FIELD TRIP

Today we went on our first Field Trip of the year.  We visited the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and the Omni Theater there as well.  My 3rd graders really enjoyed the exhibits, but the Omni movie "Forces of Nature" was far too scary for them.  It was intended for 3rd through 12th grades, but due to the graphic nature of the material (destruction caused by volcanoes, earthquakes, and tornadoes), I believe this movie is best left for older students.  We had many students cry, close their eyes, and some even had to be removed from the theater because they were so scared!  Thankfully they were able to enjoy the museum exhibits afterwards and brighten their moods!

 The Main Entrance is being renovated to display a beam from the World Trade Center.

 Fun with a giant Lite Brite!

 More fun with a giant Lite Brite! 

They made this for me!

Building time!

The Bed of Nails was the highlight of the museum!

The Dino Dig was also a huge hit!

My daughter said I need to get better with blocking the student's faces.  Maybe she'll show me some other way to do it, but in the meantime, sorry for the archaic "paint" blocks.  :)

YOU STILL HAVE A BLOG?

One thing I really like about having Staff Meetings, is the chance to sit and chat with friends (on my team, and other teams) before the meeting starts.  But last Monday, while we were talking about our blogs, one teammate seemed surprised that I would still have a blog.  Maybe he thought that since I didn't have the "Crazy Combo Class" anymore, I must not have anything to write about.  Um, no.  I have plenty to write about.  This week I did write two blog posts, but I ended up not posting them because they were too philosophical in nature.  I would like my blog to be mainly about my classroom and school happenings.

I am having a fantastic journey into Third Grade!  However, there is a small cloud on the horizon, so I have been hesitant to share my joy and the fun things going on because at any moment, it could all change.  Last year one of the reasons we had "Crazy Combo Classes" at my school was because 17 students were considered too few to justify a classroom.  Texas state law is a 22:1 student to teacher ratio, but many schools these days are requesting waivers to exceed that, such as 24:1 or even 29:1!  Currently, I have 15 students in my morning class, and only 13 in my afternoon class.  The two 4th grade classes have an average of 13.  Based on the past, they could easily make a 3rd/4th grade Combo Class and send one teacher to another campus that needs a teacher to reduce overcrowding.  HOWEVER!  It is possible that District will only look at our totals in 3rd and 4th grade. If they look at our totals, we are just fine!  We have 26 and 29 students in our 3rd grade Dual Language Classes (which is a big concern of it's own, being so far over the 22:1 limit).  I really have no idea what they will do, but the decision is due any day now.   None of us want to teach a Crazy Combo Class again (especially since two state testing grades = 5 state tests to be responsible for), and we certainly don't want to lose a teacher.  So, I remain hopeful that I can stay with my small classes of 3rd grade,and I also hope that we can hire a new 3rd grade Dual Language Teacher to reduce their class sizes.  We'll see....

In the meantime, some great things are happening in Third Grade!  We have Moby Max up and running (Mobymax.com is an incredible individualized computer program for Math and much more), two great donations from Donor's Choose (new headphones and Math Hot Dots!), our first field trip this coming week to the Science Museum, and training for our very successful United Way Reading Camp!  Whew!  Fun things are happening in Third Grade!  

Whoohoo!  Brand New Headphones for our computers, courtesy of some very generous donors on DonorsChoose.org!  (Fun Fact: Dollar Store headphones last only a day or two on a busy classroom computer!)

9/11

My daughter was 9 months old on 9/11.  I was deeply grateful that she was too young to understand what was going on, and prayed that she never would.  I made the decision not to talk with her about it until she was much older, to allow her to hold on to a piece of innocence that would be lost forever once she learned about everything that happened that day.  That decision was taken out of my hands when her cousin showed her some "cool videos on You Tube of some buildings falling down".  I tried explaining to them both that it wasn't "cool" at all- there were people in those buildings.  At the time, they were still too young to understand it.  Once my son was born, I made the same decision, but last Friday he came home from school asking me if I knew that on 9/11 some buildings fell down.  I didn't bother explaining any of it to him, other than saying that it was sad and we'd talk about it later.  I know he would have nightmares if he were told the whole story at the age of 6.

My school is honoring "Patriot Day" on 9/11 by wearing red, white, or blue shirts.  At first it surprised me to see "Patriot Day" on the calendar, like a holiday.  It actually isn't a "holiday" as we think of one, but a national day of mourning, technically called "Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance".  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Day).  I do not teach my young students about 9/11.  Having only taught 1st and 2nd graders in the past,  I have always felt that they are too young, and so their parents should be the ones to decide how much detail to tell a 6 or 7 year old.  (I have the same policy about "Where do babies come from?")  I'm sure the issue will come up in class, and I will acknowledge that it happened, and then defer the questions to their parents as I usually do.  There are always some in the class who know about it to varying degrees of detail, and some who know nothing about it.  Their parents can decide how to handle the level of detail their child can/should handle.  As for myself, I will be sure to review all of my school emergency procedures.  I pray that my students never have to know firsthand any kind of tragedy, but I want them to be as safe as possible if we do.

