Weekly Wrap Up

I just love this first photo of our entire class! Thanks to our wonderful room mom, Mrs. Deatherage for taking this picture for us on Friday.

This past week, students continued to work in their Water Warriors groups and each group completed a rough draft of their informational magazine article. We will work on revising and editing these articles when we are back in January.

For science, we did a quick review of the water cycle, and then spent the rest of the week on weather. Students began the unit by completing an online virtual investigation through Stemscopes on the laptops. We also recorded weather observation for three days, including reading temperatures, determining the direction of wind and observing the level of cloud cover. We made our own anemometer (an instrument used to calculate wind speed), but sadly (and ironically) it met its demise on day two when it was literally blown away by strong winds.

In math we studied 2D shapes with lots of hands on exploration and discovery. Students worked in groups to sort 2D shapes, tested polygons for parallel lines with dry spaghetti, and used geoboards to create a variety of shapes. To conclude our study of 2D shapes, the students worked with their table groups to solve the "Four Triangle Problem." I was so proud when, as a class, they ended up creating all 14 possible shapes from the guidelines I set. Be sure to ask your student about this activity! It was an awesome way for them to learn about congruent shapes. 

Next, we moved onto 3D shapes and terms such as faces, edges, and vertices. I just love the teamwork and collaboration you see in the following pictures!

Friday was a fun day spent visiting our kindergarten buddies (sorry, no pictures of that online as I do not have permission from the buddies' parents) and of course ending the day with the 3rd grade holiday party. Thanks to all of you who helped make the party a success by donating supplies or volunteering your time.

I hope everyone enjoys this holiday season, and I look forward to seeing everyone in the new year!

First Week in Review and Looking Ahead

I can hardly believe how fast my first week in the classroom flew by! We were busy every moment of every day, and I was so proud of how hard my third graders worked.

In my last post, I discussed our "Slingshot Sedan" experiment in science, and after we completed that, we did a study of gravity. I did several demonstrations for the class to clear up any misconceptions they may have had about how fast an object will fall. (Ask them to show you our coffee filter and rock demonstration...that elicited quite a few gasps in class!) :) Then we got down to work and in groups of three, the students assembled parachutes using a variety of materials (tissue paper, plastic, and fabric).Our question: which material would make the best parachute?

Below are pictures of the class showing off their completed parachutes, but unfortunately, I was not able to take any photos during the actual dropping of the parachute. This was because I was directing traffic on the first floor to make sure no one was injured by parachuting teddy bears!

Thursday morning, three guest speakers from the Water Development Board joined our team to speak to the kids about our local watershed region, WUGs (Water Usage Groups), and water conservation. Did you know that agriculture is the largest user of water in our area, using double the amount of water that our municipal (the people in the city) uses? The speakers were engaging, and between relay races, videos, and interactive demonstrations, all of our students stayed focused and on task, and most certainly gained new knowledge.

Friday, we wrapped up the week with tests in spelling, multiplication and science. Those grades will come home in Thursday folders.

Looking ahead to December 16-20, for language arts, we will continue to work in our Water Warriors groups. My students are done researching, and have decided as a class to create magazine articles in each of their groups to share their new knowledge with others. We will be using Google Drawing to collaborate on these informational articles, so that students within the same group can "share" their document and make changes that the others can see instantly. We begin two new units this week, geometry in math (specifically 2D and 3D shapes) and weather in science. And of course...we all know what is happening on Friday...the grade level winter party! Please join us from 1:30-2:30 if you are able to. Otherwise, I will be sure to post lots of pictures.

I hope everyone has a great week! I know we will in third grade!

Mid-Week Update

Hello wonderful third grade families! It was great to meet so many of you Tuesday night, and I hope to meet the rest of you soon. Remember that Thursday night from 5pm-8pm is England School Spirit Night at the Chick-Fil-A on 620. I plan to be there about 5:30 with my kids.

We have had a busy three days this week. In language arts, we are trying to wrap up our Water Warriors research and will begin working on a non-fiction writing piece Thursday and Friday, and on into next week. Each group will choose to write a magazine article, a question and answer book, or a persuasive letter based on their new knowledge. Below are pictures of each group hard at work!

In science, we have had fun exploring force and motion with the "Slingshot Sedan" activity and today we started exploring the force of gravity. (Be sure to ask your child about our parachute experiment when they come home on Thursday!)

In math, we have been reviewing our multiplication strategies and practicing lots of problem solving. They have a multiplication test on Friday! No pictures of math, but we practice in our journals, on dry-erase boards, with partners, in small groups, independently...a variety of ways to keep it interesting!


Thank you for sharing your children with me each day, each one of them already has a special place in my heart.

First Day was a SUCCESS!

What a great groups of third graders I have! We treated today pretty much like it was the first day of school and started off with a name game...I think I have the names down, with only a few mix-ups today.  We changed desks around, and worked on developing our social contract which is a set of guidelines for how we all want to be treated by each other. Tomorrow we will all sign the agreement and post it in our room to serve as a reminder of class expectations. The students updated me on where they are with their Water Warrior research, so we will dive straight into that on Tuesday morning. It's going to be a busy two weeks before our winter break!

Welcome to Third Grade with Mrs. Lipe

I am so excited to be a part of the Elsa England third grade team. I look forward to getting to know each of my students (and their families) this year! Because I am joining our class mid-year, and did not get the chance to meet everyone at Back to School night, I will be in the classroom on Tuesday December 10 from 5:30pm-6:30pm (just before the holiday choir concert). Please drop by to introduce yourself, and I look forward to meeting you!