"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind.  To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas."  Calvin Coolidge

Have a wonderful holiday break!  Thank you for a fantastic year!  I look forward to 2015!!  :)

As a child, I was bonkers for Christmas.  The entire month of December, I couldn't sleep at night from anticipation."  Rosecrans Baldwin

This is our last full week of school before our holiday vacation.  I'm looking forward to a fun week filled with learning, hard work and holiday activities.

Our spelling rule this week involves the double vowel syllables -oa, oe and ue.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

We will continue with our multiplication and division unit.  Students are learning the Associative Property, Commutative Property, and Distributive Property of Multiplication.  They solved problems using arrays and worked on skip counting.

Students are working on poems titled "Spreading Holiday Cheer" to share with families over the vacation week.  They are also making holiday crafts.

Our auction will be held on Friday.  Students have been working hard to earn marbles over the past four months.  Their marbles will be used like money to purchase various gifts, prizes and treats.

Have a wonderful week!  :)

"How did it get so late so soon?  It's night before it's afternoon.  December is here before it's June.  My goodness how the time has flewn.  How did it get so late so soon?"  Dr. Seuss

We started our week off by attending the fifth grade band and chorus concert in the gym.  We were all so impressed by the beautiful music that we heard from the fifth graders.  I encourage my students to follow a musical path if it interests them.

We will continue with our multiplication and division unit this week.  Students will solve number stories, make arrays,  and practice fact families.  There will be a one sided assignment each night for homework.

Our spelling rule this week involves the double vowel syllable groups ai, ay, ee and ey.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Our class will be making holiday cards for local Rockingham County Meals on Wheels program. Sadly, these may be the only cards received by the senior citizens this year.  I will be stressing the importance of spreading holiday cheer and giving back to our community.  I know my amazingly empathetic class will recognize the significance of creating thoughtful cards.

Scholastic book orders are due by Friday, December 12th.

Have a wonderful week!  :)

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.  You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?"
J. B. Priestley

We had a beautiful "spring-like" day here at LSS.  It's hard to believe that winter is coming with such warm weather.  Students jumped right back into the routine with many great stories to tell about their holiday break.

Our lesson in math today involved finding the perimeter of various shapes.  Students seemed to grasp this concept well.  We will be moving on to multiplication and division for the next few weeks.  Students will build arrays, practice multiplication number stories, work with fact families, and learn shortcuts for memorization purposes.  They will have a one-sided assignment each night for homework.

Our spelling rule relates to the consonant -le syllable and exception.  The consonant -le syllable can only be the last syllable in a multi-syllabic base word and it always has a consonant followed by the letters -le.  The letter e is silent.  When a word ends in -stle, both the t and e are silent.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Scholastic book orders are due on December 12th.  Our class code is HB244 when ordering online.

Have a fabulous week!  :)

"Best of all is it to preserve everything in a pure, still heart, and let there be for every pulse a thanksgiving, and for every breath a song."  Konrad von Gesner


No homework this week!  Happy Thanksgiving!!  :)

"The bits I most remember about my school days are those that took place outside the classroom, as we were taken on countless theatre visits and trips to places of interest." Alan Bennett


We are so excited for our field trip to LEGOLAND on Friday!  Please remember to pack your child a bagged lunch unless you've asked the Cafeteria to make one for him or her.  

Our Spelling Rule involves 1-1-1 words this week.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.  

We will finish our Elapsed Time Unit this week.  Students did an excellent job solving word problems today using a number line to help them.  Our next Unit involves Perimeter and Area.  Students will have a one-sided assignment each night for homework.  

Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, will be visiting our school on Tuesday.  Students were gifted a signed copy of his newest book last week.  Thank you to the Exeter businesses that made that experience possible.  

Have a fantastic week!  :)

“There is something incredibly nostalgic and significant about the annual cascade of autumn leaves." Joe L Wheeler

Our very short week began wonderfully!  We won't have spelling this week.  Students will have a one-sided math assignment tonight and tomorrow night for homework.  

