Owl's Hill Sanctuary Field Trip

A fun time was had by all today.

Ms. Helen was a great tour guide and talked to 

us a lot about sooooo many of our Science standards.

We discussed habitats, seeds, roots, plants, 

wildlife, predators, dwellings, food, natural resources,

and even more.  We also hike a good little hike.

Enjoy the pictures!

We even spotted 2 turtles along the path!

 Monkey Brains.....there's an official name, but

I wouldn't even begin to try to say it, much less spell it.

How many 3rd graders does it take to wrap

around a 400 year old oak tree?  13 plus the teacher.

Very large tree......

We even got a sneak peek at one of the

owls they are rehabilitating at Owl's Hill.

 The kids were great and very well behaved.

Also, the parents were a huge help too!  Thanks.

 We had to do a goofy pic!

Almost forgot, Hunter, our class mascot, made the

trip with us as well!  What fun!

SCOOT!

The kiddos loved our review of 2 digit subtraction.

SCOOT was a hit!

I placed an index card with a subtraction fact

on each students desk.  The students were armed

with a dry erase board and marker.  They scooted

around the room and solved the problems on their

boards and self-checked.  It was great!  The kids

were totally focused and working hard.

Measurement Review

As a quick review lesson, students were given TCAP 

approved rulers to measure around the room.  Students

worked on measuring to the nearest inch and half inch.

They found several things in the classroom to measure.

Their lunch ticket was to correctly measure pre-drawn

lines on a page.  They really did an excellent job!

Here's a funny measurement joke:

So, how did you get straight As?

Answer:  By using a ruler!

Elements of Art

Mr. Michael has been working with students on the

elements of art.  Last week they discussed and painted

the color wheel.

Place Value

The kiddos have been working hard with place value.

We have studied now through ten thousands.  Here

they are one day during math working in groups to

order and compare four digit numbers.  

They did a great job!

Showing Their Stuff

The students had an opportunity last Friday to "show

me their stuff" in Reading.  We have done numerous

story webs together over the past 4 weeks.  

Students were given a Froggy book and directed

to put three/four SPIs to the test independently.

Students read the stories on their own, then harvested

the characters, setting, problem, and solution.

On the back students were asked to illustrate a scene from 

their story and choose the author's purpose.  The students all 

did an extraordinary job!  Keep it up third graders.

Line Plots

In Math we have been studying line plots.  We used our 

names to come up with our very own line plot.  The kids

came up with the title:  Number of Letters in Our Names.

The students also created their own small line plot.

This skill is covered under our Math SPI #34...interpret line plots.

Sno Cones

No picture because I forgot my camera, but you can visualize it!

It's Friday afternoon and we are in the PE room getting our Boxtop

reward.  Kids are laughing and smiling and having a good time eating

sno cones provided for the entire school because we have already 

collected over 2000 boxtops in the month of August!  As we walked 

back down the hall to return to our room, I turn around to see a
sweet line of 3rd graders with colorful lips....some blue, some red,
and some purple.  I was so wishing I had my camera.....woooops.
I will be purchasing a small one this weekend so I can keep it
at school.  Don'twant to miss another pic like that again

COOKIES! COOKIES! COOKIES!

Ever wondered how to bring the skill of sequence to life?

I've found it!  Bake cookies with 3rd graders and it will stick

with them.  Mrs. Simpson and I partnered up to bring this

reading spi, along with the math spi of fractions, and 

finally the science spi of mixtures to life in our cafeteria.

We call these skills "spis" in our classroom because the state

of Tennessee calls them "student performance indicators."

We divided the kiddos into groups of 4/5 and paired them with 

a responsible, baking adult.....i.e. parents, friends, paraprofessionals, 

and of course retired teachers......anyone who would help us!

Students read the recipe and followed the sequence to make some

of the best chocolate chip cookies ever on a Friday morn at WES.

I don't need to tell you they loved it!  I think they even ate a little

cookie dough (yummo) to hold them over until the sweet cafeteria

ladies could bake our sweet creations.  We made and baked over 100 

cookies and we were able to share with the whole third grade!

Kudos and major thanks to Freida Sanders, Nicole Vaughn, 

Lesli Malkowski, Jill Vailes, and Kerri Simpson (partner in crime)

for helping make this a memorable lesson! 

"Owl"standing Helpers

Each week a different student takes our class mascot,

Hunter the owl home.  He spends several days with

each student and goes on many adventures.  A journal

is provided for the students to write about all the fun

stuff Hunter gets to do.  So far Hunter has been on the

Air Evac Helicopter, been to church and spent time with God,

and went to the baseball field with another student this week.

Can't wait to see what old Hunter will get into next.

Included in Hunter's bag is a poster for each student to fill

out called "Read All About Me."  Take a look at Scott's, our

first "owl"standing helper of the year!

Good Fit

After a mini lesson on choosing a "Good Fit" book and

a little practice the kiddos were ready.  They had been

"ready" and anxious all week about diving in that

classroom library, but now I knew they were ready!

This poster hangs in the library as a reminder on

how to pick a "good fit" book.  So far, so good.

Poster thoughts are from the Daily 5 book.

Here's one of my students digging around to find

her just right book.