October 5, 2024
Hello School Family!!! I didn’t get to mention last week that we have some new helpers in our classroom. Miss Christine is from Marist. She is with us on Mondays and Tuesdays for an hour doing her senior service. We also have Miss Isais from St. Xavier. She is spending Wednesdays and Fridays with our class getting her observation hours. She is an education major. It will be nice to have some extra helping hands.
This past week was busy! We started our first literature circles with The World According to Humphrey. We are enjoying the story and getting to take turns leading the group in discussion. We will wrap up the book at the end of the week. We have read 383 books on epic, all our bingo books, iReady reading, and the books we are reading for pleasure. Immersing ourselves in all this text can only help promote growth.
We took our Unit 3 test in vocabulary. We will move right into Unit 4. Our spelling words will be words with long a. In grammar we will take the quiz on adverbs Monday and start on pronouns this next week.
Ms. Tesmond and I rotated groups and gave a 10 question addition quiz and an 8 question subtraction quiz on Thursday. We will still be doing extra practice with subtraction in the mornings until we have a majority that has consistent success. Our fact knowledge in addition and subtraction has had a huge improvement. Students that came in struggling are increasing their streaks of correct answers every day. We had a few more students pass levels in both addition and subtraction for Xtra math. We will be completing chapter 3 on understanding multiplication and division on Monday. EVERYONE has been doing amazing each day in the lessons. I will be giving an assessment on the chapter on Thursday.
Our class was the first group to lead our hallway in a decade of the rosary. They did a great job! We will continue to do that on Tuesday mornings. We created a large rosary on our bulletin board - look in classroom learning photos. Students have enjoyed sharing their special rosaries that were brought from home. This week we will work on Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be in religion class.
Work folders will go home again on Monday. Thank you for taking the time to go over the papers with your child.
Make sure that you are registered for the Walk-a thon. The lanyard that came home and the brochure have the website to complete registration.
We will not have early dismissal this Wednesday, but we will have it this Friday at 1:45. It is a longer weekend with Monday off for Columbus Day.
I hope you have time to enjoy this nice weather. I love fall!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
September 30, 2024
Johnny Appleseed’s birthday was a success. We had a themed week of activities. We read several different stories about him. We worked independently and in small groups to complete tasks. After watching 2 different videos about apples on Mystery Science, we had an engineering STEM to create an apple trapper that collected apples from the orchard. There were several changes to the original designs. Honey crisp was the classroom favorite apple for taste, followed by granny smith. Ask your child about the nakuto apple. We followed a guided draw of Johnny Applessed. Completed portraits hung on our wall all week (classroom photos). We ended our week making applesauce. Our classroom smelled so good!!! Of course I had to make more when I got home to my family.
We had so much improvement with subtraction. I’ve been able to send several Bucko Happy Thoughts this past week because of all the growth. I can tell that many families are practicing at night in areas of weakness. This will make such a difference. We started the math chapter on understanding multiplication and division. We will continue working on chapter 3 all week. There were a few more students who passed the addition and subtraction levels of Xtra math. We had our first student pass all 20 money cards during centers on Thursday.
I invited Ms. Owens into our room today to share all of these great accomplishments. Students also shared all the lessons they’ve been working on in iReady. She was excited to see their positive energy - and ownership in their growth.
Fr. Matt has given us 3 seminarians to pray for. They will stay on our prayer board. If you’d like to include them in your prayers - their names are Salvador, Luke, and Joshua.
We will start our next chapter book and literature circles today. Students will be asked to reread parts of the story and answer questions each night for homework. There are several great storytellers that have read alouds on youtube if they’d rather follow along.
Our grammar skill will continue with adverbs. We’ll wrap up Unit 3 vocabulary today. The test will be on Thursday. Spelling words will be words with final e. The packet comes home today.
October marks the month of the rosary. We will gather in the hallway tomorrow morning and be the first to lead our hallway in praying a decade of the rosary. This month students will be completing activities so that they have memorized a few prayers.
