Giving Thanks to our Veterans

This afternoon we had the opportunity to hear from Harley Kiger, a veteran from WW2. He showed a movie of his trip to see the WW2 Memorial in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Northland Honor Flight organization. He also answered questions about his time in the military. Our school is currently participating in a Penny Drive to raise funds to send another Northland Vet on a future Honor Flight trip. Please help by sending in any pennies (or nickels, dimes, quarters, ...) you can spare this week. The fundraiser will go through Monday, Nov. 14th. Remember to thank a Veteran on Veteran's Day (11-11-11).

Spelling words for "Balto"

1. shot
2. chance
3. match
4. watch
5. showed
6. shock
7. pushed
8. such
9. crash
10. chew
11. batch
12. hitched
13. sharp
14. mush
15. speech

Spelling Words - week of Oct. 31-Nov. 4

Spelling Words for "Turtle Bay"

1. known

2. written

3. laugh

4. sphere

5. wreck

6. writer

7. wrong

8. wrap

9. wrench

10. knocked

11. knot

12. wring

13. enough

14. rough

15. wrinkle

Doodle Drawings and Spelling Words

What do you do with a doodle? That was the challenge the students faced last week. They were given 4 different doodles (see picture below). They had to turn that doodle into something.

Here are a few of the finished products. A lot of other finished doodles were sent home in today's Tuesday folders. They did a great job seeing beyond what was there and turning it into something creative and unique.

Spelling Words for week of Oct. 24-28:

1. teacher

2. friend

3. dollars

4. homework

5. blackboard

6. proud

7. tickle

8. phone

9. tongue

10. office

11. address

12. classroom

13. lucky

14. unlucky

15. money

Spelling Words for week of Oct. 17-19

1. fence
2. sneeze
3. bowl
4. walrus
5. liver
6. plate
7. bonus
8. family
9. leash
10. paw
11. vet
12. house
13. kennel
14. Marvin
15. Waldo

Bike Safety and Fire Safety

Last week, a person from the Regional Development Commission came to our classroom to discuss bicycle safety with our students. She went over the rules of riding safely, making sure your bike is the correct size, and the importance of wearing a helmet. She brought eggs to show how fragile heads are by having a student drop an unprotected egg onto the floor. Then she had another student drop an egg into a box of styrofoam pellets. The students were quick to understand that their new helmets have a very important job to do! She fitted each student with a new helmet, which many of them wore the rest of the day.

Testing out the helmets by butting heads. Goofy girls!

Also last week, had a visit from some firefighters. They brought the Fire Safety House and went over fire safety guidelines. They practiced evacuating the fire house through a window. One of the things that comes out every year is that sometimes third graders don't know their phone number and home address (not a PO Box). They need to be able to recite this information if they ever have to call 9-1-1. Ask your child to recite that information and see if a refresher course is needed.

And, just because it was kind of cool, here's a picture of two of our boys who wore the same shirt on the same day. :)

Spelling Words for week of Oct. 10-14

1. least

2. fast

3. just

4. burst

5. strip

6. stick

7. strike

8. artist

9. almost

10. student

11. strong

12. start

13. blast

14. step

15. street

Walk to School Day, Mondrian prints, and Investigating Bean Plants

On Oct. 5th, our students participated in International Walk to School Day. Some of our students walked and some of our students cheered them on as they came into view. It was a beautiful day for walking.

We studied the artwork of Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) last week. Mondrian was a Dutch painter. Many of his paintings feature a white background with black grid lines and squares/rectangles of red, blue, yellow, and black. The students created artwork inspired by Mondrian using paper, markers, colored pencils, and crayons.

Two weeks ago, we planted bean seeds in ziploc bags. The bags allowed us to see the roots, stem, and leaves as the plants grew. The students did a great job recording their measurements and observations on their recording sheets.