We are at the bittersweet part of our year. We are all ready for the vacation at the end of school, but also very sad that our time as a class is coming to a close. We have been looking back at our accomplishments as we put together portfolios. It’s fun to see how we have grown and changed. In the words of Albie, from, Absolutely Almost,

            “…I knew what Dad would probably say if he saw it, that even if a B was almost an A, that almost wasn’t good enough.

But I knew something else too.

You couldn’t get where you we going without knowing where you’d been.

And you couldn’t be anywhere at all without having been almost for awhile.”

It’s nice to look back and notice how we have grown.

S.E.L. – Coming Full Circle –

from Fall Goal Setting to Student Led Conference of Accomplishment

            We are spending time in these last few weeks looking through the work we have saved throughout the year. We’ve looked back at what we shared with you in the fall and reflected on our goals. We’ve met many of them and have realized, some weren’t that important to us. We didn’t work on them. We’ve been looking at photographs of our projects and activities throughout the year. We are selecting photographs and work samples important to us, and placing them in a digital portfolio with the plan of sharing them with you during the last week of school. Be on the look out for a conference schedule sign up on Monday. It is going to be a tight schedule. I hope the children can finish developing their portfolios and that everyone will be able to find some time when their child can present their work – the cherry on the top of the 3rd grade sundae so to speak.

The Parade of the States

            Thank you for your help and support with this project. It is such a great celebration of learning. I hope each child noticed how his or her research skills have grown (think back to our Insect museum in the fall). I hope each child noticed how his or her abilities with information writing have grown along with knowledge of the traits of excellent writing. I know everyone knows more about our country through this study. And think of how confidently each of them stood on stage and played at the concert and sang for you. Think of how they each presented their float, first for kindergarten through 4th grade and then later for families and friends. Their effort certainly glowed brightly!

Tadpoles and Water Bugs

            This week we were given a bucket of tadpoles that had been found in a pool when it was opened for the season. We’ve got a great observation tank. Today we took some of them down to the marsh on the nature trail (our tank wasn’t large enough for all of them) and while there we scooped up a bit more pond water. In the little scoop we captured a dragonfly nymph. These nymphs are predators and, yes, we did see one of the tadpoles get eaten. It is a pretty interesting thing to observe. We hope we’ll be able to see the tadpoles change into frogs much like Humphrey did in Spring According to Humphrey.

Humphrey Book Clubs

            There are 4 book club meeting to discuss their reading and questions. We are enjoying Humphrey and how he interacts with his class. He is always trying to discover ways to help his classmates meet with success with both learning and friendships. Humphrey says things that are important to him three times in a row and I think our class would say they really, really, really like Humphrey and the lessons he teaches about friendship.

Bits and Pieces –

• We are working on a special project for Mrs. Sherouse.
• Our broccoli continues to thrive in the greenhouse.
• We are working to add and subtract fractions with like denominators.
• We’re having fun!