The Chapter Book Challenge

Have you ever heard of the "Chapter Book Challenge"? The Chapter Book Challenge takes place every Friday. The teachers call out 5 numbers and if one of the numbers is your number, you win! But only if you have BOTH your home and school reading log filled out completely! If you win, you get a note card to write a a review and a "book spine". The color of the "book spine" depends on the genre of your book. These "book spines" will border the walls outside our classroom. Our goal is to have all five students with completed book logs each week so that by the end of the year our "book spines" will border the ENTIRE upstairs!! So please make sure you are reading nightly and logging in your books!!

P.S. Some other classes are joining in on the Chapter Book Challenge as well!

Posted by: V.

We've Got the POWER!

Today we had our first publishing party. Students used their POWER strategy- Prewrite, Organize, Write, Edit and Revise to show they have the POWER to publish a Narrative Writing piece demonstrating the elements of Writing Standard 1. Students got to enjoy pop, popcorn and pretzels to celebrate their wonderful writing. We showed their passion for publishing their piece by dancing to the "I've Got the Power" song!" Take a look at their dance moves!

Reading Test Taking Super Star

Last year when I was in 2nd grade, I found out that "learning to take a test" was like learning to read, learning to ride a scooter, learning to play a sport...it takes lots of hard work and practice. Every week we learned a different test taking strategy based on what our class needed help with the most. Our teachers told us not to focus on the grade, but to focus on "doing our best on the test" by using all the cool test taking strategies we were learning. That way, when we finished our test, we would be proud of our hard work. But you know what? When I used the test taking strategies, I got really good grades too. Now I'm in 3rd grade. On the first test, I decided to use the same test taking strategies I learned last year (whisper...because I have the same teachers and I wanted them to be proud of me). I worked really hard on the test. Some of my favorite strategies from last year were: the Hugs and Kisses strategy (X-kiss the answer goodbye if it was wrong, O-hug it and keep it close if I'm not sure), Plug-It-In strategy (plug-it-in, plug it in-Does it make "scents"? when finding a synonym for a word in the story) and Policeman strategy or Stop and think...is what I'm reading making sense?. When I was finished I knew I put forth my very best effort. Guess what? Not only did I make a good grade,but I'm the first student this year to get "Test Taking Strategy Super Star!" What does that mean? I got my hair sprayed with gold glitter,I wore a glitzy cape all day, I got paid five behavior bucks, and my strategy work was put up on the wall. Most kids hate taking tests but I am "empowerd" with test taking strategies so I can show what I know and let the good grades flow!

Posted by: A.

POW

Every Monday, we have our Poem of the Week. Today we kicked off our POW with a poem called If I Could be a Super Hero by Steve Lazarowitz . We learned how to read the poem with expression, emphasizing key words. After reading the poem together, each table chose a representative to read a stanza from the poem. Check out the video to see what powerful poetry readers we are!
Posted by: A and L

Blessing of the Books

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia...
On Fridays our class holds "the blessing of the book" ceremony if a student donates a new (or gently used) book to our class library. These books can't be just any old book, but it has to be special in some way to the person that donated it. The student glues their picture on the inside cover with a written reason why this book was chosen. Reasons might include: it was an "I CAN"T-PUT-IT-DOWN" book, it was a favorite series, it was written or singed by my favorite author, I learned more about sharks than I ever thought I could, it made me laugh until my belly ached, it made me cry a waterfall of tears, etc. These books will be kept in a special place on display but can be "checked out" by one of our librarians for other students to read. When checked out using the "old fashion" library cards, there will be a one week due date. If the student doesn't return the book by the due date, they will have to pay the librarians a behavior buck. Also, our teachers said, "wouldn't it be cool if one day our own children went to school at Chets Creek and when they opened a "Blessing Book," there was a picture of their mom or dad when they were a student in 3rd grade?"

Posted by librarians E and R