Rewind Post: State Project and Last Day of School

So this is (hopefully) my last rewind post.  Because (hopefully) I won't get so far behind again.

Two reasons for this rewind post:

1. State Projects.

Like I have said before, my class has 4 iPads (plus a teacher one), that aren't used NEARLY enough.  Well, it was almost time to turn them in, so I wanted to fit in one final project.  Using ComicLife again, my kiddos created a comic about a state.  They were placed into groups (with some input from my kiddos) and each group picked a state.  Then they had to research their state.  Things like:

• state bird
• state flower
• state motto
• state flag
• when did the state join the union
• what region is the state in

They did all of this in one of our computer labs.  And they did wonderfully!  Then we went back to our room to turn them into comics.  Which were also wonderful.  Except for one group, who kept have "technical difficulties".  Oh the joys of 3rd grade boys.  :-P

Personally I think they turned out rather nicely.

2. Last day of school.  :-(

We had a great last week of school.  For our class party we had a water balloon fight (sorry, I was soaked, so no pictures).

My third graders asked for a pajama day, so we did that Thursday.  Again, sorry, no pictures.  But just imagine me in Elmo pajama pants.  It was great.

And then I made a "photo frame" shaped like Mickey.  All of my kiddos took individual pictures in it on Thursday, with a few group shots.  I then made a little collage with those pictures and class pictures from our field trip and field day.  I printed them at Office Depot, for a pretty good price too.

Here's what the Mickey frame looked like...and yes, that is Lil Wayne in the picture with me.  :-)

We had our ups and downs, but I am really going to miss this class.

Rewind Post: Fraction Kites

That's right...I'm posting again!  Oh the joys of being able to schedule posts!  It means I can sit down at one time and write two (or three) rewind posts and have them post themselves.

So here it is, another rewind post...on Fractions!

For some reason my kids had a really hard time with fractions this year.  I don't know if I didn't spend enough time on them, or if I taught it in a way they didn't understand, or if they didn't have the background knowledge...but for whatever reason, it was just hard.  Next year I'll be trying something different.

Anyway, our FCAT is split into 4 days - 2 reading, 2 math.  So on the reading days, I try to do some kind of math activity after the test, and vice versa.  Every year, we do fraction kites on the first day of FCAT.  I can't find where I found the idea from originally...so if you know, please let me know!

Anyway, the project starts with a square divided into 25 equal squares.  My students are required to use certain colors when they color in their squares.  But they color in the squares, and then have to figure out what percentage of their kite is each color.  We then write the fractions on bows to add to the tails of the kites.  It's just an easy, quick refresher about the basics of fractions.   They look wonderful going down the hallway.

What do you do to teach fractions?  Cause I would LOVE some new ideas for next year.  :-)

Rewind Post: Saturday School

Time for another Rewind Post.  This time we're focusing on Saturday School.  Yup, you read right, Saturday School.

Our school decided that for 3 Saturdays leading up to FCAT (our big state assessment) we would offer Saturday School for our upper grades.  Our teachers were strictly volunteer, and could volunteer for any of the 3 grade levels.  I, of course, wanted 3rd grade reading.  We had a lovely mixture of teachers from all grade levels volunteer to work Saturday School.  Each grade level got 2 teachers for reading, and 2 for math.  My partner for all three Saturdays was one of our first grade teachers.  And she is AMAZING!

Our activities consisted of hands-on reading lessons.  We watched Flocabulary videos and moved and read and went outside for character drawings.  It was just a fun way to show what we knew and reinforce things we weren't sure about.

What a way to spend some Saturdays!

Rewind Post: Perimeter and Area

Time for another Rewind Post...this time with math.

For as long as I have taught (which isn't really that long) perimeter has been a third grade standard.  This year, with Florida finally fully implementing Common Core, third grade was also responsible for area.

So in addition to just regular teaching of the standards, I have to do things a little...different.  This year, though, instead of being crazy by myself, my wonderful team got in on the action.

First, my hallway is tiled, with lovely, perfectly square tiles.  So what do I do?  Bust out the painters tape and make shapes running down the length of the hallway.  (Thank you to my partner for helping me this year!)  Then the kiddos have to go into the hallway and measure the perimeter and area using units (so one square is one unit).

 Our kiddos always do really well in the hallway.  We talk about how the 4th grade classes do not want to be interrupted so we have to whisper and no running.  It was wonderful.

I also do perimeter/area names.  This year I got the brilliant idea to create the alphabet ahead of time.  I have done this project in the past and just expected my kids to be able to figure it out.  Not so much.  With the alphabet already created, my kiddos rocked this project!  As did the other two classes.

How do you teach area and perimeter?

Rewind Post: Plant Project

So...time for another Rewind Post.  This time, on Plants.

Awhile ago, Farley, over at Oh Boy 4th Grade posted about using a cd case to show the roots and stem and all the bits and pieces of a plant as it grew.  When I saw it I said to myself "I'm gonna do that one day."  Well, this year was the year.  Our 3rd grade science curriculum expects our kiddos to know all the parts of a plant and flower (except for pistil and stamen) and their uses.  So we decided to grow radishes, and also put some in cd cases.

 

Each child also got his/her own plant.

 

We then created plant journals (by folding lined paper in half and then stapling it).  Every other day our kiddos had to draw what they saw happening in their own cups.  Also, instead of having every kid draw both cd cases, they drew only one.  Since my class is numbered for EVERYTHING, we just threw in a quick math check with it - odds draw case A, evens draw case B.

Eventually, they grew:

 

After the kids took their cups home, I took the extras, and the ones from the cd cases, and transplanted them to a pot.  It's currently sitting on the back porch of our music portable.  I forgot to take a picture, but they are growing like crazy.  Since we're almost out of school, I think I'm going to dig one or two up so my kiddos can see what the roots look like now.

Hopefully I remember to take a picture.  ;-)

Rewind Post: Literacy Week

So...since it's been so long, I thought I would do a few rewind posts just to catch you up on everything that we've been doing in my classroom since...Christmas.  :-/

And I'm going to start with Literacy Week.  I don't know if every county, state, etc. does a Literacy Week.  But if yours doesn't, LW is a week to celebrate all things literacy.  In my county, schools are all asked to participate in the Million Minute Marathon on the Monday of Lit Week.  They ask that every teacher set aside time to either read a story out loud, or have your students silent read for a certain amount of time.  Then they tally up the "minutes" and aim for a million.

After Monday each school gets to pick what kinds of things they want to do to celebrate literacy.

Here are some of the fun things we did:

Funky sock day:

 

Hat Day (and I can't just wear a normal hat!):

 

 

Don't I work with some amazing teachers?!

I forgot to take pictures of sunglasses day...and I don't own any sports gear for our favorite sports team day.

Character Dress Up Day:

 

 

Yup...I would be Harry Potter.

Here I am with my teammate and friend...Cindy Lou Who!

And a Door Decorating Contest.  I had to carry over my Harry Potter theme.  And yes, my special kind of crazy couldn't just print book covers to put on the door...I had to draw them.  Except for the picture of Hermione, which I traced.

And my kiddos drew book covers of the books they were currently enjoying to put on the door.  We didn't win, but that's ok.

There was also a week long AR contest...my class came in the FIRST for the grade level, and Top 5 for the school!  In fact, out of the top 10, ALL 3 3rd grade classes were in it!  What can I say?  Third Grade rocks!