Fall Fun

Leaves have started falling off the the trees and we've been falling into fun learning activities in The Third Grace Learning Spot. Students celebrated the season reading and discussing the poem "Autumn Leaves", which they decorated for their poetry folders. They also showed off their poetry skills writing "Fall is..." acrostic poems that were mounted on painted leaves for our upcoming hallway bulletin board.

 

 

In math we reviewed how to add and subtract two and three digit numbers by regrouping. During our "Rake It Up" game students picked foam leaves off the white board and solved the equations on them. The class played "Subtraction Spin" using 2 wheels with magnetic spinners. We also had a "Subtraction Snowball Fight" using paper snowballs. Each student solved the addition or subtraction problem on the snowball that he or she caught.

 

 

In language arts the class learned what a subject and predicate is. One activity we did was identifying if sentences strip phrases were the subject or predicate of a sentence and put the sentence strip in the correct column on a whiteboard chart. We've recently began our unit on nouns by learning about common and proper nouns. During our "Common and Proper Nouns Space Sort" students classified words on alien spaceships as common or proper nouns and put them in the correct category on the easel. 

  Happy learning!

September Scoop

Even though it still feels like summer outside we've been busy learning in fun ways here in The 3rd Grade Learning Spot! In math, we've been reviewing how to regroup when adding and subtracting in a variety of ways including playing "Subtraction Sponge Toss"...

"Pin the Tail on the Double Digit Donkey"...

 and "Triple Digit Spinner Subtraction"...

After our addition and subtraction assessment we'll show what magnificent mathematicians we are when we begin learning MULTIPLICATION! Be on the lookout for our multiplication folders, which will have a times table chart, definitions, strategies, and the lyrics to the multiplication songs we learn in class.

In language arts, we've been learning about the 4 types of sentences (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, imperative) in a variety of ways such as creating "Four Types of Sentences Flip Books" and playing "Spin a Sentence" to demonstrate we can create sentences for each type...

We've also been studying subjects and predicates in sentences. One of the activities we did to show we can identify phrases as the subject or predicate of a sentence was classifying sentence strip phrases on a whiteboard t-chart...

 

In science, we've been showing how organ-wise we are as we learn about the human body. Students created paper bag self portraits with organs glued and labeled in their correct positions. We also showed we can identify organ locations and their functions when we attached organs to a body vest and discussed their function...

We've also been studying the body systems such as the circulatory system, digestive system, and respiratory system. Students created graphic organizers to show their understanding of each system, the organs it contains, and how it helps a body function...

    Happy learning!

First Week Peek

Woot! I've survived the 1st week of school! The 1st day was Tuesday and by Thursday I was running on pure adrenaline, but I'm loving my new class. It's filled with a bunch of cuties. And a few "interesting" personalities. But, that's what makes life interesting, right??? Here's a peek at the 1st week.

The night before school I "brewed" some Jitter Juice...

                                                    

 which the kids guzzled down after we discussed how we felt on the 1st day of school and read First Day Jitters...

 

 It was fun listening to them try to figure out what the Jitter Juice was made from. Then, we read a "Jitter Juice" poem and wrote a paragraph about a time we felt jittery under it. The poem and response will be the 1st page of our poetry folders.

 

 

Another 1st day activity was learning what a constitution is, then creating our own. Students signed and decorated pledge cards to display around it.

 

Our 1st reading activity was learning 9 strategies of good readers, then creating reading strategy bookmarks to help us apply them to our own reading. A bonus is it helps keep our place in our reading anthologies.

 

The most exciting event of the week was our "Can You save Fred" experiment. First, students created scientific method flipbooks. Next, they used the scientific method and teamwork to figure out how to save Fred, a gummyworm. Teams had to get Fred off his capsized boat (upside down cup) and into his lifepreserver (gummy ring) that was under the boat using only 4 paperclips. Teams created a  hypothesis to determine the best way to save Fred, then tested their ideas. Students made flow charts showing the steps and results of the experiment. And, ate some gummy candy of course!

 

 

 

 

 

In language arts we created 4 Types of Sentences flipbooks, then learned what a subject and predicate is. To demonstrate our understanding of these terms we classified phrase sentence strips as either a subject or predicate on the whiteboard.

 

 

I'm now off to get some much needed rest!

 



 

Our 2nd week of class was full of lots of hands-on learning activities. We began our Harcourt reading anthology exploring character traits. After reading Officer Buckle and Gloria, students wrote Post-its about Officer Buckle's outer and inner traits for our interactive chart. Afterwards, we made text-to-self connections by completing an "Officer Buckle and Me" character trait graphic organizer. In Allie's Dreams, we explored what traits help us reach our goals and matched basketballs to nets on a "What Character is Like/Character's Words and Actions" poster.

 

Our poetry writing unit began with us learning about  types of poems such as concrete poetry, acrostic poetry, limericks, haikus, list poems, diamantes, and couplets. We created our own "Fall is..." list poems by first brainstorming things about fall for a fall bubble map and then converting our ideas into phrases using an adjective-adjective-noun-verb format. After writing final drafts, students painted leaf patterns with Do-a-Dot paint bottles that their poems were glued onto. Look for our "Poet-tree" growing soon on our hallway bulletin board!

 

In math, we explored place value visually and kinesthetically. We formed numbers in the 1000's, 100's, and 10's place using number cards. Students used pretzel rods and place value place mats to show how many 1's, 10's, 100's, and 1,000's were in numbers and then enjoyed munching on their math manipulatives!

 

The class also played "Swat It" using a place value poster, hand pointer, and number cards to form specific numbers and identify the place value.

 

In science, we began our human body unit. A volunteer wore a body apron and students identified organs, their role, and placed them where they are located on the apron. We learned the 6 body systems, what our bones and muscles do, and identified bones on real x-rays. The students also created their own bodies for our "We're Organ Wise!" clothesline using face photos, brown paper lunch bags, and organ patterns.

We started our Harcourt language arts anthology learning about sentences, punctuation, and subjects and predicates. Students identified sentence strip phrases as subjects or predicates, placed them on the correct side of a "Subject or Predicate" chart, and then used an Expo marker to write the missing part of the sentence. They also practiced punctuation using sentence strips and food: Cheerios represented periods, elbow pasta and Cheerios were question marks, and straight noodles and Cheerios were exclamation points.