2002-2023 Wrap Up!

Even though the school year is winding down we haven't stopped learning and having fun in The Third Grade Learning Spot! In reading, we've been studying folktales, fables, and fairytales. 

Stories we read included Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, Lon Po Po, and The Paper Bag Princess. After reading The Tortoise and the Hare and The Lion and the Mouse, the class created a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast the main characters and story lessons...

Children created their own spider sons of Anansi, including symbols to represent their names and character traits, after reading Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti...

In math, we wrapped our our area and perimeter unit by pretending to be working on a secret NASA mission. Using specific measurements, partners created area and perimeter robots to explore Mars. They also named the robots and gave them special features to represent their names and help them survive on Mars...

Wishing everyone an enjoyable last few days of school and wonderful summer break! 

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Time flies when you're having fun, which we've been having while learning how to tell time in The Third Grade Learning Spot! We began our unit by creating model analog clocks, including labeling the hour and minute hands. We also labeled o'clock, quarter past, half past, and quarter to on them. When we lift the flap for each number the minutes are revealed.

After learning how to identify the hour and minutes, students went on classroom scavenger hunt to find analog clock task cards and record what time each clock showed.

Other hands-on ways we've practiced telling time included playing "Beat the Clock" on the BenQ Board, matching analog clocks to digital clocks displaying the same time, and using mini clocks and number lines to determine elapsed time.

During Writing Workshop the students have begun making their own personal narrative books. Each week we  read a personal narrative picture book and then discuss how the author brought it to life for readers. Next, we create a bubble map for the topic the author wrote about such as "an exciting life moment" or a "favorite family celebration". Bubble maps help us generate topic ideas.

 Then, students compose a rough draft, focusing on adding details. After peer and self-editing they write their final draft, then draw an illustration to accompany it. Our personal narrative books will be going in portfolios so students can share them with their families at the end of the school year.

The class is currently learning about adverbs during language arts. After defining what an adverb i,s we filled in the bubble word "ADVERB" with adverbs we thought of. Next, students picked a verb card out of a bag and brainstormed adverbs that could describe it. After learning ways to determine when to use  -er and -est adverbs the students took turns identifying if adverbs in sentences should end in -er or -est. They circled the hints in the sentence that helped them determine the answer and then filled in the blank with the correct ending.

    Happy learning!

What We've Been Doing During December

Our class is off to a great start learning how to solve double digit multiplication problems. We started the topic by meeting DDM (Double Digit Multiplication ) Man, who showed the steps to multiply by "flying" up and diagonally on the whiteboard...

One of the hands-on activities we did to practice double digit multiplication was playing "Double Digit Multiplication Match". Students had to solve double digit multiplication problems to be able to match mittens...

Another one was rolling dice to create a set of double digits numbers which we multiplied...

During our "Machines, Forces, and Energy" science unit we learned about simple machines, force and friction, potential and kinetic energy, electricity, light, and sound. Students had a hair raising time conducting static electricity experiments, including experimenting if sugar, salt, or coffee grinds would be the most attracted to static electricity...

  Happy learning!

November News

Reading and Social Studies are being integrated during our Molly's Pilgrim and Thanksgiving units. Students are using lapbooks to expand their comprehension skills as we read Molly's Pilgrim, a story about an immigrant girl who helps her third grade class learn it takes all kinds of pilgrims to make Thanksgiving, not just the ones who were on the Mayflower. Students' lapbooks contain a vocabulary match, a character trait graphic organizer to compare and contrast main characters, graphic organizers, and comprehension questions to reflect on the story's conflict, resolution, and message. Next week we'll be watching the movie and compare and contrast it to the book.

During Social Studies we've taken Scholastic virtual field trips to visit the Mayflower, Plimoth Plantation, and a Wampanoag village. Students have been writing facts they've learned about each on a recording sheet in their Thanksgiving booklets. Books we've read about these subjects include On the Mayflower, The Very First Thanksgiving, Sarah Morton's Day, Samuel Eaton's Day, Fact vs Fiction: The First Thanksgiving, and The Wampanoags. Students compared and contrasted their lives to pilgrim childrens'  as well as comparing and contrasting the first Thanksgiving to today's celebration. They also examined a miniature Wampanoag canoe called a mishoon, Native American jewelry, and photos of my trips to Plimouth Plantation and the Mayflower.

