The leaves are yellow, red, and brown

A shower sprinkles softly down

The air is fragrant, crisp, and cool,

And once again I'm stuck in school!!

September has come and September has gone. We certainly have enjoyed getting to know each other and settling  into our routine.

We have had a great start to our independent reading program. Thank you for encouraging your children to read and record their reading in their RAMS books. The children seem to be avid readers- you really can hear a pin drop during I.R. time. I have been meeting individually each child to get a good sense of who they are as readers. We finished our first book How to be Cool in Third Grade and have begun Charlotte's Web. Our focus is on character traits and theme.

So many books, so little time...

There are always many topics to explore in math. We all created our own graphs from questions we wrote. We had some fun with patterns and in/out machines and are now onto place value.

That's 2 votes for Muppets and 8 votes for Madagascar...

In 2 out 4, in 5 out 10, in 12 out what?

Science is always a treat. We have begun a discussion of the earth's resources and read about Mono Lake in California. We pulled up some beautiful photos and videos on line of the area. We will focus this year on sustainablity and being good stewards to the earth. We conducted our first experiment (which has partially leaked out onto our counter). We are trying to determine the cause and observe carefully. Making thoughtful observations and connections, rather than just being focused on getting the 'right' answer will be an important trait to develop throughout the year.

We had the pleasure of joining Mrs. Merklinger's class a few times this past month. It's fun to be one big happy family. To commemorate 9/11 in a thoughtful way, we read Fourteen Cows for America, a book about a native Kenyan who was studying in NYC and witnessed the 9/11 attack. When he returned to Kenya, he and his tribe thought about what they could offer of value. They all presented fourteen cows to the U.S. ambassador as a sign of empathy and solidarity. The cows will be cared for throughout their lifetime in Kenya.

We enjoyed learning a bit more about Guatemala after rereading  our summer book Abuela's Weave. We watched some neat videos on line and got to dance to some marimba music.

True, the school's mascot is the ram, but 3H's mascot is Sally Sue, the little girl who has tagged along with me throughout my teaching career. It was amazing how many kids knew about her before they even entered our classroom! She is renown!

Will I ever get out of third grade?

Currently, we are in the throws of fall poetry writing. We will be creating an lovely bulletin board soon with our masterpieces. Be on the look out!

Here are a few extra photos for you to enjoy!

                                 Happy Fall!