We have a new student in our classroom.  Her name is Jessica and our class did a fantastic job welcoming her to our room.  

Please return the signed gold report card envelope if you have not done so already.  

We will be going to LEGOLAND next Friday, November 21st.  Please remember to pack your child a lunch, if you didn't sign up for a bagged school lunch.  

Have a fabulous week!  :)

“Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love - that makes life and nature harmonise. The birds are consulting about their migrations, the trees are putting on the hectic or the pallid hues of decay, and begin to strew the ground, that one's very footsteps may not disturb the repose of earth and air, while they give us a scent that is a perfect anodyne to the restless spirit. Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."

Our Reading Buddies came this morning for the last time until after Thanksgiving.  Students enjoyed reading "Wonders of the Desert" with them.  We look forward to their return in December.

Our Spelling Rule this week involves contractions.  Students who score a 100% on the pretest will not have homework this week.  They won't have to take the test on Friday either.  All others will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Our math lessons this week include making bar graphs, reading frequency tables, and elapsed time.  Elapsed time is a very difficult concept for third graders.  We will practice many of these problems together using manipulatives and visual aids.  Students will have a one-sided homework each night.

Please return your child's gold report card envelope with your signature on it as soon as possible.

We are running low on pencils in class.  Please consider making a donation.  Thank you!

Have a wonderful week!  :)

"Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons." Jim Bishop

We had another wonderful start to our school week.  The P.E.A. students visited and read with the class.  Our spelling rule this week involves adding suffixes to words ending in silent e.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Our math lessons this week focus on bar graphs, picture graphs and reading tables.  Students will have a one-sided assignment on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night.  I will not give math homework on Trick or Treat night.  :)

Scholastic book orders are due next week.

Report cards go home on Friday.  Please keep the report card, but return the gold envelope for future use.  I look forward to our upcoming conferences.

Have a wonderful week!

"Autumn...  The year's last, loveliest smile."  William Cullen Bryant

We had a beautiful Monday.  Looking out the window reminds me of how quickly time has passed this year.  I can't believe that the leaves are falling.  We've accomplished a lot and I'm proud of my students' effort this quarter.

Our spelling rule this week involves the suffix ending -ed.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Our math work this week includes problem solving, multiplication, tally charts and organizing data. Students will have a one-sided math assignment each night for homework.

Field trip permission forms for "Percy, Us, and the Raft of Medusa" are due as soon as possible.  We will be going to the high school next Thursday morning to see this production.

Field trip permission forms and the $14.00 (cash) for our LEGOLAND field trip is due by Friday, October 31st.

Scholastic book orders are due by November 3rd.  Please remember that you can order books online using our classroom code HB244.

Have a fantastic week!

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion." Henry David Thoreau

We started our four day week with math.  Students worked on change number stories using diagrams to solve word problems.  They will also work on comparison number stories, the partial-sums algorithm and subtraction algorithms this week.  Please expect a one-sided assignment each night for homework.

Our spelling rule this week involves r-controlled vowels.  R-controlled vowels are neither long nor short.  The vowel sound is changed by the letter r after the vowel.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

I received many conference forms today.  Please continue to send back the request forms at your earliest convenience.  Thank you in advance for your flexibility.  I will work hard to accommodate each parent's request.

Scholastic book orders went home last week and today.  Please remember that you can order online or by sending in a check to me with the order form.

We will be traveling to the Exeter High School on Thursday, October 30th to see their drama club's production of "Percy, Us, and the Raft of Medusa."  Please send in the signed permission form as soon as possible, if you haven't done so already.

