I will be placing the Scholastic Book order on Friday, December 9, so the items are delivered in time for the holidays.  Please be sure to get your order in if you are planning to make one!

  

  Now that winter has finally hit, please send your student to school with winter gear for the time they spend outside!  All students need boots, a winter coat and snowpants, hat and mittens.  It is also good for them to have a pair of shoes that they can leave at school in their cubby to change into in the morning so they don’t have to wear their boots all day.

    Along those same lines, please put a set of extra clothes in a plastic bag that can be in their backpacks for when they get wet or messy! These small changes will make for a more comfortable day for your child.

Our class tried their hands at the Mannequin challenge during our science explorations of force and motion - Check it out!

Thanksgiving break is here! I hope everyone has a restful week filled with family and lots of good food to eat.  Drive safely! 

I sent home a Thanksgiving Break Reading Challenge! Have your child read at least 20 minutes each day and fill in the feathers.  If they bring it back when it is all filled in, they get a free book!

     Now that we are a little past the Fall Season, (I refuse to admit that it is winter) please remember to send your child to school with winter gear! It is no longer warm enough to go out to recess in a shirt and shorts. They need boots, a warm winter coat, snow pants and warm hats and gloves. If students do not have boots, they are not allowed on the snow at recess time, and that is no fun.

The 4th annual PTC online auction is coming up! Bids open up Nov. 28, and close Dec.2 at 5pm.
The web address for this auction is: www.32auctions.com/oldtownelementary2016
Some of the amazing items up for auction are a whitewater rafting trip, 100 gallons of heating oil, concert tickets, classroom artwork, and much more!

     Last week was a difficult week to say the least. In our classroom, we talked about the recent tragedy in our community. As the discussion unfolded, I was struck by the compassion and thoughtfulness that are in these little minds. Instead of thinking of themselves, their talk turned quickly to how they can help the family and the firefighters feel better. So far, some students chose writing letters of condolence to the family, others chose to write thank -you notes to the firefighters, police and first responders. As they continue to process and think, I am sure there will be other acts of kindness from this sweet group of kids.

  A heartfelt thanks from all of us goes out to all the hardworking and heroic firemen, policemen and first responders - we notice and appreciate all you do to keep our school and community safe.

   Families, pleasepleaseplease check your smoke detectors often, and

have a fire safety plan for your family. It could save a life.

     November 13 is World Kindness Day!  To celebrate, on Monday 11/14 the only homework will be to go home and do a random act of kindness and report back to the class. Tuesday we will get to hear about all the kind things that these kids chose to do to make their world a better place.

This is the homework page that will go home tomorrow: 

Yesterday (11/13) was World Kindness Day!  To celebrate, the only homework tonight is to plan and do a Random Act of Kindness for someone in your family or in your community, and write it down. It can be big or small, all acts of kindness are important! Please give this some thought, and make someone’s day better. On Tuesday, we will get to hear what we all did to make our world a kinder place.  I will post about this on our blog as well, so our readers can enjoy it too!  Maybe your choices will inspire others to do their own acts of kindness!

What random act of kindness did you do to make your community a better and kinder place? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It is November already, I can't believe it.  It seems like just yesterday was the first day of school!

Our class received a donation of packaged snacks for kids who forget theirs or don't have one from a couple of families this week - thank you so much!  Your generosity is much appreciated!  We always need things like pencils, tissues, pencil top erasers, and post-it notes if you find good deals in your travels and feel inclined to donate them.

I would also like to thank Nicole Morgan and Bangor Savings Bank's Be Kind program for their donation of 50.00 to our room. We are going to use that money to go toward the purchase of blank hardcover books! We will use them when we publish our informational non-fiction books in the third trimester, and the students will get to bring them home at the end of the year.

The students chose Mrs. Costello as our person to thank in November on our gratitude board!  Her hard work to help keep our school healthy and care for the kids and families at OTES does not go unnoticed!

The week of Halloween we worked on spooky stories based on the Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris VanAllsburg.  There is a lot of creativity in this room!

Our guest reader this week was Griffen! He did a fabulous job reading this difficult book fluently and with expression.

The students have worked together to make these 2 pieces of art for the online auction that starts right after Thanksgiving. They decorated tiles with Sharpies, and we carefully dripped rubbing alcohol on to them to create a stained glass effect. They came out beautifully! This is the picture of the work  in progress.

