– NEWS FLASH –
Many of the readers in our classroom have been enjoying the graphic novels created by George O’Connor who retells Greek myths. He is speaking at Water Street Bookstore next week. He will be there on Tuesday, March 29 at 5:00pm. The attached link shares details from the bookstore about visit and what you might learn and see. It looks like a great opportunity. I can’t wait. Maybe I’ll see some of you there.
On our last day of school in 2015 we had our Secret Friend Celebration. We made gifts and wrote something special for each other so that everyone knows they are an important part of 3E. Some friends wrote poems. Some wrote letters and still others wrote stories. Some friends created sculptures. Some created paintings, while others created bracelets and even games. Having great friends and a caring class is a wonderful gift indeed! Enjoy our celebration.
We went to the S.E.E. Museum in Manchester on Friday, December 18. We explored Slimy Science in the lab. We went on a scavenger hunt through the robotic dinosaur display. And we learned some about about the powers of force and motion, magnetism and light, electricity and simple machines while we explore the museum displays. We had a great time. Here are some of our favorite parts from the day:
The Van de Graaff generator was cool. You put your hand on the ball and a rubber band was spinning in it. The static electricity that made would make your hair stick up when you shake your head. It was cool when we got shocked.
We liked making the silly putty because it was gooey and because we did it with our friends. We used heat and pressure to turn liquids into a solid.
It was cool to be in a laboratory.
We worked to be trustworthy. My favorite part was seeing and touching the dinosaurs. It was really fun! The robotic dinosaurs were cool.
We played with mirrors and lights and shadows. You pressed a button, a light flashed and it took a picture of your shadow.
I liked the pulley chairs.
We got to build and create. We went under and inside a kaleidoscope.
There was a submarine to pretend in and fish to see.
Mr. Intihar
by Stella and Marianna
The important thing about Mr. Intihar is that he is a teacher. He has a kid named Charlie. He is helpful and nice to people. He is really tall. He is kind and caring. He is a genius. But the most important thing about Mr. Intihar is that he is a teacher.
Bree Quirk
by Ben
The important thing about Bree Quirk is that she is helpful. She can use her magic on other people. She goes to work every day. She’s a good mom and she takes care of her family. But the most important thing about Bree Quirk is that she is helpful.
by Ginger
The important thing about Bree Quirk is that she is helpful. She is tired, funny, smart and frazzled. But the important thing about Bree Quirk is that she is helpful.
Finn Quirk
by Oliver
The important thing about Finn is that he is a Quirk. He is fast and short. He likes to be dirty and he makes you laugh a lot. But the important thing about Finn is that he is a Quirk.
by Henry
The important thing about Finn is that he is a Quirk. He is invisible. He is fast and dirty, thin and creative. He is cool. But the important thing about Finn is that he is a Quirk.
Niblet
by Tim and Nick S.
The important thing about Niblet is that he is helpful. He is fun because he juggles. He is cuddly because he is soft and furry. He is weird because he is a giant furry ball from Penelope’s imagination. But the most important thing about Niblet is that he is helpful.
Grandma Quirk
by Nick S. and Tim
The important thing about Grandma is that she is tiny like a fairy. She is helpful and smart. She is really fast. She is a seamstress. But the most important thing about Grandma is that she is tiny like a fairy.
Grandpa Quirk
by Alexis and Ronan
The important thing about Grandpa is that he is magical. He is fun and goofy. He is silly and funny. He loves ketchup on chips but that makes him hiccup. He is old and has a big moustache. But the important thing about Grandpa is that he is magical.
Molly Quirk
by Sami and Nick C
The most important thing about Molly is that she resists magic. She can see Finn. She is smart and helpful. She is a Quirk. She is nice. But the most important thing about Molly is that she resists magic.
Penelope Quirk
by Laird
The important thing about Penelope is that she is shy. She is amazing and cool and a little bit cuckoo. She is worried and charming. But the most important thing about Penelope is that she is shy.
by Ginger
The important thing about Penelop is that she is amazing. She is shy and magical, cuckoo and smart. But the important thing about Penelope is that she is amazing.