I’m sorry this is posting late. I was at Marquette for parents’ weekend.
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
September 20, 2024
A lot of excitement at school today. EVERY student got bingo on Thursday. I had given the extra day for anyone wanting extra points. We had someone that completed ALL 25 SQUARES on the bingo board. Another student had 5 bingos. Thank you for helping to encourage reading this month. It made me happy to hear about all the trips to the library. Several students shared how they put time aside to read - or added it to their bedtime routine. All of these practices will make an enormous difference in the academic growth of your child.
We have 12 students that have passed the addition level of Xtra math and 5 that have already passed subtraction. I encourage you to allow your child to do a round of Xtra math after school if they are working on fact fluency. I want them to be confident in their answers and not have to use fingers to count.
I had to postpone our math test. There is ⅓ of the room that is confident on subtraction, ⅓ of the room that gets most of it but makes fact errors, and ⅓ of the room that really struggles on remembering the steps to subtract. We will be doing math double time for the next few weeks. We will be continuing with subtraction practice in the morning and then move into Unit 3 in our regular math slot. Unit 3 is understanding multiplication and division. I do need to give a quiz on place value and rounding by next Wednesday. Normally there would be numerous grades for math in Powerschool. There is a general lack of number sense in a majority of the class - that will change this year!
Students were sent home today with their work folders. They are jam packed. Please review the work with your child, sign the folder, and have them put it back in their bookbag.
Next week is the birthday of Johnny Appleseed. We will read books about his life, sequence story events, create timelines, and compare/contrast other tall tales. In science we will watch a video on different kinds of apples and complete an apple trapper activity. We will create tables and graphs of our favorite kinds of apples, and end the week with making applesauce. It is a busy, fun week. I am asking the students to bring in a favorite kind of apple by Wednesday next week. On Wednesday we will create our tables and graphs and then prepare the apples for the applesauce.
For spelling we will be using Unit 3 vocabulary words for our list - since that will be the unit we’ll be working on. In grammar we will be learning about adverbs.
On Thursday we spent most of the afternoon in the convent chapel and church. We identified different items by the altar, different symbols throughout church, and noticed things we probably never noticed before. Fr. Matt came for a visit on Wednesday. Next time we go to the chapel he plans on joining our class. We prayed a decade of the rosary for Mrs. Loewe’s dad and anyone in our own family that needed prayers. On Monday we celebrate the feast day of St. Padre Pio.
We’ve completed our first slide deck - continents and oceans. I still have to grade them, but it was good to practice on something that had several different types of activities that they would complete in a slide deck assignment. I will be assigning a place value, number sense, and rounding slide deck this next week. They will be introduced to it in school and then pace themselves to complete for homework during the week.
I have more out of state family again this weekend so I need to get my house ready. Enjoy the weekend!!!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
September 13, 2024
We just ended our week with an amazing math competition with the other third grade class. The boys joined me first, while the girls went with Mrs. Loewe. Then we switched. We played boo bump in room 211. You’ll have to ask your child what they played in the other classroom. Mrs. Loewe and I like to have math games and challenges or STEM team building at least once a month. It’s nice to mix things up and have fun reviewing skills.
We started our day with Mass. Father Matt really tries to make connections with the students during his homily. When we returned to the classroom we worked on a Marian art piece. Yesterday was the feast of the most holy name of Mary. I will be hanging the Marian symbols on my bulletin board.
Bucko Bingo is blasting off!!! We have a few bingos already. I’m sure Monday will bring in many more. The last bingo reflection sheets will be accepted on Thursday, September 20. Thank you to the MANY families who have taken a trip or trips to the library the past 2 weeks!!! I’m glad that the class is filled with such good readers.
Wait until you see our Sideways Stories from Wayside School projects. They are hanging in the hallway. Fourth - Seventh grade students that were in my classroom have enjoyed remembering reading the book in third grade. Projects will come home later next week. I was impressed that we were able to type the projects in one sitting.
