Ricardo Matthews' Visit

Today has been a great day at Crestwood Elementary.  We enjoyed the Big Blast and then were treated with visit from NFL player Ricardo Matthews.  We had skyped with him earlier this month, so we were delighted when he stopped by in person to visit with the third and fifth graders.  He even had some fun at our Big Blast this morning with us!

Ricardo did a great job of sharing the importance of hard work, respect, and responsibility with the students.  He reminded them that you might not always want to do what you are asked to do in school, but it is getting you ready for your adult life.  Don't develop bad habits when you are young and be the best that you can be!  Students loved asking him more questions about his life and career in the NFL.  Good luck with your NFL career, Ricardo!

Big Blast!

Students enjoyed their Big Blast Celebration this morning!  

Here are a few photos to enjoy from the event!

Spring Field Trip Volunteers

Your child will be bringing home this paper note tomorrow.  Please read carefully, and if you wish to volunteer return the bottom section to school as soon as possible.

Thanks! 

Spring Field Trip Volunteers Needed

The last few months of 3^rd grade will be a very busy time!  Students have been working extremely hard and it is fun to reflect back on how much they have learned and matured since last fall.  We have two big all day field trips this spring that we will need volunteers for.  Due to bus space and destination requests, we are limited on the number of parent volunteers we can take each time.  (I wish I could take everyone along!)  If you are interested in chaperoning for either trip, please sign the bottom of this sheet and have your child return it to school.  We will draw names for the chaperones, and I will contact you.  Remember Dads are always welcome/encouraged to chaperone too!

Trip 1- The Iowa Dairy Story at NICC’s Calmar Campus Dairy Complex (8:45-3:00) on Friday, May 1^st  

Trip 2- National Eagle Center/Lark Toy Museum in Wabasha, MN (7:30-3:15) on Monday, May 18^th  

___________________________________________

Parent Name: ___________________________

Field Trip(s) Interested in Chaperoning:

       ______ Dairy Field Trip (Calmar, Iowa)

       ______ Eagle Center (Wabasha, Minnesota)

Book Clubs are off and running.....

Student "Book Clubs" are officially kicked off.  The book clubs are a great way to encourage the students to read longer books, really track their thinking, and discuss the book with other team members.  Today we watched a small group model a great book discussion over a novel they had read (picture above).  They showed us how it isn't just sharing, but instead having a real conversation about the story.  It was fun to watch them laugh and talk about their favorite parts of the story.  We have now split our class into 5 different book teams and today they started their stories.  They will meet each Tuesday and Friday to discuss their assigned reading selection.  It was awesome to watch the excitement as students began their books!

As students read they are required to mark their "Reading Tracks" in their book with sticky notes.  This helps them come prepared for each Tuesday and Friday's book group discussion.   Inside their book bag is a copy of their reading tracks, sticky notes, and procedures to help them along the way.

It is each student's responsibility to come prepared for each meeting.  We talked about how important it was for your team to be able to depend on you.  Here's to hoping each and every third grader gets "lost" reading in a great book and brings some wonderful thoughts to their book clubs.

   Read on......!

March Days!!!!

Hooray- the sunshine has finally found us in northeast Iowa.  It is great to have warm days to go out and play at recess.  Our playground is rather muddy and sloppy.... so please continue to send boots (or extra old shoes) to school.  It helps keep our classroom, hallways, and kids cleaner when the kids wear boots for recess. Also remind your student to dress for the weather.  Our morning recess is at 10 AM and it is often between 30-40 degrees yet.  Thanks for your help!

Here are a few photos from the last few weeks....

5th graders shared their "Book in a Bottle" projects with us.

We awarded the Gumball Machine for our fist classmate to master all 

of their multiplication facts on timed tests.  A second gumball machine will
be awarded at the end of the year.  Student names will be entered in the drawing
as they master their 0-10 multiplication facts as part of our "Gumball Challenge."

Students show off their "Wonder Bubble" projects right before taking them home.

They are working hard on their next research topic of choice during our "I wonder..." time.

Two of our students earned hats as part of our "Reading Rally" for 

Time for Kids subscriptions.

In math we are starting a unit on geometry.  We are making connections between
our coding work and angles and rotations.  In math centers, students have
been working coding our cup stack challenges. 

First in Math is a favorite independent math website to work on.

In math we have been studying the properties of triangles.  Students

worked on making different types of triangles using straws and pipe cleaners.