Happy March! Spring is just around the corner and so is the final quarter of third grade. We are ready to enjoy some warmer weather at recess. The sun is always welcome and we are beckoning it to come out and play with us at recess. During the month of March, the weather is so unpredictable. Students need to bring a hoodie even on days when the weatherman says the temps are expected to soar. Sometimes the weather is still deciding if it is going to cooperate when we go out around eleven. We are all looking forward to running around in the sunshine. March looks like it is starting off with a roar with a lion’s share of activities. Look what’s coming up: Important Dates to Remember
Our February Character Word of the Month was Kindness. Congratulations to our very own Lexi Papenfuhs for being selected as a student who exemplifies kindness every day in the classroom and around the building. Lexi has a ready smile and a helping hand for everyone! She encourages her classmates and celebrates their successes. She is a true friend who sees the good in others. Her classmates appreciate her willingness to think of others before herself. Lexi, you are a joy! Thank you for demonstrating kindness in our classroom! Read-In Day BIS students will celebrate Read Across America by having a read-in during ELA class on Monday, March 2. Students are invited to wear pajamas, bring a pillow, blanket, and stuffed animal buddy to share in the fun of reading. We will have our popcorn party for winning the February Door Decorating Contest along with other snacks. It will be a fun-filled literacy day! Mrs. Martin’s Class Play Our class has been invited to see Ethan, Emmaline, Mason, and Wyatt from the Endres’ Explorers along with Childers’ Champions Bella, Leo, and Shyanne perform a play in the TAG room on Monday, March 2. We are excited to see our classmates perform! Third Grade Concert This Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. is the third grade concert. Students are to wear their western wear and prairie dresses. Please report to BHS at 6:40 pm. Third grade teachers will be there to assist students to their warm-up location. Our class is meeting in the drama room across from the band room. This Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, the entire third grade will walk over to BHS to practice as a large group in the auditorium at 1:30. The audience is in for a treat! BIS Spring Showcase BIS will celebrate learning from 5:00-7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10. It will be a come-and-go opportunity for the whole family to come see what we’ve been learning. The Scholastic Book Fair will be open in the library. Families are invited to enjoy a free meal in the cafeteria. Report cards will be handed out in the classrooms. If you would like to schedule an individual conference, please drop me an email and we can visit privately another day this week. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone! This week in the classroom: Reader’s Workshop This week in reading we will conclude our Character Studies Unit. We have already completed our mentor text, Because of Winn Dixie and have moved on to our second text, Dyamonde Daniel. We finished comparing/contrasting these two independent, sassy girls and will compare/contrast the lessons both characters learned as related to theme. We’ve enjoyed getting to know these characters as friends and following them on their journeys over the story mountain. Since both mentor texts have had girl main characters (there were boy secondary characters—friends or challengers), I’ve chosen another text to read aloud with a male main lead. The Endres’ Explorers are currently reading The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty G. Birney, the author of the Humphrey series. It is an excellent book set in the 1920’s in rural Missouri. Eben is an eleven-year-old boy who yearns to travel and see the wonders of the world. His dad challenges him to find “wonders” around their farm community. If he can find seven wonders in a week, his dad will pay for a train ticket to visit a relative in Colorado. We are enjoying Eben’s adventure as he learns about the unusual secrets held by various country folk in his community. This Wednesday we will review for our unit post-assessment and then take the test on Thursday. We’ve done quite a bit of work on determining character traits, watching characters make changes as they resolve conflict, analyzing author’s craft, noticing how the parts of a story create the whole, and retelling/summarizing stories. We will be ready to show what we know on Thursday! Friday will be our end-of-unit celebration viewing the movie, Because of Winn Dixie, with snacks from Opal and Gloria’s party in the book. Writer’s Workshop We are nearing the end of our “Changing the World” persuasive writing unit. It has been challenging but we are rising victorious! Students have written persuasive speeches and will move on to writing an editorial, persuasive letter, or petition this week and next. Several students are finished with their final copy and have them mounted, ready to share next week at the Spring Showcase. Following spring break, we will begin writing fairy tales! Have a great week! Thank you for your continued support. You have wonderful children! See you Thursday at the concert. Blessings, Mrs. Endres Happy February! This is the day for Chiefs fans everywhere! Superbowl Sunday has arrived! I hope all our classmates are feeling better after being hit hard with the flu. We averaged five absent each day with some students returning to find others absent. We sanitized our room daily! After school on Friday Mr. Brent sprayed every surface with a special disinfectant. Third grade teachers are hoping that the flu “epidemic” is behind us and everyone is ready to roll this week!
