Arbor Day Field Trip

We finally managed to get our Arbor Day Field Trip at the Cresco Nature Center accomplished.  The weather seemed to be against us for awhile!  Today with the two hour late start due to fog, the field day organizers were wonderful about reorganizing the schedule and shortening sessions, so we could enjoy this beautiful Friday outside!  Enjoy planting the tree your child brought home.  Here is a recap of our day in pictures: 

Bonnie Plants' 3rd Grade Cabbage Challenge

My student brought home a cabbage plant- now what???

Your third grader should have brought home a cabbage plant yesterday with an informational sheet and growing guide.  These cabbage plants were provided free by Bonnie Plants.  The students are challenged to tend to their cabbage plant all summer.  When the cabbage is ready to harvest, they should weigh their cabbage and email me a digital photo of their cabbage and its weight.  Then enjoy a meal as a family using your home grown cabbage.  I will choose a winner for our classroom (a big, healthy looking cabbage) from the photographs to then submit to Bonnie Plants.  The winner is entered into a statewide random drawing for a $1000 scholarship.  This is a great way to get your student excited about gardening and being outside.  There are a lot of studies out there that remind us how important it is for children to spend time outdoors.

Your photograph submission is due to Mrs. Adams by September 20th, 2014.  I will have my same email address next year, so please submit there (meladams@howard-winn.k12.ia.us).  I hope I have lots of cabbages to choose from!  I encourage you to visit bonniecabbageprogram.com website to learn more about this fun challenge.  Good Luck!

Crazy, Fun Time of the Year

I was just looking at the calendar, and can't believe how busy we will be during the next month and a half.  The year will fly by!  Here is a heads-up on some of the special events and activities that are on our third grade schedule for April and May to mark on your calendar.

• April 10th- Attend the Lime Springs' Theatre Troupe's Spring Play "Holka Polka" at the Lime Springs Methodist Church
• April 16th- Walking Field Trip to the Lime Springs' Public Library for National Library Week
• April 17th- Annual School-Wide Dads and Doughnuts serving starting at 7:45 AM- Be sure to RSVP to Connie in the office the number in your family attending.
• April 17th- PATT Sponsored Spring Fitness Afternoon at the Chester Roller Rink (K-5)
• April 18th- No School- Happy Easter!
• April 21st-25th- 3rd Grade Spring MAPS Testing
• April 24th- Arbor Day Field Trip to the Cresco Nature Center (District-Wide)
• April 5th- 9th- Career Week at Lime Springs/Chester Elementary
• April 9th- Annual School-Wide Moms and Muffins serving starting at 7:45 AM- Be sure to RSVP to Connie in the office the number in your family attending.
• April 9th- Come dressed as a job you would want in the future
• May 20th- PATT Sponsored Movie Afternoon at the Cresco Movie Theatre (K-5)
• May 30th- 3rd Grade Field Trip to Wabasha, Minnesota (District-Wide)- You will need to make arrangements to have your third grader to school by 7:25AM that morning and to pick-up from school around 3:45PM.  I'll be sending more information about this when the trip gets closer.
• June 3rd- Last Day of School

Friday Morning Routines!

As a teacher, I love this time of year!  Students are very familiar with our classroom routines, and we are able to get so much done.  Most of our teacher-led literacy time is spent in small groups, so I can work with students at their level.  The rest of the students work on their choice of literacy workstations (based off of Daily 5 routines) independently as my small group works.    It is awesome to sit back for a few seconds, and see how easily students move through their literacy stations with very few reminders.  Below are some pictures of our Friday literacy routines:

 On Fridays, third graders usually spend some time on Quizlet reviewing their weekly word study list.  There are links to each week's word study list under our classroom web links.  They practice using the speller feature and then move on to scatter and space race.

 Students individually record their weekly fluency passages on their iPads using iTalk.   This provides a great record to watch their fluency increase throughout the year.

 Students work on their reading assignments as I continue to work with other groups.

There is always time for "Read to Self".  Students enjoy filling their book bins and relaxing with a "Good Fit Book"!

What in the world is a dodecahedron?

 We have been studying geometry in math.  Students created prisms and pyramids 

as examples of three dimensional shapes (or polyhedrons).

 Today's challenge.... Figure out what a dodecahedron is and create one!

 Lots of cutting, taping, gluing, and folding......

 Works in progress....

Our dodecahedron will be a fun calendar!

Still don't know a dodecahedron is... Ask your third grader!

It is that time of the year again......

This week we took one of our district-wide assessments- the Iowa Assessments (formerly Iowa Tests of Basic Skills).  Students worked hard on tests in reading, math, science, and language.  These timed tests provide us with one snapshot of a student's progress.  Third grade is the first year we test with this standardized piece, so students learned about bubble-sheet tests, timed tests, and many testing strategies.  We will also take the computerized MAPS tests again this spring, which provides us with another snapshot of each students' progress.  Students take the MAPS tests on the computer and they have unlimited time.  This test is nice for those students who are slow and methodical test takers.  It is always interesting to compare the results of these two tests and students' classroom performance.  It will be nice to get back into our regular schedule next week and we are proud to say that we gave our best!

On Friday following our last test, we decided to kickback and have an Iowa Assessment's Beach Party.  Students rotated though theme centers and enjoyed some free reading time on their beach towels.  We are all dreaming of warmer weather and of course- Life's a beach in third grade! 

 Sunset "Art" Island

 Aquarium "Research" Island

 Landform "Geography" Island

 Shipshape "Math" Island

 Word "Language" Island

 Treasure "Math" Island

 How much is the treasure worth?

 Can you crack the code?

Diligent Code Breakers!

 Sea Creature Research in Action

 Creative Silhouettes!

Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Today we were lucky to take a "virtual field trip" to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming.  They are located right next to Yellowstone National Park.  Last fall we enjoyed a science unit on animal and plant population which let us explore topics of predator/prey, habitats, and adaptations.  This Skype session was a great extension and review of that learning.   The staff presented on different native animals to the Yellowstone ecosystem starting with animals that lived at some of the highest elevations and working our way down to the lowest elevations.  Using an iPad the staff was able to take us on a walking tour of their museum to show the exhibits and experience the sound effects.  It was very cool!  Be sure to ask your child to share about some of the special adaptations of animals such as bighorn sheep, pronghorns, hawks, grizzly bears, and more.  Students also researched a native animal to our area prior to the Skype call and several shared their illustrations and information on their chosen animal's habitat with the museum staff at the end of our call.  Students then finished the day by blogging about the session.  We will finish these tomorrow and then post them.  Be sure to check out the students' blog entries on our Kid Blog account. 

http://kidblog.org/2013-14ThirdGrade/

It was neat to be able to visit a place that is almost 15 hours by car away without even leaving our school building! What a great day of learning!

A big thank you to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West for taking 

time to talk to us and sharing your expertise!