Happy New Year!

I'm sorry to be so late in posting these photos! I had a little surgery last week and have been down for the count. I am feeling better and will return with you on Monday, January 2. I hope that you and your family had a wonderful Christmas season with your family! I wish you the best in 2012! Love to you all!

Yummy Reindeer Trail Mix

On Wednesday, December 14, we made a reindeer trail mix! It was delicious! Mrs. Richardson must admit that she may have gone overboard on the marshmallows! I spent over $5 on them alone! But who knew there were so many flavors? I thought the fruit ones they had when my boys were little were awesome. The only choice we had when I was little was plain. Now there's peppermint, gingerbread flavored (shaped like little Gingerbread men- adorable), French vanilla (shaped like cute little snowmen), and of course plain! Check out our photos!

Making Christmas...

On December 13, third graders at Gilbert were hard at work designing their very own Christmas presents. It's been a tradition for third grade teacher to give their students scarves as presents. They help keep us warm and create memories of time spent with friends. Each class decorates theirs a little differently. Some classes choose only one color and add beads and such. I wanted everyone to have a choice in their colors. So, we had purple, teal, and blue as our choices. We fringed the ends of our scarves with each student making his own a little different. Here's a peek at our creative process!

Congrats!

Pictured: Matt Harris, Principal, Paige Graviet, and Mr. Richardson from ShopRite

Congratulations to our very own, Paige Graviet! Paige sold the most tickets for the Supermarket Sweep! Way to go, Paige! She gets to be Principal for the Day!

Congratulations, Singing Gators!

Congratulations to our Singing Gators!

Third through fifth grade chorus students delighted parents and students at the annual  PTO Chorus Night on Thursday. Their show was adorable! Students were able to judge for themselves on Friday, as the chorus did an encore performance of the show, Elvis Impersonator. Everyone enjoyed their performance!

Congratulations to our very own classmates who performed.

Great job, girls! Way to go, Daylen, Gracie, April, and Paige!

We won!

During the month of November, Mr. Harris created a contest for teachers and students. He challenged us to use available technology to teach others about November's character education focus, responsibility. I wrote a couple of skits as Reader's Theater scripts. Students decided they would like to choose roles and act out the scripts for filming. We had a blast! We used a Flip Camera from the library to record the skits. I put edited and put them together using iMovie on my new laptop. Students came up with Responsibility Dos and Don'ts. We submitted the video with our fingers crossed. Mr. Harris stopped by on Monday, December 5th to inform us that our video was chose as one of the winners! We won a Flip Cam to use in our classroom. We're very excited! We can't wait to find ways to use it in our classroom.

GPS Learning Menu

Here's a look at our current standards!

Social Studies

• SS3H2 The student will discuss the lives of Americans who expanded people’s rights and freedoms in a democracy.
• SS3G2 The student will describe the cultural and geographic systems associated with the historical figures in SS3H2a.
• SS3CG2 The student will discuss the character of different historical figures in SS3H2a.

Math

• M3N4. Students will understand the meaning of division and develop the ability to apply it in problem solving.
• Math Facts for 6 and 7.

Reading

• ELA3R3 The student uses a variety of strategies to gain meaning from grade-level text. The student makes judgments and inferences about setting, characters, and events and supports them with evidence from the text. 
• l. Identifies and infers cause-and-effect relationships and draws conclusions.

 Writing & English

• ELA3W2 The student produces a narrative that: 
• a. Captures a reader’s interest by writing both personal and fantasy/imaginary stories, setting a purpose, and developing a point of view. 
• b. Sustains a focus. 
• c. Includes the appropriate purpose, expectations, and length for the audience and genre. 
• d. Uses sensory details and other literary language to communicate setting, characters, and plot. 
• e. Uses appropriate organizational structures to ensure coherence and strategies
• f. Develops characters through action and dialogue. 
• g. Provides a sense of closure. 
• h. May include pre-writing. 
• i. May include a revised and edited draft. 
• j. May be published.

 Science

• S3L1. Students will investigate the habitats of different organisms and the dependence of organisms on their habitat.