Shapes

We've been studying 2D and 3D shapes.

We brought this lesson to life with marshmallows

and toothpicks.  The students were able to construct

a cube, rectangular prism (that one took a little creativity),

and a pyramid.  Students then had to count faces, edges,

and vertices.  What a fun lesson and wow! a turn of 

learning and engaged kiddos in room 105 @ WES.

Love days like this one!

MIA...missing in action

I've been "in action", but not in blogger land.  So sorry for no posts

about your wonderful kiddos and my amazing students.

We (hubs and I....and Alora too) have been frantically spending spare

moments at our new home cleaning and wrapping up loose ends.  We are

ready to move, but continually find more to do.

We also took a short, much needed vacation to DISNEYWORLD.

Mickey and Minnie missed us and we missed "Fantasyland."  It was

wonderful, but I am also glad to be back.  It was so sweet to see the kids'

smiling faces after being gone.  They are all just so sweet.

They wanted to know if we had fun.....of course.

But anyway.......let's get back to school.  The next few posts will be

playing "catch up" from before Thanksgiving.  Enjoy

Grids

Coordinate grid lesson....

We headed outside to practice coordinates on a life size version

 of a coordinate grid.  Students took turns choosing a pumpkin

and plotting them on our graph.  Once plotted a large E appeared.

EXCELLENT job kiddos.  We then had a quick mini lesson on

synonyms for the word excellent and using a thesaurus.

Afterwards, partner worked together to create a 

Mad Monster coordinate grid of their own.

COOL LESSON!

Adjectives

I totally saw this idea somewhere on the net, but have

no idea who or where it originated.  Kuddos to whomever

created it in its original form.

We popped popcorn and used our 5 senses to describe

that yummy, buttery goodness.  SOOOOO guess what -

the kids learned about adjectives in a fun way.

We of course made a cute art project to tag along.

Field Trip #2

We headed on a cool, crisp autumn morning to Montgomery

Bell State Park in Dickson.  The kiddos were excited to hear

a "bird" program about birds of prey and enjoy the warm sun.

Ranger Tim talked and discussed birds of prey, adaptations,

habitats, and more.  At one point, the students were asked to

create an imaginary bird and make special adaptations to fit

in a particular environment.   

Scott and Case were in the group that created the "Christmas bird."

They then had to present their bird to the group.

Good Job guys :)

Ranger Tim with the owl during his talk.

It was a beautiful bird.  We were lucky enough to

see it turn it's head and hoot.

We ended the day with a game called Duck Migration.

The kids were the ducks and the teachers were the hunters.

The kiddos had to run to hula hoops "habitats" and a

avoid the hunters.  If they didn't make it - DEAD DUCK!

Halloween!

Halloween - thankfully we cut down on the madness a few

years ago and the students no longer wear costumes!

We still try to make the day a "little" more entertaining than

other days.  We read Halloween stories (Monster Goose), did a

little Halloween math (Shapely Witch-covered patterns and 2d

shapes), and then of course the big Halloween party.

My parties ALWAYS have 3/4 stations.  I learned this great idea

from a PREK teacher in our building a few years back.

PRE-stations:  parties were loud, annoying, and soooo stressful

POST-stations:  parties are calm, educational, and a lot less stressful

I actually get to enjoy the kiddos enjoy the party.

Because of low numbers in 3rd grade this year (oh my...it's amazing),

I had 3 stations.  The stations were:

1.  EATING - simple.....they just eat and talk

2.  PUMPKIN ESTIMATING - estimate number of seeds in a pumpkin,

empty the guts, and group by 10s to count

3.  SPOOKY HAND - use a plastic glove, candy corn, and popped

popcorn (we discussed bones and adjectives)

What a smorgosboard we had on Halloween!

Oh yeah and an entire fruit tray that the kiddos devoured.

Thanks Room 105 parents.  YOU ROCK at parties!

FALL

A quick impromptu lesson one day in October.

We had been studying patterns and students created

a color pattern on the leaf, then we wrote a quick topic

sentence about fall.  It was followed with 5 details.

Anchor Charts

An example of anchor charts used in the classroom to 

help students "anchor" their learning.  Makes a great

reference tool and super quick mini review from time

to time.

My poor tree was bare.  Thankfully the kiddos made these

adorable owls in Art and now my tree is perfect!