Reading Buddies!

Every Friday our class goes down to Ms. Schnider's Kindergarten classroom for Reading Buddies.  Reading out loud helps build fluency.  Reading to Kindergarteners makes your 3rd Grader feel really, really smart (which of course, you know they actually are.)

BBQin' with James John PTA

Gigi & Joanne and her Kindergartner Oliver.

Yesterday we had a wonderful BBQ after school put on my Our Awesome PTA.

The Wasmuths with Ristom

Chevella passing out several healthy food options.

Joe Purkey explaining the Tao of Grilling.

Super Friends: Dahila & Ida

Damian's Mom, Alice and Justine

Katie serving up the fruit.

Renne's Mom, Colette and Doris 

Kai is Walking to Defeat ALS this Sunday

Kai's Aunt was diagnosed with ALS this past June.  


He is walking this Sunday with his family to 
support his Aunt and others battling this terrible 
disease.

Portland Walk to Defeat ALS®:

Thank you for helping us reach our 

fundraising goal! Together we can make a 

difference in the lives of those affected by Lou Gehrig's Disease. Our team is 

committed to raising money to support people in our community with ALS & spread 

awareness of the urgency to find treatment & a cure.

http://webor.alsa.org/goto
http://webor.alsa.org/goto
webor.alsa.org

http://webor.alsa.org/goto

webor.alsa.org

TIME for Kids

Once a week we get TIME (for kids) delivered to our class.  Not only does it develop your 3rd Grader's reading comprehension, it's a great addition to our Social Studies program and frequently leads to questions about current events, geography, history and science.

The kids partner read the magazine.

They fill out a comprehension quiz at the end.

We also meet in small groups.

Shoes FOR School

As you know, your 3rd Graders are active. When they're here at school, they are just as busy. Running and jumping around doesn't just happen at recess, we also have PE every Tuesday & Thursday. There isn't a day of the week where dress shoes are appropriate. Please always send your 3rd Grader to school everyday with shoes they can run in.

Computers. They're not just for State Testing anymore.

This morning our class went into our computer lab here at James John. Ms Rolfe reminded us how to turn on our laptops, open programs and save work in our desktop folders.

Buy Scrips, Support Our School

James John Family, Dahlia and her mom, Justine.

Every Friday a member of Our Award Winning PTA will be out in front of our school selling Scrip.
What is Scrip? Scrip are gift cards to many of the business you already shop at.  You get to spend the full value of the Gift Card- while our school gets up to 12% of your purchase price back.  It's an easy and completely painless way to make your kids school an even better place to be.  Scrip orders are due in the office every Monday.
Check out the other really great ways you can support our school.

Thank You for the Plant Alexus

Alexus and her family brought in a beautiful plant for our classroom today.

Homework Packet Due Tomorrow

Just a reminder that Homework is due tomorrow. If your 3rd Grader forgets it there will be extra time for makeup Friday afternoon.

Bedtime is Braintime

Great job parents getting your 3rd Grader to school by 8:00 every morning.  I have noticed that quite a few kids in our class are having a hard time waking up in the morning when they get to school and more than a few have a hard time being alert and active all day.  How do you know if your kid is getting enough sleep?  Check out what the researchers from the University of Michigan have to say:                   

What do I need to know about school-age children and sleep?

School-aged children still need somewhere between 9 and 12 hours of sleep at night. At this age, kids usually start a trend toward becoming more and more sleep deprived. As the parents, you will need to help figure out how much sleep your child needs. Your child is getting the right amount of sleep if they:

• Can fall asleep within 15 to 30 minutes.
• Can wake up easily at the time they need to get up and don't need you to keep bugging them to get up.
• Are awake and alert all day, and don't need a nap during the day.  Check with your child’s teacher and make sure your child is able to stay awake and alert during school.

In other words, if your child can go to bed, fall asleep easily, wake up easily, and not be tired during the day, then they're probably getting enough sleep.

Taken from: http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/sleep.htm#childrens  

New Writings Are Up

 Today we finished publishing our first writings of the year.  You can find them all up under Student Writings just above this posting. Your 3rd Grader has been writing since Kindergarten, or before.
In 2nd Grade they began doing more than one copy of their writing to make it neater and add more details.   This year we will eventually take our writings through the full writing process: (Rough Draft, Revising, Editing and Final Copy)

Math-magicians!

It is a brand new year and we (and the rest of Portland Public Schools) launched into a brand new math curriculum this week. Your 3rd grader has been working really hard.

We made people glyphs that told a lot of information about how we felt about Math. Ask your 3rd Grader what their people glyph said about them.


We grouped our glyphs by several different traits.



We've also been talking about our new calendar and what each day's calendar piece measures.


















Ask your 3rd Grader what measurement tools they can find around the house- and what they measure.

We are off to a great start!

Eva & Savanna introducing each other to the class.

It's been a great week in Room 12, despite the heat.  Your 3rd Grader has already written and shared an interview of their locker buddy, met their new student teacher Ms. Fraser, worked through several different math problems involving skip counting, finding patterns, contrasting comparing and grouping by traits, played twenty or bust, started their "I Am From" poems, learned a new schedule, made new friends, organized their desks, had a fire drill, read at least one book, read out loud to me, had four chapters read out loud to them in our new read aloud book, visited with our counselor Ms. Nahurski, looked up words on our wordwall, had P.E, got new water bottles, designed their homework packet cover,  laughed a lot at Mr. Leach, got all of their very important beginning of the school year forms in (thank you parents) and went home sweaty and tired every single day. . . . . . . that was just the last four days.
Thank you parents for helping your child transition from summer to school this week.  Thank you so much for getting them here by 8:00, I know it's tough.
Have a restful weekend.  We start a full week of school Monday.

Thanks for the Plant Eva!

Eva and her family were nice enough to bring in a really cool houseplant for our class today.

Besides looking really cool, houseplants help us all breathe a little easier in our classroom.

Meet Ms. Fraser

Ms. Fraser working with a math group this morning.

This fall, our class is incredibly lucky to have Ms. Fraser joining our class.
Ms. Fraser is a senior at University of Portland and she is doing her initial student teaching in our classroom.

Over the past three years she has worked with students at George Middle School, Chief Joseph Elementary, and Roosevelt High School.

You will find her working hard with your Third Grader, every morning in our classroom this fall.

Parent Homework

Today your 3rd Grader came home with a few forms to fill out.  Please get them back to us here at school as soon as possible.
Apparently there are prizes for kids who can get them in quickly.

Hot, Hot, Hot!

Don't put away the summer clothes yet.  The weather is summer-like this week and our room is very, very warm.  Please send your child to school in summer clothes.  Shorts and T-shirts are great.  Sending them with a water bottle would be a fantastic idea, not just this week- but for the whole year.  I'll make sure it goes home on Friday so you can wash it out.



Welcome Parents and Kids

Dear Parents and Families of Room 12,

This is a blog of all of the happenings of Room 12.  Here you will be able to read and see pictures,  and video of what your kid has been up to in Third Grade.   I created this blog with YOU (the parents) in mind.  Your kids already know what's been happening.  However, I know that most of them don't feel like sitting down and talking about their day when they get home.  They've been sitting all day and want to go play (after their homework is done of course).  Hopefully this will be a place for you to get "insider" information on your kid along with more school information than you would ever want to know.  You can also post responses to anything you see on the blog, or email me directly.
You can also have this blog send updates to your Facebook or Twitter account.

From my family to yours, here's to a great school year!

-Sam Leach

Join the Cool Kids!

Join one of the hippest PTA's  in . . . well . . . the    world.  Our James John PTA is made up of people just like you.  People who are committed to our kids.