Well, our school year is well underway!  What an AMAZING classroom family we have in Room 190! We have been busy with team building activities, getting to know each other and establishing classroom routines and expectations that will carry us through the entire year of third grade.

We seem to be quite a cohesive, cooperative group - helping each other when needed and collaborating effectively during classroom activities and projects.

Daily 5, our literacy block routine, is almost completely underway!  We are practicing building stamina in order to be able to work independently for 20 minute intervals during a 90 minute ELA block.  This management system for literacy allows for flexible, differentiated instruction in order to provide individual students support they need in order to become better readers and writers!

In Math, we have begun studying the concept of multiplication.  We have learned about factors and products, arrays, the Commutative Property of Multiplication and making combinations through multiplication.  This concept of multiplication may bode challenging for some, as our school delves into the newly adopted New York State Common Core Standards.  If you would like more information regarding these standards and what is now expected of your children, please visit the PARENT portion of engageny.org.

In Social Studies, we are beginning to discuss Elections.  You may have heard about the posters we made last week in class about Skittles and M&M's.  We will be conducting a Third Grade-wide vote between the two candies at the end of October.  We have already placed our presidential ballots with Scholastic.com and our votes will be tallied in the nationwide kid vote.  Stay tuned for details about that!!

We have not had a formal Science class yet, however, our hermit crabs, tadpole and just-released-into-the-wild Monarch butterfly have provided us with plenty of hands-on learning and inquiry.  I am attaching a link to my ongoing Third Grade Gallery of pictures so you can enjoy the pictures I have taken of our classroom events thus far.  Feel free to download pics of your child and print them as you wish. The picture gallery is password protected and may only be accessed by those of you who know the password.  (The password is room190 when you click on the link below).

http://katecruikshank.smugmug.com/School/Classroom-Activities


I also would like to thank the three gentlemen from the Elks Lodge who delivered dictionaries to each and every third grader at Lawrence Avenue!  They did a few fun activities with the class to really get them excited about their new literary gifts!

We started Spelling this week.  Spelling pretests will be given on Mondays and spelling tests will be given on Fridays.  Bonus words will be added as optional words (will not count against student if (s)he gets a word incorrect on Friday).  Students should choose one spelling activity each night from the yellow Spelling options page.  This page should be kept in your child's Take Home Folder each night of the week.  One of the options is www.spellingcity.com.  Click on the "Find a List" tab towards the top of the site page.  Type in Cruikshank, and my name will appear as a choice.  There are many games and activities children may choose from in order to study that list of spelling words.

I plan to keep this blog updated as a tool for parents and students throughout the year.  The picture gallery will be updated from time to time as well, with shots from classroom/school activities.  I am also working on finding meaningful student website links to add to our page as well.

Thank you for sharing your child with me.  I am thoroughly enjoying each of them!  Please know if you ever have a question or concern regarding your child, you may contact me anytime.  The best way to reach me is via email at kcruikshank@potsdam.k12.ny.us.

Fondly,
Kate C.

Welcome to Third Grade!!

The start of school is just around the corner.  It is an exciting and busy time of year for students, their parents and teachers, alike.  Purchasing school supplies, maybe some new school clothes or sneakers, getting to bed early and trying to establish some sort of 'routine' before next week...the list goes on and on.

I, personally, love the smells and sights at school during this time of year.  Newly waxed, shiny hallway and classroom floors, crisp bulletin board paper lining the walls, energized and refreshed colleagues anxious to meet their incoming students for a fresh, new year, Mr. Jenne's homemade chocolate chip cookies on the afternoon before students arrive (he really does make them himself...he even brings in milk to go with them)...again, the list goes on and on.

I am very excited to be joining the Third Grade team this year.  I have already been into our classroom getting things prepared for your arrival on September 6th.  I worked several weeks over the summer at Tech Camp, Math Camp and the Constructivist Design Conference, walking away with soooooo many new ideas for this school year.  How would you like to have your own blog?  We can report out on the day at school, or about your favorite book, or anything you would like to write about.   Wouldn't an iPad be an awesome tool to have in our room?  I have a colleague in California (now competing for the honor of California Teacher of the Year) who taught me many ways to use the iPad in our classroom.  Hopefully, we will have one soon!  My fingers are crossed.

