February 15, 2025

Hello! I hope that you are somewhere warm and cozy and can appreciate the clean blanket of snow outside.
We had a busy week! Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch covered numerous reading skills including character traits, sequencing story events, and using text evidence to support answers. We made valentine cards for the homebound so that they feel as loved as Mr. Hatch. This next week we will begin our kindness bingo challenge to end the last two weeks of February.
We dove right into our presidential research project. We will finish our packet on Tuesday. On Wednesday we will start our posters. When both third grades are done, we will gather together to share about all the presidents - and then hang them out in the hall for all to see.
For reading this week, we will be using the new Storyworks magazine for February. We will cover the nonfiction story “The Day Alaska Shook” and the fiction story “The Shortcut”. Our spelling list will be words with the prefixes pre-, dis-, and mis-. Because it is a short week, the spelling test will be on the following Monday. We took the Unit 9 vocabulary test yesterday. We will be working on Unit 10 this week. Our grammar concept will be linking verbs. Students will be working on creative writing during the writer's workshop.
As we cover new concepts in math, I can’t stress enough how important it is to focus and participate in the math lesson. Encourage your child to ask questions if they don’t understand something. I only had 1 student ask me to review something on Monday that they needed clarified. Everyone else said - we got it. Yet, many students did poorly on the assessment on Tuesday. (And the test was the same exact format.) I did give half points back for corrections, but that is not going to happen every chapter. Chapter 9 will start out covering division by using related multiplication facts. This is why we spent so much time memorizing earlier. They’ll need their fact knowledge to solve problems throughout this next chapter.
We’ll be completing our last lessons from our investigating electrical systems unit. We’ll review and create booklets the following week to end the trimester.
We will be concluding our religion chapter with stories of St. Patrick. The remainder of the week we will be completing chapter and unit reviews. Kindness bingo will play a part in our daily religion discussions.
Valentine’s Day was really nice!!! I will miss their colorful mailboxes on the ledge. Thank you for keeping it more simple this year. We spent over an hour on our case of the Valentine Villain. All groups were able to solve the crime. The packets will come home next week so that you can see what they had to do to solve the mystery.
Your child should have shown you the note about leprechaun traps when they got home yesterday. It is in their homework folder. It is not due until March 10, but I know with the longer weekend some of you may be able to visit the dollar store while they have fun additions to decorate the trap. This is a great project to work on as a family. Last year someone did it with a younger brother and his grandparents one weekend. Use items you have in your house like it suggests in the note. This is not a parent project - let your child come up with the design. We will be working on STEM blueprints, writing out how the trap works, and then explaining that to guests who visit our classroom and the Loewe’s classroom the week of March 10.
Please do not send your child to school on medicine. If they need medicine, they probably need to stay home and rest. We had several kids coming into school complaining about how they felt before the day even started. Sometimes that extra day of rest makes all the difference. We had a few with tummy issues this week. Hopefully this longer weekend will give us a fresh start of good health on Tuesday.
Our only functioning car died a few blocks from home last night, so I will be occupying my day with that. I hope that you have more enjoyable things on your agenda. I will focus on the blessing of my warm house and good food.
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
February 6, 2025

