Tommorrow

I will be out tomorrow morning. I am going to workshop with Mr. Kimbrell and two other teachers. Mrs. Debbie Landers will be taking care of the class until I get there at 11:30.

Workshop Time

Comprehension Station: We are beginning the chapter book The Candy Corn Contest. The children will be answering questions and doing activities as they read this book during workshop time.
Math Station: The children are playing Connect Four and ????? ( I do not know the name, but it is the game from the Cracker Barrell.) Both games work on strategy.

Other stations include spelling, writing, and social studies.

CAMO DAY: WE ARE SAYING NO DRUGS!

These are the students who wore CAMO today for RED RIBBON week. They received 2 credits for their school spirit.
We caught Mr. Kimbrell in our commons, so we grabbed him for a picture.
Look! I even participated! The kids loved my shoes!
I even bought a new bracelet to wear today!

Tomorrow is BLUE JEANS!

Today...

We spent a lot of time reviewing this week vocabulary words. We practiced using them in a sentence. Remember that they need to know these words for Thursday's reading test.
We are learning about the election. Today we talked about the requirements you must meet to run for President of the United States.

New Unit in Reading

Please note that your child has a new sheet of paper in his/her BEE book with all the spelling lists for our new unit in reading.

Spelling, Grammar, and Reading (Vocabulary) tests will be this Thursday! Study! Study! Study!

After FALL BREAK, we are going to work it out so all the tests will fall on Fridays. I hope that will help some of you. I know Thursdays have been hard with Wednesday being a church night.

Field Trip Tshirts

A note came home on Friday about T-shirts for the children. Each third grade class will have a different color. Our color is my favorite, Carolina Blue. My husband is a HUGE North Carolina fan. Anyway, my husband also designed the shirts. They are real plain and simple.

With all the new rules with accepting money at school, we are unable to order t-shirts for parents. We can only accept money for shirts for students that attend Julian Harris. Honestly, I do not understand the whole thing, but that is just what I was told on Friday. Sorry!

Please send in your money by Friday! We want to get them ordered s0 we can have them for RICKWOOD CAVERNS.

Violin Lessons with Real Violins

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Please plan to come on Wednesday, October 8 at 10:45 to watch your child's last violin lesson. The lesson will be in the theater, and it will last 45 minutes.

UPDATE on Daddy!

Daddy went to Birmingham to a different doctor, Dr. Holmes, to get a second opinion. He really liked this doctor. This doctor wants to run more tests before setting the surgery date. He wants to know exactly what he is dealing with before he goes into surgery. Dr. Holmes wants to cut from his neck and go up with the incision. This sounds better to us than going from his mouth up to his eye. Either way, it is going to be extensive! He is planning on taking bone from daddy's wrist to help with the reconstruction.

We will know more once he goes through the tests and scans this week. All we know at this point is that he will have a surgery that will last 4 to 6 hours. Then, he will remain in the hospital for at least a week. The recovery is going to be rough. They will probably insert a feeding tube in daddy's tummy, and that is very upsetting to him. He probably will not be able to eat for 6 weeks. After the surgery, Dr. Holmes will discuss radiation and/or chemo.

Please continue to PRAY for my daddy and the rest of my family! We are taking one day at a time. Like I have said before, I have a strong faith. I know God has a plan, and I totally trust it!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today is my daddy's birthday. He spent most of the day in Huntsville at the doctor's office. However, we were determined to get together and celebrate over pizza! We had a wonderful time!

My boys got him some comfy PJ's for the hospital.



As far as the cancer, he found out today that it is only in his mouth. We praise God!!!!! The doctor ran every kind of test imaginable on him today to make sure it was not anywhere else in his body. He goes to Birmingham tomorrow for another appointment before the big surgery that will be scheduled for sometime next week. It will be a major surgery that will last 6 to 8 hours. They will cut him all the way up to his eye because the cancer is in the bone in his mouth. Therefore, they will not only remove the cancer, but have to do some major reconstruction on his face. He will probably be in the hospital for a week or so. Right now, they think he will have to do radiation every day for six weeks after the surgery. Of course, we will know more once the surgeon gets in there and see what is really going on.