If the Chiefs win tonight, there is going to be a celebratory mood pervading the hallways tomorrow. Students in both classes are beyond excited for tonight’s game. I hope you and your family enjoy the experience together! Craig and I are getting together with my Wednesday night Bible study group at our leader’s home. Our husbands are in a Sunday school class together on Sunday mornings. It just morphed into that over the last several years which actually is a fun thing. Our group has favorite teams from all over the country but tonight we are all Chiefs fans! Go, Chiefs! Here is a look at what’s going on at BIS and Room 114: Character Student of the Month During the month of January our student character word was “Self-Discipline.” The bulletin board outside the cafeteria defined self-discipline in this way: “Someone who takes responsibility, is patient, and thinks about words and actions.” Congratulations to Waylon Cooper for being selected as a person who exemplifies SELF-DISCIPLINE. Waylon exemplifies self-discipline in his organization, work habits, academics, and in his relationships with his classmates. He speaks in a considerate manner and is always willing to help. Congratulations, Waylon! Valentine Party Our Valentine’s Day party will be on Thursday, February 13 at 2:00 in our classroom. All parents are welcome to attend. We’d love for you to join us! You and your child are welcome to create a box at home to collect your valentines in or make one here at school. I will have supplies ready for students who want to make a mailbag that week. You may send valentines in whenever you are ready. I will store them in our closet until we mail them Valentine’s Day morning. One of the favorite moments in the class party is when students read their valentines. You would be surprised at how much joy that brings each person. It’s a sweet moment. A class list was sent home a week ago in the HIPPO folder. We have 25 students. Here is another copy of our sweet class: Lincoln Calhoun Braydon Casey Addyson Clardy Aidan Clardy Kinzzy Combs Elijah Cooper Waylon Cooper Mackenzie Dace Lilly Daulton Wyatt Fox Natalie Fredrickson Parker Gunnels Hayden Hammond Hunter Hancock Mason Hunt Emmaline Manis Logun Morris Lexi Papenfuhs Melody Richardson Drayven Sanders Suki Sprague Kaden Stanford Zane Stephens-Butler Ethan Tennison Haylee Webster PTO Valentine’s Day Candy Grams Once again PTO is selling candy grams for Valentine’s Day. You can choose a full bag of M&M’s and/or Skittles for $1.50 each. These candy grams will be delivered to BIS students only. Order forms came home last week on a pink sheet of paper. Please have your orders returned by Friday, February 7. If writing a check, please make payable to Bolivar PTO. Kindness is Contagious Our counselor, Ms. Watson, is already busy preparing a special week for students and faculty at BIS to focus on kindness. Kindness is Contagious week will be held February 10-13. This event will include a spirit week with the following dress-up schedule:
On February 5, BIS will participate in a Global School Play Day. We will have a 1-hour, unstructured time to play games. Third grade will participate in the afternoon before specials. Students are invited to bring things to play on this special day such as Legos, puppets, stuffed animals, board games, card games, and puzzles. Students are asked to leave electronics and anything requiring batteries at home. Please items from home with your child’s name. It’s going to be a fun time! Daddy-Daughter Dance A Father-Daughter Dance will be held on Thursday, February 6 from 6:00-7:30 pm in the BIS gymnasium. For $5.00 per pair, the dance will include cookies and punch along with a complimentary photo. Make sure to mark this special event on your calendar! February Units of Study Reading: Last week we dove into a new fiction reading unit called “Character Studies.” Students will learn to get to know characters by observing their words and actions and then use this information to form ideas about their character traits. We will then follow the main character over the story mountain watching him/her react to the problems that arise. We will recognize that characters go through a change as a result of the problems they encounter. They have a choice to avoid the problem, confront it head on, get advice from another character, or take time to solve it themselves. After a story ends, there is a lesson that is learned. The theme has been woven through the story all along but we reflect on the events and the character’s growth to determine how that lesson applies to real life. The last series of lessons in this unit will have us comparing and contrasting characters, settings, problems, and themes. During this unit, we will use the book Because of Winn Dixie as our main mentor text. Writing: We are continuing our “Changing the World” persuasive writing unit. Students have written opinions in the form of awards and have written a friendly letter to their parents persuading them to go on a special vacation. Some students have invested quite a bit of thought into that letter! Besides opinions on special things and places, this week we will work on “flash draft” speeches with opinions on special people who go unrecognized. We are starting with opinions we have that are personal and later we will move to persuade others to make positive changes in the world around us. This unit will help us learn how to address our audience, organize and categorize our evidence, and select our words carefully to evoke emotions. We will revisit paragraphing and the use of transitional phrases to connect our thoughts with an emphasis on driving our opinion home. This unit is empowering! Students recognize they have opinions and the ability to articulate their thoughts meaningfully. Fundations: In phonics we are currently working on base word + suffix. We’ve reviewed vowel and consonant suffixes which helps with spelling rules. For the last week we’ve talked about 1-1-1 words--words that are one closed syllable with a short vowel sound followed by one consonant. These words double the final consonant when adding a vowel suffix. We continue to work with homophones such as son/sun, know/no, write/right, and band/banned. We have quite a group of trick words that we have mastered. We also have worked with a select group of sounds to practice different spelling patterns: c/k/ck, d/ed, t/ed, tch/ch, and s/z. Your children are doing an excellent job on this unit! We’ve spiral reviewed each day and the class feels confident for our upcoming test in a week. Important Dates February 5: Global School Play Day, 1:05-2:05 pm February 6: Father-Daughter Dance 6:00-7:30 pm February 10-13: Kindness is Contagious Week February 12: Mid-Quarter Progress Reports coming home February 13: Valentine Party at 2:00-3:00 pm February 14: No School, Teacher PD Day February 17: No School, President’s Day February 18: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MASON! February 22: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SUKI and ZANE! February 27: Family STEAM Night, 5:00-7:00 pm Looking Ahead: *****Our 3rd Grade Concert will be Thursday, March 5 at the BHS Auditorium. More information to come from Mrs. McClard. Thank you for your continued support! ENJOY THE SUPERBOWL!! Blessings, Mrs. Endres Happy New Year, Parents! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas break celebrating, relaxing, and playing. I had a wonderful time with our adult children and grandchildren Owen and Naomi. We had such a great time playing games, eating, and watching movies. There were many memories made around the kitchen table just like in the past. I'm looking forward to seeing the class tomorrow! I'm sure they will have so much to talk about. We are going to "ring in" the New Year sharing about our holidays. We will then move into finishing up our reading/writing units which we didn't have time to complete before the break due to the three snow days. What’s New? Congratulations to Emmaline Manis who will be recognized this week for displaying our BIS Monthly Character Word! The word for December was “Courtesy.” Our definition for courtesy is “showing respect and consideration for others.” Emmaline consistently demonstrates polite manners. She takes turns, talks respectfully to others, says “please” and “thank you,” and readily shares. She is a joy to be around! Congratulations, Emmaline, for being our example of courteous behavior! Report Cards: Second Quarter report cards will be sent home on Wednesday, January 15. Attached will be the results of the iReady Midyear Reading Assessment. This assessment shows your child’s new Lexile reading level and itemizes the various components of the test. An explanation of the different components are described on the handout. Students showed great individual reading growth! Keep encouraging your child to complete the nightly reading homework: 25 