Just a quick post this week.  Please know that the faculty at Worthington Elementary  are committed to keeping our children safe. 
We have a high school orchestra concert tomorrow morning.  The symphonic choir will sing through the halls on Wednesday.  Thursday brings the class breakfast and the Jaycee's Secret Santa and sing-a-long.  I was able to get everything on our child's list- a bike, skateboard, rip sticks, and clothes.  Many, many thanks for your generosity!
Thanks, also, to Johanna's momma and grandmomma.  They brought in stollen and gingerbread cookies for us to sample after we studied the traditions of Germany!  
We won't have a spelling test this week, nor a number of the week.  Please continue to practice those pesky times tables!  We have introduced 2, 5, 3, and will start 4 when we get back.

I'd like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Enjoy those babies...I will surely miss them these next two weeks!

Just a reminder to talk about the Seven Habits...

	Habit 1 — Be Proactive You're in Charge I am a responsible person. I take initiative. I choose my actions, attitudes, and moods. I do not blame others for my wrong actions. I do the right thing without being asked, even when no one is looking.
	Habit 2 — Begin with the End in Mind Have a Plan I plan ahead and set goals. I do things that have meaning and make a difference. I am an important part of my classroom and contribute to my school’s mission and vision. I look for ways to be a good citizen.
	Habit 3 — Put First Things First Work First, Then Play I spend my time on things that are most important. This means I say no to things I know I should not do. I set priorities, make a schedule, and follow my plan. I am disciplined and organized.
	Habit 4 — Think Win-Win Everyone Can Win I balance courage for getting what I want with consideration for what others want. I make deposits in others’ Emotional Bank Accounts. When conflicts arise, I look for third alternatives.
	Habit 5 — Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood Listen Before You Talk I listen to other people’s ideas and feelings. I try to see things from their viewpoints. I listen to others without interrupting. I am confident in voicing my ideas. I look people in the eyes when talking.
	Habit 6 — Synergize Together Is Better I value other people’s strengths and learn from them. I get along well with others, even people who are different than me. I work well in groups. I seek out other people’s ideas to solve problems because I know that by teaming with others we can create better solutions than anyone of us can alone. I am humble.
	Habit 7 — Sharpen The Saw Balance Feels Best I take care of my body by eating right, exercising and getting sleep. I spend time with family and friends. I learn in lots of ways and lots of places, not just at school. I find meaningful ways to help others.

It's hard to believe that we only have 9 more days until Christmas break!  SO glad that I got that nasty flu out of the way...we keep washing those hands and sanitize our desks often.  Our class seems to have been spared...fingers crossed.
This week we will be reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.  It is a favorite of mine that I love to share with the kids each year.  It brings a beautiful message about acceptance and the meaning of giving.
 We also will be "traveling" around the world studying the traditions of many different countries.  We get to board our Polar Express and explore how different cultures celebrate this time of year.  Make sure you check out our passports and luggage tags!
Please keep sending in donations for our Secret Santa!  I'd like to get our child's shopping completed this weekend, and it would be nice to get most of the things on the list.  So far, I think we are at $60.  The kids have been so kind and generous...anytime they find change on the playground, it goes into the  jar!!
Kelley, Lukas' mom, is planning our Christmas breakfast that will be Thursday, December 20th at 9:00.  If you didn't sign up to donate to this party and would like to contribute, please get in contact with her or send a note to go home with Lukas. 
We've got lots of fun(educational in disguise!)activities in the next two weeks...we'll be keeping busy and getting things done! 

Thanks for being a partner in your child's education! 

Tho fall OAA scores are in!  Third grade overall did well, with our class having a 90% passage rate.  This week, I plan on having student conferences to discuss each individual score with the kiddos.  If you have any questions AT ALL, please text me or give me a call! 
We are continuing to collect money for the Secret Santa child.  The kiddos can bring in any amount of money through December 14th.  That gives me time to shop!  What a fabulous way for this class to pay it forward!
We have started our multiplication facts last week.  Every week, we learn a new song/trick to help us memorize the facts.  We've learned how multiplication is repeated addition, and also how to show multiplication as arrays.  We really need to know the facts by heart, so that doesn't get in the way of the process.  You will see a practice log coming home this week.  Your child can practice any way that works for them...as long as they are practicing!  Each Friday we will have a 2 minute quiz.  They must achieve an 85% to pass.  If they don't reach 85%, they still must study that set for the next. week.  We will introduce new sets each week, and your child can retest on Wednesdays.
Mr. Saxton visited our class on Thursday!  He spoke and answered their questions, then read Big Al.  We made so many connections with the Seven Habits!  He loved the class so much, he'd like to come back and teach a social studies lesson!  Thanks, Mr. Saxton...you rock!!
Thank you for being a partner in your child's learning!

Thanksgiving week is here!!  Woot!  I have so much to be thankful for...something I try to acknowledge every day, not just this week.  I'm especially thankful for wonderful parents like you...sincerely.  I hope you enjoy your extra time with your children this week.  I can honestly say I will miss them! 

