Food Bank

We had a wonderful time on our field trip this morning! It was great to see all the students get so excited about helping their community. We started by hearing about when the Food Bank started and where the food goes. 

Then we got to work! We were taking cups of cereal, bagging and taping them, and then labeling bags with the ingredients. I received multiple compliments from the food bank employees about how respectful and helpful we were. Here are some pictures of our volunteers taking a short break!

We ended our field trip by getting a tour of the warehouse. I think the students enjoyed the refrigerator the best! 

Children's Choice Books-By Sama

These books are from Mrs. Finke. We get to read them and see if we like them or not. If it is a picture book or a non-fiction book, you can keep it for one day. If it is a chapter book that you really want to read, you can keep it for a few days. My favorite book is Return to Planet Tad. 

Here are some of the other books we can read. 

When we are done with all the books, we can return them to Mrs. Finke and we get a whole new set of books. 

Unearthing Fossils

Our focus this week during reading is on identifying and understanding vocabulary. Today, we started a book called Fossil Seekers. 

Today, we looked at the words seeker, extinct, unearthed, and remains. Of course, we also read some more difficult words like "plesiosaur" and "ichthyosaurus". The students and I discussed the difference between these groups of words, how the second group is very content specific. We will continue learning about fossils and vocabulary the rest of the week. 

Share Time at Class Meeting-By Addie

On Mondays, we have class meeting. We gather up in a big circle and share about our weekend. Or if we are running out of time, we get into small groups to share. You can say pass if you don't have anything to share with the class. The teachers share with the class too. The person who goes first to share is the one who is the All About Me person for the week. 

P.s.  What do eggs like to do for fun?

 

Answer: Kare-yoke-e

Sick Day!

Since we earned all 100 gemstones for good behavior, we celebrated today with a Sick Day. It actually worked out very well since we're learning about all sorts of diseases in Health. Here are the students acting "sick."

They definitely enjoyed their afternoon!

Writing in Paragraphs-By Chaewon

In writing, we were looking at paragraphs. First, we looked at other stories where the students wrote in paragraphs. 

We talked about how long their paragraphs were and when they separated their story. 

Then, we got our own stories out. We looked at them to see where to make our paragraphs. We got out highlighters and marked it. 

I think we will finish making paragraphs next time. 

Gemstones-By Jaden

We have to earn 100 gemstones to have a party. You earn gemstones by being quiet in the halls, getting compliments from other teachers, and following the Comet Committment. The line leader gets to put in the gemstones when we earn them. 

This is where we put the gemstones. 

This is the container we get them from. 

We earned the last gemstone on Monday! We had a class meeting. We talked about having a party and chose Sick Day. We have already earned two gemstones for our next party!

Class Meeting

Every Monday, we have a class meeting. This is a time for me to let students know about the upcoming week. We also discuss any problems occurring in the classroom. Finally, everyone is given an opportunity to share about their weekend. Yesterday during class meeting, we read the book, How Full is Your Bucket?

This is a great book to teach children how to be kind and respectful to others. It talks about how everyone has an invisible bucket over their heads. When bad things happen or people are unkind to us, the bucket tips and some of our water falls out. However, when others are kind and helpful to us, our bucket fills up. We discussed in great length how to be bucket fillers. Make sure to ask your third grader how they were a bucket filler today!

Counselor Time-By Taylin

Mrs. Sadewhite (our school counselor) comes to our room every two weeks. Two weeks ago, we talked about feelings and our focus was on being angry. This week, we focused on worrying. 

We read a book called, Wilma Jean, the Worry Machine. 

She lists everything she worries about and puts it in the worry hat. My class wrote down our worries on a piece of paper and put them in the worry hat. 

If you haven't read this book, go to your local library and check it out. And if you worry, put your worry down on a piece of paper and throw it away. 

p.s.  Why did the birds fly south for the winter?

Because it was too far to walk. 

Summit

Today we played a game in math called Summit. This is a game we also played during our addition unit. Students are given a Summit game board along with a die. They roll the die six time to get six digits. They form a 3 digit subtraction problem and then subtract. This continues for 3 more games until you reach the top of the summit. Students were asked to add all their differences and the winner is the person whose difference is the smallest. This game involves strategy, as students are trying to plan ahead their three digit problem in order to end up with the smallest difference. Here are some pictures of students being respectful and responsible while playing Summit. 

This would be an easy game to recreate at home to reinforce those subtracting skills. 

Paper People-By Kinleigh

We made these people at the beginning of the year. 

First, we made our heads. Mrs. Fox said to make it look like yourself. After that, we made our shirts. We had to put our favorite color, favorite food, favorite sport, favorite movie, and other questions like that. Then, we made the pants out of construction paper. We got to decorate them and put hair on them. 

This is mine!

p.s. Why did the truck driver stop in the middle of the road for a snack?

Because he saw a fork in the road!

Subtracting Across a Zero

This week, we have been working on three digit subtraction. On Thursday, we started talking about how to solve problems with a zero in the tens place of the first number. For example, 406-237. This is more difficult as it requires lots of regrouping in order for students to subtract. Here is a video of Owen explaining how to solve these problems. 

http://youtu.be/3bFJ7zdYIUw

Quiet Ball-By Tim

When we are quiet and packed up at the end of the day, we sometimes play a game called Quiet Ball. To play the game, you have to throw the ball to someone. If that person can't catch it, then that person is out. If you talk, you get out. That's why it's Quiet Ball. If you make a bad throw like hitting the ceiling, you are out. The winner is someone that is following the rules, trying their best, and doesn't get out. 

Hearing and Vision-By Kyan

This week, we had to go downstairs and get our hearing and vision checked. With the seeing one, we had to look through the machine and tell the nurse if the E was facing up, down, left, or right. For hearing, we had to put headphones on and tell the nurse which side the noise was coming out of. This tested our hearing. 

Here is a picture of me getting my vision checked. 

Guest Speaker

Today we had an amazing opportunity to hear from a guest speaker about Alzheimer's. As part of a health project last year, students were asked to research a disease. One of my students chose Alzheimer's. He ended up finding a personal connection to the disease and got involved with the Alzheimer's Association. Over the past year, he has continued to be involved with raising money and awareness for this disease. A woman from the association came to our class and read a book called, Grandfather Doesn't Know It's Me. 

She explained what the disease is and had lots of time for third grade questions. We talked a lot about the brain and how this disease kills brain cells. She used these cans to demonstrate how a human brain weighs 3 pounds. 

To learn more about the disease or donate, you can go to alz.org. 

The Play, A Home for Nellie-By Mara

We read a book called A Home for Nellie. It was a play. 

Mrs. Fox was the narrator and she drew sticks to have students play parts. Everybody got a turn. The play was about Nellie, a homeless dog. Some kids wanted to adopt her, but there was a rule they couldn't have dogs in the apartment. Finally, a community center took her and she helped the citizens of the community. It was really fun and it was a good experience. 

Writing Time!

I have been so pleased with the writing going on on room 215, I thought I would blog about it today. We are still working on personal narratives, and the students are loving the opportunity to tell all those wonderful stories from their lives. However, there are times they cannot think of any stories to tell. We discuss how this happens to all writers, and that you have to just keep going! We made a resource at the beginning of the year that helps:

This list was created by the class and is in the back of each of their notebooks. On the left, we came up with personal narrative ideas, such as the time you learned something new or a field trip you took. You can help your third grader with this by discussing memorable moments in your family history. On the right side of our list, we came up with some ideas for free write time, such as science fiction stories or a how-to book.

During our writing time, certain students can move around the room if they choose. Here are some pictures of some amazing third graders during writing today.