minutes of independent reading four nights a week for a total of 100 minutes per week. Reading practice makes the difference! Reading Focus: After studying nonfiction texts for second quarter, we are excited to begin a fiction study. Our third quarter focus will be Character Studies. This quarter we will focus on getting to know a character as a friend, follow a character’s journey, and compare/contrast characters across books. Students will read a variety of fiction texts making jots about their observations and then discuss their findings with partners or in groups. We will start off reading books with African American main characters as we lead up to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. After, we will begin books with a variety of characters who live in a snowy setting. Hopefully, it will be a perfect time of year to touch base about inclement weather. We will start out with a mentor text that all groups will read that has a snow setting. These texts will spring all groups into chapter books with a snow setting. The spotlight bookshelf will also house both fiction and nonfiction books from the library about snow. For our chapter book read aloud, we will be reading the book Snow Treasure which is set in 1940 Norway and based on a true story about Norwegian children who saved their country’s gold during the Nazi invasion. This quality book is rich with suspense, vocabulary, and heroism. Before we begin our Character Studies unit, we will spend the first two weeks in January with a mini-biography unit with a focus on famous Missourians. I will model reading, notetaking, and creating a timeline about a famous Missourian (students will help me select the Missourian they are most interested in) before they choose a person to study independently. Students will be allowed to pick a Missourian or branch out to other people past or present to study. Third graders enjoy learning about famous people. This is going to be a high interest study! Writing: We have just a few students who did not turn in their state research report before the break. They will be given time to complete their cover and map work tomorrow. Students who turned their reports in already will be excited to see the reports displayed in the hall along with a picture of each student holding their mentor text. This week we will begin our "Changing the World" unit which is writing opinion and persuasive pieces. You'd be surprised at the number of opinions third graders have already formed. This unit will help students support their opinions and present them in a persuasive way. Fundations: Due to missing three days before break, we did not conclude our Fundations Unit 1 study. We will review material Monday and Tuesday before taking our test on Thursday. Here is what is going to be on the test for those who want to study at home: Sounds: tch, ch; k, ck, ck; olt; unk Sound Alikes: know/no; write/right; which/witch Words: bolt, scold, stitch, spring, grind (students will need to mark the syllable) Sentences: Which leg did the child scratch? Frank should have squash for lunch. A note from Mrs. Endres: Student performance sometimes slumps during third quarter but I don’t anticipate that to be the case with our class. We have many high interest topics this quarter supported with a bevy of fabulous books and creative opportunities. I love third quarter! Our new crayons are coming out this week along with goal setting. We will be ready to conquer all that 2020 brings during January-March. Thank you for your continued support! I appreciate our partnership! Blessings, Mrs. Endres Important Dates January 6-14 Miles for Smiles (dental van) will be at BIS January 10 End of Second Quarter January 15 Report cards will be sent home January 20 No School--Martin Luther King, Jr. Day January 27 Happy Birthday, Kinzzy! January 28 Happy Birthday, Brayden! January 30 Happy Birthday, Lexi! P.S. Be sure to check-out the pictures uploaded over the break. Here are our Third Quarter Power Standards and I Can Statements: Reading: Fiction
Looking forward to what the New Year brings! Lamentations 3:22-23 "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness."
Wishing you a wonderful start to a new day, a new year, a new decade...the possibilities are endless! December Newsletter
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…and it’s a busy one, too! With December upon us, we are going to jump into the holiday season with both feet. Santa can’t come soon enough for all of us! In the meantime, we will continue to be diligent elves getting our work completed and finding time for special moments, too. Here is a look at our short month: Reader’s Workshop: Monday and Tuesday students will take the mid-year iReady Diagnostic Reading Assessment. I will report these scores to you on the second quarter report card in three weeks. I’m excited to see the reading growth! Currently in reader’s workshop we are creating an interactive notebook on Missouri History. We are reading books, watching video clips, and viewing powerpoints with interesting information about our great state. So far we’ve discussed early Missouri residents—Native Americans. We’ve studied about the Osage Tribe and look forward to viewing contents this week in the Osage Trunk on loan from Springfield History Museum. Next, we studied about early explorers—French Canadians Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet and then Frenchman Robert LaSalle who traveled the Mississippi in 1682. We learned the area known as Louisiana changed hands from the French to the Spanish and then back to the French. This week we will discuss Missouri as related to the Louisiana Purchase, the Missouri Territory, and the Missouri Compromise. In the future we will touch briefly on Westward Expansion, the Pony Express, and Missouri pre- and post-Civil War. Later, we will move from Missouri’s history to Missouri geography and then to famous Missourians (after Christmas break). We have a lot of ground to cover in the next three weeks but it is so interesting! We will end our unit with a mock-World’s Fair! Students will travel through different third grade rooms which will be set up like exhibitions from the original St. Louis World’s Fair. Writer’s Workshop: Students have completed research using books and the internet to locate information about their chosen state. Students began synthesizing the information and writing expository paragraphs before Thanksgiving break. This week we will continue our rough drafts, revise, and edit in preparation for final copies. When completed, we will create a final project to share with our neighbors in the hallway. We will also share our reports in the classroom so we can learn more about the different states in our great country and understand the natural beauty and bountiful resources of the different regions. We will better understand the U.S. as a whole—what each state is known for and what they contribute to tourism and the economy. Fundations: This week we will review and test over our very last unit in the Fundations Level 2 book. Yeah! We will begin Level 3 which starts off with cursive letter formation—the day we’ve all been waiting for! Level 3 Unit 1 words will be coming home via backpacks as soon as I receive them back from the print shop. I’m hoping they will be ready early this week so you have plenty of time to review trick words and focus words for this unit. Students continue to blow me away with their word attack skills. I hope you’ve noticed a big improvement in your child’s spelling, too! Character Word of the Month--Citizenship: Our Character Student of the Month for November is Mackenzie Dace! Mackenzie is a model citizen in our classroom community. Mackenzie demonstrates positive character traits every day—initiative and integrity. She is respectful, responsible, and helpful. She follows community rules and encourages others. Congratulations, Mackenzie! We appreciate your commitment to being a model friend and neighbor! Happy Birthday this month to Parker (14th) and Kaden (21st)!! We are looking forward to celebrating with each of you this month. “Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy, Happy Birthday to you!” (…part of our birthday song) Here are some “need to knows”: We will be saying goodbye to Miss Reynolds this Friday, December 6. This week is our last week with our wonderful student teacher, Miss Reynolds. We will be celebrating her with a surprise party on Friday. If you’d like to send in a note or small gift, I’m sure she would appreciate the kindness and encouragement. We wish Miss Reynolds the best as she graduates in December! December Book Order—Multiple fliers from the Scholastic Book Club along with a cover note will be coming home this week. If you would like to order books for your child for Christmas, please send back the completed forms along with a check made out to Scholastic in an envelope. I will be