Isabel's Adventures with Flipper

When I brought Flipper home I read a story to Flipper and my mom. It was Friday night and Flipper, Madeleine, my mom, and I watched Miracle on 34^th Street and had hot chocolate from the world famous restaurant Serendipity in New York City and we had winter cookies. During the day on Saturday I had to go to dance and gymnastics, so Flipper played with my mom, sister, grandmother, and my grandpa.

Saturday night my family went to a house party in downtown Chicago. We brought Flipper along. All of my friends made snowmen and angels and we made a nativity scene. No one finished the angels. Then we had pizza for dinner. For dessert we had con muffins and chocolate chip cookies. Then one of my best friends, Michael, and I played Uno and Flipper played with us. When we were done all of my friends and Flipper played a game when we turn the lights off and we make a weird move and then we look at each other’s looks. Flipper was in an old baby crib and he looked like a baby penguin. When everyone went home we went to my mom’s friend’s house to sleep over. We watched a movie.

On Sunday night we made cookies. The shapes were bells, snowmen, Christmas trees, stockings, stars, candy canes, and gingerbread men. Flipper watched us use them. We made another batch. When the cookies were finished, my family, Flipper, and I played a very fun board game. We put the cookie on a Christmas plate and then we put them away because we had to make dinner. Then, when we started eating we put on the movie Far and Away. When we finished our dinner we had our cookies. They were delicious. When the movie was over we went upstairs to give Flipper a bath. Then I had medium pjs. Then we watched some TV. Then we went to bed.

On Monday morning we had breakfast. Then we went to school. It was awesome having Flipper at my home.

Luciana's Adventures with Flipper

Friday, December 6, Flipper came home with me! He met my penguin and my human families! At first, he waited for me to get my swimsuit on. (He covered his eyes, of course). Then, I carried him in the car to Arlington Alligators swim practice. He was pretty hot in there, and I warned him not to jump into the warm pool! He watched Emilia, Lidia and me swim.  Later at home I gave him a quick bath and dried him. We watched The Grinch before heading to bed. We snuggled like crazy, and I woke up during the night to make sure he was warm and cuddled!

On Saturday, Flipper and I went to watch Lidia and my dad at the Santa Run. It was hard to spot them because everyone had a Santa suit. Flipper spotted them first, and we followed them to them to the finish line. Flipper ran faster than some of the Santas! We had treats at Panera afterward and he shared a Cobblestone muffin and cherry Danish with me. The cherry was Flipper’s favorite. I dragged Flipper to my swim practice again. All the kids were happy to see him.  My parents had to go out so Flipper got to meet our new baby sitter. She was nice and she liked Flipper. I read Flat Stanley to Flipper. He says he wants to hear the other books too. When my parents got home my mom tucked me and Flipper into bed.

Bright and early on Sunday (6:00) we drove off to the Blat off swim meet at Northwestern University. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts on the way and he had a munchkin. He got to see Lake Michigan, and now he knows why Chicago is called the windy city! The clouds were thick and dark… a storm? a blizzard? Lidia placed third in breaststroke. Flipper high fived her and kissed her!

When we were close to home after the meet the snow started to come down. Flipper did a flip. He begged me to let him play in the snow. I let him throw a snowball. I held him (so he would stay dry) as we went down the snow-covered slide along side The Peas.

Monday morning we all said our sad good byes. The Peas started crying and the penguins gave Flipper a group hug. I was not too sad because I still get to see Flipper at school and in my pictures. What a great weekend!

Weekly Crandall Chronicle

What's Happening This Week

Spelling: Our spelling pattern this week includes words with /ur/.
Reading: This week we are focusing on the skill of identifying cause and effect. We will also be examining words with multiple meanings and the same root. 
Writing: We will be taking a break from our WEX unit to work on various winter-themed writing activities.  
Grammar: Our focus is on past tense verbs. 
Math: We concluded lessons for our current unit last week. We will spend the next two days reviewing and preparing for the test on Wednesday/Thursday. The format of the test includes written, listening, and speaking portions, which means that the test may extend over two days in order to meet with each child individually for the speaking part of the test. All students should be prepared for taking all portions on Wednesday, though!   
Social Studies: We will be constructing our floats throughout the week and will be parading them around the building on either Thursday or Friday. I will take a video of our class's parade that will be posted on our blog. 