In Science we've begun a new unit on forces, simple machines, and types of energy. Students learned how force and friction affect how objects move. We read Simple Machines and then made flipbooks that define and give examples of each. After reading about gravity and magnetism we watched a BrainPOP video about them and scored 100% on its online assessment! During the next few weeks we'll be learning about potential vs kinetic energy and electrical, sound, and light energy.

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Now that we've learned strategies to multiply such as making groups, using repeated addition, and skip counting we've begun learning the 0-12 times tables. Each table is introduced using a song found in students' multiplication folders. Students then write the times table we're learning in a bubble number that goes in their binders. After more practice such as matching equation cards to answer cards or playing "multiplication ball" the children complete a drill. The next day we continue practicing multiplying the number using our Envision math program's videos and workbook. So far we've learned the 0-6 times tables. Students should continue to practice at home using their multiplication folders.

Wishing everyone a wonderful month!

September Scoop 2022

Welcome to a new school year! We've only been in school a few days but have had lots of opportunities for for fun, hands-on learning. Here's some highlights of what we've been doing.

The 1st day of school classmates shared how they were feeling and discussed what having the jitters means. After reading First Day Jitters and the poem "Jitter Juice" the students drank some jitter juice (Ms. Glashow's secret recipe) while writing about a time they had the jitters.

We began our poetry unit in writing by creating autobiographical poems about ourselves, which were mounted on paper plate bodies we colored to look like ourselves. They're displayed on the bulletin board outside our classroom. 

Science started off by learning about how scientists use the scientific method to ask questions, test hypotheses, and use data observed/collected to reach conclusions. Small groups of students used  the scientific method to save Fred, a candy gummy worm whose plastic cup boat capsized with his candy gummy life preserver trapped underneath. Using teamwork and paper clips they determined how to save Fred, then recorded their hypothesis, experiment steps, and conclusion on a recording sheet. And ate the leftover candy of course!

This week we've begun our study of the human body and its organs and body systems. A volunteer wore a body apron and students placed organs in their correct locations on it  and explained their jobs.

We've been reviewing math skills such as place value, adding, and subtracting in a variety of ways. After learning how to write numbers in standard and expanded form small groups rolled a dice and wrote the numbers they landed on these ways as well as identifying which numbers were in the hundreds, tens, and ones place.

Students demonstrated their understanding of the commutative property of addition by creating flipflops showing examples of this property next to the poem "Flip Flop: Commutative Property of Addition". Our addition and subtraction test will be next Tuesday.

Our 1st social studies unit is map skills. Students created paper plate globes to demonstrate their knowledge of the names and location of continents/oceans, played an online map game by dragging continent and ocean names to their locations, and created map term flip books and mini booklets. Our map skills test will be this coming Monday.

Looking forward to a great school year!

Ms. Glashow

aka

Springtime Scoop

Plants have been blooming outside our classroom window as we've been blooming inside learning new topics such as determining elapsed time, how to write a personal narrative, and reading about the transcontinental railroad and its affect on our nation. We've even created our own blooms, such as spring simile poems mounted on paper plate flowers for our hall bulletin board...

and "echo art flowers" to decorate our classroom clothesline...

Our class has completed our science plant unit. Students diagramed the parts of a seed and flower and created plant life cycle wheels showing stages of a flower's life...

Students learned how flowers and conifers get pollinated in a variety of ways. We even acted out how a bee pollinates flowers using a bee puppet, coffee filter, and "pollen" (paprika powder), then recorded what we observed...

We've now started our unit on animal lifecycles, which will include learning about insects, bees, amphibians, fish, and mammals. Our room has many areas reflecting our new topic including our science bulleting board...

and informational text book rack...

This unit connects to our upcoming trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, which the students are very excited about! 

In math, we've started our measurement unit. Students will be learning what units of standard and metric measurement to use to measure length, weight, and volume as well as how to use multiplication and division to do measurement conversions. Activities include creating measurement flip books and hearing the story "The Land of Gallon" to learn how many quarts, cups, and pints are in a gallon... 

Looking forward to a month of blooming academically and socially!