sure to put the books in a paper bag so students can’t see what you’ve ordered. If you order online, I will be happy to do the same thing. Let’s try to get orders in by Friday, December 6. I know it is short notice but we can be assured of books arriving back in time. Thank you! Share Your Christmas: This is the last week to collect items for Share Your Christmas. This week’s focus is new or like-new toys. Thank you to everyone who has sent in items the past three weeks! SBU Basketball Game: Bolivar Intermediate School has been invited to watch a basketball game at SBU on Monday, December 16. We will be leaving at 10:00 and returning by 2:00 pm. We will be eating a sack lunch at the fieldhouse. More information about this fun event will be coming! Electric Company Presentation: Third grade students will be watching a presentation about electrical safety on Thursday, December 19. Each year this presentation is informative and could save a life. BIS Holiday Movie: Third grade students will be watching a holiday movie in the afternoon on Wednesday, December 18. Each year grade levels gather for a Christmas movie to celebrate the end of second quarter and the beginning of Christmas break. We will watch the movie in the gym. STUCO Holiday Store: Student Council will sponsor a holiday store December 17-20 for students to buy inexpensive gifts for their family members. We will view what is available at the store one day and shop another. More details to come! (Hint: Items range from $.25 up to $5.) December Dates to Remember: December 2-3 iReady Diagnostic Reading Assessment December 6 Scholastic Book Orders are due December 6 Miss Reynolds last day with us (Insert sad face!) December 14 Happy Birthday, Parker! December 16 Basketball Game at SBU December 17-20 STUCO Holiday Store December 18 Holiday Movie in the gym—3rd Grade December 19 Electric Company Presentation December 20 Class Christmas Party: Early Dismissal at 12:45; 2nd Quarter Report Cards coming home December 21 Happy Birthday, Kaden! December 23-January 3 No School I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends over Thanksgiving break. I’m looking forward to all that December will bring! Call or email if you need anything. Happy December! Joyfully, Mrs. Endres Thank you to all parents for attending fall conferences! Mrs. Childers and I were able to meet with almost every parent—something that doesn’t happen every year. That says a lot about the parent commitment with our great group of shared students. I appreciate all the support and faith that you have offered this year with our ELA curriculum. There aren’t as many papers that come home but rather students are reading and writing with great gusto and volume. The growth mindset I am seeing is fantastic! I can already see the confidence with which students share their thoughts. Thank you for your partnership in helping your child complete nightly reading homework. You play a vital role in helping your child be successful. Hats off! Welcome to Logun Morris who has joined us from Buffalo! We are happy to have him join our class. Congratulations to our Character Word of the Month student: Hunter Hancock! Hunter has demonstrated respect with a cheerful heart. He follows the rules, speaks to others in a kind manner, encourages, seeks ways to help, says please and thank you, and is a friend to everyone. Congratulations, Hunter, for being a role model of respect to all of us! Our character word of the month for November will be “citizenship.” What are we up to in ELA? Reading: With the completion of our Mystery Unit, students will begin reading informational text. Our new unit, “Reading to Learn: Grasping Main Ideas and Supporting Details” is preparing us for our research unit which also begins this week. The two units will pair perfectly! Tomorrow we will review nonfiction text features naming all the parts of the structure. Our focus will move to grasping the main idea. Students will learn the strategy of reading chunks of nonfiction text and creating mini-summaries using a “box and bullet” method of notetaking. Students will use the text structure to help find the main idea of a chunk of information. We will look for the “pop-out sentence” when the text is not already chunked for the reader. The pop-out sentence is the main idea. Sometimes we have to bullet the details in order to figure out the main idea and other times the main idea just pops out at us. Students will move to distinguish between the author’s opinion and our own. We will come to understand the author’s perspective and point-of-view. The last section of this unit will focus on narrative nonfiction—nonfiction information that is told in story form. This nonfiction unit will lead into our Missouri History Unit at the end of November. Our Missouri History Unit will include these topics: Early Missouri History (Native Americans, explorers, settlers, and immigrants); Missouri Geography; What Makes Missouri Special; and Famous Missourians. Third graders love social studies! This unit will build into the weeks leading up to Christmas. It’s high interest and will keep us busy during the holiday season. Writing: We are currently immersed in informational writing. Students began the unit learning that writers of informational text write to teach. Students wrote their first three page “books” about a topic that they felt they were experts on. Information came from their background knowledge and schema. Students learned how to divide the topic into three subcategories. These categories are the beginnings of visually seeing that texts are chunked into chapters and paragraphs. Students wrote and wrote. They learned to revise for elaboration by asking who, what, where, when, why, and how questions. They learned to include specific details—size, shape, color, number. They learned to strengthen their beginnings and endings. They learned that revisions don’t just occur at the beginning or end, but revisions occur anywhere in the text where clarification and explanations are needed. Sometimes revising includes deleting information that is not needed. We reviewed again the mechanics of writing with a focus on eliminating run-on sentences. We will finish the second bend, or section, of our informational unit with a focus on organization and detail tomorrow. Students are currently writing a chapter book with five chapters. Students learned that sometimes informational writers rehearse, talk through thoughts with a partner, or teach their content before putting it down on paper. They are the bosses of their own writing—they know what their writing needs, they make a plan of action, and then they do it. We edited for paragraphs and our last step will be creating headings and subheadings where applicable to give our books the type of text features expected in expository text. We will finalize our books by focusing on the final publication. Our writing celebration will end in a gallery walk where peers read each other’s books and leave positive feedback. Students find this to be powerful and rewarding. Writers write for an audience and when your audience learns from your expository writing, it feels like “mission accomplished!” Later this week, we will continue with informational writing but it will take on a new dimension—research! Students will begin a social studies project—state research- that will involve researching using books and the internet. This project will take us almost all the way to Christmas break. Phonics: We are word detectives in Room 114! Four days a week we review the letter-sound relationships of vowels and consonant digraphs as our daily warm-up. Following that student-led drill with Little Echo, our phonics owl, students tap words and spell them orally, use letter tiles, or dry erase boards. We look at a specific pattern spiraling previously presented patterns. We have learned the different spellings for r-controlled vowels, long e, and long a sounds. This week we will begin spellings for /oi/. Our next unit, Unit 12, papers will be sent home on Monday. The packet explains our current focus and gives you the review words, current words, and trick words that your student will be tested over at the end of this short unit. There are also a few practice pages for students to work with you at home. I can’t state strongly enough how valuable these lessons are for all students. Students who are high fliers with reading still need this practice for spelling. Assessments: This past week, students took the Mystery Unit post-assessment. This unit exam focused on two of our major standards for first quarter: making predictions and writing summaries. I will send home the results of this assessment in the near future. We used two books by William Steig to help us practice--Doctor DeSoto and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. William Steig is a two-time Caldecott Medal winner who wrote many books in the spirit