It is interesting to note that what we are now facing is an entire school of children who were not alive on 9/11.  To them, this day is just another day in history, something to learn about in Social Studies.  But to the rest of us, it isn't history at all, it's still present.

“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children.”

-President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001

2ND WEEK

A teacher friend who returned to First Grade after a long absence, recently commented on how exhausted she was.  That got me thinking that this is the first year in 13 years that I am not thoroughly, completely exhausted at the end of each day.  This is the first year in 13 teaching years that I am not teaching First Graders!

What a difference between first and third grade!  It is incredible!  The students are much more independent!  They can read, and read well!  We don't have little scraps of paper all over the room from the various cut/paste/craft/learning projects.  In fact, my room looks neat and clean every day when I leave, with little to no effort!  Team teaching has also been a wonderful experience!  I am teaching 1/2 a day, then repeat with the same lessons, so my planning time was cut in half!  Teaching this year has been so much more enjoyable, and much less exhausting than previous years! (don't get me wrong, I LOVED teaching first grade, but I didn't realize how hard it was until I moved up and discovered a whole new world!)

That being said, the shoe is going to drop on my near-perfect year pretty soon.  This year I have pretty small class sizes (another reason I am having an awesome year!).  But because my partner teacher and I have small class sizes, and the 4th grade teachers also have small class sizes, we are hearing the "B" word mentioned around the school.  ("Bridge" class aka Combo Class).  I taught a first and second combo class last year, and it was beyond a doubt the most challenging and exhausting year of my career. I am not looking forward to being involved in another combo class.  However, we still have two more weeks before The Powers That Be will make that decision, so I am hoping that our school gets more 3rd and 4th grade students ASAP!

In the meantime, I am going to enjoy my free evenings and weekends.  Last weekend I marveled at not having 8-10 hours of teaching work to do to prep for my combo class.  I only had about 2 hours of work to do- it was awesome!  I am taking on some additional responsibilities at my church for a few months, so this is a great time for me to enjoy teaching regular 3rd grade while it lasts!

Oh, if you see any 3rd or 4th graders around Fort Worth looking for a school, send them our way!  LOL!

SEPTEMBER: THIRTY-ONE

About a month ago, I wrote about my cool new teacher bag: NEW YEAR, NEW BAG
I had so many compliments on it, that I decided to sign up as a consultant with Thirty-One!  They have so many great bags for organization, and they make great gifts!

September 2013 Special

For every $35 you spend in September, get an

Organizing Utility Tote for $15 or

a Super Organizing Tote for $25!

Organizing Utility Tote

Super Organizing Tote (with zipper)

If you are interested in checking out Thirty-One, visit my store at:

https://www.mythirtyone.com/392407/

You can view the catalog on-line at:

Fall 2013 Thirty-One Catalog

If you would like to host an on-line catalog party, let me know!  There are great deals for the hostess!  And from September 1-30, when you host a $600 party, you'll earn Double Hostess Credit!

If you would like to become a consultant, you can get the starter kit with everything you need for only $99 (plus tax/shipping) and you keep the bags!  Let me know if you would like more information on becoming a consultant!

For more information on Thirty-one, contact Rhonda at rmc373 @ yahoo.com

FIRST WEEK

I survived the first week of school!  Actually, to be honest, it was a breeze compared to last year (more on that in a minute.)  I wasn't sure how I would like teaching 3rd grade, but it is great so far!  The students are much more independent than first and second graders- wow!  It does help that I know so many of my students.  Some of them had me for first grade, some had me for second, and even some had me for both first and second grades!

So here is what I am teaching this year:
3rd grade Math (same lesson to 2 classes)
3rd grade Science (same lesson to 2 classes)
3rd grade Health (once a week, same lesson to 2 classes)
3rd grade Social Studies (to one class)

Now, compare that with what I was responsible for teaching last year:
1st grade Reading
1st grade Composition and Language
1st grade Handwriting
1st grade Math
1st grade Spelling
1st grade Science
1st grade Social Studies
1st grade Health
2nd grade Reading
2nd grade Composition and Language
2nd grade Handwriting
2nd grade Math
2nd grade Spelling
2nd grade Science
2nd grade Social Studies
2nd grade Health

What a difference!!  I especially noticed the difference on our first weekend.  Last year I had to take home 8-10 hours of work on the weekends just to keep up with the district and state demands of teaching 2 grades at once.  This weekend, I only had 2 hours of work to do!  I hope the rest of the year continues to be this smooth!

I will have new challenges with third grade, of course, but considering how challenging last year was, I am truly thankful for this year.