**NEW** DonorsChoose and Book Clubs

Well we are back from that crazy snow schedule and trying to get back into our routine of school. We are getting ready to start our first book club rotation of the year, which is super exciting! We have been studying the fantasy genre in reading and writing and we are getting ready to start reading fantasy books! I can't wait to see how things go!

We have been taking a look at some videos from a great teacher blog Life in 4B... on how our reading discussions should go. Thanks for Miss Bongers in Wisconsin has an AMAZING blog that has been an inspiration for our classroom this year! We watched this video to see a bad example of book group discussions. Then we watched this video and saw what a good book group discussion should look like! Talk about a difference! We saw so many things that will help our book groups go much smoother!

In other news, as promised, our newest DonorsChoose project is up and running! We are requesting a set of leveled books for our classroom and for the school book room. I am working hard to finish our winter reading assessments. This will allow us to have students reading at their appropriate reading level - books that aren't too hard and not too easy. We would really appreciate any financial support that your family would like to give to make sure that our reading improves and grows to get ready for fourth grade! You can look up our project on www.donorschoose.org as "Lovin' a Leveled Library"! Thanks in advance for your support!

February is almost here already - wow, did January go by fast! Our wonderful room parents will be getting a Valentine's Day Party letter to come out fairly soon so we can get ready to party! I will be sending a class list home as well if you're interested in sending in Valentines. Please make sure that you send enough for everyone in the class if you're going to send some in to make sure there aren't any hurt feelings! :)

Thanks again for your continued support throughout the year!

UPDATE: No School 1/18

Due to weather concerns, schools are cancelled tomorrow, Wednesday, January 18th. Enjoy the weather and stay safe and warm out there!

NEW DonorsChoose Project Coming Soon

Well we have another project on www.donorschoose.org coming down the line. It has been submitted and is awaiting approval. I have had several families ask how they can financially support our classroom and this is a GREAT way to help us out! This project not only helps our classroom get some MUCH NEEDED nonfiction books into the hands of all the Rockin' Room 15 students, but also provides another set for the school book room to make sure that all students at North Beach can have access to these books as well! So tell your friends, family, and neighbors to check out our page and support us if they can! Every little bit helps! I will post a link to our project as soon as it's funded. THANK YOU!

Wacky Weather!

Well today was quite a weird day! 2 hour late start AND a 2 hour early dismissal... let me just say that that doesn't happen too often (and thank goodness! I feel like we were only in class for about an hour today!).

Keep an eye on the weather and listen for the district to make a final call on whether school will be cancelled tomorrow or not. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow!?

Stay safe and warm tonight!

No homework for students tonight. Rest, relax, and enjoy the time with family! :)

We are Back!

Welcome back from break (even though we came back last week!). :)

Things are back in full swing, trying to make the most of this short month. This week is our only full week in January so time is precious!

Thursday is our first field trip to Garfield High School to see their production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I CANNOT WAIT! That was one of my favorite books in third grade so I can't wait to see what happens and how amazing it is. Several classes went and saw it today and they had nothing but great things to say about it.

Thursday is also when the book orders are due! Your student should have an order form and I will be placing the order Thursday night. If you want to order online, and haven't before, our classroom activation code is J2J6H. There are some amazing deals on books this month so have a look!

We are also starting our Fantasy genre study. Next week we will be working in book groups to read and discuss different fantasy novels. We are also writing our own fantasy story and the students have some AMAZING ideas so far! This project will really let their imaginations run wild, and with this group there is plenty of imagination to go around!

We just want to try to harness our creative energy in positive ways. There have been several students lately drawing on... well... Everything they can get their hands on. Desks. Chairs. Hands. Clothing. The list goes on. I know that our class has so much creative energy for the arts and I hope that we can channel that into our art projects and into creative ways of expression rather than doodling over the entire classroom. Hopefully this fantasy project will get some of those creative juices out in a positive way. Fingers crossed!

Thank you again for all of your help and support!