Weekly Wrap Up

We had a great final week before spring break! First thing Monday morning, the kids divided into three teams of seven and each team visited a kindergarten class to tell the little ones about our Economics Fair and why we are raising money. We wrote a script as a class, and each student had their own important part to share. Their presentations included a map, photos, and samples of clean and dirty water to compare. They did a great job!

Most of our time in Language Arts this week was spent finishing our poems and illustrations for the poetry anthology. I did sneak in some learning with dictionary skills, and we had our usual Time for Kids weekly quiz. They are getting better each week at these comprehension skill quizzes.

Thanks to Ms. Ostrominski, we tried a new review technique in math on Monday. Each student had previously completed an 8 question review for our measurement test. I cut and pasted each question onto a large chart paper and taped them to the floor in our common area (we are so lucky to have this great, flexible space!) Then I divided the kids into pairs or groups of three and placed each group at one of the chart papers. They then had 4 minutes to solve the problem / show their work on the chart paper, and cover their work with a sticky note labeled with their name, so others could not see. Every 4 minutes, we rotated to the next problem, until everyone had a chance to show their work for all 8 problems. We trooped back into the classroom and one by one, went through each problem and the variety of ways it could be solved. I heard many comments like, "That's how I did it too!", or "I tried it a different way but got the same answer!" And even better, students were able to recognize their errors! As I would remove a sticky note to reveal a wrong answer, they would comment, "I did XYZ, but now I understand that is wrong because..." Lots of great mathematical language was used! At the end of the day, the general consensus was that this was a fun and helpful way to review. Thanks, Ms. O!!

On Wednesday, we began a new unit on graphing. This one will be short and sweet because by third grade, they have already been exposed to graphs for nearly 4 years now. Graphs are something we always incorporate throughout the year! However, we still had some learning to do. We started with a simple pictograph and created a giant graph on the carpet with paper plate representations for each student, showing our favorite foods. Would you believe that salad was more popular than tacos?!? But no surprise, pizza was the biggest hit! I threw them for a loop when I told them to change the graph to show that one plate represented TWO students. Great problem solving went on in small groups as they discovered they might need to cut a plate in half to represent just one person. On day two of graphs, we learned about creating bar graphs and they used some excellent online tools to create unique graphs based on survey data they collected.

Of course, you know what we did in social studies this week...the Economics Fair! We studied print advertisements to see what kind of attention grabbers advertisers use. The students then used those ideas to create their own signs for their one-of-a-kind business to display at the fair. We reviewed our economic vocabulary terms with some fun games, and took a quiz. Thursday morning passed in a whirlwind of shopping, and as a third grade team, we were able to raise $1,752 for out Water Warriors project. Our class total alone was $270.10!

Ready! Set...

SWAT!!

Trying to get their partner to guess the vocabulary word on his back.

This is what $1752 looks like!

It's hard to believe spring break is here! I'll miss my third graders, but I am also looking forward to some extra time with my own kiddos! John has been counting down the days until spring break, which he calls, "lots of stay home days!" Don't forget to change your clocks this Saturday night...spring forward time! Have a great break!