It was nice to meet with so many families this afternoon. I wish that I would have been able to meet with all of you.
Tomorrow I will be participating in the last archdiocese professional development for the year. I hope that many of you get to take advantage of the longer weekend.
There are only 12 school days left in the trimester. Third grade will be busy!
During our reading block I will be sharing the story “Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch”. I don’t let a valentine’s week pass without reading it to my class. I won’t give away too much now, but it is worth the read. We will be covering several skills. To go along with the story there will be a kindness bingo challenge.
We will also be reading/researching for our president project on Wednesday and Thursday. Students chose their president today.
On Monday morning we will take the spelling test from this week’s list. Next week we will be having another r-controlled spelling list. The grammar concept moves from helping verbs to linking verbs. We finished Unit 9 in vocabulary and will take the test on Wednesday.
In math we will have one last day of review for Unit 8, equivalent fractions. The assessment will be on Tuesday. The remainder of the week we will be completing valentine themed math challenges.
We ended up performing our author interviews for the Loewe’s, both fourth grades, both first grades, and both second grades. Ms. Owens and Mr. O’Keefe were able to join our studio audience, too. I am so proud of what an amazing job the students did. The author display boards will come home on Monday, so that everyone in the team can bring it home for a day.
Remember that Wednesday is an early dismissal at 1:45. It is also a spirit wear day. Our golden ticket was pulled this week. I’m hoping that we will be able to use our out of uniform pass on Valentine’s Day.
Speaking of valentines, students can bring valentines to deliver to their classmates on Friday. If your student chooses to bring valentines, there are 21 students in the class.
Have a nice weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
February 1, 2025
Hello family! Happy Feast of St. Brigid!!! If you don’t know much about this amazing saint, you can ask your child to go on google classroom and share the videos that I posted. First is the reading of Brigid’s Cloak. There is also a short video from Bishop Vetter sharing a few of her miracles. She is known for 46 miracles performed, most of which were feeding the poor and the hungry livestock when no food seemed available. I liken a few of her stories to the fishes and loaves miracle. Brigid’s Cloak is just one of the stories. I will be sharing other stories of St. Brigid during the week.
We had a great Catholic Schools Week! It was good to see so many families at Mass and visit our classroom. There was something special every day that made this week fun. Thank you to all the volunteers that helped with hospitality on Sunday, roller skating party, extra lunch duty, faculty luncheon, hot dog lunch … Your time and energy is greatly appreciated!
Author interviews went great!!! Students practiced in front of the class, and then the Loewe’s came for the official performance. Both fourth grades are coming on Monday and first grade is coming on Wednesday to watch the interviews. I posted pictures from the interviews and the display boards on our classroom learning photos tab.
Our language arts lessons this week will be about Ruby Bridges. She was the first little girl of color to attend an all white school when desegregation laws were passed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Her story is inspiring.
Spelling this week will be r-controlled vowel words. Since it is a shorter week, the test will be the following Monday. The grammar concept will be helping verbs. We will complete Unit 9 in vocabulary.
We will complete unit 8 in math this week on equivalent fractions. We will continue investigating electrical systems in science.
Early dismissal is Thursday for conferences. Thank you for the prompt response in returning forms. Since we completed the winter iReady diagnostic I will be able to share results with parents attending conferences. Students will be coming home with their iReady folders to conference with you in the next week. We will be setting goals when students meet individually with me.
Have a great week!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
January 23, 2025

Hello family! I will not be in school tomorrow. Unfortunately I will be attending my third funeral this month. I am so excited to see all of you on Sunday. The students have been working so hard. They have a lot to show and share with you! Mass starts at 9:30 with open house immediately following until 11:30.
Third grade worked so hard this week! We completed our author research, typed out the information learned, backed all information and pictures with color, and laid out finished products for your viewing pleasure this Sunday. Then students wrote essays. We reviewed unit 7 fraction chapter for tomorrow’s test. We made circuits - lighting a bulb and running a motor. We prayed for mothers and babies every day. The list goes on…
Catholic Schools Week is going to be just as busy. Fr. Matt is visiting our classroom on Monday. Mother McAuley will be giving a performance on Tuesday. Third graders will also be performing their author interviews for the other third grade class. Wednesday we are challenging Mrs. Harris’s fifth grade class to a math game challenge. Thursday we will have a kids heart challenge assembly. On Friday the student council will walk us through expectation stations.
Students that don’t pass the spelling test tomorrow will retake the test on Monday. Next week’s spelling list will be digraphs. We will take the Unit 8 vocabulary test on Monday. Our grammar skill will be irregular past tense verbs.
On Wednesday we celebrate Chinese New Year. Our reading lessons will take us back to our Storyworks3 magazine. We will journey to ancient China and then read a play entitled “The Emperor’s Contest”. Students will go on epic and read about how Chinese New Year is celebrated across the world.
All of next week we will continue taking donations for our all school fund raiser for the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Thank you to the families that helped support this already. Our box is almost full!
Saturday, February 1 is the feast of St. Brigid. Next Friday students will listen to an Irish reading of “Brigid’s Cloak”. I didn’t know about her story until about 10 years ago. It is pretty amazing. I hope that we will have time to actually make a St. Brigid cross that students will take home.
I will be posting again Sunday after open house with anything I may have forgotten today.
See you all Sunday!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
January 18, 2025
Third grade worked really hard this past week! Almost everyone completed their author research packet. Groups are working on finalizing their interview questions. Next week we will be busy typing out all the information for our research boards. Someone from their author group should have a poster board at school by Wednesday, January 22. We will start the layout on Wednesday. Thank you to parents who made trips to the library - and even purchased books for their kiddos to read this month. Their completed boards will be on display for open house. Their interviews will be during Catholic Schools Week.
We started the reading diagnostic in iReady. It was fun to see the excitement of those who not only reached their target number, but some already passed their expected May score. We still have a few that have been out sick that need to finish up on the reading. On Tuesday we will begin the math diagnostic. I look forward to sharing their growth with you.
The spelling list will be three letter blends. Grammar will continue with verb tenses. We will complete Unit 8 vocabulary on Tuesday. We will review this week and take the test on Monday, January 27. Our writing block will be on developing good paragraph writing skills.
Because we are off on Monday, we spent time learning about the man that we are celebrating. We read several books on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Students compiled interesting facts about his life, created two different kinds of timelines, and ended the week watching the movie “Our Friend, Martin”. If you haven’t seen the movie, it is worth watching. It is animation with real video included. On Tuesday we will read our Scholastic News magazine that includes a story on his life.
We will dive into our brand new cursive books this week. I will be giving instruction on cursive writing the remainder of the year. Right now it will be learning the proper strokes, making letters, and then making words.
Students have been working in teams on geography challenges. Some of the tasks were placing the state on a US map, identifying states in a region of the US, and connecting a state capital with its state abbreviation. We will be continuing this when we have breaks in the days ahead.
Science is an exciting part of the day. Investigating electrical systems labs had students lighting a bulb and running a motor. This week we will be setting up circuits and testing them. Materials will be out during Catholic Schools Week open house so that they can show you what they’ve been learning.
In math we will be completing our fraction chapter on Tuesday. We will review on Wednesday and Thursday. The assessment is scheduled for Friday. Students seem very confident in their beginning fraction skills. The next chapter will cover equivalent fractions and comparisons.
Mary’s arms are full of babies as we’ve ended day 5 of our 9 day novena for mothers and babies. We hosted Mass yesterday. Third graders did a great job. Several adults came by our classroom to compliment our class. We even got a few golden tickets for our exemplary behavior.
The donation drive for the Ronald McDonald House will be going on for the next two weeks. Students brought home the flyer on Thursday. We will keep a box in our classroom if you would like to donate.
It’s going to be cold next week!!! I’m sure that we will be in for recess. We will be practicing going on google meet on Tuesday - in case there ever is a snow day this winter.
I hope that you enjoy the longer weekend with your family.
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
January 10, 2025