Weekly Reminders
* The December Student Challenge is due by Friday.* Remember to send your child to school with appropriate clothing for outdoor recess. As the days get colder, this may include hats, mittens, winter coats, and warm pants. If your child wants to play in the snow, he or she must be wearing snow pants and boots.

Study Tip/Request

After two weeks of winter break, it is not uncommon for students to show a decline on their math fact tests. To help avoid this from happening, please continue to encourage your child to practice his or her math facts nightly. Remember, there are many               different math games on our class website! Xtramath.org is another resource that is available for students to use. 

The next region of states and capitals the students will be responsible for is the Northeast. The test will be late January/early February, so it is not too early to begin studying these states!

Weekly Crandall Chronicle

What's Happening This Week

Spelling: Our spelling pattern this week includes words with /ar/.
Reading: This week we are focusing on the skill of identifying setting and plot. We will also be examining figurative language and practicing dictionary skills. 
Writing: We are continuing to read the book My Name is Maria Isabel by Alma Flor Ada. Students are continuing to identify character traits that the main character possesses and providing evidence to support their claims. We will review the skill of using sensory details in our writing.  
Grammar: Our focus is on present tense verbs. 
Math: This week students will be focusing on decimals, including numbers with tenths, hundredths, and thousandths. We will have our unit test early next week.   
Social Studies: We are concluding our Midwest unit this week. The test covering information from this unit as well as the states and capitals for the Midwest region will all be on the test, which will be given on Wednesday.  Each student has been assigned a Midwest state to research and complete a project. Information was sent home on Friday. Please begin sending in materials for the project by this Friday. 

Weekly Reminders
* The December Student Challenge is due any time before winter break.

* Remember to send your child to school with appropriate clothing for outdoor recess. As the days get colder, this may include hats, mittens, winter coats, and warm pants. If your child wants to play in the snow, he or she must be wearing snow pants and boots.

* Please continue to encourage your child to practice his or her math facts nightly. Remember, there are many                      different math games on our class website!

Study Tip/Request

Prior to any science, social studies, or math test, a review guide is completed in class and sent home with students. These are terrific resources for the students to use while studying for their tests. Creating similar problems or changing the numbers in math problems would be a great way to help your child prepare for their tests. 

On Friday the students brought home flash cards containing the vocabulary words that they will need to know for our social studies test on Wednesday. Please remind your child to review these!

There are several websites the students can use to practice for the states and capitals portion of the test. They can be found on our "Race Across the States" page of our website. Just scroll to the bottom of that page. 

Weekly Crandall Chronicle

What's Happening This Week

Spelling: Our spelling pattern this week includes words with /ar/ and /or/.
Reading: This week we are focusing on the skill of visualizing and the comprehension strategy of making inferences. 
Writing: We are beginning our new WEX unit this week. Students will be reading the book My Name is Maria Isabel by Alma Flor Ada. We will be identifying character traits that the main character possesses and using evidence to support our claims. There will be no new writing words for the month of December. 
Grammar: Our focus is identifying and using action verbs.
Math: We are beginning Unit 5: Place Values. Students will be focusing on large numbers this week.  
Social Studies: We continue studying the Midwest region of our country. Each student has been assigned a Midwest state to research and complete a project. More information about this will be sent home soon!

Weekly Reminders
* The December Student Challenge will be sent home on Friday. It will be due before winter break.

* Remember to send your child to school with appropriate clothing for outdoor recess. As the days get colder, this may include hats, mittens, winter coats, and warm pants. If your child wants to play in the snow, he or she must be wearing snow pants and boots.