Have a wonderful weekend!  :)

"I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." L.M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables

We had another beautiful start to our week.  Students were pleasantly surprised to learn of a new program that we started today called Reading Buddies.  We have partnered up with students from Phillips Exeter Academy who will join our class each Monday for a half an hour.  PEA and LSS students will work together on fun reading activities that relate to our science and social studies units.  This provides a great experience for both age groups.  Today they read a story called The Legend of Scarface: A Blackfeet Indian Tale.  Unfortunately, our time was cut short with our Reading Buddies due to a fire drill.

Our spelling rule involves Suffix Endings this week.  A suffix is an ending added to a base word which changes the meaning of the word.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

In math this week we will be studying the Commutative Property of Addition, patterns in numbers, odds and evens, multiplying and dividing by 10, number stories, and estimation.  Students will have a one-sided math assignment each night for homework.

Students will be working with their Google Drive accounts during Computer Lab on Tuesday morning.  Ms. Tabet will work with them throughout the year on developing solid computer skills.

Have a great week!  :)

"Love the trees until their leaves fall off, then encourage them to try again next year."  Chad Sugg

I can't believe we'll meet another October this week!  Our class was just discussing how quickly time seems to be flying by this morning.  We are finishing up our Maps and Globes Unit and moving into American Indians and Biomes.  We will begin a new chapter book read aloud this week titled Half a Chance by Cynthia Lord.  The story takes place in New Hampshire and our entire school will be reading it in honor of the One School One Book program.

Our spelling rule involves words with two closed syllables including blends.  There will only be one spelling list this week so students who score 100% on their pre-test will not be required to take the test again on Monday.  They will also be exempt from spelling homework for this week only.  All other children will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night.

Math homework this week will relate to the counting up method, trade first, and place value.  Children will have a one-sided assignment each night.

I will be contacting parents who would like to volunteer in the classroom.  Please let me know if you would like to volunteer, but haven't heard from me by Friday.

Have a fantastic week!  :)

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” Lauren DeStefano

We had an awesome start to our week today.  Students have new spelling words based on the Schwa Sound rule.  This sound is most like the sound of short u, but not equal to it.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Math homework this week involves ballpark estimates, the partial sums algorithm, trade first subtraction and using Base 10 blocks.  There will be a one-sided worksheet each night.

I spoke shortly with you at Open House about our student teacher, Jen Harrington, who will be spending about 15 hours per week in our classroom.  She wanted me to share the following information with you...

Hello Third Grade Families!

My name is Jen Harrington and I would like to introduce myself. I will be spending time in your student's classroom as part of my student teacher requirements for the degree I am pursuing from Granite State College. Not only am I teacher candidate, but I am also a local parent who has children in 2nd, 4th, and 5th grade. My 4th grader was a student in Mara's class last year. I have also been employed at Lincoln Street School for the past two school years as a cafeteria/recess aide. I enjoy working at Lincoln Street and getting to know the students during lunch and recess but am looking forward to getting into the classroom and working with students in an academic manner. I am eager and excited to get started on my student teaching journey.

Welcome to a New School Year! 2014-15

Welcome to my 2014-2015 blog!  Our school year has begun beautifully and I couldn't be happier with my students' hard work.  Thank you to those who attended Open House on Thursday night.  It was wonderful to see all of you.

I will post a blog each Monday afternoon with information pertaining to homework, curriculum, and special events, projects, or activities coming in the near future.   Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns at any time.

Best,
Mara

mandriski@sau16.org
775-8897

This is the last blog of the year.  I hope you have enjoyed my blog and this method of communication.

Please remember to send your child to school with props for the Wax Museum tomorrow afternoon.

I have gray bandanas for all the kids to wear on Thursday for Field Day.  Please have your child wear a gray top if possible.  Kids need a water bottle and should wear sunscreen and bug spray to school.  Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Our play will take place on Friday morning at 9:30am.  Students should wear their green Music t-shirts from the March concert.  If your child doesn't have a t-shirt, they should wear a green top.  We will be having our dress rehearsal on Wednesday morning.  Students should bring their green shirts for that performance as well.  They will only need to wear them for 30 minutes so hopefully the shirts won't need to be washed for Friday's show.  :)

Thank you to my amazing volunteers and to Mrs. Smith who is helping with the Wax Museum and Field Day.