The finished masterpieces look like this!

The next Learners for Leaders assembly for grades 3-5 is November 2.  The criteria for October was ‘Digging Deeper’. The students recognized consistently showed that they took their learning to a deeper level on their own.

November’s criteria is “Patient Persistent Problem solver. “  I will be on the lookout for students that consistently do their best to use problem solving skills and persevere to solve their problems! 

This Friday, November 4 is the next Walk to school day!  Meet us at Perkins Park at 7:20 to get some fresh air and exercise before the school day!

Other Important dates: 

-Picture retake day is Nov. 9

-No school on Friday, Nov. 11

-Thanksgiving break is November 23-25 

This is a big week at OTES, we are celebrating Red Ribbon Week!  We will have a theme each day to celebrate making healthy and drug-free choices

Monday = Wear red, and we will be decorating our door with a safety and positive choices theme.    

Tuesday =”Pajama day” follow your dreams!  Wear your pjs 
Wednesday= Team up against drugs (wear your favorite team jersey)

Thursday= Put a “cap” on drugs. Wear your favorite hat for $1, money goes to a local charity. Hats in school, holy cow!!!

Friday =  wear your community colors, OR NEW THIS YEAR!!!! Super hero day! Dress as your favorite hero!

** If you plan to order from the Scholastic Book Club, please have your order in by Friday, 10/28. **

Our class met with Fire Fighters last week, many thanks to the Old Town Fire Department!

This week, Lily was our guest reader!  She practiced this book all week, and did a stellar job reading to the class.  

Don't forget this Friday, 10/21 is the next walk to school morning!  We will be meeting at 7:20 am at Perkins Park in Old Town, and walking to school together.  It is a great way to start your day with a little activity!

Please send your student to school with a pair or earbuds or headphones!  The dollar store kind is just fine. This is a school supply that we don't share for hygiene reasons, so everyone needs their own pair.

If you are planning to order from the October Scholastic Book order, you should get your orders in by October 25!  

We will be celebrating 3 birthdays this week - Happy Birthday Zack, Brooks and Gavin! 

Governor's Fundraiser - November 15

Old Town Elementary School PTC is partnering with Governor's Restaurant in Old Town to raise funds for our school community. On November 15th from 4-8pm 10% of all dine-in AND take-out orders are donated to the PTC.  All who attend may enter to win one of two $50 Governor's gift cards!

     In Third grade this past week, we worked on publishing our first Personal Narrative pieces! As soon as that is finished up, we will be having a publishing party to celebrate!  We will continue with the Personal Narrative writing for the rest of the first trimester, so be watching for the finished works coming home!  They have worked very hard on these works, and have created some very strong and descriptive writing.   

     A huge shout out to our amazing PTC for the ice cream social on Friday, the students loved the special treat!  All the efforts of the PTC are very much appreciated, their work enriches our learning community every day.

     Our  Learners Are Leaders criteria for the month of October is "Digging Deeper."  Students who consistently do their best work, and go above and beyond what is expected every day in order to dig into their own learning will be meeting this criteria.  I have already noticed many students well on their way! 

A reminder, there is no school on Monday October 10 to observe the Columbus Day Holiday.

Another week has passed already! It was a busy week in Third Grade. 

We have started studying the life cycles of plants and animals! We have some plants and seeds in the classroom we are observing as they go through their life cycles. Everyone got to dissect and label all the parts of a lima bean seed, and document their scientific observations. Next, we will move on to insect and mammal life cycles - no dissecting there! 

On Monday, a new spelling packet for unit 3 will come home, at least 5 of the pages need to be done, and the packet returned by Friday. The only other homework will be a math page every night, doing just the circled problems.  

Also coming home is the October Scholastic Book Club flyer. If you wish to purchase some books, please have it back by October 26. You can order online anytime using our class code. (Q6QX2)

The fall fundraisers were sent home this week. This is a major fundraiser for our PTC, who always does such wonderful things for our school community. The packets should be sent back to school by October 3. 

Don't forget Picture Day!! 

It is this Tuesday, September 27!

Some pictures from an engineering activity, and from one of our
 'Minute to Win It' Monday challenges....