* Scholastic book orders will be due Friday, December 6,  so that the books will arrive before winter break. If you would like the book order to be a surprise for your child, please write me a note, and I will be sure to send them home in a sealed package.     

* Please continue to encourage your child to practice his or her math facts nightly. Remember, there are many                      different math games on our class website!

Study Tip/Request

Please continue to thank the friends and family members who send postcards to our class. We recently counted 161 postcards from 44 different states and 22 international destinations! The students really enjoy learning about the states and countries, and locating them on the map. 

We are still in need of postcards from the following states: Alabama, Delaware, Maryland, North Dakota, South Carolina, West Virginia

November Student Challenge

Ten students completed the November Student Challenge! 

Check out their creative quarter designs!

Emily's Adventures with Flipper

Friday: Flipper and I got picked up from C.A.P. When we got home, we helped my mom rake leaves. Flipper watched us rake the leaves. When we were about to jump in the leaves, I tucked Flipper in my coat so he wouldn’t get scared.  We went inside. Flipper helped me do the student challenge. After that, we ate pizza for dinner. Then, we went to a meeting. We waited so long, Flipper fell asleep in the middle of a movie!

Saturday: Flipper, my sister, and I played in the basement. Then we ate breakfast. When we went outside, we played in the car trunk because it was so cold. Then, we went inside. We watched movies on the iPad. After that, we ate lunch. “Flipper looks fat after lunch!” my sister told me. We watched more movies and tested markers. Flipper got a little mark on his wing from a blue marker. My sister and I played a game. Flipper cheered me on. We ran outside to play. Flipper enjoyed the cold, but not me. We went inside to play on the iPad. We ate dinner. After that, Flipper listened to me play my violin. Flipper tried to play my piano. (I hate to admit this, but Flipper is not a very good piano player.) We played on the iPad. Then, we got ready for bed. I tucked Flipper in my pillowcase. We went to bed.

Sunday: My mom went to a morning meeting. My sister, Flipper, and I played monkeys on my bunk bed. Then, we went to church. After that, we ate lunch and made paper snowflakes to decorate the building. We went shopping to buy things for a party. We went back home to pick up some things. Then, we went to the party. When we got back home, Flipper helped me do my homework. (He told me all the answers.) I gave him a bath and went to bed.

I hope Flipper had a great time!

Weekly Crandall Chronicle

What's Happening This Week

Spelling: This week we will have a review spelling test covering all of the words from Unit 2. The format of the test is multiple choice, and the students will need to identify misspelled words. THERE IS NO SPELLING HOMEWORK THIS WEEK, BUT THERE IS WRITING WORDS HOMEWORK!! (See below.)
Reading: This week we are focusing on reviewing the comprehension skills and strategies and vocabulary from Unit 2. After reviewing, we will be taking the Unit 2 assessment. 
Writing: We are recently finished our personal narratives! The students worked very hard and the growth they have shown since the beginning of the year is tremendous. The November writing words test will be Friday. This covers all of the words from both October and November. THERE IS A WRITING WORDS WORKSHEET DUE THURSDAY IN PLACE  OF THE WEEKLY SPELLING HOMEWORK.
Grammar: Our focus is reviewing common and proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, possessive nouns, and combining sentences with either the same subject or predicate. The unit grammar test will be on Wednesday.
Math: We conclude our unit on multiplying and dividing this week. The students will be bringing home a completed review guide Wednesday. The unit test will be Friday.   
Social Studies: We continue studying the Midwest region of our country. Each student will be assigned a Midwest state to research and complete a project. More information about this will be sent home after Thanksgiving break.

Weekly Reminders
*  The November Student Challenge is due on Friday. We already have several sets of creative quarters already submitted! 

* I look forward to seeing you at our Parent-Teacher Conferences next week!

* The students filled our Character Counts chart with 200 smiley faces (earned each week by students who keep all 6 pillars), which means it's time for a class reward! They voted on a class reward and decided to have a movie party, which will take place this Thursday. We will be watching the movie in the afternoon. Students are allowed to dress in pjs or comfy clothes and bring a small pillow or stuffed animal to have during the movie. If your child has a G-rated movie that he or she would like to bring in for the class to watch that would be great. We will vote on which one to watch on Thursday.     