We made it through the first week back. It was difficult for some to get back into our routines at the beginning of the week, but by today we were doing so much better.
I had shared that we’d be starting our new science unit. Yesterday’s lab was hard to watch. If things didn’t work out right away, many students just went on to the next step. Others kept saying that nothing was happening, or it’s not working. We turned that around today. I started the lab all over again. We spent over an hour on the lesson - which was worth every minute. THEY GOT IT!!! Our lab revolved around static electricity. Please ask your child to tell you about what they learned. Next week we will be working with light bulbs and motors.
Our chapter book author research project is underway. One of the main reasons I love third grade is that they get so excited about a project and dive right in. They have already gathered a lot of information. We will continue to gather information on Monday and Tuesday. They will start typing out their docs on Wednesday. I am encouraging a trip to the public library in the next week. Most students already have a chapter book by their author, but I’m hoping that most of them will finish reading 2 books by Catholic Schools Week. This project is done almost entirely in school, with the exception of independent reading.
I split our unit 6 math assessment up into 3 parts. We went over all three today. Work folders will be coming home on Monday. We kicked off our new fractions chapter with a fruit splat challenge on Sheppard Software. I wanted to get an idea of what they already knew. We will be working on fractions the next two weeks.
Storyworks3 magazine had great dragon stories. Students are getting so much better at locating answers in the text. They just need to work on formulating good responses to the questions. They want to do short answers like they did in second grade. We will continue reading a few other articles from the magazine next week.
In reading and social studies our main focus next week will be on Martin Luther King, Jr. We will be reading articles, labeling text features, creating timelines, gathering information, and creating a response in word and art. We will also be reading short biographies on epic.
Spelling will be words with silent letters. Grammar will be verb tenses. We took the assessment for unit 7 vocabulary today - so we will start unit 8 next week.
We will begin the winter diagnostic for iReady on Monday. We only spend a ½ hour each day on the test. We talked about setting goals. I gave everyone their “number”. It is halfway towards typical growth in a school year. My hope is that a majority of the class will surpass the number they were given.
For religion we will be starting a novena for the unborn. A novena is a special prayer over 9 days. We will be praying for all the mothers and babies coming into the world in 2025. Before we start our prayer we will color Mary. Each day of the novena we will be adding a baby into Mary’s arms. We will also be helping with the all-school Mass on Friday, January 17. You are welcome to join us in prayer. If your child has been picked to read at Mass - please practice with them each night.
Remember to put Sunday, January 26 on your calendar. That is our Catholic Schools Week Mass and open house. We will have many things on display and interactive centers.
We are going outside whenever we can for recess. Please make sure that your child keeps a hat and gloves in their bookbag. When we have snow on the ground it helps if your child wears boots.
I hope you have a nice weekend!!!! I have to bring my daughter back to school on Sunday. I really miss her when she’s not here.
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
January 3, 2025

