Merry Christmas!

I hope everybody enjoys their time off with family and friends. Here's a look at how we celebrated at school before we left for break. We had a holiday sing-a-long at the beginning of the week, but my phone wasn't working to take pictures. :( Shout out to Symaria for reading her Christmas wish in front of the whole school! She did a wonderful job!

I did get pictures on Wednesday and Thursday. We had a great time at Breakfast in PJ's. Thank you so much to all of you for bringing in food, stocking stuffers, and to those who stopped by to help. We appreciate all you do!

Thursday we brought some left over food, and whipped up some more hot chocolate for our Little Buddies in Mrs. Brock's class.

Another picture slideshow by Smilebox

A New Score to Beat!

During our Fall Rotations, I had posted my top score for the Punkin' Chunkin' virtual game. Well, Taylor in Mrs. Williams class has officially beat my record by chunkin' a punkin' 26,703ft.! Wow! So if you haven't played in a while, dust off the ole game and see if you can beat Taylor's score!

So Far This Week...

We had a special guest on Monday. His name was, "The Science Machine." We got to see a lot of cool science experiments!

 One of our classmates was chosen to go onstage for a demonstration!

 Jonathan and The Science Machine blowing up balloons in a bottle.

Jonathan still helping The Science Machine

 Water in a bag with pencils poked through it? Did she get wet? Ask your child to fill you in on what happened and why!

It turned cold and rainy on us today, so we played "Just Dance". So much fun!

Dancing to "Jingle Bells"

A Little Summary of November!

Customize your own free picture slideshow

Outstanding Owl

Congratulations to Serenity Lee, our November "Outstanding Owl!"

Serenity won the Outstanding Owl award in the area of "Loyalty and Cooperation"

December's Character Pillar is "Self-Control." Who will be next?

I caught the Outstanding Owls at their special lunch, today!

Class Spelling Bee Winners

Congratulations to the winners of the spelling bee for our class!

Third Place: Shareed Ross (right)

Second Place: Rayniel Vanbrielle (left)

First Place: Keiron Major (center)

Happy Turkey Day!

I am bummed I missed the two days before break with our class! I was at home taking care of my sick little girl. Turns out her cold had turned into a sinus infection! She's feeling much better just in time for Turkey Day!

I just wanted to wish you and your families a very Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy your time with loved ones, and we will see you back on Monday!

Peach Update

Here is an update on the sea turtle the second and third grade Green STEM Club adopted. Our classes have been tracking Peach's travels as well. She hasn't been moving very much. It looks like she is enjoying the little area she found. We're glad she is loving the Gulf area close to us!

Here is the tracking map as of today:

Outstanding Owl

Congratulations to Delvin Glynn, our Outstanding Owl for the month of October!

Delvin won the award in the category of "Friendship."

November's Character Pillar is "Cooperation." Who will be our next recipient?

Spirit Week/Canned Food Items

Student Council is sponsoring Spirit Week this coming week (11/13-11/16). This is in correlation with our canned food drive for the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday. A flyer went home with your child on Friday.

Please send in a canned food, or non-perishable boxed item, with your child this week. The more, the better! We want our class to show how much we care, and provide as many items as possible for families in need during the holiday season. If you bring in items, you get to dress up! Here are our Spirit Days:

Monday: No School
Tuesday: Career Day
Wednesday: Wacky Tacky
Thursday: Pajama Day
Friday: Team Spirit Day (wear your favorite team colors or jersey)

Imagine It!

The Imagine It website is up and running! If you are able, please log on tonight and review for tomorrow's test. We will go back to testing online tomorrow!

We Voted!

 Walking to the precinct.

Class picture after our ballots were cast!

Score to Beat

So... Mrs. Owen decided to play some Punkin' Chunkin' tonight. Guess what happened?!?! She hit the bulls-eye twice on the catapult meter! When you accomplish that, it unlocks a white pumpkin. The white pumpkin is genetically altered to fly farther (remember we talked about how the engineers not only build the catapults, but they grow their own pumpkins to for that reason?) So here is the score to beat: 18,682 ft. in one chunk! Can you do it?

Pumpkinology

Another digital slideshow by Smilebox

Punkin' Chunkin'

By popular demand, here is the link to Pumpkin' Chunkin'!

http://science.discovery.com/tv/punkin-chunkin/game/

Happy Halloween!