Study Tip

We are almost finished reviewing all of the lower case cursive letters. Although students are not yet required to write daily assignments in cursive, it is a good idea to practice writing cursive regularly. The next time you need something jotted down, ask your child to write it down for you in cursive. Any time is a good time to squeeze in a little extra practice!

November Student Challenge

November Student Challenge

(due Friday, November 22^nd)

You have just been hired as a quarter designer working for the US Mint. Your mission is to redesign the quarters for each of the twelve Midwest states. The original 50 States Quarters were released beginning in 1999 and over a ten year period 56 coins were created, including quarters for the US capital and its territories. Each coin contains a few images that are significant, or important, to that state. Your job is to create a new design that features something different that is important to that state. Be creative and have fun researching the Midwest states. After you have finished drawing your new quarters, explain your designs and why you chose them!

(Papers were sent home with students who were interested in completing the Student Challenge on Friday.)

Lou's Adventures with Flipper

Friday: We got home. I started to sit him on the toy car. We started to make photos. We made like 5 photos. Then we decided on which to delete. Then we saw a movie. Then we went to sleep with flipper.

Saturday: We woke up. We started to play video games for like an hour. We had breakfast with him. We played stuffed animal football. Then I made four videos. Then I went outside to rake with Flipper. Then we got a drink. Then I got ready for the swim meet. Flipper cheered me on. When we got home Flipper helped me get the Dino and the train mods. Then we had supper. Then we saw the Croods. Then we played video games. Then we went to sleep!

Sunday: I woke up and played video games with Flipper. Then I ate breakfast with him. Then I got ready to go to church with him. Then we went home. Then we played video games. Then we watched TV. Then we went to my friend’s house to play video games. Then I got ready to go to swimming with him. Then we went to have dinner. Then we went to my friend’s house. Then we came home to have desert. Then we played Legos and went to bed.

Monday: We got up and started to play video games. Then we had breakfast and played more video games. Then we watched TV. Then we went to see Thor. When we got home Flipper told me the answers for the homework. Then we played video games. Then we ran around my house. Then we went to my friend’s house. Then we got home, took a shower, and went to bed. 

WEX Writing Excerpts

Here are the new (and previous) writing excerpts from our WEX writing unit. These featured pieces of prose exemplify the writing skills that we are practicing in class. After hanging the excerpts, the class determines which skills were demonstrated and why each piece was selected for our "Monster Journal Excerpts" board. Nicely done, writers!

Art Appreciation

Mrs. Colias joined us last week for our first Art Appreciation lesson. The students learned all about tapestries and how they are designed and constructed. They were amazed by the amount of time that goes into these masterpieces. They then had the opportunity to create their own designs!

October Student Challenge

The October Student Challenge asked students to create a food web involving a total of at least 20 plants and animals. Four fantastic food webs were created by students in our class. Check them out below:

Weekly Crandall Chronicle

What's Happening This Week

Spelling: Our spelling pattern this week focuses on words with silent g, k, or w.  
Reading: This week we are focusing on the skill of identifying the author's purpose. (PIE: persuade, inform, entertain) Our vocabulary strategy focuses on using context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words.
Writing: We are beginning to work on our final personal narratives pieces. The students will be selecting an entry from their WEX journals that they would like to take through the writing process. We will be revising and editing these pieces this week. The new writing words for November were sent home last week. There will be a cumulative test at the end of the month, right before Thanksgiving break.   
Grammar: Our focus is combining sentences that contain the same subjects or predicates. 
Math: We are continuing to work on multiplication and division skills, which include story problems, fact families, and measuring distances on a map.       
Social Studies: We are beginning our new social studies unit on the Midwest. Students will be learning about the geography of our region along with early history and transportation.  