Happy New Year!!! Only a few days left before we return to the classroom. Teachers have a retreat day on Monday - students start back on Tuesday.
The winter break reading challenge is due Thursday, January 9. Remember that each marshmallow stands for 20 minutes of reading. I have set January 24 for the goal date for completing multiplication sweets. We will continue testing daily until then. Students who have not passed Xtra math levels are reminded to practice each night. Students need to turn in their Mouse and the Motorcycle packets on Tuesday if they didn't have it ready before break.
Because of absences before break, we will take our spelling test on days of the week on Tuesday. There will be no spelling list our first week back together. We completed unit 7 in vocabulary. We will review Tuesday and Wednesday - and then take the quiz on unit 7 on Thursday. We will continue working with possessives in grammar.
Reading will be from our Storyworks magazine this week. We’ll spend two days on nonfiction and two days on fiction stories about dragons. Students will work on supporting answers with proof from the text. We will also work on answering questions in complete sentences. Writing good paragraphs will be our focus for the month of January.
We will start our big author project when we return to school. Students will be working in groups of 2-3. They will choose a chapter book author with their team. Students will be reading books by that author during the month and researching about the author’s life. The project guidelines will come home on Tuesday for your signature. This project will be going on all month. Projects will be on display during Catholic Schools Week.
In math we completed the chapter on area on December 13. Students reviewed the week before break. We will continue that review on Tuesday and take the assessment on Wednesday. Our new chapter will be on fractions. The multiplication centers assignment on google classroom is due this Thursday, January 9. I know that most students completed this before break. I will remind anyone not finished to complete it for homework.
The next iReady diagnostic will start on January 13. We will start with reading first. I’m excited for students to see how much growth they have attained this year. This will also help us set goals for the remainder of the year in reading and math.
Our acts of kindness chain that we worked on during Advent will be put away and brought back out during Lent. We will also be taking down our Jesse Tree. There were a few prophets that we didn’t get to - but I will be covering them in religion during the month. Our chapter this week will be about loving your neighbor.
In science we will begin our new unit - Investigating Electrical Systems. Students will participate in daily labs and keep a journal to record data. This is one of my favorite hands-on units that we do in third grade.
I will be asking students to share something that stuck with them each day of learning. I’m also asking them to share that with a parent at night.
We had to put all our materials in our lockers before break. The empty desks were pushed to one side of the room so that floors could be cleaned. It will take a bit of time on Tuesday to get everything put back together again.
As you can tell from reading, we will be jumping right back into learning Tuesday morning. Please make sure that the chromebook is fully charged. I ask that students be well rested. It is always an adjustment when we return from break.
Enjoy these last few days. They will go quickly!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
December 25, 2024
Merry Christmas!!! I hope your holiday is filled with love, laughter - and many smiles! Thank you for all the gifts. I feel very blessed by your generosity.

December 13, 2024

Thank you so much for all the sandwiches today!!! The kids were so proud to be doing service for the poor. We decorated lunch bags and were able to add a sweet treat from the Newtons. We ended up packing 44 lunches for the homeless. Mr. John Chesna will be delivering our love. There are some cute pictures in our classroom learning photos.
Wednesday was another good day. Students worked on a Christmas challenge - The Case of the Selfish Elf. It took just over an hour for our math detectives to solve the crime. Detective teams of 4 helped break open 5 clues. They found number patterns, added, subtracted, read clocks, and determined place value to eliminate suspects from a very long list. This next week students will use their language art skills to solve another mystery.
In religion we spent most of our time sharing the lives of Joseph and Moses. Both have a lengthy story. We also celebrated the feast days of Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Ask your child to share what they learned.
This week’s spelling words will be days of the week. Our grammar concept will be possessive nouns. We will continue with Unit 7 in vocabulary.
We will complete the reading of The Mouse and the Motorcycle on Wednesday. Students brought home a reading challenge on Thursday. Just to clarify - students need to read for 20 minutes for every marshmallow on the challenge. This is not due until January 9. We will be breaking into groups next week for our new project that will start after we return from break.
Our multiplication sweets challenge has been amazing!!! Half the class has passed through 12x’s. Over Christmas break I have asked the students to try and go on Xtra math if they are still on the addition or subtraction level. Wherever students end up next Friday - they should practice the multiplication facts that they have left. This week we will be reviewing the distributive property of multiplication. The Unit 6 test will be the Wednesday that we return from break. Fractions start in January.
A few reminders for this week - Our Christmas program K-4 will be on Wednesday night. Our Christmas party with our room moms will be on Thursday. On Friday Mrs. Loewe and I will be hosting a hot cocoa party for our present to the children. We have some fun activities planned in both classrooms. There will be bingo in Kane Hall Thursday afternoon.
Out of uniforms for this week - Wednesday is ugly sweater day. Thursday is pajama day. Friday is deck out in Christmas wear.
If you are looking for stocking stuffers almost every student needs pencils. Ask your child if they are in need of markers, crayons, scissors, glue sticks, etc.
Let’s make this a great last week of 2024. With all the excitement, we will still have a packed week of learning.
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
December 7, 2024

