Students worked on their third grade goal portraits. These goals were shared during parent conferences. Every child thought of a goal to work on in the school setting, home setting, our school values, and a personal goal.
Students may watch our Multiplication Properties tutoring video to help them remember and understand the differences between the Commutative, Associative, and Distributive Properties.
The students learned about using the distributive property to solve multiplication equations today. The class also helped make a tutoring video that can downloaded and viewed as many times as necessary to help with homework and to answer questions at home.
In the classroom, each child will receive a "crazy loop straw" from the teacher as a small way to celebrate the child's birthday. The class also sings Happy Birthday to the student in the song style of their choice. Quarterly, Mrs. Snyder, and Mr. Finley (and sometimes Mighty) visit each classroom to pass out birthday gifts to students as well. This year, every student gets mini fidget spinners!
Edible treats such as cupcakes and cookies cannot be brought in for class birthdays. However, some families choose to send in a special book donation or an item from our classroom wish list in honor of the birthday child. Book and classroom donations are a special way to celebrate, while also supporting your child’s classroom. Your child could even sign the inside of the book, or glue in a picture of themselves, so that classmates and future students will always know who the book came from.
Items on our classroom wish list are things we could always use in our classroom to help things run smoothly. Items from this list are completely optional, but we do use them routinely for various activities, read aloud, or treasure box items.
If you want to send an additional items to share with classmates, suggestions include stickers, bookmarks, glow sticks, temporary tattoos, bubbles, erasers, mini stamps, pencils, bouncy balls, keychains, etc. The website, Oriental Trading, offers lots of ideas that parents can find at bulk item prices. Please note, sending in items for classmates is completely optional.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How many students are in the class so I can bring in special items or goodie bags to pass out?
There are currently 28 children (as of September, 2025).
Should I put the children's names on the goodie bags?
No, it is easier to pass out items if the bags are not labeled.
Can my child pass out birthday party invitations at school?
Please refrain from passing out invitations at school unless the entire class is invited. We don’t want students feeling left out when invitations are passed out while all peers are around. If the entire class is invited, the teacher can insert the invitations into the students’ Conduits to send home.
Can the teacher give me the classmates’ addresses so I can mail birthday invitations?
No, we have to keep student information such as their address confidential.
Can we bring in cupcakes or cookies (or any food item) to share with the class?
No, we cannot share any food with the class, due to classmates’ possible allergies and/or dietary restrictions.
It has been such a pleasure meeting with each of our Room 14 families. I personally love getting to know the students' parents because it helps initiate a great home-school relationship, and allows for greater communication for the benefit of the students' learning.
Some of my favorite things that occurred at the conferences include:
hearing parents remind their children that it's okay to occasionally fail and make mistakes
witnessing the parents' love for their children and wanting only the best childhood experience for them, including both strong academics and strong socialization and friendship connections
watching the students listen and take in the advice given by the adults
observing how the child interacts with the parents and share their own perspectives on their learning
being able to support the parents and the child in common academic and home goals
sharing what home and school life is like for the child
listening to the goals and strategies that the parents have for their children
Please utilize the conference slides to review what was discussed during our meeting. Feel free to send me questions any time throughout the school year.
Vooks is “a kid-safe, ad-free streaming library of read-aloud animated storybooks.” It has all sorts of favorite children’s books that have been animated into read aloud videos for children to watch. Parents may sign up for one free month to try it out. It would be a great way to keep kids engaged with reading and exposing them to countless children’s books.
Book Wizard is a tool on Scholastic’s website to help parents find books for their child based on their Lexile reading ranges. It also helps to sort books according to your child’s interests.
About once a month, I will be sending home book order magazines from Scholastic's Reading Clubs. Reading Clubs are a great way to build a high-quality home library that is both interesting and relevant to students. While I highly recommend ordering from these catalogs, participation is completely optional. The main purpose of these book orders are to help your child better develop an appreciation for reading and to help them build fluency and accuracy. Additionally, since many parents have asked me what books would be appropriate for their child to read, Scholastic Book Orders make it easy to browse through many titles that would be a great choice for our grade level!
All book orders are placed online through a fast, easy, and secure process. No money/checks are sent to school. Use the information below to access the Scholastic Reading Clubs website.
Instructions:
Visit the Scholastic Book Club.
Sign-up for a username and password, using our unique Class Activation Code: HX7LG. This code ensures that your order is sent to our classroom. You will only have to enter the Class Activation Code once.
Select the books you'd like to order from over 500 titles available, and take advantage of online-only specials and discounts.
Submit your order online by the 17th of every month. I will submit any pending orders at the end of each month. Books will always be delivered directly to our classroom.
Our whole class benefits thanks to the free books we can earn with every online order. Thank you and happy reading!
Students will be checking out books from the library on Thursdays . They are allowed two books at a time. We will be encouraging students to check out books at their reading level based on their Lexile range (provided in their Renaissance Learning reading assessment).
Most of the books have a colored sticker dot on the spine matching it to the colored chart above. Please encourage your child to read EVERY DAY in order to improve their reading fluency, accuracy, and comprehension.
Parents may also use the website Book Wizard to find books at their child’s Lexile reading level.