Pictures from today coming soon!

Red Ribbon Week

Next week is Red Ribbon Week! Let's show our spirit while we pledge to be drug-free!

Monday: No School
Tuesday: Hats off to being Drug-Free" (students may wear hats to school)
Wednesday: "We Shade our Eyes to Drugs" (students may wear sunshades)
Thursday: "We are REaDy to be drug-free" (students may wear red)
Friday: "We are a TEAM against drugs" (students may wear their favorite team shirt, or a Springwood shirt/colors)

Thursday Homework

Parents,

I just wanted to let you all know I will not be assigning a Skills Practice page for homework on Thursdays anymore. Starting NEXT THURSDAY, I will be assigning a review page. Tonight's homework simply says to study for their test, so they do not have a homework page this week.

Please be sure to go over the review sheet with them when I start sending them home next week. I really want us to focus on improving test scores, and understanding how to answer higher order questions, as this will be a big task for our students when they take FCAT in the spring.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, our class is being rewarded for earning the most money out of all of the third grade classes in the Cady Fundraiser. Way to go! We will have pizza and juice for lunch, provided by PTO. Thank you for helping our school!

The Proper Way to Start a Friday

Pink Ladies!

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we "Painted the Town Pink" at Springwood today. None of our boys sported pink (we did have some shades of red which were close) but our girls definitely delivered. Here is a picture of our "Pink Ladies," and a picture of the third grade teachers sporting their pink, too!

Outstanding Owl!

Congratulations to Shareed Ross, our first "Outstanding Owl!"

Each month a student from every class is chosen to be an "Outstanding Owl." Shareed earned this award for HARD WORK! He got to eat lunch and dessert with Dr. Small and Ms. Austin today, as well as the other "Outstanding Owls" from third, fourth and fifth grade!

Way to go Shareed!

Imagine It Test

Just wanted to let you all know the Imagine It tests were excluded from the Monday Folder. Please check your child's agenda book for their test scores on TUESDAY.  Please sign and return as usual. I apologize for the inconvenience!

We've Been Very Busy!

We have been very busy in third grade reading class! We just finished our first unit about Friendship. The story we read this past week was about Jackie Robinson. Our classes were very appalled by segregation (ask your child what that word means), and loved learning about Jackie Robinson's accomplishments, and the friendship between him and Pee Wee Reese.

Even though I send home the score sheet of what your child makes on his/her test each week, please be sure you are logging into Imagine It with your child so you can view his/her test, and go over missed questions. The skills repeat themselves a lot within the Imagine It stories, so reviewing what your child is struggling with now will help us correct it and increase their scores in the long run.

On Monday, we will begin our new unit: "Animals and Their Habitats." You can get a jump start on our story by logging into Imagine It and reading or listening to our new story: "One Small Place in a Tree." It is Unit 2 Lesson 1.

Joe Budd

Joe Budd field trip forms are going home today! Please look for those in your child's agenda book! If you are interested in chaperoning, please let me know ASAP. Thanks!

Open House

Don't forget! 
Open House is this Monday, September 10th! 
3rd through 5th grade will have Open House from 6:45 to 7:30. 
See you then!

Computer Center Tuesday

We will be starting our story, "The Legend of Damon and Pythias." Click on these links when you get to the computer center Tuesday:

• Damon and Pythias Stingray Game, 
• Damon and Pythias Word Scramble
• Damon and Pythias Hangman
• Damon and Pythias Word Search

A Few Reminders!

What a wonderful first day. We have a great class this year!

Just a few reminders. If you have not already filled the papers out in the packet that went home yesterday (or today if you were unable to make the BBQ) please be sure to fill those out and send them back to school with your child tomorrow.

Also, our portable does not have a water fountain. You may send a water bottle to school with your child in case they need a drink during the day. We also eat lunch at 10:49, so be sure to send a snack to school as "brain food" for the afternoon.

I am working on getting our email list up and running. We have a new program for our emails this year, so I'm still playing with making a group email for you all. I will send a test email as soon as it is working.

Feel free to email me (owenc2@leonschools.net) if you have any questions about our first week. The first day of switching will be WEDNESDAY!

See You Tomorrow!

We had a wonderful turn-out at the BBQ today! Thank you all for coming. It was great meeting and visiting with everybody, and I hope you enjoyed your meal, and catching up with one another. I look forward to seeing your children bright and early tomorrow morning! Have a great night.