Baby, it’s cold outside!!! Thank you for sending your kids to school dressed for the cold weather. We have been having inside recess, but it’s good to see everyone bundled up when we go out at dismissal.
I have several positives to share that happened this week. Everyone, yes everyone, has already passed their 2 - 5x’s tables for our multiplication sweets challenge. I will actually be testing 4 students on their twelves on Monday. I hear about the practice going on at home. I appreciate your help. Half of the class has already passed the multiplication level of Xtra math! They are working on or have passed the fourth grade division level. Students visited 4 other classrooms and presented their Life in Pilgrim Times report at the beginning of the week. Every teacher commented on how well they did. Our Advent acts of kindness chain has been growing each day. I hope that you have noticed your child trying to be kinder and helping out more at home.
As I shared in my email yesterday, I will be giving students a second chance to improve their score on their spelling test on unit 6 vocabulary words. This coming week our words will be months of the year. We will be working on Unit 7 in vocabulary. Our grammar concept will be concrete and abstract nouns.
We will continue reading chapters 6 - 10 this week from The Mouse and the Motorcycle. Students have been working in their table groups on completing most of the comprehension questions after we finish reading in class. There will be a read aloud posted each day on google classroom.
Unit 6 math chapter on area will be completed on Tuesday. I will not be testing until the following week. Wednesday students will be working in teams to solve the mystery of the selfish elf. I’ll explain more next week. On Thursday Ms. Tesmond and I will be rotating stations for math centers in all different areas of math. Friday we will be reviewing Unit 6 for the test the following week.
I am increasing our iReady math goal to completing 3 lessons each week - rather than 2. As I shared at conferences, most of our class scored below grade level in math. As I reviewed upcoming lessons on their individual plans - all but 4 are still completing first and second grade math lessons. It’s so important that we fill in those missing pieces, but I want to see growth. A majority of the class has second grade lessons in subtraction that they need to pass. When we return from Christmas break, part of morning work will be reviewing subtraction skills.
In religion we spent time each day learning about a different story from the Jesse Tree. We covered creation, Adam & Eve, Noah, Abraham & Sarah, and Jacob. We have one more story from the book of Genesis on Monday, and then we will move into the book of Exodus. Yesterday at Mass Abraham’s name was mentioned in the Gospel. Students will notice now that many of the people we are reading about have stories that are shared at Mass.
This week there are several saint feast days: St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Loretto, Our Lady, Queen of Angels, and St. Lucy.
Tomorrow is our third grade level mass at 9:30. I hope to see many of you there. The students will be doing the readings and singing after communion up on the altar.
This Wednesday is an early dismissal at 1:45.
On Friday Mrs. Loewe and I are asking our students to make a sandwich for someone who is homeless. It can be meat and cheese or peanut butter and jelly. Students will take home a decorated plastic baggie on Thursday for homework. We will be discussing this in class as being of service during this Advent season. If you don’t want your child to participate - please send me an email. Mr. John Chesna delivers food to the homeless each weekend and will be bringing our sandwiches to pass on to the poor. Your child should make the sandwich - not you. It is their service.
I’m going to finish now so that I can decorate my tree and start a pot of soup. I hope you have a nice weekend. See you tomorrow.
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
November 30, 2024

I hope that everyone enjoyed time with family and friends over this Thanksgiving weekend! It’s hard to believe that it will be December tomorrow.
It will also be the first Sunday of Advent. We will gather to light the advent wreath with prayer and song. We will work on doing acts of kindness each day. In religion we will be learning about the tradition of the Jesse Tree - the family tree of Jesus. Every day we will be reading stories from the bible starting from the book of Genesis. They will be learning about so many holy men and women. We hang an ornament on our tree with a symbol that represents the bible story.
Sandra Bustamante reached out to families last week about Sunday, December 8 being our third grade Mass. Parts have been assigned. All students in attendance will be singing a special song after communion up at the altar. The link to practice the song is here: Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord! (Hymnal #235). We will be practicing a few minutes each day in school, too.
We will begin our new literature unit on The Mouse and the Motorcycle. We will be reading a chapter each day and completing skills. Students will be rereading at night and completing comprehension questions. I will be posting a read aloud on google classroom, but your child can choose a different read aloud if they’d like. I will remind them how to do that on Monday. This literature unit will take the next three weeks to complete.
With some absences before the holiday, I pushed back the vocabulary test so that all students could review. The unit 6 vocabulary test will be on Tuesday. Those words will also be our spelling words this week. We have spent over two weeks on this unit. Hopefully that will be a good grade start for the trimester. Our grammar skill will be common and proper nouns.
In spite of all the internet issues, groups got their finished products together for their Life in Pilgrim Times report and practiced presenting the information they learned. During the week each group will visit another classroom to present.
We did so much multiplication on Monday and Tuesday. We took timed tests, played multiplication war, challenged our previous times on multiplication dominoes, and we played multiplication gobble bump with the other third grade class. Students felt we needed a few more days to review the distributive property of multiplication. We will review in the morning on Monday and Tuesday and take the assessment on Unit 5 on Wednesday. We will begin Unit 6 on Monday. This week’s regular lessons will be on understanding area measurement and practicing determining areas of different figures.
We will visit the Santa Shop on Tuesday morning.
December gets busy in and out of school. There will be a routine to homework the next three weeks that will help with that. I’m also scheduling time to slow things down. Hopefully you will do the same outside of school when you can.
Come Lord Jesus, Come Quickly!
Mrs. Bucko

