was Death Valley CA at 104 degrees and the lowest temperature was in Saranac Lake, NY at 27 degrees.

Then we had our final spelling test after recess and our writing test. After that we were off to lunch and recess. We ended our day with reading silently and our V.I.P presentation. There was no homework, I just sent home the citizenship charts to be signed and brought back Monday. Thanks for reading, Have a Great Weekend!!

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 09, 2003 23:09 | link | comments |

Mrs.Florko will tell you about our day.

For math this morning we took our chapter 2 test. That took up most of the morning before and after first recess. After we finished we continued with our reading groups and then we went to P.E. After P.E and lunch we read three more chapters in James and the Giant Peach, up to chapter 24-(only 15 chapters to go.)

For social studies we started a new chapter and began talking about the Hopi Indians and how they lived, ate, and survived in the desert environment. We drew a picture of one thing we learned about after we finished reading and shared it with the class.

We ended the day with some spelling practice and then handed back class pictures to take home. They all looked great! Homework tonight is the spelling worksheet.

Just to let you all know for next week, I will be teaching full time beginning Monday Oct 13th for 4 weeks in class. Mr. Salzano will be in the classroom daily to observe me and help out as usual. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to send in an e mail or give me a call.

Thanks and have a great night! Don't forget we have a early release tomorrow at 11:25am.

 

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 09, 2003 02:08 | link | comments |

Well, I've fallen to 6-3, but again I don't mind when it's a game like last night's. You've probably already read that the Colts did what no other NFL team has ever done before - come from 21 points behind with only four minutes left in the game. And what a baseball game as well! The Sox held on to a 4-3 lead in dramatic fashion in the bottom of the ninth. I'm looking for to both league championship series. I'd like to see a Yankee-Cub World Series (I know that a Red Sox-Cubs series might be even better, but I just can't root against those Yankees for some reason).

Mrs. Florko is teaching almost all the subject areas so I'll turn it over to her to recap the day:

For math this morning we continued our number stories having three addends. We also worked on part and total diagrams with our story problems. The addition was a little more challenging today because  the addition involved larger numbers.

For our reading we split into groups and worked on our new story "Ice Walk," while the other groups read silently at their desks. We were cut short today to have the hearing and vision testing done. Then we went to music.

We read two more chapters in our read aloud today and are now on Chapter 21. After the read aloud we started our science test over the chapter on animals with backbones and without backbones and their classifications.After the test we had a special P.E. Class with Mrs. Hively in our room in which they created a booklet about health and fitness.The homework this evening is a math page that is review form this morning.

Have a great night!

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 07, 2003 23:42 | link | comments (5) |

Well, I've fallen to 6-2 thanks to the Packer mauling the Seahawks got this weekend. It doesn't get any easier with tonight's game either - the world champion Bucs host the red-hot Colts. I've got to go with the world champs and pick the Buc defense to keep Manning in check. It's going to be tough to keep the T.V. on channel 4 tonight because of the great baseball match-up on Fox...game 5 winner-take-all matchup between the A's and Red Sox. I'll be rooting for Pedro and the Sox...I just can't root for those Mariner killers.

 

I'll let Mrs. Florko tell you about our school day:

For math this morning we learned how to do trade first addition and subtraction. We used the math blocks to see the groups that we borrowed and solve the problems. We did 2 pages in our math journal to work on this new concept. We also did a review of our partial sums algorithims for addition.

In reading today we tried something new by reading in small groups. We read "Ice Walk" as a group and then discussed the story and created a character web to identify one of the characters traits.

I continued our read aloud today for James and the Giant Peach. We also started a reading log for our in class reading that will be different than the minutes they are keeping track of at home. They wrote down the number of books they thought they could read in a month and if they meet their goal then we are going to have a special reading day at the end of the month. The goals were supposed to be realistic and achievable in class. I have a record of everyone's goal and will check it on the last day of the month.

Science was a review of no backbone creatures. We had the class match the creatures in the correct categories similar to what we did with backbone creatures.

We had our spelling pretest today also and they will be bringing that home for homework tonight to be corrected and brought back to school. Don't forget to send back your child's citizenship charts form Friday so they can get credit for it this week.