I thank you for the prayers, but please continue to pray for my daddy. Hopefully, we will know more after tomorrow's appointment in Birmingham. I will keep you posted.

Patton and Smith want to be FAMOUS!

My boys think if you are on "the computer" you are famous! They keep asking me every night why I do not put them on "the computer" that much. They are so jealous of the boys and girls in my class. So, Patton and Smith--Here you are!!!

Today Was Picture Day!

This is a funny book we read today!
Everybody looked so pretty and handsome.
Also, today we celebrated the end of our Friendship unit with the video of "Beauty and the Beast." The whole third grade unit enjoyed just kicking back and taking a break! We needed this break!

Prayer Request

This morning, my family found out that my dad has cancer. It is on the right side of his mouth. It is called Squamous Cell. We will know more tomorrow once he has scans and x-rays done in Huntsville. Please pray that it has not spread anywhere else. Also, pray that the doctors can remove it all through surgery. I believe in the power of prayer and I know God's plan is perfect! Mrs. Coon

Social Studies Test on Friday

You would be amazed how many children did not know where we lived??? EEK!
You should find something like this in your child's BEE book behind the Social Studies Tab. We talked about how our city, Decatur is in the state, Alabama which is in the country, United States of America which is on the continent, North America. That is a mouthful! On their test, I will ask them the name of their city, state, country, and continent.
This is a copy of their study guide that should be in your child's BEE book. They will be responsible for labeling the 7 continents and 4 oceans. Spelling will count. I will not give a lot of homework this week so your child will study, study, study!
We practiced today in class with a cut-and-paste activity.

Start thinking about the TimeLine Project. I will discuss this more in depth with the children on Wednesday.

Violin Lessons

We finally have started violin lessons last Wednesday. The children will complete 10 lessons in all. Today was lesson #3. Mr. Franks teaches us 3 days a week for 45 minutes.

This is Joshua with his practice bow.
The children are listening and practicing with their practice violins.
Amanda playing on her "box" violin.

This is REST position. Don't they look great!
They are really taking this seriously. I am so proud!
Preston is ready for his real violin.
They are so excited because they have earned the right to a real violin. On Wednesday, they will play a real violin for the first time.
After practicing today, Mr. Franks measured each child for a violin. Wednesday will be exciting!

Workshop This Week

This is the children in during Workshop time. This it the Word Play Station. The children are playing a game with their vocabulary words from our first unit on Friendship. This game requires them to recall the definition of each vocabulary word they have learned.
This is the Comprehension Station. The children are reading a text called "Scarecrows" and answering questions about it.
This is the Writing Station. The children are practicing writing in cursive.
This is the Math Station. The children are playing UNO.
This is the Social Studies Station. Here the children are looking up the capitals to all the states. They are using a map from their social studies book.

The children observed minerals today!

The children observed and recorded the properties of four minerals today in Mrs. Maze's room. They did a wonderful job. They were pretending to be geologists!

Just a "Heads UP"

We will not have a reading test, grammar test, nor a spelling test next week! The next 5 days will be a unit review. We will still have a DOL test on Friday.

However, we will have a Continent and Ocean Test next Friday. The children will be responsible for labeling all 7 continents and the 4 oceans on a map. YES, spelling will count. Start studying this weekend. I will send home a map on Monday. We also will be working on it BIG time in class!

A Social Studies Project is coming up as well. The children will be responsible for a Timeline. Information will be coming home on Wednesday or Thursday of next week. It will be due on Friday, October 3.

I hope this helps you!

Descriptive Paragraphs

Today we worked on writing a descriptive paragraph.
Mrs. Hardison was kind enough to bring Cookie, her Yorkie.
The boys and girls in my class and Mrs. Maze's class enjoyed having her in the classroom.
They spent time with her so they could DESCRIBE her to me.
Here is a close up of sweet Cookie.

And the winner is...

WAY TO GO, PRESTON!

He won the election and will serve as our class representative this year!

I am proud of everyone! All the candidates did a fabulous job on their speeches and posters!