Back to School Time!

It was great to meet most of you today! 

Don't forget our school BBQ is this Sunday at 2:30.

You will be able to see Mrs. Owen's and Mrs. Williams' classrooms during that time, as well as pick up your student packets and supply list. I'm looking forward to seeing you all there!

Welcome to Third Grade!

Welcome to Mrs. Owen's Third Grade Class! I am looking forward to a wonderful year! The purpose of this blog is to give students a place to show off work, while also giving parents "eyes" into our classroom. Please be sure to check the blog frequently to see the great things we are working on in our class.

Countries Research

Here are some links to help you research the country for your Olympic team! Be sure you pay close attention to the country's flag!

World FactBook

Fact Monster Countries

National Geographic Kids Countries

World Map

Olympics

Here are the links for your laptop assignments today!

Greek Olympics

History of the Olympics in Greece

Fun Facts About the Olympics

The Olympic Rings

2012 Olympics

How a City Gets Ready for the Olympics

How a City is Chosen for the Olympics

Online Olympic Games

We Are the Champions!

It was a tough battle, but in the end, Mrs. Owen's class proved we are the best at fairy tale trivia!

The Fairy Tale Brain Brawl has been a tradition for third graders at Springwood for over twenty years! This group of third graders kept the tradition alive by dressing up as their favorite fairy tale characters, and showing what they know about all of the fairy tales we have studied over the past month. We had lots of fun! Here are a few more pictures from our day:

Getting ready for the Fairy Tale Brain Brawl to start.

Mrs. Owen's and Mrs. Johnson's classes.

Fairy Jackson casts a spell on her class.

After our big win!

On a sad note, Ms. Yori's last full day at Springwood was today. She has been very busy going to engineering school at night, and teaching school during the day. However, this semester, her schedule forced her to leave before the year was over.

As a surprise, we sneaked down to Ms. Yori's room and write some "We'll miss you," and "Good luck with college" messages to her as a surprise. 

Sneaking to Ms. Yori's room.

We had to crawl so she wouldn't see us through her windows!

Very quietly decorating Ms. Yori's sidewalk.
She loved it when she came out and saw it!

Finally! Some Pictures!

Mrs. Owen has not had good luck with technology lately! First, her laptop messed up, then her camera wouldn't upload pictures, and the final straw was when her phone quit working last week!!! I think we are back on track now, so here are some pictures from some of our fun activities over the past couple of months!

Free picture slideshow created with Smilebox

Hope You're Enjoying Your Day!

The majority of our class is hard at work today... but not in our classroom! I hope you are having a wonderful day with your parents. I can't wait to hear what you did/learned on Take Your Child to Work Day!

Fairy Tale Websites

When you have finished Successmaker, you may go to this website: Speak-a-Boo Fairy Tales. There are videos you may watch, as well as games you can play. DO NOT CLICK ON PRINTABLES! You are not allowed to print at school!

This website will help you prepare for the Fairy Tale Brain Brawl, which is coming up in just a few weeks!  

We're Back on Track!

Owen's Reading Classes: We have resumed Imagine It! We are beginning a new unit: Unit 6 Lesson 1. Our new unit is titled Storytelling.

Expect spelling words and vocabulary words to go home today (the vocab. is a homework page tonight.) Because of our field trip on Friday, we will test on Thursday of this week.

In  addition to Imagine It!, we are also studying fairy tales. We watched Beauty and the Beast on Friday, as well as Cinderella. So far, we have read The Three Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood, and The Gingerbread Boy. We have also reviewed the story "Beauty and the Beast", from our textbook in the beginning of the year. We found the story was a lot different than the Disney version of the movie!

Let's Celebrate!

FCAT IS OVER!!!

I know our students showed what they know this week. I am so proud of all of you for your hard work, and for showing your outstanding test taking behavior.

We're having a "chill out" day in third grade today. Our hard workers deserve it! 

Enjoy your weekend, and do something FUN to congratulate yourself on a job well done!

Thursday's Laptop Assignment!

Here are the links for laptops today!

ABC'ya (only do the "letters" section. You can try the math activities at home.)

Fun School Language Games (Stay on the language games!)

Smart Tutor Reading

FCAT is Coming!

