Weekly Round-Up, Odds and Ends

What a great week in room 407!  Here are pictures of just a few of the fun things we did this week:

Buddy reading with Kindergarten

Computer time:  Math Facts in a Flash and independently researching Antarctica.

Playing team Tic Tac Toe on the Smartboard
(analyzing analogies)

Investigating properties of triangles: making discoveries about side lengths and angles.

Have a great weekend! 

Mrs. H.

Accelerated Reader: Big News!

WE DID IT!  We reached our goal of 2,000,000 words read in room 407!  We will celebrate Monday with an ice cream sandwich party.

Great job students and keep reading!  How high can we go?

Homophones

In grammar and spelling, we've have been studying homophones.  That is where two words sound the same, but have different meanings and sometimes spellings.  (ex. pair-pear)

Today our table teams took on a homophone game and word study.  With the help of their teammates (and occasionally the dictionary) they successfully sorted and matched all of the homophones to their correct picture.  

Great teamwork!

Penguin Models...Wow!

Ok, so I am officially impressed.  When given the challenge of creating a model of a penguin that's not even due until next week, you guys have already turned this in??? Today I received posters, pictures, a diorama, and paper mache penguins.  WOW!

Penguins and Antarctica

     Great job reading this week room 407 families!  Keep up the good work!

     Don't forget that our first family activity (Antarctic animal report) is due Monday.  I have already received quite a few and they look really great!  Stuck on an idea for an Antarctic animal?  Check out some of the websites below for more information:

Sounds of Antarctica Website

Animals Found in Antarctica

National Geographic Images of Antarctic Animals

Interesting video about Antarctic research and animals:

What did we do in science class today?

     Hey, third grade thinkers!  Take a look at the pictures below.  Can you explain to your parents or other family at home what WE did in science today...?

Compare and Contrast: M&Ms and Skittles

As you know, we have been working on the very important skill of comparing and contrasting.  That is the say, to analyze how two things (items, characters, books, events, etc.) are alike and different.  This is an important skill to have when reading anything critically, in literature or informational text.

Earlier this week, we had the opportunity to analyze M&Ms and Skittles.  The students were very engaged in exploring these two candies!  They began with their own individual investigations, met with their teams to discuss further, and finally all the teams came together and we created one, big Venn diagram.

Once we had all of this information organized and in front of us, we took it to the writing process.  We wrote some wonderful paragraphs focusing heavily on a topic sentence supported by details.

(And of course, enjoyed a tasty snack while we wrote.)

:)