of a fairytale/folktale with animals talking, magical elements, and a lesson to be learned. We will read more William Steig books later this year. He is a master at storytelling using imagery and figurative language. The first week of December we will be taking our reading iReady assessment to monitor for reading progress and growth. That report will be attached to the second quarter report card. This month I will begin DRA2 Progress Monitoring assessments which help determine students’ independent and instructional reading levels. I will share this information with report cards in December. The thrilling news is students are growing as independent readers! Sight Word Practice: A few parents were wondering about websites for sight word practice. You can get a list of Dolch sight words at https://sightwords.com/sight-words/dolch/ and Fry Sight Words at https://sightwords.com/sight-words/fry/. Have your child practice these words until they have automaticity. You can count this time as part of the reading homework. Knowing these words well will aid fluency. What’s coming up? BIS Reading Week, November 4-8: We will celebrate reading our shared book, Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus! Each day we will celebrate something from the book—the author, the characters, and the events. Monday: We are over-ly excited for our visit from author Dusti Bowling. Break out your overalls! **Family Reading Night, Monday, from 5:00-7:00. Free dinner and activities! If you want your book signed by the author, please bring with you. Tuesday: Aven and Connor were the best of friends. Grab a friend and dress as twins. Wednesday: Stagecoach Pass is a tourist attraction. Dress as a tacky tourist. Thursday: Aven was a great soccer player. Pick a sport and dress as an athlete. Friday: Aven loved to read on her kindle. Choose a book character and dress like him/her. Book Character Day and Fall Party: This Friday we will dress-up in book character costumes. Everyone loves this day! In the afternoon, our fall party will be held at 2:00. All parents are welcome to attend! Share Your Christmas: Bolivar Intermediate School Student Council is collecting items for Share Your Christmas beginning November 4 and running through December 5. Those items include: November 4-8: Canned food items November 11-15: Boxes of prepared foods such as macaroni and cheese, Hamburger Helper, etc. November 18-22: Gloves, socks, hats, and scarves December 2-5: New or like-new toys You are welcome to bring in any of the above—not necessarily the focus of the week--whenever it works well for you. Share Your Christmas is Bolivar at its best with everything going to families here in our community. Thank you for sharing! Friendly Reminder: Please be sure to send students with coats and gloves. The weather is unpredictable this time of year and students need to come prepared. I check Weatherbug each day before recess so students are aware of the temperature. I also do a jacket/coat check on the way to lunch. I want everyone to be protected from the elements during the time outside. Thank you for reminding your child to bring appropriate weather gear. First Baptist Church Clothing Give Away: Speaking of giving…FBC Bolivar will hold its annual free clothing shop next Sunday, November 10 from 2:00-4:00 pm in the Recreational Building. All clothing is clean and free! This is a great opportunity to stock up on warm clothes for the family. Thank you for your continued support! If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Blessings, Mrs. Endres November Dates to Remember: November 4-8 Reading Week (see above for dress-up days) November 4 Family Reading Night from 5:00-7:00 pm (free dinner) November 4 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NATALIE! November 8 Fall Parties at 2:00 pm November 15 Progress Reports sent home November 22 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO HAYLEE! November 25-29 No School—HAPPY THANKSGIVING Second Quarter I Can Statements (Standards): Reading Retelling/Summary/Synthesis: When I finish a book, I can briefly summarize it in a way that shows what I know about the story and its story elements. Main Idea(s) and Supporting Details/Summary: I can say the main idea in more than just a word and am careful to name the main idea of most of the text. I can also choose important supporting details (or points) that go with the main idea. I summarize briefly, leaving out unimportant things. Cross-Text(s) Synthesis: When I read two texts (or parts of a text) that teach about the same subtopic, I can find the information on a subtopic from both texts (or parts of one text) and put that information together. Critical Reading: Growing Ideas/Questioning the Text: When I talk or write about a text (or a text set) I not only summarize it, I also grow my own ideas. Writing Punctuation: I punctuated dialogue correctly with commas and quotation marks. While writing, I used punctuation at the end of every sentence. I wrote in ways that helped readers read with expression, reading some parts quickly, some slowly, some parts in one sort of voice and others in another. Informational Overall: I taught readers information about a subject. I put in ideas, observations, and questions. Informational Lead: I wrote a beginning in which I got readers ready to learn a lot of information about the subject Informational Transitions: I used words to show sequence such as before, after, then, and later. I also used words to show what didn’t fit such as however and but. Informational Ending: I wrote an ending that drew conclusions, asked questions, or suggested ways readers might respond. Informational Organization: I grouped my information into parts. Each part was mostly about one thing that connected to my big topic. Informational Elaboration: I wrote facts, definitions, details, and observations about my topic and explained some of them. Informational Craft: I chose expert words to teach readers a lot about the subject. I taught information in a way to interest readers. I may have used drawings, captions, or diagrams. Happy Fall, Y’all! We are nearing the end of first quarter and that means fall conferences are right around the corner. Thank you to the parents who have already signed-up via www.signupgenius.com. If you haven’t signed-up yet, there is still time. If none of the times posted work for you, Mrs. Childers and I would be happy to meet with you during our planning period at 2:10-2:55 or before school at 7:30 am. At conferences, you will start with your homeroom teacher and then move to your buddy class teacher for a total of 20 minutes. Just a reminder, the fall conference is just for parents. In the spring, students will be present to share their accomplishments at our Spring Showcase. Meet Miss Reynolds! Hello! My name is Brooke Reynolds and I am student teaching in Mrs. Endres’ room this semester. I met many of you on Back to School Night, but I thought I would properly introduce myself. I went to school in Bolivar from K-12. In fact, I even had Mrs. Endres as my third grade teacher! I graduated in 2016 and I am at SBU getting my teaching degree. I have loved getting to know your students and working with them. Right now, I have been teaching phonics lessons. I started teaching the Mystery Unit in reading today and will begin writing in the middle of October. If you ever have a question for me, my school email is [email protected]. Your students are fantastic and I am looking forward to the rest of the semester! Reading Logs Hats off to both students and parents for the meaningful reading that took place in September! The reading logs were filled out perfectly with reading records that showed students were completing entire books. This is one of the monthly goals—reading with grit. Several students read 3-4 books this month at home. Reading an entire chapter book builds reading stamina and strengthens episodic memory. Just a quick reminder about the nightly reading homework: students are asked to read four times a week for a minimum of 25 minutes each day to make 100 minutes of reading a week. I know that many students read much longer than that and even more than four days. The purpose of recording the reading is to serve as a record of books read and it helps in setting reading goals. Together students and I review how many books were completed, the genres that were chosen, and how many pages they can complete in a 25 minutes period of time. Reading researchers suggest that if the book is at the reading level of the student, he/she should be able to read 20 pages in a 30 minutes time period. Also, parents, please don’t feel that you need to fill in the reading log. Students are fully capable to fill out their own log. We have a reading log at school which they fill out every day. They are quite proficient. If you ever need a second reading log, students know where to find them in our classroom. This