Technology Fun

I just finished editing our Soil – In Plain English animations in imovie. They turned out fabulous, of course! Would you expect anything less from our star students?? The videos will be uploaded to the Science page in two hours, so stay tuned. You will learn a lot about soil as a natural resource.

Now on to Native Americans. Wait to you see our lastest learning. Thank you to Stratham Hill Stone company for a generous donation of red slate for our Mesa Verde pictographs. Thank you also to Ellen and Kerrie for helping students crush charcoal to make our own authentic paint from natural resources for the slate paintings.

Long weekend

We just returned from a long weekend to a busy week. Our students continue to work hard and love learning. As we finish up a science unit on changing land and soil, both Mrs. Hoppe and I are preparing for a very exciting Native American unit. It will be different from past units. Art, acting, technology, and visitors will be the primary learning tools. The students will love it!!!

New blog entries include a math period and a science experiment. Enjoy.

Ellis Island Debut

Wow! Our Coming to America – Ellis Island Simulation was unbelievable!! The students chose respectful behavior and were responsible students answering questions in character, asking questions, and enjoying all their learning. We enjoyed a boat ride down the third grade hall where many immigrants were in steerage. A lucky four were in first class. We were greeted by the Statue of Liberty as immigrants entered Ellis Island with their passport, visa, badge, baggage, and money and moved through all six stations. They took the Oath of Citizenship with Mr. Smith and sang Grand Old Flag. We ended the day with a feast from around the world. Ten of the dishes were cooked by both classes and about 20 other dishes were brought in from parents. Parents were a huge help throughout the whole unit – thank you very much.

Thank you also to Mr. Smith and Mr. Ducharme for their well dressed part in the event.

Most of all, thank you Beth Sommers for putting in countless hours over nights, weekends, vacations, and the summer to plan this unbelievable unit with us. Your ideas, creativity, and work ethic make you a gem of a teacher! The kids will never forget this event.

Class Lead

We are learning to write inviting leads that hook the reader. We remember the different types of leads by using the acronym SACRED: Setting, Action, Characters, Reflection, Events, and Dialogue. Below is a couple examples of a quick write to describe the day during our morning recess.

S- setting
The fog blinded me. The wind seemed to be coming from the other side of the Earth. ~C.O.

A- Action
The wind slapped my face as I ran to the end of the playground. ~K.B.

R- Reflection
I wonder if each day this week will be just as foggy. ~B.D.

Wow!

We just completed another writing assessment with the class focus on word choice. The beautiful writing almost knocked me off my seat!!! Many of the kids know this, so I think I’ll share with the rest of the world. I completed the students’ assessments with a writing rubric in my local coffeeshop. The paragraphs were so exceptional that I actually shared some with random strangers sitting next to me! The student authors stayed anonymous of course. I apparently thought it was open mic night. I just could not help myself. The coffeeshop consensus was that the author of this one particular paragraph should skip a grade. I could not be more proud!

Word choice

I just loved participating in the teamwork themed bbq and field day event today. The middle school and elementary kids paired up well and showed what true respect and kindness is all about. I also noticed how clouds billowed across the blue sky as seagulls shrieked from the rooftop peek… always working on our class goal to improve word choice in our writing!! I wonder if kids could share some of their sensory images from the day with their families.

The first month

I just finished an afternoon working on schoolwork in the coffee shop. I enjoyed reading all the work students have produced while rain glistened in the street lights. (We are working on using sensory words, so I figured I should add a little detail about my setting!) I eagerly sorted through our TLW videos, so I could upload to the class blog. Watching students say the learning target makes me proud. TLW stands for, ‘The learner will…” and is used to show every student the expected outcome of a lesson. Knowing why we are learning helps students become successful learners. Check our our new page titled Cafe & Daily 3. Let us know what you think by adding a reply of your own.

Sunday afternoon

I am sitting at my desk at home preparing for school in one week! Can you believe summer went by so fast? Each day that passes, I get more excited to meet all of you. I know we will have a great school year. I’m off to work some more, so I can make sure to get in a walk with my dog on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. Hope you are enjoying the day!
- Mrs. Simons

Hello world!

Thank you for visiting our new Life as a Third Grader blog! Soon you will be able to explore this media site to find a glimpse of our lives in videos that are password protected and share comments. Here you will see some of our projects and learning targets for various lessons. At this point, please refer to our teacher page for schedules, questions and answers, links, and the classroom calendar.

Hope you enjoy it!