November 22, 2024
What a week!!! As I look back, I’m glad that we were able to accomplish so much- even with some obstacles.
Because of the internet issues we were not able to get as far as I wanted with our Life in Pilgrim Times project. Today we did a power hour while the internet was working. My hope is that we will do that again on Monday. Groups will be visiting different classrooms to share what they learned on Tuesday. I appreciate everyone who made the effort to visit the library. We have other research projects during the year. Being familiar with the library will help.
A BIG THANK YOU to all the families that participated in Illinois Family Reading Night. It is so important that kids see us read, too. Sometimes we have to force ourselves to slow down. It is easy to get caught up in sports, tv, and video games. When I have students write out the homework it makes me sad that some students will immediately say, “I can’t do that because I have ___________.” My message to them is that school should come first. Especially when I am asking for 10 minutes. Students should be reading every night. Getting in that habit to read before bed will help prepare them for the work they will do after they leave third grade.
Today we learned a new math game - multiplication war. Find a deck of cards at home and let your child show you how it is played. Students also helped me get my card decks back in order. There are so many ways to practice math facts with a deck of cards.
I started our multiplication sweets challenge. Students try to build an ice cream treat by passing fact levels. 2x is a placemat, 3x is a napkin, 4x is a cone, 5x is a scoop of ice cream, etc. I am hoping that the class is able to complete the challenge before we leave for Christmas break.
Monday and Tuesday will be busy. I have a lot planned. We never got to the Unit 6 vocabulary test - or the math assessment. We will try for the vocabulary test before the holiday, and we’ll take the math test when we return. Students will be bringing home GOBBLE BUMP to play with someone over the long holiday weekend.
It was Fr. Matt’s birthday yesterday. Our class made cards and decorated his office wall.
I’ll probably add more to this before the end of the weekend. Enjoy the weekend!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
November 15, 2024

I hope you enjoyed your iReady conference with your child. Because everyone is on their own individual plan - each conference was different. In class we practiced and shared how many students were able to fill in so many of the missing pieces they had in their learning coming into third grade. It makes me proud that so many third graders are going above and beyond what is asked of them. The growth this year will be amazing - I can already see it!
We took a step back in math and spent some time practicing the distributive property of multiplication. I want students to have strategies to help them figure out things they don’t know right now by heart. They will come home and ask you to be their audience while they are the teacher - explaining the steps and process. We will take Monday and Tuesday to complete unit 5 - multiplication. We will review Wednesday and Thursday and have a test on Friday.
I will also start my multiplication project - multiplication sweets. Students will be timed on 2’s, 3’s, 4’s, etc. up to 12x’s. There are 21 problems on each challenge. This will run with Xtra math. I know all this sounds like a lot of math. IT IS! We also started on multiplication dominoes and multiplication gobble bump. They will be taking those home to practice and show you what they know. They’ll need someone to time them - or someone to play against them. We did both today in class. I personally won half of my games - and lost the other half. I’m sure you’ll hear about it if your child beat me today. I am daily impressed by the streak of problems in Xtra math. Students who struggled at the beginning of the year are getting amazing scores.
We have spent the past two weeks researching about life in Pilgrim Times. This upcoming week we will be creating paragraphs and working on creating google docs so that we can share our information. During Thanksgiving week, teams will visit other classrooms to present their information that they learned.
In religion we will work on our saint research. Both third grades will have saint banners hanging in the hallway to showcase over 40 saints. We will be sharing what we learned at the end of the week.
We wrapped up our folktale unit. Anansi the spider will visit us again in February. This week we will be reading about sailing to America - after the Pilgrims. Some of the stories will be nonfiction - others will be historical fiction. We will have spelling words with long e. Spelling and phonics activities will be assigned on ConnectED. We will review all 7 weeks of grammar. We complete our Unit 6 vocabulary on Tuesday - with an assessment on Friday.
Our class goes to the book fair Monday morning. Please refer to the Charger Check In about setting up an ewallet.
Thank you for making a trip to the library. It really is a lovely place. I had students bring their books home so that they can return them. I hope that all groups have enough information by now to develop good paragraphs.
Our ofrenda will be up until November 25. We will make sure that pictures and other special items get into backpacks before we leave for Thanksgiving. It really is beautiful. Every morning students turn on the candles, and turn out the lights. After our all school prayer is over, we offer prayers for those who have gone before us - helping them get to heaven. We also have a special box that holds names and intentions. Prayer is a powerful thing. I have been part of many miracles because of the power of prayer.
Report cards go home on Thursday.
I hope that everyone has a great weekend. I’m heading to my mom’s in the morning. I can hardly wait for my daughter to come home from college for Thanksgiving weekend. I miss her terribly!!!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
November 8, 2024

