Tales from Grade Three has a new home. The third grade is teaming this year so we started a new blog where you can find all of the information you need about our three classrooms!
Be sure to visit us at: www.dtgradethree.wordpress.com
Math Playground Party Planning
Do you like to party? You’ll need to use your perimeter and area skills in order to perfect this party! Put your multiplication facts to the test by building different arrays that match the given perimeter and area needed.
Click the link below to use math playground to design your perfect party.
http://www.mathplayground.com/PartyDesigner/PartyDesigner.html
If you have more time, try this Dream Box lesson:
Field day fun
Hurdles, footballs, javelins, slushies, and more. The rain finally let up and we all got to enjoy a hint of sun and a whole lot of fun on field day!
I even got a surprise pint sized visitor to help cheer on our athletes! What a fabulous day!
Editing is so much more fun online . . .
Engagement hit an all time high when students were able to use google drive to publish colonial diaries! Students were able to conference virtually with teachers, get feedback almost instantaneously and receive help with spelling. Once students printed documents from Google Drive they could “age” the paper with tea to make it look authentically historical. We will leave our colonial diaries for a secret audience at DT sometime next month.
Super sensational sound stations
Kalimbas, stethoscopes, water, xylophones, and mystery eggs made our super sensational sound stations a huge hit on Friday!
Sounds like Fun
Tuning forks, slinkys, salt, vibrations and sound machines were all part of what made learning about sound a whole lot of fun!
Opinions Matter!
All this week, third grade students have been diving in deep to the 1700s and what was happening in Boston. While learning about the Stamp Act, the Quartering Act, and other laws made by British rule, students formed their own opinions about what was fair and what was unfair. Third graders have also taken on the perspective of figures in history such as British soldiers, Patriots, and even King George himself! Each day we have closely read chapters from the books below to build knowledge about this time period. As a final project, third graders will leave a copy of their diaries for another classroom at Davis Thayer! We are thrilled with the energy and enthusiasm that students are showing during Reader’s Workshop. Many have very strong feelings about liberty, what was fair, and why groups of people chose to rebel.
It’s all about that verse, about that verse, about that verse
We are living and breathing poetry in Team Wannabe! In Reader’s Workshop we are busily studying many different poetic devices and tools. In Writer’s Workshop we continue to delve deeper into poetry by creating our own original poems. Revising and editing seem to be the most difficult part of writing great verse. Students have become very knowledgeable in identifying tools such as alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme, stanzas, and line breaks.
Check out this digital tool you can use at home to help you play with language and create your own poem.
http://www.rif.org/kids/readingplanet/gamestation/poetrysplatter.htm
The eyes have it . . .
In science, third graders are studying light. We have done a lot of work with mirrors lately and have begun to understand the difference between reflection and refraction. Today students learned more about the anatomy of our eyes and got to take a closer look at our own eyes. These scientists discovered many fun facts about the retina, pupil, and iris. We will use what we learned about the eye to help with our unit on light.
Pose the problem
Each day, math workshop starts with a problem posed to students about the concept we are studying. We use manipulatives, draw pictures, write equations and discuss strategies that work well in order to solve the problem. Third graders have improved immensely when it comes to explaining what they know and describing the mental math strategies they use in order to solve complicated word problems. Take a look at these two mathematicians and see how they showed what they knew to our team.
Tales from Grade Three 