Students read story chorally

We had a busy day today in third grade.  We have jumped right into the learning!  

We started with a word scramble.  They had to unscramble letters to form a word.  

In reading we read our story chorally.  Then we filled our a chart that asked the genre, who was telling the story (first person or third person), traits of the main character, and other such questions.  We filled one out as a class.  We started a book Flat Stanley and we will do our own when we finished.  Your child brought a copy home and should read at least chapter 3 aloud to a adult.  

We also worked on some phonics review. as well as capitalization.  Some didn't have time to finish, so they brought it home.  Any time a child needs to finish an assignment, it is perfectly OK to take it home, as long as it is returned the next day.

In math we made different numbers using the base ten blocks.  We also played a game in pairs, but rolling number cubes and making four digit numbers.  They rolled and decided in which place value column to put the number.  After four rolls, the person with the higher number won.  They played this four times.  

I will put the spelling words on www.spellingcity.com as soon as I finish the blog post.  You can always find SpellingCity by clicking on the icon in the column on the right of this blog. 

Have a great evening with your family!

Third graders' assignment: Read to an adult tonight

We had a great start to another week in third grade!  

We started with some 2-digit addition practice that included regrouping for morning work.  I may refer to this as bell work at times, as that is what I have always called it.

In reading we read Bruno's New Home.  Your child had his or her book, and their homework is to read this to an adult.  We also took a reading inventory so that I can see how each one feels about reading.  We discussed the genre, which was fantasy and why it was labeled as such.  

They retold the story in their own words in their writer's notebooks.  

We took a pretest in math that goes along with our new adopted curriculum.  I am anxious to grade these.  Again, these are not grades to go into the gradebook.  They are for me to see where we are.  

We also took our STAR test today in the computer lab.  

In spelling we went over our list, and said, then spelled, then said again, each word.  Our words for the week are:

• clap
• camp
• hand
• stamp
• snack
• rack
• grabs
• glad
• bill
• miss
• click
• pink
• sick
• grin
• lift
• cat
• bit
• man
• anthill
• cramp

Your child came home with his or her own list that you may keep.  Our test will be Friday.

Class looks at the effects of what they say

Our second day went so well!  I have an amazing group of children!

We started with some minute math practice for our morning work.  

In reading, I read the book Mr. Peabody's Apple.  It is about a man being accused of stealing an apple.  It started from a rumor and spread quickly through the little community.  We discussed how we shouldn't say things that aren't true or kind.  Because once they are out, they can never be taken back.  Even if a person apologizes, the damage is done.  We then took old bottles of glue that I had last year and emptied them onto construction paper.  I told them the glue represented unkind words or untruths.  Then I asked if they could take a toothpick and put all of the glue back into the bottles.  Of course, they knew that wasn't possible.  

We also summarized the book by beginning, middle, and end.  They wrote and/or drew about each.  They also wrote or drew about their favorite part of the book.

In Writers' Workshop (language) we started our writer's notebooks.  We labeled them.  Then we made a list of things that really happened to us so that if we ever have writer's block we could look at our list of things.  

In science we finished setting up our notebooks.  We made our table of contents and numbered a few pages so that we are ready.

In math we finished our pre-test. Some were worried about not knowing some of the answers.  I reassured them that it was OK.  I also told them I just wanted to know wat we needed to work on the most.  We also made a graph from tally marks we made.  We voted on our class mascot's name, so we took that information and put it into a bar graph.  We also worked with simple addition.

Our class mascot is a tiger named Rocky.  He is going home with me this weekend.  I will journal about what we did over the weekend.  I will read it to the class on Monday.  Then I will draw a name to take Rocky home Monday night.  It is important that Rocky is returned each day so that the next child gets to take him home.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Third grade starts off with a busy day

We had a fabulous first day!  We reviewed some second grade skills in reading.  We checked our papers to make sure we got our answers correct.  

 
In math we did a part of a pretest.  I told them I didn't expect them to know all of the answers, but I did want them to try.  
 
We had PE today.  We will have music tomorrow, art on Monday, and Library on Tuesday. Then we will start over in the rotation.
 
Some of you asked about water bottles.  Yes, your child may bring a water bottle.  But it can't be the kind you buy already filled.  They sweat onto our work and desks, as well as make a lot of noise.  All they may keep in them is water.

This year we are not able to allow parents to bring in snacks for birthdays.  We are, however, able to let parents bring in bookmarks, or something that isn't edible.  Mrs. Noble asked us to share this with you.  
 

We started our read aloud today.  I try to read to them daily.  We started Clementine. She is like a modern-day Ramona the Pest.

We also had some silent reading time today.

We set up our science notebooks today, as well.

I am working on the schedule and will take a picture and put it on the blog.  

Thank you for allowing me to work with your child this year!