is a very responsible group of third graders! Quick reminder: Parents, you are allowed to read with or to your child. If some nights you want to read aloud the entire 25 minutes from a chapter book that you are sharing together, please do. Talk about the text when you are finished: What is happening in this chapter? Summarize what has happened to this point. What predictions can you make for the next chapter? Can you use your schema to make any connections? How is the setting affecting the character? Is there a problem? How are the characters attempting to solve the problem? How would you solve the problem? Are there any words that the author used that strike you as interesting? Why do you think the author chose that word? Alternating between students reading independently and students reading with someone are both beneficial to building episodic memory. Learning to enjoy reading is a lifetime gift you are giving your child. Reading Range We have completed the September DRA (Diagnostic Reading Assessment). This score is a jumping off point to help me choose books for partner reading (buddy books) and help guide students to self-select books for independent reading. To help with book selection, we teach students to read “with-in reach” books. These are books where they can read most words on the page easily and experience comprehension. “Vacation” books are books that are below their reading range that are great for fluency practice (reading smoothly with expression). “Challenging” books are books above their reading level where students have to apply reading decoding skills often and read slower (or reread to clarify) in order to comprehend. All three book levels are valuable. Students understand that a challenging book today may become a “just right” book in a few weeks or months. You might ask, “Does my child have to read a book in his/her reading range?” No. Freedom to choose is the greatest motivator. You will have to decide if the book is age appropriate for your child. Just because a third grader can read above his grade level does not mean the child is interested in more mature themes. Suggestion: Have your child read the “classics.” Books that you read at age eight and nine. Newberry Award winners. Show Me Award winners. Authors that you know are not going to push the limit on appropriate word choice or content. Also, encourage your child to read a variety of genres. Just like food, too much of one thing is not always the best. My philosophy on choosing books: Students should be allowed to read what interests them. Can you imagine an adult being told he/she must read books in their reading level based on a one-time test? The DRA and iReady assessments are pieces of a larger puzzle when looking at how your child reads. The DRA breaks down how a child reads into his fluency rate and comprehension. When looking at comprehension, I evaluate the responses they make. When reading, I am looking at your child’s word attack skills. What strategies does this child utilize when presented with a challenging word? Does he/she chunk it? Sound it out letter by letter? When a word is said incorrectly, is it a visual problem, structure problem, or meaning problem? Where did the error occur? Beginning, middle, or end? Is there a pattern on how the errors are made? Does the child omit words or add words when reading? Does the child remember to stop at end punctuation? Does the child read in long phrases or short choppy ones? Does the child read with expression or in a mechanical way? Does the child notice when an error is made and then go back and retry the word again? Does the child recognize that what he read did not make sense? Does the child have visual problems tracking from left to right and then moving down a line? Lots to think about. Of priority along with the ability to read is the ENJOYMENT factor. Does your child enjoy reading? My goal is to make reading interesting by providing students with various genres and topics to read about. I want to spark an interest in reading to KNOW and reading to ENJOY. I will be supporting, encouraging, and celebrating their reading endeavors! Phonics Instruction We have completed Unit 9 of Fundations and are working our way through Unit 10. Papers with trick words (sight words) to study at home were in a study packet that was sent home on Monday. Fundation instruction includes spelling practice—looking at various spelling patterns and letters that represent those sounds. Our phonics instruction for 30 minutes a day supports our reading curriculum and complies with the dyslexia mandate. Miss Reynolds, our student teacher, did an awesome job teaching Unit 9! Our class scored first place out of the eight third grade classrooms on the Unit 9 assessment. We were pretty excited with our performance! Mystery Unit We kicked off our Mystery Unit by dressing like detectives--mustaches and all! We are currently in the first bend: “Understanding the Mystery.” We are learning to draw all we know about solving mysteries to read mysteries. Our goal is to solve the mystery before the crime solver in our book does. We are focused on making predictions. With mysteries our predictions involve suspects, motives and opportunities. We will see in upcoming lessons that mysteries follow common patterns. There’s a crime solver, detective helpers, clues, suspects, alibis, and red herrings. Plots have twists and turns which keep us thinking. Our mystery unit will help us apply our comprehension work from this type of fiction to other types of fiction reading. Students will be reading and discussing with partners many, many mysteries. Writer’s Workshop We have another week in our Crafting True Stories unit. We are working on our second personal narrative. Students have learned to be the captain of their own writing. They are able to take their moment in time story through the writing process—idea, draft, revision, edit, and final copy. Students have practiced various leads, paragraphing, transition words, sensory details, figurative language, external and internal dialogue, and effective endings. They’ve learned to storytell—letting their voice shine through as they tell the story bit by bit. We will celebrate our writing at the end of this unit. Our next unit will move towards nonfiction writing. I have several students ready to load up on informational text! Character Word Student of the Month for September Our Character Word of the Month for September was Responsibility. We have several students in our classroom who show responsibility every day in the way they conduct themselves in the classroom, hallway, lunchroom, at specials and recess. This month our student spotlight is on Elijah Cooper. Elijah exemplifies responsibility in our classroom community. He takes care of our pencil trays morning and afternoons, sorts lunch sticks, and generally picks-up around the room. He was never asked to do these tasks but from the beginning of the year, he took it upon himself to look for jobs that help our community run smoothly. Elijah never asks for recognition, but he deserves it! He does these tasks to be helpful and he does them consistently. I want to give a big shout out to Elijah, for modeling what it looks like to see a need and do it to the best of his ability. Thank you, Eli! Three snaps--Snap, Snap, Snap!! A note from Mrs. Endres… Thank you to the parents who sent in candy and soda pop for the Care to Learn Fall Festival. Thank you to all parents for doing an awesome job parenting. You have wonderful children who are interesting, fun, and easy to work with. This class enjoys being together. We had the best time playing games at our reading celebration last week. I am looking forward to indoor recess! I am a board game player and so are these kids. I hope you get the chance to go out and enjoy this fall weather—I hear it is coming. Thank you for your continued support. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone in a few weeks! If you need anything, please let me know. Joyfully, Mrs. Endres Important Dates: October 4: Homecoming Parade, 2:35 (We will watch from BIS.) October 7: NO SCHOOL October 8: Title Family Night, 5:30-6:30 (Mrs. Francisco’s students) October 9: Walk to School Event 7:30 a.m. (More details to come later) October 9: Skype Author Visit for 3rd Grade October 11: End of 1st Quarter October 17-24: Scholastic Book Fair in the BIS Library (NO class book club order this month so we can support the Book Fair.) October 21: Happy Birthday, Lincoln and Happy Birthday, Melody!! October 21-24: Red Ribbon Week (These are dress-up days.) October 21-24 Parent-Teacher Conferences October 22: School Picture Retakes October 25: No School October 28: No School SECOND QUARTER STANDARDS (BEGINS OCTOBER 14) Unit 2 Reading: Nonfiction
Unit 3 Writing: Information Units of Study (Up the Ladder)/The Art of Information Writing (Book 2) **Note: Up the Ladder Bends 1-2 only.