I hope you are enjoying the day. I’m on my lunch break between my professional development zooms. My brain hurts a little - so much information to take in.
We have one more week of the first trimester. It is hard to believe that report cards will already be going home soon.
We will have our last spelling test of the trimester on Monday. There will not be a spelling list the rest of the week. In class we will still be working on spelling/phonics activities with long i and long u. We didn’t have time yesterday to take the vocabulary unit 5 test. I hope we can fit that in on Monday - after we review. In grammar we will continue working with irregular plural nouns.
Students did an amazing job decomposing numbers to complete multiplication problems with the distributive property. Part of Monday’s homework will be to demonstrate the steps involved in solving multiplication of large numbers. This whole week our chapter focuses on multiplication facts of 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9x’s.
If your child is still on the addition or subtraction level of Xtra math, I am expecting them to practice a session every night. Students are able to take the practice quiz daily to increase their score. I encouraged students to go on each day of this long weekend to try and get rid of some of their gray boxes. They can show you what they have left in their grid if they go on this weekend to practice.
We have been reading and gathering beginning facts for our Life in Pilgrim Times report. I still encourage you to take a trip to the library if you are able. The internet should not be their only source for gathering information. We won’t be constructing paragraphs until next week. That will be done in class.
In reading we will continue with folktales. Anansi will be the main focus Monday - Wednesday, and then Thursday and Friday we will be reading an ancient Mexican folktale - Roadrunner’s Dance. Students will work in small groups to choose character traits for the main characters and support their answers with text evidence. We will also be summarizing and sequencing story events.
Students will choose a saint that they will learn a little more about. Both third grades will be creating saint banners that will be hanging in the hallway to share what they’ve learned.
We will continue to pray for all souls that are part of our ofrenda. Students can still bring in something to add. Every morning we turn out the lights and light the candles to offer our prayers. I took a picture in our classroom learning photos.
We do have school on Monday. We have an early dismissal on Wednesday with a spirit wear out of uniform.
I have to get logged into my last session of the day. I hope you all have an amazing weekend.
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
November 1, 2024

Thank you to all the moms that came and hosted a fun Halloween party for our class. The kids loved it! The parade and the pep rally were an amazing end to a fun filled day.
I was so proud of both third grades today. They were so respectful in reading, carrying banners, bringing up the gifts, and participating in songs and prayers. It was so good to see so many parents attend Mass with us.
We will have spelling tests this and next Monday. Next week’s words are long i and long u. We wrap up the vocabulary unit and take the test on Unit 5 this Thursday. We continue our work with plurals in grammar.
We go back into our Wonders book to kick off a two week unit on folktales. We will learn about Anansi the spider and other folktales from Africa about this popular “trickster”.
I changed our October bulletin boards to set up our ofrenda. We ate our sugar skulls that we made today, but our paper skulls hang above our altar. Students are able to bring in pictures of family members that have passed to add to our altar. The altar will stay up until Thanksgiving. We will be working on writing prayers of thanks this next week.
We start our next project - Life in Pilgrim Times. The guidelines will go home on Monday for your signature.
On Monday students will review beginning multiplication. We will take a quiz before moving into our new chapter. We will be covering the reminder of the multiplication facts the next two weeks.
The goal was to complete the addition and subtraction levels of Xtra math by today. I know that there are still a few people who have to work on that. In another week we will be starting our multiplication incentive. I expect students who have not passed subtraction yet to work on Xtra math each night for homework until they pass.
This Friday students don’t have school. Teachers have professional development.
Have a great week!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
October 26, 2024

