Reading and Reading Logs

     I hope you are all reading. Lillie (my daughter going into 4th grade) picked up some books from the library yesterday. She was excited and surprised that she quickly read and finished a Junie B Jones book. It didn't take her long to read it, maybe an hour, maybe two.
    Later she came to me and asked me if that was a "3rd grade book". I told her that a lot of 3rd graders do read Junie B. She said she just "discovered" she liked them so she wanted to read them now and was that ok?
I told her it was fine, if you are motivated to read them, read them.
    I hope you all are finding things that motivate you to read. If not then go to the library and grab some books! Join the summer reading program while you are at it. Remember to keep working on those reading logs you received from your teacher (or make your own). 
 Mr. Kromer

Family---again :)

Lydia is our youngest. She is two and thinks she is the boss.

Josh is five. He makes friends super easy.

Ray is our oldest son. He is 14 and wants to be a pilot.

Dean is 13. He is our creative funny guy.

Lillie is going into 4th grade. She isn't
afraid of anything!

Something New?

Summer is now about half over...I hope you took that news well :)

I have a few questions for you.
1. Are you filling in your reading logs? Or emailing your 3rd grade teacher for those of you who were in Mrs. Frasier's Class?
Remember, you need to turn in your log the first day of school to your new teacher. This is important. If you lost your log then make a new one. Remember, you are not summarizing the books you read. Instead you are REFLECTING on what you are reading. (How you relate to something, remember something, how it makes you feel...). Do this often while reading the book. DON'T wait until you have finished a book. If it takes you 10 days to read the book you should have 3-5 (or even 10!) entries.
2.  Have you learned something new this summer? Maybe you are learning about blogging. Maybe you are learning about places as you visit them. I am learning about Google. Yes, Google. Google maps, Google Earth, Google Books, Google Squared, Google Reader, IGoogle....it is keeping me VERY busy.
To keep up with the changing world we need to keep learning. The summer is great because you get to learn about exactly what you WANT TO learn about! How cool is that?
Enjoy the day,
Mr. Kromer

Have you ever lost a library book?

Just wondering if you have ever lost a library book?
This might sound weird but I hope you HAVE!
See, I told you that would sound weird.

I'm writing this because my daughter Lillie (going into 4th grade this year) has a missing library book (one of the Stink books). I DO hope we find the book, but I'm not sure we will.

One thing I'd say is if you haven't lost a library book yet you are either very careful and organized or YOU HAVEN'T CHECKED OUT ENOUGH LIBRARY BOOKS! My guess for most of you is you don't check out enough books :)

When we go to the library we check out between 30 and 50 books (we bring 3 large canvas bags). We go to the library each week. So in a month we have had the chance to lose a lot of books. The part I like is we have had a chance to READ a lot of books too!

In the past we would bring the bags of books home and more or less put them on the coffee table right where they are out in the open. Now we have a book case in our living room that we put them on. With so many new books to choose from my children are constantly picking up books and reading. It is not unusual for me to walk in the living room and see all five children sitting around reading (the 2 and 5 year old too! Although they aren't reading in the true meaning of the word. The beauty is they love reading and they don't even know how to read yet!).

I think it is a mistake to just check out 1 or 2 books (or even 3 or 4 books). It is too limiting, moods change and the book you thought you wanted is too long or you don't want to finish it too quickly because you have to make it last until the next trip...With a bag of books you can read and change your mind, pick something to suit you for the moment, try new books you never would have if you only picked your favorite author, learn to read for fun, learn to share and read books at different levels, become a reader, not just someone who can read.

Mr. Kromer

Rock Climbing

I took my son rock climbing. We are training for a special race (run) that involves scaling walls so this was like a practice for us. My son took the pictures...not the best quality. Get out there and be active. Activity is better than inactivity.

Hot!

Today (Sunday) was a hot one. I do not like AC so my house got pretty hot too. We will be watching a baby tomorrow so I just turned the AC on to cool the house down (it is 10:00 at night). Do you use AC at your house?
I very much like having the windows open as much as possible. I like the fresh air and the sounds of summer too.
I especially like hearing the crickets and frogs at night.

The next few days are going to be very hot. What are your plans?

Mr. Kromer

My Family

Mrs. Kromer and I have five children. 

Ray is 14, Dean is 13, Lillie is 8, Josh is 5 and Lydia is 2. 

I'm not telling how old I am!

Oh, and yes, that is a dog Ray is holding :)

Oil Change

    I just rolled out from under our family van. It needed an oil change so I drained the pan, changed the filter and poured in four quarts of clear, clean 5W-20 oil.
   Do you ever help your dad (or mom) change the oil? My children always seem to get involved somehow (especially on a nice summer day like today). I am not much of a car person but I do want my children to understand how a car works.
    What other things are you learning to do? For example, my daughter, who is going into 4th grade this year, is starting to do her own laundry. Have you started doing that yet?
    How about cooking? My second oldest son (Dean, age 13, is out making dinner right now). Do you help cook? How about table setter or clearer? Dish-washer? All these are good skills to start to learn. The more you learn to do the better you can bless your parents and friends too!
   Mr. Kromer

Dried Grass

    My nice green spring grass has turned brown and prickly. I wonder if you have seen grass like this too? I started watering it for hours a day a few days ago and still it looks dead.
My neighbor's grass is green and soft still. Why? They have a sprinkler system that waters the grass for 30 minutes a day.
    This reminds me of what our brains sometimes go through in the summer.
Some of us have let our brains get dry and brown, for these people it will take a while for "watering" to turn them back. During this time you have to work hard just to unbrown your brain, you are working hard JUST TO GET BACK to where you were before it turned brown, you aren't growing new grass (getting smarter).
Others have "watered" our brains for 30 minutes most days. How? By reading and maybe doing a few math problems here and there on a consistent schedule.
   Video games and TV dry out your brain quickly, if your parents let you do those things in the summer counter the bad effect with more reading.
   I hope you understand what I am trying to say.
Mr. Kromer

Construction at Round

This summer every classroom is getting a "Smartboard".
I know that my classed enjoyed having one last year and it enhanced their learning experience.
It was great learning about the board with my class and trying new things.

The front sidewalk of the school is all torn up right now. That is getting replaced.
They are also putting in a new parking lot in the front of the school over by Bullard's farm.

Things will look a little different when you come back to school.

Mr. Kromer

July 4th?

I often ask children on the 4th of July, "What holiday are we celebrating?".
Most of the time I get the answer, "We are celebrating the 4th of July".
Hmmm, that isn't the right answer.
I wonder what answer you would give me?
Mr. Kromer

Lake or Pool

Summer is here and summer is time to swim! I like to swim and during the school year I try to swim a mile two times a week. During the summer swimming is for fun. I like swimming in pools. It is fun to play different pool games. As much as I like pools I think I like lake swimming better. How about you? What do you like better pools or lakes?
What kind of games or things do you like to do in the water?
Mr. Kromer