Thanks for your patience while waiting for this update. I was out last week a half day on Thursday and all day on Friday and thought it would simplest to just combine two weeks. They have been a busy two weeks for sure!
Last week was the final week of the first grading period, so we wrapped up our units and had assessments in science, reading, writing, and math. Report cards will be coming home next week in Thursday folders. To celebrate the end of the grading period, we got to read with our kindergarten buddies. If your child's picture is not below, it is because their buddy does not have permission to have their photo online.
We have ended our unit on citizenship in social studies with students creating a poster of one of the characteristics of a good citizen. They chose to write about respect, honesty, compassion, responsibility, or courage. They also drew an illustration to go along with their paragraph. Our next unit is government and on our early release day on Wednesday, students came back from art to "board" Air Force One as we "flew" to Washington DC to tour the White House. They really enjoyed the trip, and learned a lot of interesting facts about the White House. We will be learning about the three branches of government in the weeks to come.
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| On board Air Force One, ready for take-off! |
In math, we continued with multiplication last week, and moved onto time this week. Next week, we will cover perimeter, and on Friday, there will be a test over time and perimeter. They are both quick units, and usually pretty easy for third graders. My class is doing great with time this week, and I am confident perimeter will go smoothly as well.
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| Making dot mirror art to represent multiplying by 2 and 4 |
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| Creating tables on dry erase boards |
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| Playing multiplication review games |
In science, we are learning about mixtures through several hands on experiments such as sorting cereals (and of course eating them as a special treat) and examining bird seed closely and determining how it can be separated. On Friday, we set up our notebooks so that we will be ready to rotate through several stations in the common area on Monday to learn the different methods of separating mixtures.
In language arts, we wrapped up our personal narratives and have moved on to our poetry unit. Students are learning about 4 types of poems (narrative, lyrical, free verse and humorous) and will try their hand at writing several of their own. We have read countless poems and the students are really learning to identify common features in poetry, such as descriptive language, rhythm and rhyme (sometimes, but not always!), and often a lack of punctuation. Poetry is so fun for them to write because they don't have to stick to the conventions of typical writing. Instead, they are free to experiment with the beauty of language, and they get a chance to express their creativity.
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| Reading various poems around the room, noticing common features |
This Thursday was Art Day, as I am sure you heard from your child! Our class got to rotate through three fun stations, and then spent some time using the iPads in the library as an extra activity. It was so fun for me to see their creativity.
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| Drawing station |
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| I joked that you had to wear a purple jacket to sit at this table! :) |
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| Using laptops to explore National Gallery of Art. Many fun interactive things to do there! |
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| Using a Drawing app on the iPads in the library |
With all the rain we had on Friday, we of course had indoor recess. I also let the kids stay in the classroom for lunch and we watched a Magic School Bus Halloween themed video...just for fun! I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween weekend! Only three weeks until Thanksgiving break!
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| Lunch in our cozy classroom on the rainy Friday! |