Have a great night!

 

 

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 07, 2003 00:49 | link | comments |

Here's some Friday highlights:

• Today we have 11 hours and 35 minutes of daylight (Delaney successfully figured that one out for us).
• Did you know that Bullhead City, AZ had a national high temperature of 109 on Wednesday?
• Beulah, ND was the low at 17 for a whopping difference of 92 degrees!
• Did you know that male baboons are pretty good dads?  It's in this week's Time for Kids magazine.
• Spelling test #5 is in the books.
• Lunch was burritos (I had leftover pizza).
• Did you know Mrs. Florko has lost her voice?
• Even with a weakened voice, Mrs. Florko directed a James and the Giant Peach art project.
• Did you know we might set a record high temperature in Spokane today?
• We went to an assembly emphasizing "Character Counts."
• No school tomorrow and the next day.
• The Seahawks play at Green Bay this weekend.  I'm picking my Hawks to stay undefeated.   

Enjoy your weekend!

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 04, 2003 01:49 | link | comments |

We have a meeting after school tonight so our blogging will be light.  This morning we finished our SOAR testing!  The students felt good about their effort, and I'll send them up to Riverside tomorrow to be graded soon.  I should have the scores back at conference time and will be glad to share your child's results with you at that time.  We also had time for some math this morning.  We worked on the Partial Sums Addition Algorithm.  It's a little longer way to do addition problems but it really helps to illustrate just what is going on in the process.  The students had a some difficulty with it, but I think by the end of the lesson is what starting to sink in.  One more thing, your child should have his/her first corrected social studies in their notebook for you to see. 

I'll let Mrs. Florko tell you about the afternoon and tonight's homework:

We continued our read aloud today and got through three more chapters. We are crusing right along. For social studies today we worked on our final drafts for our postcards and almost everyone finished them.  They had to write a letter describing three things about the environment they chose and then they drew, and colored a picture on the front of the postcard. For homework tonight I handed out a spelling review page to fill in the missing word in the sentence. It shouldn't take very long but it is good spelling practice.

Don't forget to send back media and internet release forms and book orders, they are due tomorrow!

Have a great night.

 

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 03, 2003 01:26 | link | comments |

Today was Day Two of our SOAR testing. We did the final verbal test and first nonverbal test. The students enjoyed figuring out how all the shapes were alike in the nonverbal test. Tomorrow will be the last day of the testing as we'll finish the final two nonverbal tests. Mrs. O'Leary will contact you if your child qualifies for the SOAR program.

Around the testing we had time for only a couple of other subjects this morning. We did another math lesson on story problems. This time we learned to use the "Comparison Diagram" to help us compare two different pieces of data. We used a map of the U.S. showing high and low springtime temperatures to make comparisons. The students found the comparison diagram to be very helpful in organizing the data. Tonight's math homework page will provide even more practice and give you a chance to see its usefulness. We also passed out the Book-It calendars for October. You'll notice that our goal is 250 minutes for the month and that does include being read to. The calendars do not need to be signed and turned in until the end of the month. Everyone who meets our goal will be give a Pizza Hut coupon for a free personal pan pizza! We hope everyone will participate and enjoy their reading time at home.

Mrs. Florko will fill you in on the afternoon:

We continued reading James and the Giant Peach today for our read aloud. I added a new character to color today during the reading. They will be used on Friday during our art lesson.

After reading aloud we started our science lesson on animals without backbones. First we reviewed the animals with backbones and then we learned 6 new groups without backbones. We finished up the spelling crossword after science and then came together as a class and filled it in aloud. I handed out tootsie rolls for the correct answers. It was a lot of fun! For homework tonight they received a math worksheet to continue the comparison diagram. For a quick show and tell Ashley's mom brought in her rabbit and shared it with the class. Don't forget to check the homework tonight and send it back to school tomorrow. Everyone has been doing really well bringing their work back. Book orders are also due FRIDAY.

Have a great night.

Posted by: MrSalzano at October 02, 2003 00:53 | link | comments |