September Newsletter Happy September! We’re off to a great start in Room 114! Our focus for August was routines, organization, and attitude. Please take a peek at some of what we’ve accomplished in August! Growth Mindset Students were introduced to the book Ish by Peter Reynolds. In the book, the main character likes to draw but when he is told that his drawings don’t look like his intended objects, he crumples up his work after each try and throws his works of art into a trashcan. Later, his sister comes to talk to him about why he’s not drawing anymore. When he confesses that his work is not any good, she takes him to her bedroom where he discovers that she has decorated her walls with his crumpled up “mistakes.” His sister leads him to understand that his works of art are like an “ish.” His painting of a vase looks “vase-ish.” This term is how we are referring to our first attempts at mastering new objectives or creating what we see in our mind’s eye. Our attempts might not be perfect at first, but with practice and effort, we will improve and reach our goal. To support all the budding artists and writers in our room, each student was given an “ish” journal where they can create and record their personal thoughts. These “ish” journals are very popular with the class. During our chapter book read aloud or before school, students are invited to draw their mind movies. Students are eager to visualize, create, and annotate their thoughts. Research shows that our cognition and ability to learn is linked to what we believe about our ability--students have to believe in themselves to unlock their full potential. My goal this year is be an encourager and a promoter providing many diverse opportunities for personal and academic growth. I want all my students to achieve their goals and more importantly, leave third grade feeling confident with a positive self-worth. Last week we read two books about kindness to get us thinking about including others. The books, Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson and The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig reminded us to be aware of others around us and accept those who are different. Friendship is a gift to give. To go along with accepting others, our read aloud focus moved on to the theme “Teamwork.” Everyone on a team has something to contribute. Sometimes a task just requires one dedicated individual while other times it takes a partner or group to achieve success. Pop’s Bridge by Eve Bunting helped us realize that though everyone has a different role in a project, all roles are equally important to the group’s success. This week we will continue our discussion on teamwork with Frederick and Swimmy by Leo Lionni, and The Great Fuzz Frenzy by Janet Stevens. Later this month, we are moving on to the theme, “Believe in Yourself.” Read aloud books will focus on celebrating our uniqueness. Organization We have many of our notebooks/folders in order for organizing our learning this year. We’ve learned how to use each component and we’ve learned the reasoning behind each piece. We are slowly adding our reading and writing journals. Right now our ELA Reading Life binder is being used for our school reading log and our first reading progression grid. The reading progression helps us with goal setting showing us where we want to go in our reading. There are components that make a good reader with examples of what good readers look like and sound like charted. We’ve looked at the first component—fluency--already. We’ve also started our writing process folder which we call our “pencil folder” because there is a big yellow pencil on a bright rainbow four-pocket folder where students move their written pieces from prewriting-draft-revise-edit to final copy. Students have published two short personal narratives which we call “trouble stories.” The trouble starts, trouble gets worse, and trouble gets resolved. These stories are structured with a beginning, middle, and end. Students were introduced to revising for elaboration—adding more details and adding on with “twin sentences.” Students worked on the quality of their writing with an introduction to adding dialogue. Students moved from writing true trouble stories to writing realistic fiction pieces. Students developed a fictitious character with observable character traits and allowed him/her to experience a problem or challenge. The character shared feelings, thoughts, and dialogue in the story. We will continue to work on wrapping up a story with a powerful ending. We will be adding a “ketchup” folder for work in progress and continue with the daily take-home folder—our beloved Hippo--for assignments that need to be completed at home. Whew! Who says third grade isn’t busy! Books We’ve Shared Our class is keeping a record of the books that we share on the carpet. We read content related books throughout the day as a way to build schema, initiate meaningful conversation, and imitate author’s craft. We use mentor texts for reading comprehension strategies, grammar, writing modes/author’s craft, social studies, and math. Reading builds our episodic memory, increases our vocabulary, stirs our imagination, and helps us articulate our thoughts with partners and in small group situations. I can’t begin to tell you the benefits of taking time to read orally. Last year my class read 154 books together not counting the books that were read in partnerships/book clubs or independently. So many rich conversations! It is a joy for me to search for new books that build character, provoke thought, and add to our schema. Besides using these mentor texts across subject areas, we will always be reading a chapter book. Currently, we are reading an oldie but goodie--Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary. Even though Henry is a boy from Washington state in the 1950’s, his desire to seek adventure, get along with his neighbors and classmates, and avoid embarrassing moments are much like any kid no matter the era. Sometimes it seems that trouble comes looking for Henry, but in the end, his problems get solved in a positive way that brings him an unexpected boon. Progress Reports Progress Reports will be coming home on Friday. The progress report will give you an update on the instruction taking place in all subject areas. The progress report will also inform you of your child’s reading behaviors in the ELA classroom. Please read, sign, cut off the bottom, and return to school so I know that you’ve seen the report. Please remember that we use Standards Based Grading so there will be no letter grades on the report. At conferences, teachers will show student work and progress towards the standards. At the bottom of this email I have pasted the 1st Quarter I Can Statements so you can look them over before then. These are the ELA standards that we are working on each day with our ELA curriculum from TCRWP—Teacher’s College Reading Writing Project--Units of Study (otherwise referred to as Lucy Calkins who is the original author). Beginning of the Year Reading Assessments This week students will take a Diagnostic Reading Assessment one-on-one