We FINALLY earned our Teamwork reward.  We usually get tons of compliments, but it took awhile to get a complete row of 10 on our hundreds chart.  They literally got 5 compliments in one day.  The kids chose as their reward....free reading time.  Yep.  Don't you love it?!  I threw in some ice cream, too.  ;)  We'll get to enjoy that tomorrow. 

The class and I have been studying the First Thanksgiving and using a really fun site...http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/  We learned a lot comparing our lives to the lives of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag.  The kids were very impressed with the bathroom facilities...or lack thereof..on the ship.  We used lots of visual imagery, especially when we learned about the journey on the ship.  Here's another great site...http://www.plimoth.org/.  Check them out!

We have been studying life cycles of different animals, and on Monday we will become Owl Barfologists.  (They love that term!) We will be dissecting owl pellets( we order them from a great company.  They heat them at high temps to kill germs and any critters in there.)  We will be sorting and graphing anything we find, making inferences on what the owls ate, drawing conclusions on their diet, and oodles more!  Don't forget to ask your Barfologists how they earned their "degree"!! Hee-hee!

Thanks for everything that you do for your kiddos...enjoy your week!

We have a busy few weeks coming up! I hope you are having fabulous conversations with your child about what we are accomplishing in room 17!
This week we will be taking the Terra Nova tests.  The district uses this data to determine gifted elegibility.  No need to loose sleep-we tackle this like we do everything, with 100% best effort!
We will be having our Thanksgiving luncheon this Thursday.  We have an adjusted schedule.  Third grade will eat from 11:50-12:20.  I loosk forward to seeing all of the volunteers and especially getting to eat lunch with the best class at Worthington!  :)
Please keep those food donations rolling in!  For every donation, my students will get a CHAMPs award.
This year we continue with the Jaycee's Secret Santa.  We will be collecting for a nine year old boy named James.  On his list:  a ripstick, bike, skateboard, size 10 shoe, size 32/32 jeans, socks, and large men's shirts.  I have been to get most everything on the list in the past.  I'm sure this year will be no different!  This is such a caring and compassionate class!  Thanks in advance for your generosity. 
As always, thank you for being a great partner in your child's education!

Sorry that I missed last week's post...I was out of town rooting on my hometown team!  We got a little wet, but had a great time sharpening the saw!
We have completed our Pumpkin Character projects!  The kids really out-did themselves.  I'll post some pictures this week. 
Our annual Food Drive starts this week.  Can goods and non-perishable items can be brought in anytime before Thanksgiving break. Let's break some records this year!
Worthington picture retakes will be Wednesday November 7th.
Our fabulous Veterans Day assembly will be Thursday November 8th. It is always a touching tribute to our Veterans.
Our Language arts standards this nine weeks are:

• inference
• context clues
• cause/effect
• sequence
• synonyms
• multiple meaning words
• homophones, metaphors
• using charts
• verbs
• using quotation marks and commas

We work on these in guided reading groups, whole group, intervention, using our reading anthology, leveled readers, and our new reading workshop novels.
In math, we will continue working on rounding and estimating, and then we start multiplication!  We will start times tests each week, so practice will be so important each night.  We also will introduce patterns and relationships, as well as geometry/solids and shapes.
Life cycles, rocks and minerals, and soil will be our focus in science, and we continue to explore communities in social studies.
I'm so proud of each and every student and the way they conducted themselves during our conferences this past nine weeks.  The way they explained themselves and more importantly, their learning, was impressive!  We will be setting new goals(love those big rocks!) and continue to monitor our progress.  As always, if you'd like to see their leadership notebooks, just ask your child to bring it home.  Thanks to all parents that came to share in your child's learning!
We will be talking about the Seven Habits in more detail...although the kiddos really amaze me with their understanding AND application.  What a wonderful atmosphere to work in!

It's hard to believe that the end of the first nine weeks is here! We will be taking our quarterly assessments this week: one in reading and one in math.  This year, we get to take them on the computer...something new and exciting for us.  We have been reviewing and should be ready to show what we know!
With fall in full swing, we will be doing some project-based learning about bats!  Be sure to check our  Wiki for links and photos.
We did not have a spelling contract or list this week because of our Thursday/Friday break.  We will start our new list for the week on Wednesday, and the contract will be due next Tuesday.
The board meeting this month is this coming Monday, October 22.  We will be having several students sharing their Leadership Notebooks and talking about the Seven Habits.  Feel free to stop by tomorrow, Monday the 22nd, at 5:30 in Worthington's cafeteria.
Thanks for being a partner in your child's education!

