testing is over...time to celebrate our success!

Today was our last day of standardized testing! We had a little afternoon celebration with bubbles! Thank you families for your generous snack donations, as well. Special treats definitely made testing more "fun!"

 

 

Earth, Sun, Moon

We've been studying the earth, sun, and moon in science, and we're having lots of fun with this unit! Today we completed a "craftivity" that I adapted from, of course, Pinterest! The original idea I must credit here. I tweaked it to include important vocabulary and terms that we should know (i.e. rotate, revolve, orbit)! Students were so excited and proud of their final products...not to mention how much fun they had actually working them!

Plus, with a group of students who really enjoy art, it was a great way to take a break from standardized testing! I hope your child has shared his/her model with you!

Color Poems

Families and friends, we have become poets here in room 19! Students were very skeptical before we began, and most even admitted they didn't like poetry. I think I have changed their minds! We started by reading Love That Dog as well as various other poems by some of my favorites like Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky. Then we began simply, by choosing a color! I cannot even begin to describe how wonderful they turned out! Their ideas, use of adjectives, and attention to detail is evident.

You are welcome to visit our hallway to see all of our poems!

Also, it must be mentioned that one student said he'd like to be a poet when he is older!

buddies AND a peek at our new courtyard!

Today we met with our kindergarten buddies to enjoy the beautiful spring weather and to be some of the first students to experience our new courtyard (though it is still under construction)!

 

We shared some of our favorite stories with our younger buddies!

 

Many thanks to the parent volunteers and crew working on this new courtyard! We can't wait to spend more learning time here!

 

Screen Chomp iPad App

We've incorporated an iPad app called Screen Chomp into our math centers. Students have used this app to create videos on various math topics we have studied throughout the year. If they can teach it, they KNOW IT!

They are having a BLAST with this FREE APP! They use their fingers to draw and write while recording their voice(s). We're so excited to share some of our videos with you!

Click the links below to check out and view student videos! Enjoy!

Place Value
Adding Money
Subtracting Money
Multiply by 9s Trick
Distributive Property
Symmetry
Comparing Fractions

Spring Training for the MAP Test!

St. Louis Cardinal baseball has begun and we're doing our "spring training," too! We've been participating in our school wide training activities to make our MAP test preparation more fun and exciting! On Monday, we did a team building activity. Yesterday, students received a special "training treat!" They LOVED getting a popcorn snack!

Today our activity was "fan mail." Students wrote secret letters to a classmate encouraging them to do their best!

Tomorrow we'll be delivering these letters to our "mail boxes" and reading these special messages! On Friday, we'll celebrate with "MAP Cap" day! We can't wait to wear our favorite baseball hat! We're all "pitching in to win" and we're ready to show what we know on the MAP test!

U.S. Government

We've been studying government in social studies! First, we explored some important documents which included The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Students worked in pairs to discuss the first ten amendments before choosing the one they feel is most important and/or most interesting. They then created a "mini-poster" on that amendment to share and teach to others!

We've also been learning about the three branches of government. Today we began an interactive research activity using "Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids." What a great site!

Students chose a branch of government they'd like to know more about and began researching and note taking. Third graders will then be transforming their factual findings into a nonfiction paragraph! We're off to a great start!