Quick Update

I am not sure if your children told you, but I was not at school on Friday. I will also be out again tomorrow. I had some concerns with my pregnancy and ended up at the hospital after the tornados on Wednesday night. Everything ended up being fine, but I just have to go back to Birmingham tomorrow for some tests. The doctor also wanted me to take it easy and get lots of rest over the weekend, so hopefully after tomorrow's appointment all will be back to normal!

Spring Fling will be THIS Thursday, May 5. Armbands may still be purchased until Wednesday. Please remember to send $10 to school in an envelope if you would like for you child to attend. We will still be having the hamburger/hotdog cookout that night, and those meals can be preordered this week. I will also let you know when our Field Trip gets rescheduled as soon as we find out.

We only have about a week and a half left for students to get A.R. Points! PLEASE make sure your children are reading books every night. If a student does not reach their goal for each grading period, he/she will not receive an A.R. t-shirt.

I may be a day late sending papers home, so if your child doesn't bring papers home on Tuesday, just look for them on Wednesday! Thanks for your understanding! :)

Great Job 3rd Grade!

Wow! What a great job our 3rd Graders did presenting "It's a Small World"! I am very proud of all the the students' hard work learing songs, speaking parts, and dances. They ALL did a wonderful job! I am also very thankful to all of my parents for getting costumes together, and working with their children to learn their parts.

As we are coming to an end of another school year, please remind your children to continue to come to school ready to learn and behave. Even though testing is over, the weather is nice, baseball/soccer/etc. has begun, and we are all getting "Spring Fever", we still have about 6 weeks of school remaining. We still have material to cover, and my expectations are as high as ever - academically and with behavior. Please continue to work with your children nightly with homework, and with any areas you see them lacking with.

I have ordered summer packets for ALL students in my class. This is a work packet that will go home towards the end of the school year, and will have material to work on over the summer. This is to ensure that students do not fall behind over the summer, and will be ready for 4th grade. Please don't stick these in a drawer, or throw away...a few minutes each day or even weekly WILL HELP. :)

Thanks for all you do!

Here are some pictures from our program. Enjoy!

Friday Fun Day

Here are some pictures from our fun day this past Friday. Mr. Waits was very proud of all of the students' hard work and effort during testing, so he rewarded them with a Fun Friday! We started the day playing Minute to Win It in the lunch room, then went to the library to play rock band, and finished our morning with Indian Pin in the gym. We also had a yummy cookout, and then had the opportunity to hear the EYSO play. It was a very fun day for the students!

Reminders for the Week

Tomorrow begins our 2nd, and final week of testing! Tuesday will be SAT Math, Wednesday will be SAT Reading, and on Thursday OLSAT. Please remember to get your children to bed on time, so they will be well rested and on time for school.

We had an AWESOME week last week during ARMT! All 26 of my students were at school, on time, and ready to do their best! They ALL worked the entire time, checked their work, and really tried their best. I was VERY impressed!!! :) I hope this week will be just as great! Both days last week, everyone in the class got their name entered into the drawing for the iPod and got treats! Tomorrow is "Roll Up Test Scores" so students who try their best will get fruit roll ups. Wednesday is "Push Up Test Scores" and students will get push up pops at lunch to reward them for trying their best! They will also have their name entered in for iPod touch! The winner of that will be announced on Friday!

There will be no EDGE on Thursday, due to our extended day teacher inservice.

We are preparing for our 3rd Grade PTO program, "It's A Small World". Notes went home on Friday, letting you know if you child will have a specific part, or speaking part. I will be sending home more information about this later in the week. This program will take place on Thursday, April 14 at 6:00 pm, and Friday, April 15 at 8:15 am. If your child will not be able to participate on these days, please let me know ASAP.

Thanks for all of your help!!!

Testing Update/Incentives

Testing is here!!! I wanted to share some of the incentives we have going on these next two weeks during testing. We have really been trying to put an emphasis on EFFORT at Mitchell, and in our classroom. I don't expect anything more from my students than what they are capable of doing...but I do expect their BEST. We have really talked about how they can put forth their best effort during testing. They can do this by using all the time they have - by going back and rereading/reworking/checking all of their work, making sure bubbles are filled in completely and correctly, and making sure they are giving their absolute best work. If I see their best effort (and I will be looking), students will get a daily treat/reward, that goes with our daily theme. Students will also have their name entered into a drawing for an iPod Touch! That's right - one lucky student will win this at the end of testing. Students who try their hardest and show me that they are putting forth their best effort will have their name put into the jar to win the iPod - this can be done all four days of testing, so the more effort...the more chances to win!!! Please talk with your children nightly and on the way to school about trying their best, and cheer them on!!!

World Math Day

Congratulations Savanna!!! Savanna earned the most World Math Day points in our class! She was chosen to represent our class in the World Math Day Competition yesterday. They competed all day against children all over the world. Thanks for representing Mitchell so well!

Testing Dates

We have our SAT/ARMT Schedule. Please make note of this at home. These date are VERY, VERY important!!!

Wednesday, March 23
3rd Grade ARMT Reading

Thursday, March 24
3rd Grade ARMT Math

Tuesday, March 29
3rd Grade SAT Math Procedures
3rd Grade Math Problem Solving

Wednesday, March 30
3rd Grade Word Study Skills
3rd Grade Reading Vocabulary
3rd Grade Reading Comprehension

Thursday, March 31
3rd Grade OLSAT

Reseach shows that students who take these tests in their classroom, in their "normal" setting, on the scheduled day, do much better than students who have to make up tests. It is soooooooo important that your child be at school and on time on these scheduled days. We will be sending more information home closer to testing. I just wanted to go ahead and share these dates with you.