Can you believe FCAT will be here in just a few weeks?!?! We will test on April 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th, beginning promptly at 9:00. PLEASE BE SURE YOUR CHILD IS AT SCHOOL ON TIME THESE DAYS!

Reading Parents: Our class has suspended Imagine It for the next two weeks. There will be no spelling words, no vocabulary, and no Friday tests. We are working on test taking skills, reviewing the reading skills we have practiced throughout the year, and are taking a few more FCAT Practices before the big week arrives.

Be sure you are continuing to work with your child nightly on both reading and math skills so they are fully prepared for FCAT week!

Peeps!

Click HERE to get to the page you will need for your laptop assignment today!

Happy Hunting!

From Space, to Our Community

We concluded our space unit today with a surprise presentation from one of our students in the morning class. Over the weekend, Trevon did some research and learned all about a new planet that is in another galaxy. It was very interesting! Mrs. Owen then showed us a video of something that has been happening in space this month: storms on the sun created a solar flare, which has caused beautiful auroras in the skies around the North and South Poles.

Click here to see these videos and more exciting space videos from NASA.

After our talk of space, we  moved into our next reading unit: Communities Across Time. We are learning all about how communities change. Click here to see some pictures of FSU in the past, and here to see some old pictures of Tallahassee. We looked at these today, and the class thought it was hilarious (and a bit outlandish) how different things are today than they were in the past.

Moon Phases

Here is the moon phase calendar I promised I would post! Have fun looking at the phases from today, the past, and in the future!

Link to Moon Phases

Planet Project

Reading Classes: I hope you all are finding all the materials you need for our planet project. Remember your dioramas are due February 29th!

Here are a few examples of planet dioramas we viewed on the web the day your project was assigned. Remember to have all of the components, and most importantly: BE CREATIVE!

REMINDER!!!

FIELD TRIP MONEY IS DUE

TOMORROW!

The trip cost $12 for each student. We will be going to the

Challenger Learning Center on February 16th!

Sun

We have started a new unit in our reading classes. We are learning about astronomy, or the study of space. Our first story is titled "Sun." We have learned a lot about the sun being a star, and how it affects our lives here on Earth. Our third graders will be doing lots of space activities in both reading and their science classes. Also, if you have not already done so, don't forget to send in your child's money and permission for the Challenger field trip! This trip will be a great extension to what we are learning in school!

I wanted to give you all a sneak peak at "A Different Perspective" of how our Earth's size is compared to the sun, and how our sun is actually a lot smaller than a lot of the other stars we see in the sky. In our story, we learned the reason the sun looks like it is the biggest star is because it is the one that is closest to Earth. But in reality, it is not actually the largest star in our galaxy. We'll be taking a look at this in class tomorrow, but here is a preview!

FCAT Practice

Parents,

As you know, FCAT time is inching closer and closer for our third graders. We have been working diligently in our reading class to make sure we are preparing for our big "Show What You Know" test. You have probably noticed more FCAT Practice papers coming home with your children over the past few weeks. Please be sure you are going over these with your children as much as you can.

FCAT Practice, before the winter holiday, was being taken as a classwork grade. We were doing these together in class, or together in centers. Beginning this nine weeks, that is no longer the case. We are now treating these as tests. This will allow us to get a clear picture of what skills the students need to work on before the big test gets here. We want all of our students to be ready to "Rock the FCAT!"

Here are some things you can expect to look for on your child's FCAT Practice:

• Underlining/highlighting in the story: Right now I am allowing the students to highlight where they find their answers. As time progresses, we will be moving to strictly underlining where answers are found, as students are not allowed to use highlighters on the actual FCAT. If your child is not underlining or highlighting, please make sure you talk with them about this. It is so important for them to get in this habit, as it is proven to improve test scores!
• Circling key words in the questions: Please be sure you are talking with your children about the differences between who, what, when, where, why, and how questions.
• Crossing out answers that are not possible: We have been talking a lot about using the process of elimination to help us determine which answer could be the best choice.
• Making sure all questions are answered: If you see your child has skipped questions, please be sure to remind them to check over their work before submitting it to the teacher. Remind them the FCAT graders from the State of Florida, are not going to come hunt them down so they can complete their tests! :)

Thanks for your help! Be sure to check out the FCAT Tab on the blog, as well. Having your child get on FCAT Explorer is a great (and fun) way to help them prepare as well.