Week in Review: March 23-28

This week in math, we explored ounces, pounds, and tons as units of weight measurement.

Students try to fill a paper sack with exactly one pound of materials.

Students break down one pound of clay into equal halves. Then they continue to split each piece in half until they have 1/16 of a pound, which is one ounce.

We also spent some time on place value of larger numbers, up to the hundred thousands place. This was pretty much review for the kids, and they did really well. I tried a new strategy of reviewing this week and it worked out well. I designated six "place value experts," who were students that attend my math tutoring. We worked through a place value quiz together in tutoring on Tuesday, and then Wednesday in class, I had the other students complete the quiz. As they finished, they paired up with an expert to have their work checked. It was fun for me to eavesdrop on conversations as my experts helped their peers with anything they missed.

Next week, we will focus on data analysis (interpreting graphs) and then will have two weeks before the STAAR test in April to review all of the concepts we have learned this year.

We only had science / social studies for 3 days this week (Monday we were catching up from spring break, and Tuesday we were on our field trip). on Wednesday, we did some science related follow up to Tuesday's field trip and on Thursday, we did an online digital citizenship course where students demonstrated their knowledge of internet safety. Friday we learned about assembly lines by reading about Henry Ford and his Model T, and then running our own assembly line in class. Students learned hands-on how much time is saved by using an assembly line to manufacture bookmarks. They first attempted to make one bookmark on their own. The fastest time for that was 2 minutes and 45 seconds, but even after 5 minutes, some students still had not completed one. Then they worked in groups of 7 to plan and setup an assembly and were given 8 minutes to make as many as they could. our fastest group made 13 bookmarks in that 8 minutes! They really enjoyed this and learned some valuable lessons about teamwork.

In language arts, we are beginning a unit on traditional literature (folktales, fables, myths and legends). We are reading lots of picture books both as a class and independently and focusing on story elements, themes, and character development. We are also brainstorming story ideas for a realistic fiction writing piece. I look forward to seeing these stories develop over the next couple of weeks.

And of course, we can't forget Tuesday! Tuesday was our field trip to LCRA Redbud Center and the students had a great time. We could not have asked for better weather, and the volunteer docents at Redbud are phenomenal. They kept the kids engaged with lots of hands on activities. Special thanks to Mrs. Veenis and Mrs. Fisher for chaperoning! Because there are so many photos from the field trip, I am going to create an online Shutterfly album over the weekend that I can share with everyone. I will send out that link later. I hope you all have a great weekend, and remember that next week is a 4 day week, as there is no school on Friday April 3.

Week in Review: March 9-13

What a busy week we have had just before spring break! In language arts, we worked hard to illustrate our poems for the class poetry anthology. We also had a mini-lesson on synonyms and antonyms, and got to visit our kindergarten buddies on Wednesday to share a story and writing activity with them.

In math, we reviewed and tested over geometry, area and perimeter. Then we moved into liquid capacity and comparing cups, pints, quarts, and gallons with some hands on learning. Thanks again for all of the donations of empty containers, rice and beans!

On Friday, we explored metric capacity with milliliters and liters. I think they were all surprised by how small a milliliter is! While half the class was working on this experiment, the others were playing review games on the laptops.

In social studies, we completed our advertisements for our unique products, and we also learned how to read and interpret a product map. The Economics Fair on Thursday was a huge success, with our class raising $267.22 to donate to Hug it Forward. As a whole, the third grade raised $1682.93!

Friday was the school wide Fun Run, ending the two week Boosterthon. They all had a blast running their laps!

I hope everyone enjoys their week off, and I will look forward to seeing my third graders for our fourth and final grading period of the year on Monday March 23. Have a wonderful spring break!