Thank you for the perfect attendance at parent/teacher conferences this past Thursday. Give yourselves a gold star. Having a partnership between home and school really does make a difference for your child. It makes me happy that you are all invested in your kids so deeply.
Teachers participated in continued training in EBRS - escape, barricade, resist, and survive on Friday. I will be reviewing procedures with the students on Tuesday. I’m sure they will be coming home talking about it.
We have read a lot of nonfiction the past two weeks. Students have read, taken notes, shared with classmates, and created paragraphs of what they’ve learned. I am glad that they’ve shown good research skills already. During November they will be researching saints and what life was like during the first Thanksgiving.
This week will be busy with dress downs and activities involving Red Ribbon Week. Monday will be crazy sock and hair day. They will write the other dress downs in their assignment books, but you can always refer to the charger check-in.
On Wednesday students will take the test on chapter 4 in math. It is mainly problems with 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10 multiplication facts. The next chapter will be on the remainder of the multiplication facts.
We will start Unit 5 vocabulary. Grammar skill will be regular plural nouns. Spelling words will be long o.
It is the last week that we will have the rosary in the hallway. Our class will lead again. Friday is All Saints Day. The third grade is leading mass. I encourage you to join us if you can at 10:00. Half of each third grade class has a job for the mass. If your child has been selected to read - please practice each night this week. There are a lot of difficult words. We will be writing prayers in class that will decorate our bulletin board for November.
On Wednesday the third grades will combine to take part in Halloween STEM activities. Mrs. Loewe and I try to combine our classes at least once a month for learning.
Thursday is Halloween. We will not be following a normal routine. There is a party, parade, and pep rally.
Next weekend is the feast of All Souls. We will have a space in our classroom to honor those in our families that have died. If you have a picture, prayer card, or momento that can be part of our special altar - students can bring those items starting on Tuesday.
I am heading to a big family wedding in just a bit. I will not be in school on Monday. Mrs. Zawaski will be covering for me. I hope you all get a chance to enjoy the lovely weather this weekend. It’s the last weekend to take a selfie with a priest. Make sure you take one at Mass this weekend.
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
October 19, 2024

Happy Saturday!!! I just got back from caring for my mom. The colors as I drove farther north were just beautiful! I love fall!!!
Grandfriends Day was a big success. It was so nice to see so many guests in our classroom. These days are so important to your children. Many students couldn’t wait for their special guests to arrive. Thank you for making sure they felt loved.
The walk-a-thon went well. The DJ and the motivation to complete laps was fun. Our class raised $1,140!!! We ended the day with the Loewe’s to watch a favorite movie of mine - sharing a little bit of birthday fun with the third graders.
We never got to take the vocabulary test for Unit 4. We will take that test on Tuesday. We will review another day for pronouns and then move into plural nouns. There will be no spelling test this week.
We did a lot of nonfiction reading about bats this week. We wrote amazing paragraphs about bats on Friday. This week we will be reading about spiders. We have 2 Mystery Science activities this week. One will be about spiders. The other will be about our bones.
We’ll wrap up chapter four in math. Our beginning multiplication facts: 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10 have been the focus of this chapter. The test will be the following week. I have reopened Xtra math for those students who have passed both addition and subtraction levels. Our goal was to be done with addition and subtraction levels by November 1. We are so close!!!
I look forward to seeing all of you on Thursday. We dismiss at 11:30 with conferences starting at noon. I will have a lot to share, so if you have questions - please write them down so that you don’t forget. We only have 10 minutes. It will go by fast.
I hope that you have a great week! See you on Thursday!
Blessings,
Mrs. Bucko
October 11, 2024

I’m posting this a little early because I’m sure most of you are taking advantage of the longer weekend.
We are off on Monday.
Grandfriends Day is Wednesday. Hopefully you’ve spoken with someone about coming for your child. We will have centers and games for students to play with their special person. Guests can arrive at 10:00. This event lasts until 11:00. We have hot lunch that day.
Friday we have the annual walk-a-thon. Third and fourth graders will be walking their laps together. Keep collecting pledges. This is also a hot dog lunch day.
Spelling words will be Unit 4 vocabulary words. We will also have a test on Unit 4 later in the week. We will continue working with pronouns in grammar and then go into plural nouns.
The World According to Humphrey will wrap up on Tuesday. We did vocabulary activities today and will conclude with a story test on Tuesday. Humphrey will start going home with students next Friday - more details to follow. Next week we'll be using our Storyworks3 magazine for language arts.
We will also be reading a lot about bats next week. There are several nonfiction texts and videos that we will be using to cover a variety of skills. Students aren’t exposed to a lot of nonfiction texts before third grade. That will change this year.
We gather on Tuesday morning for a decade of the rosary. Fr. Matt will be visiting our classroom on Wednesday. We gather for Mass on Friday before the start of the walk-a-thon. We have been practicing the words to familiar prayers. Sometimes we just follow along and don’t realize what the actual words are and what they mean. Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be were worked on this past week. This week we will add the Apostle’s Creed.
Many students are so close to passing the next level on Xtra math. They can practice over the weekend if they’d like. I think there are 5 students who only have one square left to pass. It is so important that addition and subtraction facts be part of our comfort zone. We start chapter 4 this week on beginning multiplication facts.
Parent teacher conferences will be coming up soon. I do expect to meet with everyone. I know that we’ll only have a few minutes together, but I’ll have a lot to share with you. Part of our discussion will be sharing iReady scores from our first diagnostic test.
I hope you enjoy the beautiful fall weather!
Blessing,
Mrs. Bucko
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