I'm looking forward to seeing you this week!  :)

"Every child deserves a champion - an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be. "  Rita Pierson

I sincerely hope that I have been a champion for your child this year.  I can't believe that summer vacation is right around the corner and my beautiful babies are moving to fourth grade.  :)  It's been an amazing year and I'm beyond proud of my students' accomplishments.  Please know that I will always be here for your child and for you.  If you need help over vacation with a school related issue or your child wishes to say hello, feel free to e-mail me.  mandriski@sau16.org

We will have our last spelling test of the year on Friday.  Our rule this week involves the sound of W and how it affects vowels.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.  But this will be the last week of homework for the year.  

Students will have a math activity for homework each night this week.  We have officially finished the third grade math program for the year.  We will continue to review concepts and practice our multiplication and division facts for the remainder of the year.  

We have three parent volunteers coming to our class for Career Week.  Thank you to Mr. Bergeron, Mrs. Simon and Mr. and Mrs. Coole for sharing their occupations with us.  Thank you to all my other volunteers who come in to work with the class week after week.  Mrs. Jelinek, Mrs. Hayward, Mrs. Stevens, Mrs. Harrington and Mrs. Short - you are all appreciated!  

The author of our One School, One Book selection, Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library, will be here to visit with our students tomorrow.  We all enjoyed the book and are looking forward to meeting the mastermind behind it, Chris Grabenstein.

Important dates:  Wax Museum on June 10th at 1:30pm

                           Field Day on June 12th 

                           Our musical "Heroes All" on June 13th at 9:30am

Thank you and have a fantastic week!  :)

I heard from a colleague this morning that we only have six more Mondays until summer vacation - including today! Wow!  Time flies when you're having fun!

Our spelling rule involves the sounds of ch and que this week.  We only have one list so students who scored a 100% on the pre-test do not have to do spelling homework this week or take the test on Friday.    Everybody else has a Spelling Cafe choice each night.

We will be continuing our work with multiplication and division this week.  Students will have a worksheet for homework each night.

In preparation for the end of the school year, I'm asking parents to send in large plastic or reusable bags with handles to help with cleaning out desks and organizational purposes.  Please feel free to send these in at your earliest convenience.

Thank you and have a wonderful week!  :)

"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours."  Mark Twain

We started our week with a sunny and breezy day.  Students made American Indian headbands with our Ed 500 student from U.N.H.  It is her last day working in our classroom and we will miss her Monday visits.  Students learned a variety of symbols used for picture writing by tribes who lived on the Great Plains.  They used these symbols to create stories on their headbands.

We have finished studying Simple Machines and students are anxious to transition to our Black American Unit.  We will begin learning about the Underground Railroad this week.

Our spelling rule this week involves v-c-e exceptions.  These words have a silent e, but it does not make the vowel before it long.  Good old English language!  :)

We will be solving word problems using division in math this week.  We'll also be multiplying and dividing by 8s and 9s.

Have a wonderful week!  :)

What a beautiful start to the school week!  Students loved playing outside in the warm weather today.  I can't believe that we are so close to April vacation.  It's going to be a busy, but fun week.

Students did a practice version of the Smarter Balanced ELA (English Language Arts) on the laptops this morning.  I was proud of all my students for their hard work and effort on this challenging test.  They will take the math portion of the practice test on Thursday afternoon.

We will be exploring volume and weight in math this week.  Students will have a math worksheet for homework each night.

Our spelling pattern involves Split Vowels this week.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Have a wonderful week and a fantastic vacation!  :)

A fourth grade teacher told me today that we have only 45 more school days left until summer vacation!  Wow!  I can't believe how quickly time has flown by this year!