Anyway, if you are in the neighborhood of Lawrence Avenue, there is a chance you may run into me in Room 190!  I will be in and out all week.  If you can, stop by to see where your new classroom will be and to say "hello"!

Teddy Bears and Valentines

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PTSA Hard at Work!!!

Our PTSA has been hard at work lobbying for equity in the state aid disbursement formula. Please view their recent full-page ad in North Country This Week.

northcountrynow.com/potsdam-ptsa

Be Informed

Happy February, everyone! It is hard to imagine it is already February...and we have virtually NO snow in the ground...almost unheard of in these parts!!!

Although this time of year brings hope of milder weather and blooming of crocuses just around the corner, it also brings with it a highly stressful time for our school districts. As it stands right now, if Governor Cuomo's proposed budget plan is endorsed by our state legislators, North Country schools, some of the poorest in the state (Potsdam included) will face significant cuts in programs or go bankrupt trying to survive. Not only will teaching positions be done away with (larger class sizes = less individual attention to your child), but AP courses in the high school, and any other 'unmandated' courses (such as elementary music, orchestra, art) may also be affected as a result.

As a parent as well as a teacher in this district, I implore you to educate yourself on the impact Governor Cuomo's state budget plan will have on the Potsdam Central School District and all children who are attending our wonderful school. Below is a list of forums and meetings the public is invited to attend.

* Community Forums - February 27 and March 15

* District Budget Meeting - February 13

*** Also, our Board of Education meetings are held every SECOND and FOURTH Tuesday of each month in the Potsdam High School Library at 7 pm. Please attend those meetings as well, to stay in formed or to voice any concerns or ideas you may have regarding the welfare of the students in this district.

Enjoy your weekend!

Happy New Year!!

Well, 2012 is here...a new beginning. Upon returning to school tomorrow, Room 108 children will be busier than ever learning many new concepts, while at the same time continuing to become more independent little individuals. We will be delving into reading sight words and writing more rigorously. We will also be going full swing into our Daily 5 approach to literacy (small group work, much like centers...which is why we need to be working on our independence in the classroom).

But before the new year begins at school, I must share some pictures and news from Nov. and Dec. of 2011. This year, for some reason, has proven to be much busier than most years for me...thus there have been many fewer updates to this blog than I usually post. Therefore, one of my New Year's Resolutions is to post updates more often for those of you who find this page a helpful resource.

In November, we were busy with MANY things. We had our Native American Craft Day, our annual Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast and our first Royal Reader (thank you Mr. Rossner!!)

In December, we filled many days with fun crafts and activities including our Gingerbread House Project (thanks again to all parents, grandparents, as well as our friends from the SUNY Potsdam Mens' Hockey Team, who helped make this project a success!) as well as our Holiday Concert.

Please take a few moments to view the following slideshow. And thank you for sharing your child with me. It amazes me quite often what 'little sponges' they are! Their little brains soak up so much at this age.

Happy New Year!!

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Pumpkins and Reading Buddies

First of all, I would like to thank the entire Room 108 family for all donations to our Thanksgiving Feast on Monday! Such generosity and sharing help make your child's feast day one to remember!

If you are volunteering to help, we are asking volunteers to arrive at school by 10:30 am Monday morning. This should give us plenty of time to set up before our first serving at 11:30!

Also, a HUGE "THANKS A BUNCH!!" to parent/grandparent volunteers on Friday for our Native American Day! The children had fun and I could have not done it without you! Unfortunately, time was so tight I forgot to take pictures...;o( But rest assured, there will be plenty of pics from our Thanksgiving Feast coming up tomorrow!

Below is a slide show of activities from October. Miss Miriam Johnson was a Block 1 student from SUNY Potsdam. She visited our class for a total of 8 visits, learning first-hand about teaching our youngest children. She was a wonderful addition to our class. The children adore her. They were extremely excited to see her return voluntarily on Friday for Native American Day!

In the slideshow you will see pictures of children gutting pumpkins. This was an exciting part of Miss Johnson's lesson she taught on counting, using the pumpkin seeds the children took from the pumpkins. Later that day, we decorated tiny pumpkins brought in by our classmate, Raegan, and her family. Much fun was had by all!!

You will also see pictures from our first session of Reading Buddies. Our Reading Buddies this year are from Mrs. Martin's Fourth Grade Class. It is fun for both sets of students to experience such a worthwhile event! We will continue Reading Buddies every Day 2 from now until the end of the year.

