Bridal Shower

I suppose you could say, "these are my people." This is my team. I love these ladies. They keep me sane! Today we got together to throw a bridal shower for one of my teammates who is getting married this summer. It was great! It's always nice to get to celebrate important things in one another's lives.

Writing a Research Paper

We're working on writing research papers. Yes, in third grade. Holy cow! So, my kiddos are working on researching extreme weather. They are loving these topics! I am excited to see their final products. They're at many different places in their writing process and I'm having to learn to be ok with that. I don't know what it is, but I don't have a hard time with them being in different places in their learning except for writing. I think maybe it is because writing is such a step-by-step process and it's hard to keep up with what step everyone is on, but that's ok. This week I've just taken them in groups and taught different steps while the others researched or wrote on their own. It's worked very nicely. I'm actually excited about how well it has worked. Like I said, I'm excited to see the final products! 

Just Because Gifts

Today one of my sweeties brought me a "just because" gift. It brightened my day. What a sweetheart!

Synergize to Map the US

This summer I happened by the dollar spot at Target. That's a place my husband hates because I use the excuse, " it was only a dollar" and $50 later he is none too happy with me. You know how it is. Anyhow, I came across a color in map of the United States. No, totally not in my standards. But, it was " only a dollar" and I had to have it. I bought it thinking it would be a fun rainy day recess activity. 

Luck (or whatever you'd like to call it) would have it that I'd have no related arts one day last week. So, out comes the map. I'm telling ya, you have no idea. They were so excited! They got out materials and worked together beautifully. They made a map to beat all maps. I'll post a pic after I laminate it and hang it up. It is awesome! 

Now, if I could just rangle (is that even a word??) up about 5 minutes to laminate that thing, we'd be in business! 

Fraction Activity

This was the fraction activity I just mentioned in my last post. Seriously all I did was throw some fraction flash cards on a table and tell them to look at them and tell me what they noticed. I asked them to share their observations with others. Then, I asked them to group the fractions and be prepared to support their reasoning. I wish I'd recorded this activity ! Oh, the conversations were amazing! They were adding and comparing fractions and didn't even realize it. I am so proud of them! My kids amaze me every day. I'm blessed to be a witness to their learning process. 

Exit Slips

Exit slips? Yes. Everyone's heard of them and no one makes time for them. But, I do occasionally make time for these things. I do reflections a couple of times a week and I read them and make mental notes, but those stay in their notebooks and aren't mine to keep.

While I've been super busy being a grad school student/ full time third grade teacher/ Girls on the Run Coach/... You get the picture, I've also been busy trying new things. Seems I just can't be satisfied with the same ol' same ol' anymore. Anyhow, enough tooting my own horn. Here's what I learned and what I did:

You can have your kids make a post card as an exit slip. So, on the front it allows for creativity in what they learned through a picture and on the back you have them write a short note to you. Since this was the first time I had my kids do this I decided to tell them I wanted to learn one thing that they discovered during our fraction activity and one question they still had. Y'all, I kid you not, I got some great thoughts on those things! I will certainly be using them again soon!! 

This is the front of some of their post cards... Can't show the backs for confidentiality reasons. :) 

Also, one child said they really enjoyed the fraction activity but they weren't sure if you had to have 1/2 +1/2 to equal a whole. They went on to explain that they saw many fractions that equaled one whole so that confused them. Love it!! They were really thinking about their thinking! 

Research in the Classroom

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have been doing various research projects throughout the year. I currently have a group researching other cultures. This was chosen from a survey they completed in which a few kids said they wanted to research other countries. 

They had options on which country and on what media to use to present their research to our class. 

This student chose Brazil and she is currently making a brochure. I offered for her to use the computer, but she chose to make it with her own two hands. She loves to draw! 

This student was taking her information and planning out her power point presentation before beginning it. She decided to use Keynote after she finishes her plan. 

This is a student's research. At the bottom of the page you can see where I found this unit. It is great!! 

This student was trying out Keynote for the first time. He is excited to share his knowledge about China with his class! 

Tune in next time for more third grade excitement!