We will be studying polygons this week.  Students learned about equilateral, isoceles and scalene triangles this morning.  Please ask your child what a right triangle is and what the difference is between parallel and perpendicular lines.  Students will have a math worksheet each night for homework.

Our spelling pattern this week involves words with -igh and -eigh in them.  Students will have a spelling cafe choice each night for homework this week.

Report cards went home on Friday.  Please keep the report card, but sign and return the gold envelope that it came in so I know you've seen it.  Conferences will take place over the next two weeks.  I look forward to seeing parents.

Scholastic book orders are due by next Monday, April 14th.

Thank you and have a great week!  :)

Well March certainly isn't going out like a lamb!  :)  We had a great last day of the month though, despite the rain and slush.  The spelling rule this week involves words containing the -ie and -ei pattern.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

We will continue with measurement, multiplication and division in math this week.  Students have been doing a great job of measuring to the nearest quarter inch.  We continue to play Hot Potato to practice our skip counting skills and reinforce multiplication facts.  Students will have a math worksheet each night for homework this week.

Report cards go home on Friday.  I'm looking forward to the upcoming conferences.  Please let me know if you'd like a conference, but haven't had the opportunity to schedule one yet.  I am very flexible  with days and time.

Scholastic book orders are due by April 14th.

Have a terrific week!

We had a wonderful start to our week.  We began Unit 10 in math which is titled Measuring with Fractional Amounts.  Students will create line plots from measurement data, where the objects have been measured to the nearest whole number, half or quarter.  We will also be multiplying and dividing within 100 and preparing for two digit times two digit problems.  Students will have a math worksheet each night for homework.

Our spelling rule this week involves changing y to i with certain base words when adding a suffix.  It is a tricky rule because the rule does not apply to every word that ends with a y.
Ex.  baby - babies and monkey - monkeys
Please read the rule and pattern on the top of your child's spelling sheet for more information.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Order forms for School Spirit Wear are due by the end of this week.

Scholastic book orders are due by April 14th.  Remember you can order online with our classroom code HB244 or send in checks and order forms to me.

Have a fantastic week!  :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  The class had a surprise visit from a leprechaun this morning!  We found tiny, green footprints all over the desks and tables when we arrived at school.  It was awesome!  He/she also left everyone a gold marble!  Students wrote thank you letters to the leprechaun and we're hoping we hear back from him/her soon.  :)

The spelling rule this week involves the sounds of y.  The vowel y in a closed syllable has the short i sound.  The vowel y in an open syllable or at the end of a word has a long e or i sound.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

We will continue to work on fractions this week.  Students will have a worksheet for homework each night.  They will be given an assessment on Thursday to check for understanding in regard to fractions.

Scholastic book orders went home today.  All checks and order forms are due back by April 14th.  Remember you can order online using our classroom code HB244.  As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Have a wonderful week!  :)

This is an important week for many towns due to tomorrow's vote.  I hope everyone has a chance to get to the polls to exercise their right to vote.  :)

This week's spelling pattern involves silent letters.  Students will have a spelling cafe choice each night for homework.

We will continue studying fractions for the next two weeks.  Students will have a math worksheet for homework every night this week.

Students have enjoyed the start of our Simple Machine Unit.  We have a new machine up on our bulletin board today.  Kids had the opportunity to make a guess about which type of simple machine it is and then placed their guess in the box.  We will pick one of the correct answers from the box and that person will win a prize.

No school on Friday due to teachers' workshops.  Have a great week!

"March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb."

We started our week with a visit from Bridget Brunet, the current reigning Miss New Hampshire.  She came to class to help us celebrate the annual Dr. Seuss Read Across America Day.  She also happens to be Madisyn's aunt!  We had a great time visiting with her and learning about her accomplishments.

We have our spring music concert tonight.  I am so excited to watch our class perform!  Please remember to bring a canned good (or two) as admission to the concert.  We will not have math homework tonight due to the concert, but please expect it on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

Our spelling rule this week involves the -sion and -tion pattern.  Students will have a spelling cafe choice each night for homework.

