Celebrating 180 Rockin' Days!
Our last day of school together was very emotional for all of us! It was also very busy! We started our morning by finishing our memory books. I hope you will share them with your families! Then, we had a tradition of mine -- the Great Water Balloon Toss! In the first round, Eliah and Federick won, and then, in the second round, George and Dharren won! Way to go, boys! Next, we made a volcano EXPLODE! (I wish I had recorded Federick reading the slip of paper from the orange balloon! He was EXPLODING with excitement!) Lastly, after lunch, we looked back at all of our 3rd grade memories. The video of our year together brought us all to tears; however, I know they were tears of joy and sadness. It's always hard to say farewell, but what a wonderful year we had!
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1950's Sock Hop Celebration! Let's Rock and Roll!
My dearest rock stars, we really accomplished a lot today! We were a-rockin' and a-rollin' all year, but today we did it in true rock 'n' roll style with some swing and jive! We worked on our memory books, watched a special swing performance, learned different dance moves from the 1950s, enjoyed a picnic outside, made ice cream in a bag, and tasted scientific root beer floats! Enjoy the photographs, and I can't wait to see you tomorrow for the last day of school!
Class 301 Camps Out!
We camped out in Room 225! On our "camping trip," we practice our multiplication and division fact families, read a bear-y story called Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks! (the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, as told by Baby Bear... I mean, Sam!), and wrote about having S'MORE time in third grade.
And what kind of camping trip would it be without a bonfire and s'mores!?! We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores together, which was a first time for many! I wish we had S'MORE time together in third grade because I am really going to miss all of you!
And what kind of camping trip would it be without a bonfire and s'mores!?! We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores together, which was a first time for many! I wish we had S'MORE time together in third grade because I am really going to miss all of you!
The Invention of Gum
In the final countdown to the last day of school... today was BUBBLE GUM DAY!
Do you know the history of chewing gum? Well, gum has been around for thousands of years, dating back to the times of the ancient Greeks! However, bubble gum was an accidental discovery in 1928! We learned all about the history of this POP-ular, sticky treat, and we also learned about the importance of giving specific details in a How-To. Using the original Double Bubble bubble gum, we practiced blowing bubbles with our directions. If you couldn't blow a bubble today, don't worry and don't give up! Practice makes perfect! |
Making Biographies POP!
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It may be the end of the year, but we are still learning lots in Room 225! We have been reading about many different people from United States history and evaluated their bravery on a scale of very brave, brave, a little brave, and not brave at all. We have read the stories of Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Cesar Chavez, and many more! One story, Brave Girl, was about a young woman who fought for the rights of workers at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company during the early 1900s.
In our independent research, we have discovered many interesting and brave people, including Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Bessie Coleman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Wilman Rudolph, Garrett Morgan, and George Washington Carver. We are still publishing our interviews, where we pretended to be the interviewer and the interviewee, but here are our History Pop-Up Reports. Students illustrated the most important scene in their person's life and briefly wrote about whether or not they believed their person was significant to U.S. history. |
Bees are Un-BEE-Lievable!
The Buzz on Bees
Bees fly from flower to flower, sipping nectar and collecting grains of pollen. Bees have a special tongue that sucks up the nectar and a crop in their throat for storing it until they get back to the hive, where it is turned into honey to use as food.
Many plants depend on bees to spread pollen, helping them to reproduce. Flowers that attract bees are usually yellow, blue, or purple. Many bees specialize in one plant species. In areas where different flowering plants bloom at the same time, this keeps different beespecies from fighting over the same flower!
Honeybees and bumblebees live in colonies or hives. All the bees in the colony work together for the good of the hive. Each has a job to do: the queen lays the eggs and the workers build the honeycomb, care for the larvae and collect the food.
Last week, we learned about honeybees and how important these insects are to the process of pollination! We also enjoyed a honey taste test. Many of us had never tried honey before! After the taste test, almost everyone loved its sweetness and stickiness!
Click on the image above to review the StudyJams video on pollination and flowers.
Bees fly from flower to flower, sipping nectar and collecting grains of pollen. Bees have a special tongue that sucks up the nectar and a crop in their throat for storing it until they get back to the hive, where it is turned into honey to use as food.
Many plants depend on bees to spread pollen, helping them to reproduce. Flowers that attract bees are usually yellow, blue, or purple. Many bees specialize in one plant species. In areas where different flowering plants bloom at the same time, this keeps different beespecies from fighting over the same flower!
Honeybees and bumblebees live in colonies or hives. All the bees in the colony work together for the good of the hive. Each has a job to do: the queen lays the eggs and the workers build the honeycomb, care for the larvae and collect the food.
Last week, we learned about honeybees and how important these insects are to the process of pollination! We also enjoyed a honey taste test. Many of us had never tried honey before! After the taste test, almost everyone loved its sweetness and stickiness!
Click on the image above to review the StudyJams video on pollination and flowers.
Here we are creating thumbprint paintings of honeybees around their hive.
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H
O N E Y B E E S |
Just a spoonful of HONEY helps the medicine go down...
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STEM Challenge: The Great Marble Run!
With only the provided paper plates, towel rolls, and tape, teams collaborated to create successful marble runs! Students were asked to think like engineers to construct their marble runs, applying their knowledge of math (geometry) and simple machines. Problem-solving can be fun!
