Valentine's Day Party

Some pictures from our class party!

Alliteration Leaves

We practiced alliteration by creating a phrase using our student numbers, so my student who is number 2 in our room might write "two tiny twigs twirling around". These were written on leaf cut outs that became a poetic number line outside our classroom. I loved seeing what these creative kids came up with!

Fraction Fun

This month, we are learning all about fractions. We had so much fun on our visit to CiCi's Pizza, where we enjoyed making AND eating our pizza! We talked about dividing a whole into equal shares and what we would do if, for example, 7 people wanted to share 8 pizzas equally. (Each person would get 1 1/8.) Thank you CiCi's for such a wonderful time... You were so generous to us!

I also enjoyed making fraction flowers (found on Pinterest, of course), where the students divided 3 circles into halves, fourths, and eighths to make leaves, tulips, and sunflowers. So cute!

Other games I like to play with my small groups to practice fractions include "I have... Who has..." with fractions in number and picture form and "Order Them!" where I lay out unit fractions for students to order least to greatest or greatest to least on a number line of 0-1. This game is ideally played first with fractions in picture form and then in numerical form. It can also be played for written fractions for students to practice reading fraction names.

Since fractions are a harder concept, particularly for third graders, I love hearing about other ideas!!!! Thanks for stopping by!

February Bulletin

In preparation for our Poetry Cafe, and to share in the spirit of Valentine's Day, we made "poetrees". Our students wrote similes and metaphors on hearts and these formed the leaves on the trees. The title is "Check Out"..... "Our Poetrees".

Poetry Cafe

I absolutely love February. No, it is not because of Valentine's Day. Rather, I love the fact that my students get to work during this month to create their own poetry anthologies. These are collections of poetry that they have both copied and created. These are the requirements for their anthologies:

My Poetry Anthology Checklist

ü  Decorated Cover Page

ü  Table of Contents

ü  Bio Poem

ü  Simile Sentence

ü  3 of my favorite poems written by other authors

ü  A Concrete Poem

ü  A Haiku

ü  A Free Style Poem

ü  An rhyming poem of at least 6 lines in ABBA or ABAB rhyming style

ü  4 out of 6 literary devices are used: onomatopoeia, simile, metaphor, alliteration, personification, sensory images

We learn all about different poetic devices through other poems, picture books, and songs. I especially love using tongue twisters to introduce alliteration. I can't wait to see my students' finished products!

Math Worshop Menu

Thanks for a great link, Ms. Brown! The students will use it to define math terms during their math workshop stations.

Math Dictionary

During our math workshop, students are responsible for:

- completing a paper worksheet
- practicing fluency with: flashcards, our Multiplication Mania game, or ipads (if we have them)
- meeting with me for small group
- defining vocabulary words
- Completing an activity to practice the math content we are focusing on. Currently, our focus is fractions.

At the end of the week, students pass in their completed work along with their Math Workshop Menu. We then attach a rubric to the completed menu. A point is taken off every time a student is seen off task. Between must do's and can do's there is always something TO DO!

Rocket Run

Finally....pictures!

We had such a fun time running to raise money for our school.

We got a little crazy...

And a little sweaty...

But sharing a good time with great friends made it all worth it!

A special thank to all the parents who helped out! It would not have worked without you!