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!)