The first full 5 day week held a lot of firsts for us!  Our first spelling homework packet went home, and most were returned on Friday. If you still have yours at home, please finish it up and get it back to me as soon as you can. The Unit 2 spelling packets will go home tomorrow, and are due back on (or before) Friday the 23rd.  We had our spelling test on Unit 1 words Friday, and everyone should feel pretty proud of themselves, they were all awesome spellers!

Our first enVision math test was on Friday as well. We finished up Topic 1 and will start on Topic 2 this week. In this topic, we will be continuing with multiplication, learning about factors and multiples of 2, 5 and 9 and 10.

I have been getting a lot of the Book Club sheets back, and there are a lot of students who are well on their way to earning free books! The more you read, the better a Reader you will be! Our goal is at least 20 minutes a night. 100 minutes = one sticker on their chart, and after 5 stickers they get to choose a book prize!  If you have any gently read books at home that your family is done with, I am always accepting donations for my book prize bin.
Students, if you don't have a Book Club form handy or run out of room, just keep track of your reading on regular paper.  There are always extra forms on the front table that you can bring home anytime. Every minute counts!

We will begin our science unit on plant and animal life cycles this week  We will be working in the dirt and putting our scientist hats on to do some science experiments and work in our science journals.
We will be writing about our predictions and noting observations, and may even get our hands a little muddy!  

I was able to catch up with most parents at Open House, it was nice to meet everyone and start to put some names with faces!  We had a great turn out, and lots of families stayed for dinner as well.

At the Open House there was a Parent-Teacher Conference sign-up available. If you were unable to come and sign up for your conference time then, I have sent that letter home with your child. Please be on the look out for it coming home in backpacks. When you receive it, please choose some times and dates that work for your family and get it back to me as soon as possible so we can set something up. I am trying to meet with all my families before interim reports go home on October 18.

Don't forget the Scholastic Book orders are due this week.  If you plan to order any books this month, please get them in!  As always, if you order online you can order anytime. Our class code is Q6QX2.

Have a great week!

The last week in Third Grade was great!

  We have been working hard to develop a classroom community that is a kind, respectful and fun place to learn.  We have had many good discussions about what our classroom values should be, and are developing a set of classroom expectations for all of us to follow, in order to be good friends and classmates to each other.

     This first full week means we will start spelling! This week we start with short a and i vowel pattern words.
     Each Monday, students will go home with their individualized spelling lists and a spelling homework packet that will be due each Friday.  On Fridays, we will have a spelling test on those words.

     Open house is this Thursday, September 15, from 4:30-6.  There is a community dinner in the cafeteria from 4:30-7 as well, so families can come tour the classroom, then go get a bite to eat.  I am looking forward to seeing everyone there!

The first two days of school were a success!  It was great to see all the smiling faces and get to know each other a little bit. We have a great group of students!

This upcoming week students will start getting math homework each night that reinforces what we learned in class that day.  They are responsible to do their best work independently, and bring it back the next day. If they don't understand something, we will go over it in math next day. Spelling packets will go home at the start of each week and will be turned in by Friday.

 We will also start our Third Grade book club this week! Our class will have a reading club log that they bring home at the start of each week, with the goal of reading at least 20 minutes each night. The best way to become a better reader is to READ READ READ READ!! All reading minutes count, so anything they read, audiobooks, and books you read to them all add up. Students keep track of their reading times and bring the signed form back at the end of each week.  100 minutes read = 1 sticker, Once they get 5 stickers, they get to pick a book from my prize book bin to keep!

Please don't forget about our Open House - September 15 from 4:30-6.  There will be a spaghetti dinner in the school cafeteria from 4:30-7.  I hope to see all of you then!

I hope you all have had a relaxing and fun summer vacation, and are ready for Third Grade!  School starts in a few short weeks, and I have been in our room getting it all set up for the start of a wonderful year!  By the time you come to school on September 1, it will ready for all the learning fun that will take place there.  One of the many things we will be doing is harnessing the power of the word YET.  It is one of my favorite words because it can change our thinking about learning new things in amazing ways.

I don't get it.......YET.

I can't do this......YET.

I don't understand.....YET.

See what I mean?  An itty-bitty, teeny tiny, super powerful word.  We will be using it every single day.  I look forward to meeting all of you, and am very happy to be your teacher.  See you on September 1!