Roll it! Make It! Expand It!
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It's time to get ready for 4th grade! Here we are practicing composing and expanding number to the thousands and ten thousands place! |
Dim Sum: Dumplings are Delicious!
We are EGG-celent Mathematicians!
Math test prep doesn't have to be "Class, open to page..." It can be lots of fun! The Math Bunny hid her eggs all around Mr. Schweingruber's room, and the Rockin' Rockstars of Class 301 were given the mission to find an egg! Hidden in the egg were math problems to be solved! Then, the students worked independently to solve the problems, in order to earn more points for their Olympic teams. After solving themselves, students could talk about the problems with their teammates. Way to go, my EGG-celent mathematicians!
Jumpin' Jelly Beans, We are Graphing Experts!
Tally Charts, Frequency Tables, Line Plots, Bar Graphs, and Pictographs Galore!
The Water CycleEvaporation, condensation,
Precipitation, collection! Water journeys through a cycle It's a cycle that's never done. We are creating models of the water cycle! Watch out meteorologists! We are going to be weather experts! |
Geometry: The Greedy TriangleThe triangle was feeling dissatisfied and said, "there must be more to life!" Well, in the end, the triangle learned that he just needed to be happy with who he was. However, we had lots of fun creating different polygons by adding just one more side and one more angle! (The bonus... eating the marshmallows!)
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Edible Area and Perimeter
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Cheez-Its are PERFECT for studying area and perimeter. Each cracker is one square unit! Here we are exploring area and perimeter using Cheez-Its to cover shapes and measure the lengths of each side.
Remember: PERIMETER is always on the outside, so add up all the sides! AREA is the space inside of a shape. If you are solving for a rectangle or square: A = L x W If the shape is irregular, count the units (if you can) OR divide the shape into rectangles and combine the areas by adding! |
Charming FractionsTo culminate our study of fractions, and just in time for St. Patrick's Day, we used Lucky Charms to sort, count, and practice modeling fractions! It was a delicious treat, too! Don't forget - "numerator up, denominator down!"
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Breaking Down the Wall!Although the Angry Birds obstacle was intended for the parents at Curriculum Night, the students answered some review questions in order to earn points to throw the Angry Birds at those mean, nasty pigs!!! Review can be fun!
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Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
Hello there, lads and lassies! Happy Saint Patrick's Day! I hope you were wearin' your green to have a lil' luck o' the Irish! :)
We've been reading many folktales over the last few weeks, and in addition to a test prep passage entitled "True or False," which was a folktale from Myanmar, we also read an Irish folktale, retold by Tomie dePaola (one of my all-time favorite authors). Like our good friend Anansi, Jamie O'Rourke is a lazy man who thinks he has good luck upon catching a leprechaun. However, even though everyone knows that if you catch a leprechaun, then you shouldn't let him go until he gives you his pot of gold, Jamie settles for a magic pratie (potato) seed. It's a funny tale! Remember, too, that all folktales have a MORAL! Share it with someone! To the right, check out some of the pictures from our Great Leprechaun Race! We practiced measuring with a meter stick (6 feet or 72 inches), explored the forces of motion (gravity, lift, thrust, and drag) and described the scientific phenomenon of air pressure! The red team's leprechaun flew the fastest! We finished the day with a little taste of Irish soda bread, too! |
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Class 301 Olympics: Comprehension Competition
The Winter Games in Sochi may be over, but the Olympic Torch is still burning bright in our classroom!
Representing USA, Canada, Russia, Norway, and France, students work together in groups to understand grade level passages. To add a little excitement, we ran the "Comprehension Competition." Each student was responsible for answering one comprehension question for their team. Students also needed to cite the text evidence they used to answer their question. The competition was fierce! Out of four questions, Team France won with 3/4 correct! Way to go! To the other teams, GBS (Go Back Sequence) questions should never be missed because the answer is directly in the text!!! Don't forget -- Team Russia won an extra 5 points! Keep it up, Academic Olympians! |
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We're Published in Print and Online!!!
We're published! Congratulations to Eliah and Itzel! Their opinions were recently published in the latest edition of IndyKids!
Our class did a Current Events study on the issues surrounding minimum wage. We carefully analyzed both perspectives. As a class, we concluded that minimum wage is unfair for many reasons, but we also discussed the effects of raising the minimum wage, too. Ask us all about it!
http://indykids.org/main/2014/03/your-turn-manhattan-kids-talk-about-minimum-wage/
Our class did a Current Events study on the issues surrounding minimum wage. We carefully analyzed both perspectives. As a class, we concluded that minimum wage is unfair for many reasons, but we also discussed the effects of raising the minimum wage, too. Ask us all about it!
http://indykids.org/main/2014/03/your-turn-manhattan-kids-talk-about-minimum-wage/
Fraction Action!In third grade, we are expected to master modeling fractions (with drawings or number lines), comparing fractions, and finding equivalent fractions. In Fraction Action, we practice doing all three! Build, compare, share!
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I Heart Bulletin BoardsBulletin boards are a chance for us to display and showcase our phenomenal work!
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Our DreamsWe are inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to believe in ourselves. We can do anything! Look at all of the amazing dreams we have!
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