Here are a few pictures of our short week! Yesterday we worked in groups on. Thanksgiving activity using Breakout Boxes. It is much like The Escape Rooms you may be familiar with. Through teamwork, collaboration, and problem solving, the groups had to work with their team to uncover clues to 5 different combination locks. All four teams were successful in breaking out “the turkey” from their box. They all enjoyed the challenge!

We also made Blessing Mix with our 2nd grade buddies. Thank you for the treat donations!

I wish you a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends!

 

 

 

 

 

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The link above gives you a snapshot of our week. Thank you to Mr. Fogel for helping us with our pasties!

Wow! We had a busy week! Between rehearsal for our concert, making pasties, a visit from Deputy Smoes, and sharing our mystery knowledge with our 2nd grade buddies, we squeezed in a math review & test, reading post-assessment, and wrote a persuasive speech! The students were able to convince Mrs. Peets for an extra recess using a thesis statement, 3 reasons, and persuasive examples for each reason. She was very impressed!

Next week we look forward to a Thanksgiving activity with our buddies and getting prepared for our holiday break.

Remember, Monday and Tuesday are half days!

 

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Happy chilly November! The link above gives you a snapshot of our week told in photos. The video is of our science focus. We are coming to an end in our Earth and Me unit. We discussed what runoff and erosion are and how our farmlands may be impacted. The photos show students collecting runoff water from our mock farm. After 4 trials, they compared the amount of runoff and erosion that occurred and brainstormed how we might slow the process down to save our topsoil.  Other photos show an oil spill simulation activity. Each student became a drop of oil from an oil tanker spill. By rolling a die, they traveled from station to station finding out what was happening to them on their journey. We also read the book, Oil Spill, which provoked a strong discussion from the students on how these spill impact our environment.

In math, we are using our multiplication and division strategies to solve multiplication tables with missing factors/products and word problems. Friday we began writing our own multiplication stories, which we found to be a challenge. We will have a topic test before Thanksgiving break.

In reading, we are preparing to teach Mrs. Burke’s second graders all the strategies we learned in our mystery unit. This past week, we learned these strategies can be applied to reading any fiction book–not just mystery. Our hope is to show our expertise to the 2nd graders and help them become excited about mystery. We certainly had many students come to love this genre!

In our writing, we are learning the difference between opinions and facts to help us write a class opinion speech. This is tricky for 3rd graders because they often believe that if they feel a statement is true for them, then it is a fact. 🙂 Many examples are helping with this confusion. The opinion speech we are working on is: We believe 3rd graders deserve an extra recess. Eventually, each student will select his/her own topic and create an individual opinion speech.

Coming Up:

TEAM with Deputy Smoes on Tuesday (discussion on safety for all of 3rd grade)

School Store Wednesday

Morning rehearsal (Wednesday) for the Veteran’s Day performance-we will be out of the building until approximately 10:30

Thursday morning: making of pasties to experience the meal of the miners of the 1800s (letter will be sent home on Monday)

Thursday evening performance at the high school

Monday and Tuesday (Nov. 20 and 21) 1/2 days

Wednesday, November 22-24 No School

November 27–report cards sent home in homework folders

November 28–field trip to Holmes for a presentation on the early copper mining days

We are mystery detectives! Here are a few snapshots of our mystery readers with their badges and detective notebooks. We are growing in our mystery skills, which will help us read other fiction books as well. This week we found ways to look more carefully for clues we may have missed and to recognize red herrings. Ask your child about this!

In math, we finished Topic 4. Tests will go home on Monday, We learned a lot, and are moving onto another unit involving multiplication and division. 

In science, we began looking at our earth and how farmland is renewable if we take care of it. Very little of our earth contains the topsoil farmland needs to sustain life. Ask your child about the “earth apple”.

In our writing, we are working on writing opinion paragraphs. We created a writing piece and illustration to add to our “3rd grade book of writing” that will go home at the end of 3rd grade!

We had a wonderful Monster Mash on Tuesday! Thank you for the donations to the Jeffers Jive! Our class came in 2nd place overall! The prize is $100 that we can use for our class. We will brainstorm and vote on what we would like to add to our classroom with our winnings! Thank you for your support!

Have a wonderful weekend!