with me at the kidney table. This assessment has students read a leveled text and orally answer comprehension questions. A timer is used to gage independent reading fluency. This assessment is relaxed with students reading text that is comfortable for them with the teacher. Students usually enjoy this time with the teacher talking about a fiction passage. This assessment is another piece that helps me understand your child as a reader. I have already listened to each student read orally making anecdotal records of basic reading skills. With all three pieces of information—the iReady reading assessment on the chromebooks, the DRA progress monitoring piece, and the anecdotal records—I am able to help students choose books “within reach,” set reading goals, and work towards improving specific areas of their reading. Students are now ready to form book partnerships where they read the same book as a “book buddy” and discuss key elements. Later we will form “book clubs” where four students will share their reading and work on set standards. We are settling in to our reading routine in reader’s workshop! Grandparent’s Day Grandparent’s Day is coming up on Tuesday, September 10 at 9:00 am. (Flier from office to come this week.) All grandparents need to bring a photo ID. Grandparents will meet in the lobby before being escorted down to our room. We will visit with grandparents in the classroom for thirty minutes before adjourning to the cafeteria for cookies and punch. The entire event lasts about an hour. If your child’s grandparents are unable to attend, you may invite a family friend or neighbor to be an honored guest. We understand that some grandparents live out of state or aren’t physically able to attend. Students who do not have a special visitor will be paired up with another grandparent and classmate so he/she may receive that special attention. PBS Rewards We have completed seven lessons on positive behavior in various settings around the school and bus. Students learned how to be respectful, responsible and safe in the classroom, hallways, restroom, cafeteria, playground, bus, and all settings. Together we created charts of what positive behavior would look like and sound like in those places. We also discussed earning DOJO points to save for personal rewards and earning class letters from other teachers to spell “BIS Liberators!” so the class can choose a group reward. Our class has earned their first PBS reward to be chosen on Tuesday. The Explorers are doing a wonderful job following school-wide expectations! Congrats! Scholastic Book Order A Scholastic Book Club flier will be coming home on Tuesday. You may order online or use the form on the back of the flier. Please make checks payable to Scholastic News. Let’s try to have our orders turned in by Wednesday, September 11, if possible. If you order online our class code is L7BC2. Thank you! Class Blog I’ve uploaded pictures from August to our class blog at www.endresgrade3.weebly.com. THANK YOU, Parents! Thank you for providing support for students to complete their nightly reading homework. The Pizza Hut Book It program will officially begin October 1. I will attach a free personal pan pizza coupon to completed September reading logs. Until then, I’ve conferenced with students over August reading logs and they were allowed to choose a “Scooby snack” or DOJO points. Explorers are off to a great start! We are getting to know one another and learning how to work together in our classroom community. We’ve learned several procedures and organizational habits to help our day run smoothly. This is a wonderful group of kind, respectful, intelligent, energetic students who come each day ready to learn. Thank you for sharing your children with me. Hope you have a wonderful September! I’ll stay in touch…please feel free to do the same. Blessings, Mrs. Endres Important Dates: September 3-6: DRA Progress Monitoring September 4: Class STUCO elections in our room September 10: Grandparent’s Day for 3rd Grade 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. September 17: Picture Day for Blue Team (That’s us!) September 20: BIS Health Fair September 23: Happy Birthday to Drayven! September 23: Mile Run in P.E. for Endres’ Explorers September 26: Career Day 8:10-11:00 p.m. Reading: 1st Quarter: Inferring about Characters and Other Story Elements: Character Traits: When a character makes a decision and does something, I can usually figure out why, based on what I know of the character and what happened earlier. Envisioning/Predicting: I can predict what the main character will do, say, and think (and how the character will react to things) based on earlier parts of the text. I can explain the reasons for my predictions. Retelling/Summary/Synthesis: When I finish a book, I can briefly summarize it in a way that shows what I know about the story and its story elements. Analyzing Author’s Craft: I notice when the author has done something that stands out—elaborated on a part, used an image or line repeatedly, used figurative language, begun or ended a text in an unusual way. My answer shows that I think about how the author’s choice supports something important to the story. Writing: 1st Quarter: Overall Narrative: I told the story bit by bit. Narrative Lead: I wrote a beginning in which I helped readers know who the characters were and what the setting was in my story. Narrative Transitions: I told my story in order by using phrases such as a little later and after that. Narrative Ending: I chose the action, talk, or feeling that would make a good ending and worked to write it well. Narrative Organization: I used paragraphs and skipped lines to separate what happened first from what happened later (and finally in my story). Narrative Elaboration: I worked to show what happened to (and in) my characters. Narrative Craft: I not only told my story, but also wrote it in ways that got readers to picture what was happening and that brought my story to life. Punctuation: I punctuated dialogue correctly with commas and quotation marks. While writing, I used punctuation at the end of every sentence. I wrote in ways that helped readers read with expression, reading some parts quickly, some slowly, some parts in one sort of voice and others in another. Welcome to the Endres' Explorers! Third grade is a memorable year with major milestones in reading, writing, and math. I'm honored to be a part of your child's academic journey. Today was a great first day! I'm looking forward to the relationships we will build in our classroom community and all the quality learning that will take place. My goal is for there to be joy on the journey!
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AuthorHello! My name is Heidi…I love my family, the Lord, and chai tea lattes! I’m a wife to an amazing husband, mama to four wonderful kids, new Grammy to a cute baby boy, and a chubby 3rd grade teacher. (I've eaten too many birthday cupcakes!) I love people, learning, and creating. Thanks for stopping by! May you be blessed today as you bless others. Archives
March 2020
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