At our school’s Veterans’ Day assembly three of our classmates led the school in the Pledge of Allegiance. After the pledge was completed they joined the rest of the 3rd grade chorus with Mrs. Oliver to sing “Thank You Soldiers” written by Michael and Angela Souder. Here are the words sung beautifully for our Veterans:
When I lay my head down ev’ry night and go to sleep in peace,
I can stay there knowing all is well, while you’re standing on your feet.
Keeping watch protecting shore to shore, in the air and oceans, too,
Defending freedom at all cost, for the red, white and the blue.
Thank you, oh thank you, men and women brave and strong,
To those who served so gallantly we sing this grateful song.
To the soldiers who have traveled on to countries far and near,
In peace and war you paid the price for the cause you hold so dear.
That we may wake each morning bright, and know that freedom rings;
Because of your great sacrifice, your country joins to sing.
Thank you, oh thank you, men and women brave and strong,
To those who served so gallantly we sing this grateful song.
Thank you, oh thank you, men and women brave and strong,
To those who served so gallantly we sing this grateful song.
Thank you Veterans
love,
3E
3E will need their recorders on Thursday, April 17th this week, instead of Friday. Mrs. Oliver has arranged for the 3rd grades to hear and be taught by a professional recorder player. Because of this, our second music class of the week has been changed. We will be going on to music on Thursday during our Art time right after recess. Because of this change, Music Share for 3E is being held Monday, April 28th, right after vacation.
We will be going to Art on Friday during our normal music time.
Thanks for helping the kids remember when they need their recorders and reminding them of the share after vacation. They’ll need extra help with that happening on the day we return.
It’s Dot Day in 3E. Check back here throughout the day to see how we are celebrating. Make your mark, and see where it takes you!
Here are a few of the things we did during the first part of our Dot-tacular Celebration.
During the second part of our Dot-tacular Celebration we prepared our dots for the gallery. It will be so exciting to go on a tour tomorrow morning and leave comments for one another.
We made our marks and we can’t wait to see where they lead us – courage, creativity, confidence, imagination, innovation and independence. We are going to try to live with Dot Day in our minds all year long.
facts and comments by all the students of 3E
Arizona’s state capital is the largest capital in the U.S.A. When you look at my float I hope you notice how hard I worked. Presenting my float was awesome.
Disney is an interesting place. It is the most visited theme park in the world. Ponce deLeon discovered Florida. I hope you like my float.
The Arches in Arches National Park are over 1,000 years old. On my float are the La Sal Mountains, arches, and a lizard and big horn sheep. I felt very happy when I finished because I know I had accomplished something great.
Arkansas has the only diamond mind in North America and the two largest diamonds from North America came from Arkansas. On my float I had all seven wonders and I added all of the state symbols like the state bird, flower, insect, flower, tree and animal. I got to learn about all of the states and I love to learn new things. I learned a fact or two about each one.
When you hear the word Nebraska you might things farms, but only 7% of Nebraskans have farms now. More that one fifth of the state is meadow and grassland. When you see my float, you’ll notice I worked hard and didn’t rush.
South Dakota is a cool state. I showed all the wonders on my float. Everything went really well – the parade was great.
Vermont got it’s nickname from the Green Mountains there. I hope you notice the letters that spell Vermont on my float and how I made them.
One of the facts I thought was most interesting what how popular donkeys are in the Grand Canyon. I was amazed that there were so many different types of rocks there and even mountains in the canyon. My biggest accomplishment was making it through the whole parade without dropping the back board.
The parade was fun because we got to drive our floats. I had the picture of Tennessee on mine. I got cake from Maryland.
After the parade I felt proud of myself. I had accomplished something. Texas is the second biggest state. Only Alaska is bigger. I wanted people to notice the prairie dogs the most on my float.
I like the concert. I think we did a very good job. I was nervous. I imagined the audience in their underpants. I wanted people to notice the Jello I used for the Delaware River.