Thanks again for all you do for our classroom. I am thankful each day for my Room 108 family! Happy Thanksgiving!

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Granny Prix...a Room 108 Favorite!!

Please ask your child about Granny Prix...a website we visit almost every day to practice our simple addition facts! I was turned on to this site by another kindergarten colleague while I was training as a facilitator for our last Superintendent's Day on the New York State Math Common Core Standards.

The site offers fact practice in addition, subtraction and multiplication facts. According to the new set of learning standards recently adopted by New York State, children in Kindergarten will be responsible for fluently adding and subracting within 5 in order to be a successful math student at the first grade level.

The children love designing their own GRANNY and wheel chair and racing to find all the sums to win the race.

Take some time to experience this motivating activity your child loves.

You can find the link below...or to the right as part of my Educational Links section.

Enjoy!!

http://www.fun4thebrain.com/addition/addgranny.html

Fall Fun

October was full of FALL FUN! We visited the Potsdam Fire Station, Breezy Maples Farm near Massena and we also celebrated Fall with our monthly Kindergarten Mixer where we all enjoyed home made pumpkin muffins (Thank you to Mrs. Parker for making them for our class, as I was sick! What a bucket filler Mrs. Parker is!!) And of course, who can forget Halloween??!! We enjoyed treats brought in by Mrs. Cruikshank and classmates and we even had a costume parade in the middle school. All those big kids loved us!!!

On Monday, we had the Army Band come and perform for us. They introduced instruments to us...even playing a song from Harry Potter and, of course, ...Stars and Stripes Forever!

Enjoy the slideshow! I look forward to meeting with all of you next week for Parent-Teacher Conference.

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Busy Days in Room 108

Room 108 has been buzzing with activity! We have been discussing Fall, Apples, Germs, Good Citizenship, Numbers and Letters! Johnny Appleseed even visited on his birthday - Sept. 26! We made applesauce in honor of Johnny's birthday and enjoyed eating it out on the playground with our other Kindergarten friends.

Buster the Bus visited and reminded us all about ways to stay safe around our school bus. He even taught us how to cross the road in front of a school bus dropping us off! Miss Honey also visited! She is so funny!

Mr. VanEll's high school students came to our classroom at the beginning of October to teach us about Germs using the Scrubby Bear program. We learned about how to get rid of germs, where germs live and how germs make us sick. Our high school friends even had a really cool black light that lit up our germs after we rubbed 'magic' powder into our hands!

The most amazing of all was being able to meet a real-life Clarkson Golden Knight hockey player. Kevin Tansey, #10, came to our room and visited with all of us. He spoke to us about the importance of being responsible citizens and about how important it is to do well in school and to try your best!

Please enjoy the following slide show containing pics from all events mentioned.

Our year has gotten off to a great start and we are all settling in nicely to our routines. Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!

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Welcome to Room 108!!

Welcome to Kindergarten at Lawrence Avenue Elementary! Our first few weeks have been filled with fun...getting to know new friends, reacquainting with old chums...learning new routines and getting into the groove again! I don't think I've had such a large group of nappers since I started teaching kindergarten!

We have enjoyed nursery rhymes, Buster the Bus and reviewing shapes and colors as well as singing and dancing to many new songs.

This year will be full of new experiences for your child and for me! Lawrence Avenue faculty has been researching and learning all about the Daily 5 management strategy for our Reading time. It's a way to structure our time to best meet the individual needs of our students in the area of Reading. In order for the Daily 5 to be successful, students are trained to be independent learners in the classroom (you may have heard your child mention the word stamina). They are given more and more responsibility as the year progresses. I am very excited to implement this strategy in my classroom this year.

Below you will find a slideshow of our class in action during the first weeks of school. I would like to thank you for all the donations you have made to our classroom and I thoroughly enjoyed speaking to you at our Meet the Teacher Night. Please don't hesitate to contact me concerning your child.

Thank you for sharing your child with me! I can already tell we are going to have a wonderful year!

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Kindergarten Has Come and Gone

Amazingly enough, we are in our final days of your child's first full year of elementary school! Congratulations...you made it!

It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know you and your child this year. We have had lots of fun and grown so much together...the children teach me just about as much as I teach them! It's amazing what you can learn from a child...

Thank you for all your support this year. We made a great team.

