Seattle Bookfest!!

If you are looking for something to do this weekend, Seattle Bookfest (http://www.seattlebookfest.com/) is happening Saturday and Sunday. Here's the scoop:

The biggest literary celebration to happen in Seattle this year is happening this weekend in Columbia City! Seattle Bookfest 2009 is October 24th & 25th and takes place at the Columbia City Event Center (the former Columbia/New School), located at 3528 S. Ferdinand. The event will run from 10am to 6pm, both Saturday and Sunday, and features something for everyone!

There will be:
- A Children's Stage
- Over 120 local authors on five reading stages, including stages for poetry and children’s authors

- Panels such as “Getting Published, from A to Z,” “Contemporary Graphic Novels,” and “Vampires and Zombies and Zombies, Oh My!”
- More than 60 exhibitor booths featuring local publishers, bookstores like Third Place Books and Fremont Place Books, and many others from the literary community.
- A bookmaking demonstration, an interactive cooking demonstration, and a workshop on How to Write a Novel in a Month

- A book swap courtesy of Friends of the Seattle Public Library (bring a book to swap or buy one for $1)

- Scrabble contests, a Grammar Bee, and a Mad Libs Party

This event is free to the public, but there is a $5 suggested donation.

CAFE Reading Goals

Readers, in the comments please tell us what your CAFE Reading goal is, and what you have been doing to work towards that goal!

Example:

I am working on Check for Understanding to practice my Comprehension. I have been using sticky flags to remind myself to Check for Understanding every page.

Secrets of SPY Codes

Click on the link to Our Sparkling Words on the left to read Siddharth's article on the secrets of famous spy codes!

Take Home Bags

Today I introduced Take Home Bags, an optional homework supplement, to our class. Hot pink informational/permission slips came home today in student mail. Due to popular demand, here are photos of the six bags, as well as their contents. Feel free to leave theme ideas for more Take Home Bags in the comments!!

The Pirate Bag:

The Magic Bag:

The Dog Bag:

The Horse Bag:

The Spy Bag:

The Insect Bag:

Salmon Migration

Last week we learned about the route that Issaquah salmon take to get from the hatchery to the ocean. They begin in Issaquah creek (or the hatchery), then travel north to Lake Sammamish, west along the Sammamish river, south into Lake Washington, then west again through the Montlake cut, Lake Union, the Ballard Locks, Puget Sound, and eventually to the Pacific Ocean!

Which places on this map have you visited? Have you seen salmon in any of these places?

Salmon Jumping a Fish Ladder

It's hard to imagine just how strong salmon are until you actually watch them jump a waterfall or fish ladder! These adult spawning salmon are fighting their way upstream to return to the exact spot they were born. They need to return to this exact spot in order to lay their eggs and reproduce.

How do you think they find their homestream again?

Our First Day!

Well, we certainly had a busy first day! In third grade we have SO much to learn that I thought we'd better just dive in right away!

We did three very important things together this morning. First, we began launching our reading time. We talked about "Read to Self," an important part of our reading time. We created an "I-chart" (I for Independence) outlining the behaviors expected during this time:

We also began learning specific strategies we can use to help ourselves become better readers. They are "Check for Understanding," "Cross-Checking," and "Tune in to Interesting Words." Ask your child to explain how each strategy is used!

Finally, we prepared ourselves for a busy year of writing by decorating our own writing journals! Students had fun embellishing notebooks to really make them their own. We'll have even more fun filling these journals with stories, essays, poems, letters, and much more!

What a wonderful class we have this year. I can see already that students in room 241 are smart, kind, funny, curious, and eager to learn. I'm going home tonight feeling very lucky to get to teach this fabulous group of third graders!

Whew! I can't wait for day two!!