A Snow Day Update and Valentine Box Inspiration

Snowed in and so much to do!

 
In addition to printing out our Texan pen pal letters, and prepping Valentine goodies, I want to take a few minutes to update you on the fabulous learning going on in Room 16.

We recently launched our exploration of cursive with a weekly Cursive Cadet to help us sky write, trace, and practice our newest letter of the week. Kudos to those cadets!

We're diving into fractions- equal parts of a whole or a set. We also explored a few strategies for finding the fractional part of a set using division.

Last week we used a number line to record mixed numbers.




After making Groundhog Day predictions, we studied facts about Punxsutawney Phil, his burrow called Gobbler's Knob, and the famous legend behind this famous friend. We were even fortunate enough to watch the early morning footage of Phil's prediction we'll have an early spring.

A few more expository pieces have been published and are now on display outside our classroom. I have since learned a great deal about the numerous types of dinosaurs, how bears hibernate, the role of football coaches, and the necessary items dog owners should have. 

Last week used Tagxedo in the computer lab to create Valentine-inspired word clouds. Check out this free website for endless fun.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, we are taking part in a cross-country Valentine exchange. We have decorated and customized nearly two dozen valentines to send to classrooms as far away as Alaska, California, and Arizona. Our valentines were decorated to represent our town and state. Bulldogs represented our schools' mascot while Boston-themed stickers highlighted a few of our capital city's famous landmarks such as Fenway Park and Breed's Hill. The tabby cat was included to show our state cat, while marine animals represented our renowned New England Aquarium. 

 The first Valentine to arrive to Memorial Park came from Wallington, NJ-- a town in the shape of a heart measuring only one square mile!

Snowed in and looking for a fun activity? Grab an empty cereal box or tissue box and decorate it to become your valentine box. Here are a few links to offer you some inspiration as you decorate. 

Visit Crafty Morning for some colorful and creative ideas.

 Ucreate also has some unique valentine mailboxes here.

Happy shoveling and happy crafting!

Hands Off! Rocket Man, A Walk in the PARCC, the Balloon Countdown, an Egg Hunt, and a Frozen-themed Fraction song

Our learning sure has been "hands on" lately.

It's hard to decide where to start!

We conducted an experiment to witness the effects of dirty vs clean hands. And boy, did we see changes--moldy changes!

Last Friday we were fortunate enough to meet Mr. Heission, also known as Rocket Man, and learn a great deal about the space race, rockets, and equipment astronauts use in space.

Our frozen fact families were perfect fits amid a snowy, snowy winter.

Greek and Latin roots such as aqua, mort, struct, mal, phone comprised our forest of root trees. These roots become particularly valuable when determining the meaning of unfamiliar words. For example, knowing that mal means poor or bad, helps us determine the meaning of malnutrition.

Our balloon countdown to PARCC led us on a synonym egg hunt around Room 16...

 

 

We have reviewed some test-taking strategies for reading passages and solving word problems. When beginning a new passage it is important to activate our schema and recall background knowledge on the topic. Previewing the questions first gives us a purpose for our reading. Reading questions and bolded words carefully allows us to focus on what is being asked and highlights multiple parts to a question. Finally, slashing the trash eliminates wrong answers and helps narrow our options when responding to multiple choice questions.

Mrs. Killinger was kind enough to let us borrow Dr. Seuss's Hooray for Diffendoofer Day-- a motivational read the day before our first day of PARCC testing.

In math we have kicked off our exploration of fractions. We learned the difference between the numerator and denominator. This fraction video has a Frozen twist I'm sure you'll enjoy!

A Balloon Countdown, Fraction Friends, MCAS, Leprechaun Trouble, Flipping" for Geometry, and a Passion for Poetry

March came and went, and we sure were busy! So busy that it left little time to blog!

Our previous reading unit was Test Prep. We worked a great deal on perfecting test prep strategies such as previewing a passage by reading the introductory blurb and previewing the questions in an effort to set a purpose for our reading and isolate keywords that we will focus our attention on as we read the passage.

We displayed an umbrella and shovel in class to remind us to find the big idea (or umbrella topic) and dig for specific text evidence in the passage.

We also got valuable practice writing detailed open-responses using the acronymn ANSWER. We start by Analyzing the question for keywords and Note planning how we will organize our thinking. Next, we Skim and scan the text for specific details and evidence. Then, we Write our response with detailed sentences and text evidence. We End by Reviewing our work through editing and revision. We analyzed open responses from third graders several years ago. Our goal is to "score 4" with rich evidence.

For more test prep practice, please visit McGraw Hill website for activities geared towards third grade Common Core standards here. This link to Help Teaching offers a great deal of practice using reading strategies ranging from cause and effect to point of view. Interactive Skill Builders for ELA standards are available here.

We enjoyed a few classroom activities and events as part of our MCAS Balloon Countdown. Take a peek below at some of the fun-filled events:

It was great to see those "smarties" hard at work on testing days!

Topic 10 delved deeper into fractions. In addition to comparing fractions with like and unlike denominators, we also identified fractions closer to 0 or 1. Fraction strips and drawn representations of fractions such as 2/6 and 6/8 helped us find equivalent fractions. We demonstrated what we knew as we created Fraction Friends--an activity inspired by the talented Mrs. Lemons at Step into Second Grade with Amy Lemons. 

Mischief was made in Room 16 on March 17 when Lola the Leprechaun snuck in to our classroom and left a green mess! We composed three paragraph expository pieces detailing the materials and steps necessary to create an effective leprechaun trap. We were even lucky enough to share our published pieces with our first grade Buddy Readers in Miss O'Day's class!

Today we concluded Topic 11 on Geometry. This unit introduced students to more than a few new vocabulary terms including line, line segment, ray, parallel, perpendicular, acute, right, obtuse, scalene, rhombus, and decagon! In an effort to categorize these terms and provide visual examples, we created posters and flipbooks. One morning, we used the app Screen Chomp to demonstrate the difference between lines and line segments as well as parallel versus perpendicular lines.

Our current Literacy unit has us diving into poetry. As we read and analyze poetry, we search for familiar elements of poetry such as alliteration, hyperbole, similes, and metaphors. Students have begun composing a variety of poems ranging from I Am poems, dead word poems, book spine poems, color poems, Pairs poems, and most recently--concrete poems. 

Mike W. and Shane work on publishing their "I Am" poems after 

teacher conferences.

 

 

Charlie works on her "Last Night I Dreamed of..." poem.

Dead word poems offer vivid, more alive words for boring, overused words.

Book Spine poems are created compiling and arranging four of our favorite classroom titles.

 

We read Mary O'Neill's Hailstones and Halibut Bones as our read aloud inspiration for our sensory color poems.

 

 Lilly adds to our brainstormed list of things that are green. 

 

Tomorrow students will share a few of their published poems with their Buddy Readers!