Below you will find an attached slideshow highlighting many events from this school year. (It's a LONG one, but you can press the arrow button to move through the pictures faster if you wish.) If you see pictures of your child that you like, don't worry...I am sending home a complete DVD of ALL the pics I took this year. You can download/print what you choose.

Savor the younger years...they go by too quickly.

Enjoy your summer!

Fondly,
Kate C.

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Ives Park and Fun Day

It was a beautiful week last week with lots of fun here at LAE! On Wednesday, the Kindergarten took their annual trip to Ives Park where we enjoyed a picnic lunch, rounding out our walk downtown with a trip to Scoop's Downtown! Thanks, Mrs. Sheehan, for our YUMMY treats!

On Friday, we had our Kindergarten Fun Day! Thank you to all our volunteers! Our day was a success largely due to you! The games were fun and the BBQ was delicious...topped off with cotton candy! Yuuuummmmmmy!

As we wrap up our school year, please remember...

"Let them be little,
'Cause they're only that way for a while.
Give 'em hope, give them praise,
Give them love every day.
Let 'em cry, let 'em giggle,
Let 'em sleep in the middle,
Oh, but let them be little."

- Billy Dean

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Kindergarten Visitation

Today was a wonderful day in Room 108! As much as I missed seeing my Kindergarteners today, I was overjoyed to meet my new friends coming to Kindergarten next year! We had lots of fun getting to know each other, playing on the playground with Mr. Jenne, making a sunflower project and eating in the cafeteria like the 'big kids'.

Thank you for sharing your child with me today. We had a day full of fun! I can't wait to see you all at Lawrence Avenue Elementary in September! Enjoy your summer...play hard and be safe!

Don't forget to plant those sunflower seeds!

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My How Time Flies!!

It is amazing to me that we are already into the second week of June! It also amazes me how far your children have come since September. (I was reminded of that today as I visited with some of the in coming Kindergarteners for next year.) Your children are now reading, writing complete sentences (don't worry, phonetic spelling right now is alright) with capital letters and periods, solving simple addition problems, dressing themselves and even tying their own shoes! Congratulations on a job well done!!

Our classroom has been busy as usual. Last week, we were fortunate enough to have Aaron's parents, Annetia and Kevin, visit us in class to discuss their role in the Air Force and the importance of Memorial Day! Aaron's brother, Aiden, was a special visitor as well. I would like to thank Aaron and his family for their willingness to share their experiences with us, making the celebration of Memorial Day more relevant to our class. We appreciate all you do to make our country the best place on Earth to live!

We also got to enjoy a special performance by magician Rick Smith Jr. (http://ricksmithjr.com/)! He was awesome and had the attention of EVERY student at LAE for almost an hour straight! Check out his website! He really is amazing!

Don't forget about our trips next week to Ives Park (Wednesday) as well as our Fun Day (Friday)!

As always, thank you for sharing your child with me and for all your support throughout the year.

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My apologies for not posting sooner than this. It has been a very busy Spring here at Lawrence Avenue. Since my last post, we have had Spring Break, Passover, Easter and Tas Cru in the house!

It seems as though many of you had exciting adventures over Spring Break! Whether you stayed in the North Country or traveled south, the children came back to school excited to share their adventures. My family traveled to South Carolina for the very first time during Spring Break. Although I was dreading the long car ride, I found it was more enjoyable than I had anticipated. Not only did I get to spend some quality, up close and personal time with my family, I was also able to reconnect with two of my former teachers who have retired to the area I visited. Mr. and Mrs. "H" had such a profound effect on me while I was in school! I only hope I can touch the lives of my students as they have touched mine! (They were my 5th and 6th grade teachers!...see pic.)

Mrs. Williams came in to our classroom and shared another Sammy Spider adventure with us. This time, the Shapiro's were preparing their house for Passover and unknowingly destroy the Sammy the Spider's web. Though Sammy becomes fascinated by his mother's explanations of the holiday traditions, he is repeatedly told, "Spiders don't celebrate Passover. Spiders spin webs." Following instructions, Sammy completes a new web?and participates in the Shapiro family observance after all. Using cut-paper artwork made festive with cheery patterns, Kahn depicts a contemporary human family and a mother-son spider duo reminiscent of Eric Carle's creations, complete with a review of basic shapes. We also got to taste unleavened bread dipped in chocolate. Thank you, Mrs. Williams.

