Santa visits third grade, students study world geography

We had a wonderful day.  It was a busy one, as well.

We did an atlas activity where we had to find the countries that were listed on ornaments on a Christmas tree.  Then we colored them according to the continent they were on.  

We painted ornaments, because our elf left us canvases.  

We watched the movie to the book we read yesterday.  It is a wonderful story.  The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey is the title.

We played a wonderful game at our party, and every single child came home with a gift.  Ask them about the game. They had great fun!

We had a special visitor.  Santa came to visit us.  

Have a wonderful Christmas break!  See you next year!

An energy-filled day for third graders -- another sign that Christmas is close

We had an energy-filled day today in third grade!  I can tell that Santa is getting closer!

We did some quick math review for morning work.  It covered multiple skills.

We also read another Christmas book and discussed it.  The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree is tonight's bonus read aloud.  There is a special story to go along with this book.  The author, Gloria Houston, was a friend of mine.  One year she sent me a recording of herself reading the story.  My class wrote her letters.  Unfortunately, I didn't get them mailed until early the next semester.  But it worked out well.  As they arrived when Gloria was in the hospital at the time, unable to read or speak.  She had multiple health issues. Her daughter wrote me a letter saying Gloria had died the day after she received our letters.  She had read every single one to her in her hospital room. She said she smiled big smiles with tears in her eyes. 

We also did some multi-digit math review.  We practiced addition and math, with regrouping. We also reviewed strategies to help us.  

We were busy, busy!  

 

Students compare book to movie

Let me begin by saying I am sorry.  I forgot it was Wednesday, and didn't send home Wednesday folders.  This week they will be Thursday folders.

We made ornaments today.  We also read a new Cranberry book.  It is tonight's reading assignment.  We then watched the short video of the same book.  We compared and contrasted the book and movie.  This was a good book/movie for this activity.  There were several things that were the same, but several that were different, as well.

We worked more with multiplication strategies.

We also got on Istation math today.  

We are enjoying our Elf that Santa sent to our room.  Her name is Snowflake.

 No SPS after school today (Tuesday) due to snow.

Lots of literature-based learning activities for third graders

We had a good day today!  We were able to finish Christmas in Camelot.  We summarized it onto large Post-It pages.  The children then placed them in the order they happened.  Several took an AR test on it, and did quite well.

We finished our lines and ray posters. We also took time to check to see if anyone was missing any math assignments.  I made alternative pages for those missing items.  It is very important that they stay caught up.   It just gets harder each year.  So I am trying to reinforce good habits.

We did a sequencing activity, using the book The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School. Most finished.  Others will in the morning. 

Your child came home with the blog address.  I told them there would be a secret word.  The word is Rudolph.  I am trying to see who is getting on the blog.  This is the best form of communication.  

Have a great evening!

 

From gingerbread men to multiplication strategies to animation -- a busy and fun day in third grade

Today was a great day.  We were so busy today, the end of the day surprised us all.

Devices came home with your child today, if you filled out the paperwork.  No, there is no plan of going virtual at this point.  But this is in preparation of a possible snow day on Monday.  If we have to miss school due to weather, I will put 2 or 3 new activities on Seesaw.  

We made gingerbread men disguised as a book character for the library.  

We also started a multiplication strategy poster. So far we made an example using an array and repeated addition.  I want them to see there are multiple ways to figure out a problem.

We finished our animation activity for science today.  They enjoyed that.  

We got on Spelling City for our activities, unless they had already completed all of them.  

Have a great weekend.

Class makes gingerbread houses

Today was very productive!  First, we made gingerbread houses that Snowflake left us to do.

We worked more with our story and summarized it through chapter 7.  They were given the option of bringing home the book and reading chapter 8 tonight.  But this was optional.

We finished our math poster.  We also added angle information in our math notebook.

We managed to work in some work problem practice.  These are difficult for some because they can be overwhelming.  But if you go through and explain how to read them, and how to break them down, they become easier.

Remember our Santas in disguise are due tomorrow. And we have our last spelling test of 2020 tomorrow.

Here's the secret word for today...

Please read the whole thing, as your child has a chance to earn a reward tomorrow.

We started by reading Christmas books this morning.  We also had a new story in our listening center.

We read a book about a sweater, then designed one.  

We also started a chapter book.  It is from the Magic Treehouse series.  It is titled Christmas in Camelot. Tonight's reading assignment is chapter 2.  Feel free to take turns with your child reading.  If they seem to struggle too much, you may read it to them.  If you do this, please pause occasionally and have them read a word that you feel they know.  

We were given the opportunity to finish our people book reports.

We got some time on Spelling City.

We also took our Math ISIP test in the lab today. We also made posters about different types of lines.

Now, the SECRET word for today is Santa Claus.  Please write this down and give it to your child.  I want to see who is getting on the blog, so I know if I need to send another note home about it.  

 

A great day with every third grader in class

We had a great day today!  Every single student was here!  That made me happy!

We started by finishing our morning work we started yesterday.  Some had finished so they wee able to read.

We also worked on our mini book reports.  They had to identify the main characters, the setting, the problem, and the solution. They also had to make a face on the person that matched their opinion of the book they chose.

We put notes about multiplication in our math notebook. The morning work included multiplication practice.  We also made multiplication charts to help us learn our facts.  The best way is memorization of the facts.  A good site for this is aplusmath.com.

We watched a mini science video about cartoons and animation.  Tomorrow we will do the accompanying activity.

We had Christmas centers today. We had a story to listen to, a book to read and answer questions, and a selection of Christmas books to read from.  

Today we also read Cobweb Christmas. It is a folktale about how tinsel was started.  Then we made an ornament that went along with the story. Have your child retell the story to you.

Santas are due this Friday, December 11.  Have fun!

I am so ready to see everyone!  

Please bring all devices and chargers, if they belong to the school, on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

                                                                                                                                                  Mrs. Christian

Here's the spelling list for this week and next

Most of you are doing such a great job on the Seesaw assignments.  Thank you for working with your child during this weird time we are going through.

The spelling words your child will be used this week and next.  There are several assignments on Spelling City, but they don't have to all be done this week.  

 Here are their words:

• awful
• called 
• falling
• mall
• small
• straw
• drawing
• strongest
• longer
• song
• along
• bought
• brought
• rough
• tough

Please don't panic if everything didn't get done.  We will spend the next couple of weeks, reintroducing multiplication and reviewing other skills we have been working on.

 

You're invited to a Zoom meeting with Mrs. Christian

Time: Friday (12/4) at 10:30 a.m.

To get in, go to https://zoom.us/.

The meeting ID is 838 7525 4700

When prompted, enter this password: ew9wpU

See you online!

New spelling words posted

New spelling words are up on SpellingCity.com. We won't test on them until December 11.

Need help with the online assignments?

If you are having trouble with any of the assignments, feel free to call Mrs. Christian.