We should be wrapping up our math unit this coming week. The test is set for Thursday. I introduced the students to arcademic skill builders and sheppard software. These are 2 great places to go to practice facts and work on different math areas. Allow them to show you in the next few days. There is no username and password. The games are free. Most of the games are 1 minute.
We now have 9 students who have passed Xtra math addition. We have 3 students who have passed the subtraction level!!!
Our class has completed the diagnostic. I had a mini conference with each student to record their scores for reading and math. This next week they will see what lessons they will be working on in the coming weeks - based on how they did on the diagnostic. Remember iReady is an individualized learning plan once the diagnostic is over.
The continents and oceans slide deck was started on google classroom. On Monday students will complete it and learn how to turn it in. The first time is always a learning experience. We also watched a short video and had a great discussion on 9/11.
We’ll stay in our Wonders book this week for language arts. Spelling words will be short e, o, and u. The unit 2 vocabulary assessment will be on Wednesday. We’ll continue our grammar work with adjectives.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. My husband and I will be spending most of our time caring for our parents. It is not fun getting old. I count my blessings every day - You are among them!!!
Mrs. Bucko
September 7, 2024
Wow! What a beautiful change in temperature! I know it is only temporary, but I love fall!
We completed our first chapter book together. Part of our language arts time this coming week will be completing a project on Sideways Stories from Wayside School. Each student picked a chapter that they will be writing a paragraph about. That paragraph will go along with an art project.
We started stories in our reading anthology. We read a fable and a fantasy. Students will be exposed to all different genres this year. We will continue the remainder of the reading unit Monday and Tuesday. The test on Wolf will be on Tuesday. The spelling test on short a and short i will be Monday. We will not have a spelling list the rest of the week.
In grammar we will wrap up action verbs with a short quiz Monday morning and then move into adjectives for the week. Students did amazing on their first vocabulary unit test. Each test is 25 questions. I set the goal at 20 or higher. Every student in the class made that goal. We will start unit 2 this week.
I think the highlight of this past week was our STEM building challenge. I was amazed that a few teams communicated so well that they were able to complete 2 challenges within the hour. I posted pictures in our learning photos. I try to post photos on our classroom learning photos tab a few times a month. This week we will focus on social studies. I am assigning a slide deck on google classroom that they will work on. This will be new to them, so we will be starting off the assignment in class first. The slide deck will focus on continents and oceans.
I have slide decks for each math unit to help review concepts. I won’t start that until we complete the geography assignment. We worked mainly on properties of addition this past week. This coming week we will work on subtraction strategies and adding and subtracting within 1,000. Ms. Tesmond and I were able to have a bonus block of time on Friday and students worked on fact family problems in her room and counting coins in mine. I was made aware that several students have trouble with counting coins - just like the fact fluency with simple addition. We will continue with our morning Xtra math practice. We now have 4 students who have passed the addition level - and we even have one student who completed the subtraction. Reminder that these are first and second grade facts. My hope is that students will pass addition by the end of September - and subtraction by the end of October. I don’t start the multiplication level of Xtra math until the end of the trimester. Wherever your child is in this - I’m just looking for growth.
We completed the reading portion of iReady. We will begin the math diagnostic on Monday. When the diagnostic is complete, I sit down and conference with each student to show them how they did. I love iReady for third grade. Students will have their own individual learning plan. This will fill in any missing pieces and move ahead in areas they are already confident in. We set goals in third grade. We work to be our best self.
In religion we will be focusing on sacraments of Christian Initiation. On Thursday we will observe the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary. I will be bringing our class down to the little chapel in the convent to have quiet prayer time. Fr. Matt will be joining us.
We will spend time on Wednesday talking about 9/11. There is a short video and activity that we will do together.
Third grade practiced their fire drill last week. We will practice our tornado drill and lockdown drills this week when we have time.
Students will take home their work folder on Monday or Tuesday. Please remember to look those papers over with your child, sign the inside, and have them put the empty folder right back in their bookbag. I am asking for first and last names at the top of their work.
