Diary of a...?

      

     Most of us are very familiar with these fun books!  We've read them before and have even watched them on Morley Library's Tumblebooks.

     Well, our class took another opportunity to practice our writing skills (focus: journal writing) while learning about science!  Since we currently have our own, resident creepy crawlies, we began writing our own room 407 version:

 

Diary of a Pill Bug!

     The students began their own diaries from the perspective of their pill bugs.  Stay tuned as we take this through the rough draft, editing, and publishing processes!

Here is one of our pill bugs.  Notice that our seeds are beginning to sprout in our terrariums too.  Exciting! 

Science & Writing: Our "How To" Posters

     Last week, we took some time to practice the skill of writing a "How To" poster.  In order to complete this assignment well, we needed to be able to write clearly, detailed, and in a sequential order.  Since we had just made terrariums in science, what better way to practice this writing skill that to cross curriculum and write about this recent project?

     We began by making rough drafts individually.  Then we broke into our science teams and got to work.  Check it out:

February is Black History Month

Click on the link below for more information about the accomplishments of some African Americans....

   Time For Kids: Black History Month

Guest Blogger: Monique

      As part of our multiplication unit, we have been talking about arrays.  We've colored them on graph paper, created them with cubes, and cut out/labeled array flash cards.  An array is simply a way to "see" multiplication.  Our goal is for them to understand multiplication conceptually and memorize the facts from there.

After cutting out and labeling their array cards, students had to quiz themselves on which they knew and which
combinations they were still working on.  We love when they are aware of their own learning!

     

Examples of multiplication in array form

Monique writes:

"We are practicing arrays with tiny pieces of papers.  We did this to understand multiplication facts. We learned a lot about multiplication and arrays. I chose this because it was very fun!"

Thanks, Monique!  Keep up the good work as we head into our next big THINKING:

DIVISION!   

Maple Think Pair Share

Dear Third Grade Parents and Friends,

Check out this video!

Effort level 4 is is the kind of "Third Grade Thinking" we expect to see every day in room 407.

Hope you are having a great snow day, are rested, and ready to learn!

Mrs. H :)

PS- DON'T FORGET TO READ!!

Making Inferences: No, David!

     For the past few weeks, we have been working on the reading skills of making inferences and drawing conclusions.   By using clues from a text combined with information we already know (schema), we are able to comprehend beyond what is directly written.  We do this all the time when we read a book, but don't always realize we do.   To further reinforce this idea, we read a book with which most of the students are very familiar:

     Then we broke it down page by page and talked about all the inferences we could make from the words and picture clues:

This was a fun activity.  Be sure to ask your children about some of the other inference games and lessons we've done!  

     

Presidents' Day

Just a reminder- no school on Monday, February 18th in observance of Presidents' Day.

Here's a fun website to explore if you want to learn more about the presidents and other interesting facts:

http://www.usconsulate.org.hk/pas/kids/pd.htm

Have a great weekend and don't forget to read!  

Building our Terrariums- with Real Pill Bugs!

Remember when we did this?

A naturalist  from the Holden Arboretum came to our class today to help us build our terrariums!  Check it out:

We all began with an empty 2 liter soda bottle.

We observed the soil...

Poured it into the bottle...

Planted seeds...

Added some leaves, bark, sticks, a little water, AND pill bugs!!

The final products

We will be watching our small woodland habitats for the rest of the year. We will be classroom scientists as we investigate what happens. I can't wait to see when our seeds sprout and what those pill bugs will be up to! 

Guest Blogger: Lucas

Last week, for our weekly non-fiction writing assignment, we compared and contrasted addition and multiplication.  After discussing as a class, the students went to their seats to work independently on their writing.  The Venn diagram was helpful in organizing what can be a very complex idea!

Lucas reports:

"Today, we did this Venn diagram.  We did this to help us learn more about math and it  helped.  We looked and different words used in multiplication and addition and also what makes them the same and different.  I chose this activity because it was fun and I like math."

Great work Lucas and class!

Guest Blogger: Veronica

Last week, we celebrated being 100 days smarter on our 100th day of school!

Veronica writes:

"We worked on 100 day posters.  We did this activity for the 100th day of school and it was fun.  We made 10 groups of 10 things for a total of 100 practicing multiplication.  I chose this lesson because it was fun and we got to color."

Descriptive Writing and Adjectives

     Our writing focus this week is descriptive writing.  We've been talking about how to "draw" a picture with words.  Along with this, we have been learning adjectives- both how to identify and use them.

     Here's a little video we've watched to reinforce this grammatical concept:

Guest Blogger: Isabella

Learning about Multiplication through Arrays and Linking Cubes

by Isabella

     "For this activity, we used blocks and arranged them different ways.  We pretended we were arranging chairs and they had to be lined up in rows.  We were able to see that if you counted how many on one side times how many on the other side, we got the total number of blocks.  We did this so we could learn more about math and to multiply.  When we started, I had no idea what an array meant and now it is easy.  I chose this because it was fun and helped us with our math."

 

   

Guest Blogger: Adriana

Comparing and Contrasting using a Venn Diagram

by Adriana

     "We read the story Cook a Doodle Doo and compared it to the book, The Little Red Hen.  It was fun, we did a diagram with it.  I liked making the diagram with partners.  We found many things the same and different.  Tomorrow we are going to finish it and talk about it with the class.  I hope we do more diagrams in class. I picked this because it was fun."

     

Guest Blogger: Arianna

(from Tuesday)

The Inference Guessing Game

by Arianna

     "Today we played an inference guessing game.  We got a mystery inference and had to write about it (with clues) and read it to the class.  They had to guess what our inference sentence was.  We worked as teams. We did this lesson so we could learn more about clues and inferencing and this makes us better readers.  I chose this activity because it made learning fun."

Spelling Test

yawn
taught
salt
hawks
halls
bought
drawing
caused
coughing
lawn
hauls
squawk
bawls
paused
crawled
spoiled
joyful
coins
walrus
autumn

Vocabulary:
1) magnificent
2) masterpiece
3) ingredient
4) recipes
5) tasty

Guest Blogger: Jade

Writing Summaries

by Jade

     "We practiced writing summaries using the book, The Little Red Hen.  We learned how to summarize using a graphic organizer.  We did this activity to become better at summarizing and write  a good paragraph.  When we wrote the summary, we used the clues "someone, wanted, so, but, then."  It was great. I wrote this because it was interesting and because I like to write."

Guest Blogger: Jeraldin

Using Multiplication to Find Total Number of Sides

"Today, we worked on math problems with partners.  We learned about multiplication and how to use it in word problems to find the total sides of a number of shapes- triangles and hexagons. I chose this lesson because I like math and I like working with a partner."

Would You Like to be a Guest Blogger?

Would you like to write a blog post for Third Grade Thinking?  When you think we are doing something exciting or interesting in class that you would like to write about, you could be the official blogger for the day!  In order to do this, you will need to write a paragraph that includes:

1) a description of the activity or lesson.
2) an explanation of why we are doing this activity
3) what you and your classmates gained from the experience
4) why you felt this was an interesting activity
5) a picture (optional) taken by me

Of course, it will need to be in your best writing!  ( Including correct use of capital letters, punctuation, correct spelling, be neatly printed, and full of evidence of your best thinking! Think COPS writing rubric.) When this is completed, I will help you make sure it is edited and will type it into the blog for you for all of our classmates and parents to see! :)

I can't wait to see who will be our first official guest blogger and who is really thinking about thinking.

Have a great weekend & stay warm!

-Mrs. H

PS- Can anyone answer this trivia?  What big word did Mr. Sebring use at this Thursday's Awards Assembly that means thinking about thinking?  Clue: starts with an "m"...

Pill Bugs & Terrariums-- Stay Tuned!

In science, we will be doing some pretty interesting things, including a visit from some naturalists from the Holden Arboretum.  They are coming to our classroom on February 14th and will be helping us build some terrariums.  We will continue to study plants leading up to our field trip in April.  

Today we read about pill bugs... can you guess what is going to live in these classroom terrariums???

Stay tuned!