Punctuation Glasses

Students use their punctuation glasses to edit their writing. We are finishing up our narrative writing and a fun way for students to look closely at their writing is by wearing some FUN colorful glasses. Here students are making sure each sentence in their stories begin with a capital letter. They did a wonderful job editing!

"Just Right" Books

We recently did a lesson on choosing "Just Right" books to read. These are books that are not too easy, not too hard, but JUST RIGHT. I had 3 student volunteers help me model this lesson. One put on a shirt that was way too little, another student wore a coat that was way too big, but the third student put on one that fit just right. This lesson teaches students to think wisely about the books that they choose to read.

A Fantastic Start!

We have had a great start to 3rd grade! Students have caught on to the routines and procedures of our classroom very quickly. Even though we have only been together for 2 weeks, students have done a phenomenal job working together, respecting their peers, and being leaders in the classroom. We already have a class pet, Smokey the turtle, which has allowed for students to gain even more responsibility. Some of the highlights of the school year so far have been seeing friends, participating in "teamwork" activities, and science experiments.

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer! I know our time off goes by so fast, but I am excited to begin another school year. Some of my favorite parts of this summer were hiking in Colorado, being a part of my younger sister's wedding day, completing 5 Masters classes, and water skiing in Tennessee. I am greatly looking forward to hearing about the 3rd graders summer vacations!

The purpose of this blog is to share with parents and grandparents what we are learning, creating and studying in our 3rd grade classroom. I hope that you will check back with us often and that this blog will be another effective way of communicating with our families.

Looking forward to meeting all of you in a few weeks!

All About Book Celebration

Students have been working on writing nonfiction books in Writer's Workshop. Each child chose someone famous to research, whether that be a President, actor/actress/ or even a famous singer. Then they wrote an All About Book about this person and included nonfiction conventions throughout their writing. Students created a poster board to feature what they had learned. We had parents and grandparents come to view our All About Book Gallery and had a great time!

Rascal and Lightning: Our Class Pets

Rascal and Lightning are our Albino Rats that have spent 4 weeks in our classroom. Our project was to learn about nutrition. Rascal drank milk, while Lightning drank sugar water throughout the experiment. Both rats ate a diet of carbs, veggies, fruit, and protein. Students absolutely loved observing Rascal and Lightning on a daily basis. Once a week we measured the rats' tails and weighed each rat. This project was an excellent "hands-on" project for kids to be able to observe and witness first hand how what we eat affects our growth and behavior.

The RATS Have Arrived!

Our class is sooooo excited!!! Our rats, Lightning and Rascal, have arrived! We will be researching, observing, and collecting data on our two rats while they are with us for 4 weeks. Our class will be conducting a "nutrition experiment". One rat will be fed milk while the other sugar water. We will be observing how the milk and sugar water affect the rats behavior and apprearance. It's going to be an AWESOME project!

Valentine's Party!

Fairytale Celebration

Friday we had our Fairytale Celebration! We invited our parents and grandparents to come listen as we read our Twisted Fairytales. First, students told parents how we prepared to write our fairytales and what elements make up this type of writing. Then several students shared their stories and did an excellent job reading fluently and with expression. Thank you parents and grandparents for coming and listening to our stories we worked so hard on!

Punctuation Glasses

Students have been writing Fairytales in Writer's Workshop. Today students worked on editing using their punctuation glasses. Students wore pink glasses to look for capitalization, blue for ending punctuation, and orange to check for spelling. We worked with our writing buddies to check for mistakes. Students did an awesome job working together. We can't wait to share our fairytales!

Indianapolis Children's Museum Field Trip

West Elementary's 3rd graders took a field trip to the Indianapolis Children's Museum! We were able to see the show, "Dorothy Returns", take a ride down the Winter Wonderland Slide, and explore the many amazing exhibits. Many children loved the Dinosphere, Egypt, and Barbie exhibits. There were so many hands-on activities to explore. We had an amazing time!