In Georgia they have a place where people live ilk the pioneers did. You can give it a try. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Georgia so I put his picture on a balloon. I like that I was able to answer all the questions about the float, state and the wonders I chose.
Wisconsin is a cheese producing state. Some Wisconsin cheese is aged for five years. It is a place without a lot of homesteaders. There is a mineral museum because there are a lot of minerals. I had the Arrow of Light, Faith and Hope on my float. I figured out that I wouldn’t wear a hat under my float.
An interesting fact about Yellowstone National Park is that Delaware and Rhode Island can fit inside the park itself. The thing that drew attention to my float was Smokey the Bear. Many people liked my float at the parade. I felt good about that.
North Dakota’s capital is Bismark I liked when everyone was singing and laughing. I spent time on my float.
I loved the parade. It was fun and I had a big float. I had a tall mountain that I made out of paper mache. I dressed up like a cowboy. I loved my outfit. It was fun and awesome.
I learned the Maryland crab cakes are the best. I had the Smith Island Cake on my float and everyone got to eat the cake.
I never knew there were more than 6,0oo,0oo people in Indiana. I worked hard on my float. I was not as nervous as I thought I would be.
The Everglades used to be hunted. Not any more. People noticed that I put effort into my float because the crowd ROARED like crazy when I entered with my float. My greatest accomplishments were not making any squeaky noises at the recorder concert and making the crowd ROAR like I said before.
The seagull is the state bird of Utah because they saved the crops from the locusts. I worked very hard on my float. The parade was very fun and everyone did a great job.
And now we are in May… zip, zing! The end of the school year is so close we can all see it. The kids are excited. I have to say I feel a little panicked and know we will be working hard to the end. We have habitat learning in science. We have state and country learning in social studies. The children have to develop their portfolios and get ready to share their learning accomplishments with you in their final student led conference. And of course there is still reading, writing and math. It’s a busy, full time.
3E’s Wowza Museum !!!!!
Thank you for coming to our third museum of the year. The children are always excited to share their work. It is the final step in the learning process – having an audience and an opportunity to share all they have done. It gives their work greater purpose.
The children have learned more about our world through their personal explorations and from their classmates as well. Through the research process the students have developed some important habits. They are coming to understand the importance of reading materials completely before taking notes so the words are their own rather than copies. They understand more about paragraphing and have found ways to better organize their writing. Many of the children felt that this was their best informational writing and presentation of the year.
Thank you for coming and touring the Wowza Museum and learning with us.
Writing Long, and Making Sure it is Well Done
An expectation of the new Common Core State Standards is that students in third grade and beyond sit down and write extensively in a variety of ways. “Extensively” means at least two or three well-constructed full pages writing. Students are expected to write narrative, informational and persuasive pieces.
We have been learning about each of these writing forms. We used persuasion to decide on the Seven Wonders of North Hampton and in writing book reviews. We have been writing narrative pieces throughout the year. Most recently we are working to write about one vacation event with detail and description. We are discovering this to be a challenging task. Our informational writing skills have developed through our research work and have grown through the year.
It is a daunting task to write and rewrite…and rewrite again. We are learning to plan and map out our writing in order to be able to give the piece of writing structure from the start. We are learning to set a purpose and are trying to imagine the “audience” we are speaking to with our written words. We are finding ways to add in and take out. It is an interesting challenge. You may want to ask your child how he or she is feeling about writing long and well as we work to meet this goal.
Fractions
We are continuing to work with fractions and learn about equivalence. We have created fraction sets and have been using them to play a few different games. One that the class seemed to enjoy was building a Fraction Wall. One of the game cards is “free choice denominator.” It never dawned on me to select 1, but it did to some of the children. It made me smile to realize how well they did understand the fraction process. And how a little competition can be a good thing at times. The more work we do, the more understanding spreads through the class. They do appreciate challenges.
