Mrs. Thorp's Third Grade Class Blog

E-mail me at: gthorp@oursaviorchurch.org

Hawk Island Park field trip is coming up on Friday June 2. Grades 1-4 will all be going to spend the day having some fun after a year of hard work! We will leave at 10:30 a.m. and return by 3:00. All children and adults will need to bring a sack lunch and drink. If you can drive on this field trip contact one of our room parents. (May 23, 2006)

 

Beautiful Day At The Park Hopefully by now your child has told you all about our day at Potter Park celebrating Arbor Day. It was chilly at first but warmed up nicely in the afternoon. We learned about trees and how they are important for our world even for the fish. Watching the children eagerly viewing the animals was a joy to me. God has indeed given us a beautiful world. I was very proud of the third graders. They were very well behaved and were walking examples of love and kindness. Thank you to the parents who took time out of their busy schedules to drive us to Potter Park and help make our trip a success. (April 30, 2006)

Busy Week Coming Up Every year I am always amazed at how busy the spring months are at school. One would think that I would remember that from year to year, but I usually don't. Well, here it is:

  • Achievements tests start this Tuesday, April 25 and go for two weeks. You can help your child do his/her best by making sure that they come to school well rested and after having a good breakfast. Studies show that children do better if they are not tired or hungry.
  • Friday we are going to Potter Park to celebrate Earth Day. We will be going to different stations that have been set up in the morning and after lunch we will walk through the zoo. Please have your child bring a sack lunch and drink (no pop). We will leave prompty at 9:10. Please have your child dress for the weather and wear comfortable walking shoes. Maybe we can all wear our OSL shirts or the tie-dye shirts we made for Lutheran Schools week. I will ask the class which they prefer.
  • Make sure you put May 18 on your schedule because that is the night we will perform our musical, Splash Kingdom. The children are working very hard on this and I know that you will enjoy it very much.
  • The third and eighth graders are collecting items to be put into an Italian basket to be raffled off at the golf outing on May 13. So far we have two items. If you have not donated anything yet, please do so soon. (Possible items include pasta, pasta sauce, bread mix, salad dressing, candles, wine glasses, place mats, napkins etc.) If you haven't yet signed up for the golf outing, do so soon also. (April 23, 2006)

 

Happy Easter I hope everyone has the chance to go to church and worship our risen Lord today. What an awesome worship experience I had in the 9:30 service. The music and sermon spoke to my heart and I pray that it spoke to yours also. I can't wait to share the good news with the third graders tomorrow in school. Thanks be to God who gives us the victory!

I hope to see all of you Thursday night at Tech Night. We have been working hard to present to you a slide show in which we will try to persuade you to visit a certain state. Come and be wowed. (April 16, 2006)

I hope everyone had a relaxing spring break. After going to Indianapolis to visit our daughter and working in the yard and in the house, I am ready to get back into the routine of teaching again. We are definitely on the home stretch now. The weather will be getting warmer and thoughts of summer will be filling the children's minds soon. Encourage your child to keep going and have a strong finish. Here are a few things that will be doing in the next weeks:

  • Feel Good Mileage Club starts tomorrow. We will be running/walking every Monday and Thursday during our noon recess, with Fridays being our make-up day if it is needed.
  • The second and thirds graders will be going to Potter Park to celebrate Arbor Day on Friday, April 28. We will be leaving at 9:15 and return to school about 2:30. Drivers are needed. Children will need to bring a sack lunch and drink.
  • Technology Night is next week, April 20 at 7:00. The third graders have been working hard on a slide show just for you parents. Watch Panther Tales for more details.
  • Put May 18 on your calendar. That is when the 3rd-5th graders will be doing their spring musical. Watch for more details.

Have blessed Holy Week, remember what our Lord has done and I will see you in church on Easter. (April 9, 2006)

THANK YOU PARENTS for all that you did to help make Lutheran Schools' Week so special. Thank you for the donuts on Wednesday and for the YMCA field trip on Friday. Also thank you for treating us to a delicious meal on Wednesday. You are a great group of parents and OSL is a better place because of you. Thanks again and God bless you all. Please check out all the photos on our class photo gallery. (March 12, 2006)

National Lutheran Schools' Week Lutheran Schools all over the United States will be celebrating this week. What is there to celebrate some may ask. Lutheran Schools' Week is more than just Crazy Hair and Hat Day, more than Pajama Day and Backwards Day. It is time to celebrate what makes us so unique and that starts on Monday this week with the Cross. It is the cross of Jesus that makes our school special. Because God loves us and sent Jesus, we can love others too. This is what we will be celebrating this week. Tuesday we will show love to our friends. Each friend will be a special friend to someone in the classroom. Tuesday we give our friend a small gift. Wednesday we will show love to the congregation by making cross bookmarks to give out at church that night. Thursday we will show love to the neighborhood by walking to Somerset Apartments to sing to the residents. Friday we go to the YMCA and wear our OSL shirts so that we might be a witness to all we meet there. Thank you for sending your child to OSL!

Happy Valentine's Day Check out John 3:16 to find out God's Valentine to you! We had a nice Valentine's party. Thanks to all the parents who brought goodies for the party. Check out our photo gallery to see the pictures.

Next week Wednesday(February 22) we will be doing our oral reports on our heroes. We will begin at 1:30. Hopefully, I will video tape it for those who cannot make it.

Lutheran School Week is coming the first week of March. Stay tuned for further details.

I have another field trip for the the class. We will be going to Potter Park Zoo to celebrate Arbor Day on April 28. It will be an all day affair. If you can drive, please let one of our room mothers know. More details will follow as it gets closer. (February 14, 2006)

THANK YOU to all the students who helped make the scrapbook that was given to me on my birthday. I will treasure it for a long time. Your children are indeed a gift from God, so very precious and I am so thankful to have them in my class. Thanks again!