So many students were able to mark their bingo boards this week. Most checked out one or two books from our library on Thursday. I keep a basket of forms on the back table for students to take when they complete reading a book on their bingo board. Students have until September 20 to get bingo. They can try for a second bingo for bonus points.
As you can see, third grade is busy. There is so much to learn this year. I will talk many times about growing and stretching our brains. Right now I think our biggest obstacles are transitioning from subject to subject and not wasting time being distracted or distracting others. I have found that we are still waiting for ⅓ of the room to keep up with transitions and following directions. There is a lack of urgency to move on to the next task. We need to get over this obstacle. We will not get through what we need to each week if I am constantly waiting for students to be on task. Keeping our materials organized has really helped. I am proud to say that everyone left Friday with a clean, organized desk.
Remember that Wednesday is our first early dismissal day at 1:45. That is a different time than last year. I hope your family has a great week!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
August 31, 2024
Hello my new family!!! We have survived the heat and closed out the month of August. My AC went out on Tuesday afternoon at my house. I am happy that we were able to get it repaired last night. I woke to a cool house this morning.
Thank you to the 18 families that attended the open house on Tuesday. The partnership we create will make a significant difference for your child.
The chromebooks have been an exciting change for third grade. Everyone has been bringing their chromebooks fully charged. Make sure that your child is responsible for plugging it in when they get home - and putting it in their backpack for school. That shouldn’t fall on you. Students can go on Prodigy at night. My Epic subscription is only during school hours. I will never ask you to go on programs that want you to subscribe or pay.
Yesterday we practiced going on google classroom and turning in assigned work. Students have several codes taped in their assignment books. We are practicing getting into those programs and saving usernames and passwords. Most won’t need to access codes unless they have to log in on a different device.
We completed our week of nouns. We reviewed Friday. We will take a short quiz on Tuesday to circle the noun in the sentence. This coming week our focus will be verbs.
We completed the workbook pages for Unit 1 in vocabulary. That test will be on Thursday. Students went on vocabulary workshop - the link is on google classroom - to practice what we have covered this past week. They can go on at home. There is even a practice quiz for every unit.
In religion we read about St. Paul spreading the good news, even from jail. God calls all of us to spread the good news. We attended Mass with Fr. Matt. He was encouraging everyone to attend Mass on the weekend and increase their prayer and time with God.
Place value and number sense will continue to be our focus in math. We ended the week spending significant time on rounding numbers to the nearest ten and hundred. We will be going on Xtra math every morning as part of morning work until students pass the addition and subtraction levels. These are first and second grade facts. I had mentioned at open house that knowing facts with speed and accuracy is very important. Over half the room struggles with fact fluency.
We will be able to go on iReady this Tuesday. Students will take the diagnostic during the week. We only spend 15 - 20 minutes a day for the diagnostic. This will help me get a sense of where the strengths and weaknesses are in this particular group. iReady gives students an individual plan after they complete the diagnostic.
Students used maps to complete geography challenges with a team of 3-4 people. They really enjoyed this. This week our science/social studies block will be STEM challenges in a team.
We will continue reading Sideways Stories from Wayside School, but our reading block this week will be stories and lessons from our Wonders program. Spelling will be short a and short i words. Hopefully students will get their codes to access the spelling and phonics activities that I will assign online.
The feast day of Mother Teresa of Calcutta is celebrated Thursday. We will participate in activities to celebrate this amazing saint.
Don't forget to check out our classroom learning photos on the tab. I hope you have a great weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
Hello third grade family!
My name is Patricia Bucko. I am excited to start my fifth year at St. Catherine of Alexandria in third grade. I am originally from Stillwater, Minnesota. I moved to Illinois to marry my husband, Jon, of 32 years. We have 3 incredible children. My boys are in college and working, and my daughter starts college this year. Thirty-two of my thirty-four years in teaching have been in third grade.
I love my job! Teaching is my passion. I try to create a classroom space where students love to learn and strive to grow to their true potential. My classroom has always been faith based. I hope to create this same learning environment this year. I look forward to meeting you soon!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko