Fraction Action!

If you were to come into room 407 for math time during the last couple of days, you would see a flurry of fractions!  We are making our own fraction models with paper.  Fractions can be a difficult concept to master, especially when they are abstract thoughts.  However, when they are concrete pieces we can manipulate, suddenly they are less intimidating!  Check out some pictures of our fractions in action:

Here are some of the questions we discussed during our fraction exploration:

What happens to the size of a fraction when the denominator increases or decreases?

How many ways can we add fractions to equal one whole?

What does it mean when the numerator changes?

How does 1/6 compare to 1/3?

Great thinking, class!  

Spring Break!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful spring break!  Be sure to complete the math practice packet I sent home.  If you do a little each day, it will be a very easy task.  :)

Also, don't forget to READ!  I cannot believe it, but we are nearly at our next Accelerated Reader goal of 2,500,000 words.  You all have been reading like crazy.  I love it!  (note:  I just checked, and our class word count is 2,456,958 words!)  Keep reading and you can take those AR tests when you get back.

I leave you with a picture of a bit of the jelly bean math we did today....

See you in 11 days, third graders!!!

The Mysterious Case of Maple's Missing Penguin

Be sure to take your AR test tomorrow! Click here to watch the missing penguin video.

Author's Purpose

Today we discussed author's purpose.  That is to say, what is the intention of the writer in a piece of literature?  We learned that there are three reasons a literary work is written.  Do you know what those are?

Persuade, Inform, or Entertain!

Next time someone asks, just remind them to have a piece of PIE!  :)

Watching Seeds Grow

A couple of weeks ago, we dissected lima bean seeds.  Now that we've identified what is inside a seed ready to sprout, we have created our own classroom experiment on growing seeds.

Each baggie contains a paper towel soaked in water and three different kinds of seeds.  I can't wait to watch these grow!  How about you?

We are Mentors and Role Models!

For the past several weeks, we have had the opportunity to do some learning activities with the Kindergarten students in Ms. Roberts' class.  By reading and writing with them, our third graders have demonstrated leadership and role-model qualities.  Peer mentoring has many advantages for both groups, including reinforcing academics as well as social skills.  I have to say that I am incredibly impressed with how seriously our third graders take this opportunity!  The feedback we have gotten so far has been very positive. Ms. Roberts and I plan to continue this mutually beneficial practice as much as we can.  Stay tuned and awesome job third grade!!

Springtime State of Mind...

In case you are distracted by the current wind and snow and haven't noticed, tomorrow is the first day of spring!  In room 407, we kicked off our study of poetry with an acrostic poem.  Wishful thinking?