We had a lot of fun this week!  We practiced following directions while making a spider out of pretzel sticks and Oreos...and reviewed main idea while answering questions and completing a type 2 writing.  We also tackled our first writing project...by using lots of adjectives in our Haunted House for Sale project! They are currently decorating the hallway.   In a few short days we will be finishing up the first nine weeks of school and taking our quarterly assessments.  Time sure does fly...
This is a short week...no school for the kiddos on Thursday, October 18 and Friday, October 19.  I'll still ask them to complete a reading log, but we will not have a new spelling contract this week. 
Hopefully, the Pumpkin Character project is taking shape at home.  We will be starting our writing portion this week and finish it up by the end of the month. 

My favorite month is here!  This month we get to explore creative writing, and we complete two of our favorite projects!  Your child should have shown you the Character Pumpkin Project...these have been so much fun in the past and the kids really learn a lot about writing while having fun.  The actual Pumpkin Character is due at the end of the month...the kiddos will work on these at home. We will complete the writing portion here at school.  As long as your child is reading his/her book that we selected for the project, please record the reading log for their reading in the packet that we keep in the baggie.  If your child finishes the book, then they can go back to writing reading responses in the usual reading log.
I got this great idea from The Clutterfree Classroom.
We also will be creating a project called Haunted House for Sale!  We focus on descriptive words, grabbers, and persuasive writing...should be "boo-tiful month for writing! ;)

On our classroom Wiki, I create a Question of the Week.  I've asked your child to respond to that question sometime during the week.  I usually pertains to the skill we are working on.  Feel free to check it out!  You can access the Wiki from the school's website.  Just go to libraries, then Worthington, then Worthington Wikis, then classroom Wikis, then Mrs. Hornyak!
As always, thanks for being a partner in your child's education!

We've got a busy week ahead!  On Tuesday, we will be taking the fall OAA reading test.  It is a 2 1/2 hour reading comprehension test.  Students that score Advanced do not have to take it again in the spring, (when everyone will also take the Math OAA).  We have been using test-taking strategies and are calm, but excited to show what we know!  I plan on letting Mr. Thornsberry know which students remembered these strategies, and I think he has a little reward planned for them!

Conferences are scheduled for Thursday after school.  I need to meet with 1/2 of the class now and the other 1/2 in November.  If you did not get a conference form, you are still welcome to come in with your child from 3:30-4:00 and let your child show you their Leadership notebook.  Conferences this year are going to be student-led, which means your child will be explaining his/her progress to you using their Leadership notebooks.  I will be there to answer any questions that you have.  We have been practicing...can't wait to show you our progress!
We are continuing to work on main idea and supporting details.  This is such an important concept. We work on it quite a bit.  Math has us starting to round numbers, and in science we will be continuing our exploration of life sciences.  We will get more in depth in social studies by starting our text, Communities, and learning the continents and oceans.

I wanted to let you know that we do a LOT of our graded work in our math and reading/language arts notebooks.  It helps us review our progress, and especially saves on printing all those copies!  If you'd ever like to see them, just have your child ask to bring them home!  We use them everyday, so just be sure to kindly return them the next day.

Exciting news! 

Third grade is going on a field trip!  Thursday, September 27, 2012 we will be walking to the high school to watch a performance by jazz musician Arnett Howard.  The performance starts at 10:30.  We plan on having lunch in the park.  After lunch, we will be cleaning up a section of the park, which ties into the life sciences standards we cover as well as contributing to our Learn and Serve project.  We also will be doing some crayon rubbings of the historical timeline, which works in with our Social Studies standards.

Please let us know if your child will be packing his or her own lunch, or will be needing a sack lunch from the cafeteria.  If you are packing a lunch, please make sure everything is disposable. Dress for walking to the high school and for spending the day outside!

One of my big rocks this year(talk to your kiddos about what a big rock is!)is to update and inform parents of how our learning is progressing.  Hopefully, this blog will be one tool that will help me reach my personal goal!

I've had lots of questions about spelling...we do it a little differently this year!  Basically here's how it works:  On Wednesdays we get a spelling contract.  Each child can chose up to (and beyond) 4 activities to practice our weekly words.  They are differentiated, so there is something for all abilities.  Four activities, completed neatly and correctly, will earn an A, three activities a B, and so on.  We have practiced choosing wisely, and each child has a quick conference with me to make sure their choices are doable!  Each morning, we have about 15 minutes or so to work on the contract. I reminded them each day to work on it, but soon they won't need the reminder!  Most kiddos like to start on it as soon as they get here in the morning.  We keep the contract in our purple homework folders...1. so we know where it is and hopefully won't lose it and 2. if we chose to work on it at home, we can!  I find that this approach gives the kids numerous benefits... accountability, time management skills, empowerment in choice, not having lots of Friday tests, and not all pencil/paper/worksheets!
The contract is due on Tuesday of the following week, so the kids have an entire week to work on it.  We test on Tuesdays...hopefully that is written in our student agenda books each week.  Whew!

Welcome to Room 19's Blog!  We hope you enjoy exploring our world.  Third grade is a time of great change and growth.  Thank you for being a partner in the journey!