Next, our 4th grade friends visited us donning their Easter Bonnets. Each student designed his/her own bonnet to mirror individual interests, etc. We really enjoyed their visit!

Finally, on Monday, April 25th, Dr. Rick Bates, professor of Literacy at SUNY Potsdam (aka Tas Cru, who participates in the North Country's Blues for Books campaign) visited our classroom and performed several of his blues songs based loosely on Eric Carle's books. The children thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Bates' visit, as did I! I ran into Rick in Saratoga Springs last month while attending the NYSRA Reading Conference. Rick was my sponsor teacher many moons ago when I was his student teach at SUNY Potsdam's Campus School. Thank you, Rick!

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Beach Party!!

As you can probably imagine, we had lots of fun today at school during our Beach Party! The music was jumpin' and the food was fine and plentiful! The children were ready to get to the beach as soon as they walked in this morning. (Some were actually a little disappointed when they found out we were only using our imaginations :o) )

We also started making our personal ocean murals after reading some more of Graeme Base's The Sign of the Seahorse. Although some of the vocabulary is a bit challenging, the words rhyme and they like that. Ask your child about Pearl, Corporal Bert, Finneus, the Grouper fish and his Shark henchmen. We have spoken about how the Grouper is a bully and a bucket dipper. We have also been talking about pollution and littering as we read the book.

More ocean tales next week!

Enjoy the pictures and your time with your family this weekend.

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Shamrocks and Shaving Cream

As I was frantically preparing final touches on my lesson plans last Thursday morning (which included adhering rubber bands to those cute little St. Paddy's Day visors your children brought home last week) I heard faint sounds of Irish music coming from somewhere. In an instant, the glorious music of my ancestors was right outside the door. As I peered outside, there, right before my eyes, was a leprechaun (Mr. Jenne is such a great sport!) posing with the Foisy Family and Company for a picture. Thank you to the Foisy's and Clan for the festive Irish tunes they provided the children and adults at Lawrence Ave. last Thursday! What a magical treat!

I think we had some Leprechauns visit our room too...our toilet water was GREEN! And look at the pictures my hidden camera caught before I got so school...

Later on that day, our Kindergarteners enjoyed their Shamrock Slurpies (lemon-lime soda with a scoop of sherbet) in the KIVA. I wish I was there to take pictures to share!

I am sure you are wondering where shaving cream fits in here. Well, today was quite fun in our classroom. Not only did we get to enjoy the 3rd graders perform their annual (which is an interpretation of Rudyard Kipling's The Elephant's Child, but we got to get "down and dirty" as well. I think it's safe to say we all had fun playing in shaving cream at our tables. Each child received his/her own dollop of cream to spread around the table in front of them.

Now, mind you, this was my first "solo" attempt at the shaving cream activity. When I was a very rookie teacher, I was a teaching assistant in a kindergarten classroom where the teacher did this activity. Let's just say I think I gave my students too much of the white stuff today! They did a great job writing their names, letters, sight words, etc. in the shaving cream. Some of them decided their chairs needed a little cleaning too.

And where are the pics, you ask? I left my camera on my counter at home! I promise to get pictures next time. Because there WILL be a next time. Talk about engaging every student...they didn't want to stop!

Enjoy the day! And thank you for sharing your child with me!

February 2011

What an exciting month we have had! We celebrated Valentines Day with treats, valentines and a Valentine's Dance in the cafeteria. The 100th Day of School passed us by on Wednesday, Feb. 16th.

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I hope you are enjoying your February Break! Mine has been very exciting! We have been hosting a French Exchange student (who goes home tonight). My sisters and their five children have also been visiting for the past few days. We have had lots of fun!

See you on Monday!

Teddy Bear Picnic

Well, those teddy bears were naughty again this year! We opened the door to our classroom to find those cuddly friends of ours climbing the flagpole, sleeping in our story tree, playing the computer, reading books, hanging from our cupboard doors and making messes on the rug with blocks and puzzles! It looks like they had a little party of their own during their sleep over at school.

We took our bears for a walk and then enjoyed our lunch together in the KIVA with the rest of our kindergarten friends and their teddy bear friends.

A special "Thank You" to Mrs. Marge Howe for making our day fun.

Enjoy the photos below and have a wonderful weekend...

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