Teacher of the Year

Last week Principal Phillips came to our classroom and announced that I was selected as the Teacher of the Year for 2015-2016.  This is a huge honor at Chets Creek because you are nominated by your peers.  I have great respect for the people I work with and will do my best to represent our school with honesty, integrity, and kindness.  Since Chets Creek is a family affair for me, (I co-teach with my sister, my mom volunteers at the front desk every Thursday, and my dad helps with Blessings in a Backpack on Fridays) Mrs. Phillips had them join her for the announcement.  I'm overjoyed to share this honor with what I believe is The Greatest Class On Earth!

A surprise!

Mrs. Phillips

My mom and dad with me and the kids.

My sister and parents.

My own parking space!

Missy brought me a celebratory coffee!

Building A Reading Life with Lucy Calkins

To grow as a reader we need to look at our reading habits. Although we tracked the books we read last year in second grade, in third grade our Reading Log is much more sophisticated. This year not only do we write the book title and author, but we are keeping track of the level, starting - ending pages, starting - ending times, and minutes read. After a few days we will look for patterns and self-assess ourselves as readers. What genres do we choose? How long does it take us to read a page (or ten)? Do we read fiction books quicker than nonfiction books? Are we reading so fast that we are choosing books that may be too easy for us? Is the opposite true - are we reading books that are so difficult that it is taking us a long, long time and perhaps, interfering with comprehension?

One student's reading log.

Reading with our logs ready to fill out.

Third graders read and enjoy chapter books.

.  Our goal is to read three quarters of a page a minute for at least an hour a day between school and home. We will work to achieve this goal in third grade. We know we can do it because as Lucy says... "You are in charge of your reading life."