New Online Grade Book, Take 5 Minutes To Sign Up Over Break!
Dear Parents,
If you would like to be the first to sign up for our new online grade book at SnapGrades.net please fill out the form below. You must submit your first and last name and email address to me, and optionally, your child’s email address. If you child has an email address, he or she can have their own login information so that they can see the results of their hard work and learning. One child and two parents (each having their own email), totaling three per student, can view the grades, benchmarks, and behavior reports.
Why am I doing this? Well, this tool will allow you to see a lot more about the grades your child is earning. Your child’s grade book can be set up so that any low grades or behavior issues are emailed to you right away. You can also see how good grades pull up the average and how low grades pull down the class score. There are also features that include downloading activities and standard based assessments.
Another reason I am switching to this tool for the last trimester is that it is much easier to do the kind of grading I do now, and the kind of grading I will do in the future. Also, I do not have to upload the grades every day. Your child’s grades will be there as I put them in!
Fill out the form below to be the first to try this out. All may not be perfect right away, but with your support and trials I can get this running well sooner. Thanks! All information sent will be kept strictly confidential.
***Woops! That second “Mother’s Name” should say “Father’s Name“.
read moreMarchionda Minutes Episode 17 – Hangin’ With Hannah
On this week’s episode of the Marchionda Minutes Podcast we hear about Hannah’s birthday party. She will be enjoying a fun rollerskating party. We wax philosophical about Sleeping Beauty and debate the merits of having fairies for friends. Enjoy!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Also, parents, please check your child’s take home folder for the report card!
Have a nice evening and enjoy your St. Patty’s Day.:)
Social Studies Project/Forums
Today in social studies we completed our government symbols artsy project exploring the Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty, bald eagle, and the U.S. Seal. Tomorrow they will be coming home.
Also, parents, be looking for the report cards being sent home tomorrow. These report cards represent the work done in the second trimester and the first trimester. Feel free to use our online grade book for more details on specific skills. Any questions, feel free to email me! 
I have also opened up a classroom forum as a “beta” project for students to participate in. A link to it is in the side bar. All students are welcomed to register as long as you use your first name and last initial as a username (roccom). Previous classes have used this tool to collaborate, chat, and share weird educational pictures and movies. The only warning is that to know that I see everything and expect appropriate behavior on the forums just as I do in my classroom. Feel free to register and have fun! See you there!
Here is the work for the day:
To All Student Bloggers!
This morning I took some time to do some boring maintenance on our sites. On the way through this process I made sure that you had the “Meta” or “Log In:” widget in your sidebar. So now, if you have changed your theme, I have made sure that you can just go to your site and be able to click on the “log in” link. Alternatively, you can always just go to your domain name and type”/wp-admin” after it (without the quotes).
I love the work you kids are doing online, you make me proud. Keep it up!
If you have any questions, parents or students, just email me!
read moreHave a Fun Extended Weekend!
I hope you enjoy your extended weekend. Make a snowman,
read a book with a friend,
or do a dance.
http://www.marchionda.org/mediafolder/video/nadiadancing_conv.flvWhatever you do, have fun and be good! I know I am going to enjoy my day tomorrow with my little girl.I will see you all on Monday!
For Parents: I just want to take a moment and thank you for coming in and meeting with me. It has been a really nice year with your children, and with your support. I want you to know that I appreciate all that you do for me and for your children. You go have yourself a great weekend, too!
Also, thanks for your support with the student blogs. It has been really fun to see what they write about. Take a peek by using the links in the sidebar to view our student blogs.
FYI: Site All Fixed
I have fixed all the links in our video area and our photo gallery area. I have also got the email page working again.
read moreParent/Teacher Conferences Tomorrow
Just a reminder that we will be beginning this round of parent/teacher conferences tomorrow after school. I am pretty booked so I will have to keep our conferences to the 15 minute limit.
As for news from the classroom, we are continuing working on geometry skills and vocabulary. In social studies we are finishing up our work on suburbs. After this chapter we will take a break from communities to learn about government and American symbols for a short unit. In English we are tuning up some fine points about mechanics and integrating these skills into our writing. In reading we are reading a realistic historical fiction piece called Leah’s Pony. Take a listen below:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Here is the work for the day:
For Parents: WKCE Test Scores are In!
And, wow, did this class hit one out of the ballpark! I will hand out your child’s test results at the parent/teacher conferences. All third graders in Wisconsin get tested in the areas of language arts and math. There are four basic score categories: Advanced, Proficient, Basic, and Minimal. We want every child scoring in the advanced and proficient categories. How did we do as a class? Well, out of 50 possible scores, we had 29 scores of Advanced and 18 scores of Proficient!
This is absolutely amazing and wonderful! This basically shows that your children have been getting a wonderful education here at Lakeshore and super support at home! Hug a teacher and high five a parent, this is really a proud day! Makes me wonder how those fourth graders did . . . .
read moreDodeca~HUHHHH???
Today in math class we began a new unit on geometry. In this unit we will be defining 3 and 2 dimensional shapes. We will also be diving into different classifications of triangles and quadrilaterals. Today we build many 3D shapes paying special attention to vertices, faces, and edges. It was quite a fun thing to do! Feel free to download and print off some of our 3D shapes to make at home by clicking the link below.
On Monday I will take a snapshot of my grade book to make progress graphs for parent teacher conferences. These graphs will show your child’s performance over time relative to themselves, and the graphs will show how your child is performing compared to the typically learning third grader. Our district report card will cover how your child had done achieving curricular benchmarks. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Can’t wait to see you all at conferences!
Hired or Not, Round 2 – Shinker-Doo
Today in math we played another round of “Hired or Not” where the kids had to solve on massive problem. Today’s problem involved outfitting my Shinker-Doo team with all of the equipment they need to compete professionally. See the problem below:
Congratulations to the kids who got hired: Hannah, Nick, Jack, Brianna, Joe, Mike, Marissa, Sam, and Anna. You are actually the first third graders ever to be hired! Either you kids are getting smarter or I’m becoming a great teacher! It’s probably the former.
Great job this week, kids. We will be continuing our last chapter of multiplication next week before we get into some graphing.
Valentine’s Day party pictures will pop up on a site soon! Have a great weekend!
Below are pictures of the students who won today’s little contest:
Valentine's Day Party Tomorrow!
Remember to read Lon Po Po tonight for your test tomorrow. Also, we will be having our spelling test on double consonant words. Head on over to SpellingCity.com to practice your words!
On to the fun news. Our Valentine’s Day party begins tomorrow at 2:00. All parents are invited and more than welcome to have fun with us. We will be sharing our valentines, so please make sure that your box and valentines are ready to go. I, personally, cannot wait for the treats!
By the way, my daughter even got into the “Pants on the Ground” thing, too. Thanks Joe and Caden!
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Educational Links:
Marchionda.org Forums Private online forums for educational collaboration.
Online Grade Book! Click the Icon Below!