State and National Park Exploration
I hope you have seen the information about the Parade of States and National Parks and that you know what your children is researching and presenting. We began our formal exploration yesterday with children reading some of the several books available to them in the classroom. The plan is to have the children read quite extensively during the first part of next week so they have greater understanding of their site and can begin a partial list of wonders they might highlight on their float. Please be on the lookout for float guidelines and information in the middle of next week. If you have any questions as we work through this process, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Bits and Pieces
We had fun learning through our reading, writing and researching about space. Here are some of our thoughts.
My favorite part was putting my constellations poster on display. It was interesting that the Big Dipper is not a constellation. There are 88 constellations. There are so many. I hope people noticed how much work I put into my display.
It is fun and I learn. The Milky Way can hold up to 400 billion stars. The Milky Way is big. That it has 400 billion stars.
The best part was gathering information for my trifold. The Kuiper Belt is 20 to 200 more massive compared to the Asteroid Belt. The Oort Cloud is outside around our solar system. The Hale-Bopp comet has three tails.
Making the trifold and doing research it was so fun! Kuiper Belt Objects are called KBO’s. Pluto was downgraded in 2006. Pluto has three moons.
Finding out about the dark spot on Neptune. Neptune has a 165 year orbit around the Sun, but it only has a 16 hour day. All the amazing pictures and facts.
I had a lot of fun learning all about Mars like the volcano, moons and water. There are two moon. I think that is very cool. There is water on the top and bottom and that was cool because I never knew that. Most people think there is only one moon called Demios, but there are two: Phobos and Demios.
My favorite part of the museum was sharing with everyone. The pressure at Uranus’ core is 8 million bars. Uranus is the only planet found by telescope. These are my favorite facts. I hope people learn something new and enjoyed my display – also all the the displays.
The best part of the research was working with my friend and learning about Saturn. The two most interesting facts I learned about Saturn were that Saturn’s core is the size of Earth and that Saturn’s rings are organized by the first seven letters of the alphabet. Saturn is interesting. Even thought Saturn is a gas giant it has six layers.
I had a lot of fun learning with Garrett about Saturn. Saturn’s moon, Titan, is bigger than Mercury. The tiny core of Saturn is the size of Earth. The facts and the trifold and we got to work together.
The best part of the research was getting to put the trifold together. The two most interesting things I learned were there 12 people gone to the moon. I thought only Neil Armstrong went to the moon. The moon can show up in different colors. The moon can be orange. I hope people noticed that it worked on it to impress people.
The easiest things for me to do were: the research, planning and making my display and the typing. Lightning is hotter than the Sun. I was amazed. I didn’t know that before. The sun will die in about 5.6 billion years. I was amazed because I thought is would be shorter. They noticed the research and how I put the display.
I like making Venus – the little planet for my poster. I like that its a
planet that rotates backwards compared to all the other planets. I think it’s a cool display and it had cool facts on it.
I like making my trifold and seeing how great everybody else’s was. I think the most interesting thing I learned is that there is an Asteroid Belt. I just thought asteroids were flying out in space. I liked by 3-D asteroid. I put two pieces of black paper together with tape nad made a slot in the tape. I put a gray oval through the slot and it was 3-D.
In my research the best part was getting the information. One of the most interesting pieces of information was that there are 88 constellations. It is amazing how many there can be. There’s probably thousands of stars making them. Another one of the most interesting pieces of information is that the Big Dipper is not technically a constellation. It’s part of one called Ursa Major. During our museum I hoped that people would notice my hard work and my information.
I liked making my poster and learning new stuff about black holes. The first most interesting fact about black holes is you can escape from them.
The best part about the inquiry was learning new information. I was excited to learn that a meteorite crashed in Russia while I was learning about it. A meteoroid goes 2,500 time faster than the fastest baseball pitch. I thought that was exciting. How large is the second largest meteoroid? It was 15.5 tons.
I liked all of my research. I liked going on the computer and with books and building my model. Jupiter is 480 million miles from the Sun. Jupiter in named after one of the Greek Gods. I liked sharing all my work and my model of Jupiter.