Also thank you to the parents who drove us to Impression 5 on Friday. We had a great time. Check out the pictures in our Class Photo Gallery. (January 22, 2006)

I hope everyone had a good Christmas break. We are now ready to get back to work, full speed ahead. In the next few weeks we

  • will do all our work in cursive.
  • start multiplication.
  • start reading a biography of a famous American ( more information will come) .
  • work on a Tech Night project.
  • take the STAR test so we can see what our new AR reading level is .

So you can see we will be busy. I will try to keep you informed as we go along, if your child does not. (January 8, 2006)

Dictionaries: Who would have ever thought that the gift of a dictionary would cause such excitement? Well, if you had been in our third grade classroom on Friday, you would have experienced it first hand. The Kiwanis Club of South Lansing gave each child in third grade a dictionary.They were totally thrilled and looked at them and read them throughout the day. However, what touched my heart the most was the spontaneous hugs that many of the children gave the couple from the Kiwanis Club as they were leaving. Thank you, parents, for such wonderful kids! (December 18, 2005)

Wasn't that snow day fun? I hope everyone enjoyed the snow or at least being able to stay home and do some things around the house. I know I did. However, we now have to have our spelling test and English test on Monday (tomorrow). We will be very busy at school this week practicing for Children's Christmas Service on Wednesday, December 21. Remember if your child cannot be there, you need to let me know as soon as possible. Have a blessed week.
(December 11, 2005)

By now most of you have heard of the wonderful field trip we went on to Turner Dodge Museum on Friday. The children were very well behaved as always and seemed to especially enjoy making candles. Please check out the pictures on our class photo gallery. Thanks to the parents who took time out of their busy schedules to drive on the field trip. (November 19, 2005)

 

I am looking forward to meeting with all parents this week during conferences. Please come with questions and concerns if you have any. The education of your child is a joint effort between you and me and I am here to help any way that I can. Take a look at our photo albums as I have added some pictures. Our flat people will go out this week. The students will enjoy waiting for theirs to return. Have a great weekend. (October 29, 2005)

Love and Logic The OSL teachers spent a wonderful day today at a conference with over 800 other Lutheran teachers at the Holiday Inn South. We worshipped together, had lunch together and heard Jim Faye, author of Love and Logic, speak. I invite all of you to check out his website as his ideas are for parents and teachers. He had some great ideas. (October 24, 2005)

Praise God The third graders did such a nice job leading the chapel service for the school this past Wednesday. If you weren't there you missed a great message. We learned that we can do nothing without God's help. We relied on Him and God came through as usual. Another "praise God" happening was the wonderful job the third graders did on their alphabet books. Wow! I enjoyed so much reading them. Thirdly, God indeed was praised through the singing of the choir this morning in church. Their love and enthusiasm was evident. My prayer is that your child will continue to rely on God for everything and always give God the glory for what they do. (October 16, 2005)

Third Grade Authors We are becoming authors as we are starting the process of writing alphabet books. Each child has picked an animal of their choice, has done some research on the animal and is now starting the rough draft. After we write, we will illustrate and then publish it for all to read. I am impressed with their work so far. Way to go third graders. (October 3, 2005)

 

Yummy Donuts Thanks to the PTL for the yummy donuts and apple cider that we were treated with on Friday. We enjoyed them tremendously . Check out the pictures on our photo gallery of the third graders eating their donuts. On another note, the third graders are leading chapel on Wednesday, October 12. You are invited to come and worship with us on that day and all chapel days. W e will be sharing with everyone how to live wearing the armor of God. (October 1, 2005)

Butterflies and the Bug House: Friday morning we set our five Painted Lady butterflies free. It was fun to watch them gradually fly away into the trees and grass. I think we all enjoyed watching them change from skinny caterpillars to fat caterpillars to pupas to butterflies. Friday afternoon we traveled to MSU to their Bug House. We enjoyed holding walking sticks and a millipede and seeing tons of bees. Thanks to the moms who took us there and back. Please check out our photo gallery and see our pictures. (September 24, 2005)

Very Hungry Caterpillars: Check out our five fat caterpillars in our room. We have been watching them eat all week and they are growing very plump. Soon they will molt for the last time (ask your child what molt means ) . They will then be in the pupa stage. We are having fun watching them. See some pictures on our photo gallery. Click on the link above and then on the picture to see all five in the album. Have I told you yet what a great class this is? I am enjoying them tremendously. (September 11,2005)

Week 2: I hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend and we will all be ready to start back to school on Tuesday. As far as I know no one has volunteered to be a room parent this year yet. If you are interested, please let me know as soon as possible as we have a field trip in a few weeks and the room parent will need to get some drivers lined up. I am also wondering if any parent would like to come in once or twice a week and listen to children read. Let me know. Feel free to call me or see me after school. I have bus duty so I will be in the church narthex. (September 4, 2005)

Wonderful first day of school: I am looking forward to a great year with a wonderful class of eager learners. Parents, please check this page often as I will try to update it a couple of times a week. Please check our photo gallery and click on one of the albums. The first two are from the summer, but the rest will be the third graders. God bless. (August 29,2005)

Ready, Set, Go: The classroom is ready,the desks are all set and I am ready to go. What's missing? The most important thing: the children. In less than three days the empty classroom will be filled with beautiful voices, laughter and lots of happy faces, I can't wait. My prayer for all of my children is that God will bless them with a wonderful year, with curious minds and a willingness to work hard. I will be praying for them each day, please pray for me too. (August 26, 2005)

empty classroom


Links

  • Parent Talk--This is the ministry of Dr. Randy Carlson who has the daily radio program called Parent Talk. He has good practical advice for parents in all situations. His Christ-centered advice is very usable.