CPS Clickers

Parents, we're sure you've heard by now that we've been using our Clickers this week. Learning how to power on, text our answers, and send have been our priority. So far, we've used the Clickers to practice our math addition and subtraction fluency, and tomorrow we'll use them to review for our Daily Oral Social Studies quiz which we will take Friday. 

We LOVE using Clickers in class because every student gets to answer each question. Students can see when they send in their answer, because their number highlights on the screen. In addition, the class can see the percentage of students who answered a question correctly. Teachers, on our own personal hand held screen, can see which students answered incorrectly. When we see a pattern, we are easily able to intervene.  CPS Clickers are a great engaging tool in our classroom, and we hope that if you ask your child about Clickers, they will share their excitement with you. 

Nouns and Verbs!

This week in Language Skills Block we are studying nouns and verbs.  See if you can teach your families our noun and verb songs below!

Nouns!

A noun, a noun

can easily be found

inside of a book.

It’s a person, place, or thing

A church or diamond ring

A mom, a toy, a president, a boy

A desert, a classroom, a stage, a lunchroom

A penny, a star, a lamp, a jar.

A noun is waiting to be discovered underneath your book cover.

So take a quick look

inside your favorite book.

It’s oh so easy cheesy!

Nouns!

Check out this video about nouns:

We have also learned this great verb song!

Verbs!

The verb, verb, verb

The verb is the action

The verb, verb, verb

The verb is what’s happening

Walk, run, sit, cry

Dance, laugh, clap, try!

The verb, verb, verb

The verb is the action

The verb, verb, verb

The verb is what’s happening

Walking, running, sitting, crying

Dancing, laughing, clapping, trying!

The verb, verb, verb

The verb is the action

The verb, verb, verb

The verb is what’s happening

Walked, ran, sat, cried

Danced, laughed, clapped, tried!

The verb, verb, verb

The verb is the action

The verb, verb, verb

The verb is what’s happening

Now, check out this great video about verbs:

Bank and Store

The students were giddy with excitement today in anticipation for their first third grade Bank and Store experience in our 5 Star Bakery. They proudly logged their earnings and then set out to see what it was all about.  Some students bought items from our Store, but quickly realized that saving would have to be their strategy if they wanted some of the big ticket items. Others, rented from our game room and enjoyed bowling, playing Operation, and building Legos. Lunch bunch was a big seller, too, at the back table. 

While some students had money burning a hole in their pockets, others approached this time with a totally different mind set and were determined not to spend a dime. Listening to their reasoning was priceless.In addition, students eager to earn more money filled out Job Applications to try and get hired to work during next week's Bank and Store.  Working earns $10 and is a great way to save for something they may have their eye on. 

Regardless of the student's approach, we are confident that they are learning life long lessons as they are being rewarded for good behavior.  We hope Bank and Store met each student's expectations. 

5 Star Culinary Chefs, leave us a comment and tell us what your favorite part of Bank and Store was and earn yourself an extra $1!  

Our CCE Garden

Today, we visited our school's garden. Ms. Brenda helped us identify some of the things that are growing in our garden like green beans, onions, and squash. We helped her pull weeds, because we learned that weeds soak up some of the nutrients that the plants could use to grow. 

Ms. Brenda taught us about the peanut plant, a plant that needed dug up from our garden before the nuts developed, because there are many peanut allergies in our school. She explained that the peanut plant is not an allergen but explained that the nut itself can be very harmful and deadly to children with severe peanut allergies. Getting the peanut plants dug out before they developed nuts was key to keeping the soil contaminate free.  With trowels our 5 Star students replanted the peanut plant into cups to take them home. They know for the peanut plant to thrive, they will have to replant it in a bigger pot, give it direct sunlight, and water it 2-3 times a week. Ms. Brenda says that they should develop peanuts by Halloween if the plant survives. We can't wait to hear if the replanting was successful. 

Stay tuned, more pictures to follow soon. 

Our 5 Star Family

Our 5 Star Bakery Family 2012-2013

There is a silly one in every bunch. 

Our first day of 3rd grade

The first day of third grade for the 5 Star Chefs was a grand success! We covered a few essential rituals and routines, but also had some fun. Highlights from the day included reading Brand New Kid, playing Culinary Bingo, having a meet and greet with our new classmates as we completed a friend's scavenger hunt, and going to an assembly with the Bug Chef!

You heard it right... THE BUG CHEF. Oh yea, he whipped up some tasty deep fried worms, sauteed some delicious scorpion, fried some meal worms in a wok, and no one could forget his scrumptious cricket kabobs!  Needless to say, this Culinary Chef knew how to grab the audience's attention! There were tons of ewwwws, yicks, and grosses, but believe it or not, we had a couple of our 5 Star Chefs who embraced the challenge to munch on a few of these juicy critters!  What a great first day! Leave us a comment and let us know if you would have been that adventurous. Would you have eaten the Bug Chefs tasty creations?

You may also want to learn more about our Bug Chef Extraordinaire, David George Gordon, by visiting his website. Just click on his name and the link will lead you to his site. Happy exploring.

 

Calling All Culinary Artists!

Welcome to our classroom blog! We are so excited to have you in our class this year. We have so many fun experiences planned for you to make your 3rd grade year the best yet!


Here are a few reminders:

• School starts Monday, August 20th at 9:00 AM. You are welcome to come as early as 8:30 each day to get your day started.  
• If you haven't already, please get your school supplies.  Check out the school supply list for this year.
• Join PTA. The cost is only $6.00 per family.  The list of programs that the CCE PTA supports at our school is endless!
• On the first day, make sure you have a plan for lunch (buying or bringing).  
• Also, make sure that you know how you are getting home. Are you walking, biking, riding the bus, riding in the car, extended day? 

Keep checking this blog all year round to keep up with all of the amazing things that are cooking in our kitchen.  What are you most excited about this year? Leave us a comment to let us know!
Your excited learning chefs,
Miss Russell, Mrs. Shall, Mrs. O'Leary,
Miss Lipsky and Mrs. Rossignol