Because many of you are new to SOLs and ALL of your third graders are new to taking SOLs, I wanted to share bits of an article I read that might help your child.

Managing Test Anxiety:  Ideas for Students by Jim Wright

- Create a quiet, neat study area without distractions
- Make a study schedule with time set aside for fun activities also
- Create a study group with friends at BASE or around your neighborhood
- Pretend you are the teacher and teach the information to a friend
- Set aside time each day to study rather than waiting until the day before
- Make flashcards
- Create acronyms or acrostics like (D for Deciduous and Dying or Drop to know a deciduous tree  drops its leaves)
- Tell yourself you can do it!
- Take practice exams (you can go to http://www.doe.virginia.gov/testing/sol/released_tests/ to click on different content areas)
- Relax during the test!

And now the time moves quickly before our eyes!

We are finishing up content in the next few weeks and will then begin reviewing for the SOL tests.

Please look at each content tab as well as the dates section of this page.

Have a great week!

Simple Machines - Success!

Hi everyone!  What a great week we've had.  Most of our week consisted of building our compound machines using at least 3 simple machines.  Students were engaged, but I'm guessing they will sleep well this weekend!  :)

Please don't forget that students will have a 3rd Quarter math assessment this upcoming Wednesday.  They have a review guide, so please use that to help you study with them.  We will be reviewing on Monday and Tuesday, but if you can help at home, that would be appreciated!  :)  Please help in these areas:

-       Data and Graphing

-       Place Value

-       Writing/Saying a Number

-       Comparing

-       Rounding

-       Estimating

-       Money

-       Time

-       Computation (Addition/ Subtraction / Multiplication/ Division)

-       Fractions

-       Word Problems

Looking forward to a fun week to come!

The past few weeks have brought us many things...

- Learning about the ancient civilization, Mali
- Experiencing how simple machines work
- Making fraction models
- Reading and summarizing famous americans

The upcoming weeks are going to be fun-filled and super exciting!

Read each content tab to find out more...

STEAM NIGHT SCHEDULE:
6:00 - 8:00 - Used Book Sale
6:30 - 7:30 - Come see the simple machines in the classroom (come and go as you please)

Romans were walking the halls!

Thank you all for everything that made our Toga Day a success!  The students had such a great time.  I spoke with one parent today who said her daughter wore her toga all evening last night while watching Percy Jackson!  :)

Please read through the content tabs to find out what else has been happening in our classroom!

Have a wonderful weekend!

I do believe we will have a full week!

I don't know about the kiddos, but I am very excited to have a full week.  I'm not sure how many hours I have spent making plans and then changing them due to the weather, but I do know it's a lot!  I am just happy we are on the downhill side of winter!  :)

Please take a look at the content tabs to find out what we've been doing in class and what's to come in the upcoming week.

We will have a very short Valentine's celebration.  I will bring in goodies and IF the kids made Valentines, they can share them, but no pressure to make them and/or a box.

You will be receiving an email in the next week or so about Toga Day (FUN!!), which is scheduled on February 21st.  I'm not sure if that will come from me or from Melissa King, but please be on the lookout for that.

Have a wonderful day!

Teacher wonders if we will ever have a normal day again!

We have had two half days, two days off, and now snow.  Hmm...  I'm not sure what we have in store for us the rest of the week, but I'm hoping we can get to a sense of normalcy again soon!

Please see the content tabs for specific information for the past few weeks and the upcoming weeks.