Weekly Reminders 

* Book Orders are due in class by this Friday or online by Saturday. There will be one more book order before the winter holidays (early December) if you are interested in purchasing books for gifts.    

Study Tip

Third graders are responsible for learning all of the states and their capitals. They will also need to label the states on a blank map. This will be done by region, beginning with the Midwest. The first test will be combined with the social studies unit test. Please look for additional information and study tools that will be coming home.  Online games are also available on our class blog. Click on the "Race Across the States" tab and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Samantha's Adventures with Flipper

On Friday I brought Flipper to my grandma and grandpa’s house. My cousin Kea came too. We talked about Heart 4 Heart dolls. Then we played a game with grandma. It had really hard questions that went with it. It’s so fun! I got home and showed Flipper my house. Flipper ate a corn chip. Then Meema brought me to the craft show with Flipper. I was selling cards. Meema bought me a poncho and hat for Tipi. Flipper tried it on. Meema bought me a hat also and she bought a fairy sticker book for Melody. Then Flipper went home. He slept at the bottom of Tipi’s bed. Tipi’s bed is actually a drawer that I put her stuff in. The next day Flipper, my mom, and I made Ellie badges. We were making Ellie badges for my party goodie bags. It’s for friendship. In the goodie bags there was a paint set. Flipper was trying out a paintbrush.

Pretty soon we went to grandma’s house with our cousins. We usually will watch a movie, but this time we had a fight about which movie we should watch so we watched all the movies. We watched Pingo, Peep in the Big Wide World, Charlie Brown is in Love, and Wallace and Gromit. Then we went home.

On Sunday I went to church. Then I went to my birthday party. It was an art class. We drew a peony flower. Then I opened my presents. Flipper could not come because…shhhh…he didn’t know how to write! When I got home I looked at the jade, cactus, and Venus fly trap that my cousins bought. Then Flipper and I went to Meema’s house to have a birthday. Meema said my present could peck. There was a present that I was really curious about. It was shaped like a doll box. Flipper helped me open a big long box. Inside was a canvas with a violin on it. Then, I slowly opened the doll-shaped box. Pretty soon I saw that the box was red. Then I saw some yellow and brown. I opened the whole thing and I saw a large picture of Rahel on the cover. She was the same Heart 4 Heart doll that I was talking about with Kea. I opened the flap to see Rahel. She was beautiful. She had brown skin and short, really curly hair. I made Flipper meet Rahel. I hope Flipper had a really nice time.

Weekly Crandall Chronicle

What's Happening This Week

Spelling: Our spelling pattern this week involves consonant blends.  
Reading: This week we are focusing on the skill of categorizing facts by topic and describing details found in the text. Our vocabulary strategy focuses on making analogies.
Writing: We are continuing to focus on writing personal narratives. The students are practicing using strong verbs in their writing to show specific actions. The new writing words for November will be sent home on Monday. There will be a cumulative test at the end of the month, right before Thanksgiving break.   
Grammar: Our focus is identifying identifying and correctly writing possessive nouns.
Math: We began our new math unit on multiplication and division.      
Science: We are wrapping up our unit on Habitats. Students will bring home a review guide on Wednesday. The Habitats unit test will be on Friday, November 8th.  

Weekly Reminders 

* Please continue to check your child's assignment notebook regularly. 
* Since the temperature inside and outdoors continues to fluctuate, please send your child with layers!    

Study Tip

This past Friday, students were introduced to two incredible online resources! 

The first one is Xtramath.org, which provides students with extra practice with their math facts. Please look for the informational letter that your child is bringing home on Monday. 

Each student now has his or her own blog. These blogs are though the website Kidblog.org, and are linked to our class blog. Students will now be able to document their own learning and publish it right to the web for you and others to see! We practiced writing new posts, and each student briefly shared his or her thoughts about Halloween. In the near future we will be posting the videos that students took while dissecting the owl pellets during science. Commenting on your child's post is a great way to provide him or her feedback about their learning, so please visit your child's blog anytime a post is made!