Great first week!

We had a great first week together!  Thank you!  Today in Reader's Workshop, we talked a lot about ways readers choose good books.  We watched and listened to the "I Pick" youtube video to learn how readers choose good books.  We also discussed and brainstormed how to choose a good book from our library, shown on the anchor chart here!  Please remember to keep these strategies in mind when choosing a good book to read at home too!  Have a great long weekend!  See you Tuesday!

First Day!

Welcome!  What a wonderful first day of school we had!  The students were very busy...and learned a lot about 3rd grade routines, procedures, and expectations!  We talked about many expectations and routines that will happen throughout the entire school year!  I loved introducing our Poetry journal today, which will be our daily morning routine.  We also got to know one another better with our activity "Find Someone Who..."  Lastly, please look for many important papers tonight in your child's Thursday folder.  Please sign and return page 45 of our handbook as well.  Thank you for a GREAT first day!  These are some photos of our classroom!  Enjoy!

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Today was the teacher's first official day back to work.  We were eagerly catching up with one another, chatting about our summer, and busily preparing for our upcoming year!  What a day!  While I spent most of my day reading about upcoming changes to our school, I did fit in time for a few good reads.  I continue to read teacher books this week, including my new favorite Notice and Note.  From this book, I have learned about new "close reading" strategies that we will implement in Reader's Workshop!  Be sure to check them out on our Reading Wall at Meet-N-Greet tomorrow!  I also read some great books tonight with my daughters, including Alice the Fairy (again, one of Brooklyn's favorites!) and Good Night Ocean.  We love the 'Good Night...' series, which includes books like Good Night Farm and Good Night Connecticut.  On that note, good night, tomorrow will be another busy day at school!  I'm off to catch some Zzzzzzz's...

Summer Mosaic

Summer 2013

My Summer Mosaic!  I had a wonderful summer with my girls.  We started each morning with a long walk with friends through our neighborhood.  Then, we often went to the park, swimming at friend's pools, or just playing in our backyard.  We also got to spend 2 week at a beach cottage in Waterford, CT!  We were with lots of family members, including grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles!  We had a blast swimming, finding hermit crabs, and building sand castles.  Aside from my one week at UConn to complete my 6th year certificate, I cherished all my moments with my daughters!  

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

This week I am VERY busy setting up our classroom, however I am squeezing in some reading time too!  In fact, over the weekend, I started and nearly finished Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide.  It's a great refresher on Writer's Workshop!  I have taught Writer's Workshop for years but with CCSS coming, I needed a bit of a refresher.  In addition to this book, I am also reading many websites and finding great resources for our upcoming school year on both Reader's and Writer's Workshop.  My favorite is The Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project.  Lastly, each night we read our daughters two books before bed.  Tonight we read Alice the Fairy and Ten Little Ladybugs!

My very first "It's Monday! What Are You Reading!"

I'm thrilled to join the meme known as "It's Monday!  What Are You Reading?"  I learned that a "meme" is a way to share ideas...so every Monday I will share what I am reading!  This meme was started by Sheila at Book Journeys but I discovered it initially on one of my favorite blogs, Teach Mentor Texts.

This week, I am reading Pathways to the Common Core by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth, and Christopher Lehman.  Lucy Calkins is one of my favorite authors of teachers' books!  I am reading this book to catch me up on the CCSS which will be guiding our Language Arts instruction from here on out.  I missed one of our CCSS professional development sessions in the spring while I was on maternity leave, so I am hoping this will update me.  I have learned a lot about how the standards came to be, what the anchor standards are all about, and various "pathways" for teaching with the standards.  "Close reading" is certainly a term you'll hear often in 3rd grade.

In future "It's Monday!  What Are You Reading" memes, I will share books I read with my daughters, read-alouds from our classroom, and more grade-3 friendly books!  

Until next Monday...keep reading!

Meet Mrs. Crawford

I hope you enjoy this short video I put together to introduce myself to my students and families!