We will begin our Simple Machine Unit this week.  Students will learn about wedges, inclined planes, pulleys, screws, levers and the wheels & axles.

Thank you to all my parent volunteers and those who have donated items for the classroom.  I am very appreciative of all of you!

Have a terrific week!

We will arrive at Ellis Island tomorrow morning!  It has been a long, exhausting journey!  Our immigrants will be landing at 9:00am in the cafeteria.  Thank you to parents for donating both time and money to make this experience a great one.

On Wednesday, we will watch a presentation titled "Motion: Forces and Work".  This program relates directly to our Simple Machine Unit which we will begin after vacation.

We will have a math homework assignment each night this week along with a spelling cafe choice.  Our spelling rule focus on words with -ph and -tch.

Our class is still running low on plastic silverware and disinfectant wipes.  Thank you to those who have donated recently.

I'm looking forward to our Music in the Schools concert coming up on Monday, March 3rd.  Please have your child here by 6:45 that evening.  Children will meet in the cafeteria and will walk down to the gym together as a class when the concert is ready to begin.

Have a fantastic week and a fun filled vacation!  See you all in March!  :)

We had another great start to our week!  Students enjoyed Brain Gym this morning and took a spelling pre-test.  Our rule this week involves words ending in -ce, -ge, and -dge.  Students will have a Spelling Cafe choice each night for homework.

Math homework will be a EDM Homelink related to fractions each night this week.  We've continued to practice solving problems using division with denominators.  We will cut out fraction cards later this week to help us visually understand comparisons and find equivalent fractions.

Students boarded their steamships today and left their homelands in search of better lives.  They will be documenting their journey in their journals and sharing their experiences in steerage.  Our simulation will occur next Tuesday morning.  We will be the first class to land at Ellis Island.  I anticipate our class participating in the experience from 9-9:45am in the cafeteria.  Please remember to donate $2.00 if you're able to support the cost of food for all students.

We are currently running very low on plastic silverware and disinfectant wipes.  Please consider donating, if you are able to this month.  Many thanks!

Have a wonderful week!  :)

"Away in a meadow all covered with snow
The little old groundhog looks for his shadow
The clouds in the sky determine our fate
If winter will leave us all early or late."
- Don Halley

We will continue to study immigration this week.  Students are working on their third journal entry involving the trip to the port city in their homeland.  Please continue to send in signed permission slips if you'd like to volunteer at our Ellis Island simulation.  We are also asking for a $2.00 donation to help with the cost of food and drinks at the end of the experience.

Students have been introduced to fractions and have begun working on division facts.  Thank you for your continued support with math homework.  Students will receive a worksheet each night for homework this week.

The spelling rule for the week involves the hard and soft sounds of c and g.  Students will have a spelling cafe choice each night for homework this week.

Have a fantastic week!  :)

The February calendar went home today.  You'll notice that our Ellis Island simulation has been scheduled for Tuesday, February 18th.  I also sent home an informational sheet asking for a $2.00 donation and parent volunteers for this event.  Please let me know if you're interested in helping out on that morning.

Students have a spelling cafe choice and math worksheet for homework each night this week.  We spoke about homework effort on Monday and I saw a drastic improvement today.  Thank you for your continued support in regard to your child's at home assignments.

Please remember to keep your child's report card, and to sign and return the gold envelope it came in as soon as possible.

Thank you and have a wonderful week!  :)

Happy New Year and welcome back to school!  We will be continuing with our multiplication and division unit this week.  Students will have a math homelink each night for homework.

Our spelling rule this week involves double vowel syllables oi, oy, au and aw.  Students will choose a spelling cafe assignment for homework each night.

We will be doing an experiment this week called Testing Foods for Starch.  Students will be using iodine to test various foods for starch.  Please ask your child about their results.

Have a wonderful week!  :)