Zoo Field Trip

Last week we took our third graders to the zoo.  We had perfect weather and a lot of parent volunteers, which made it perfect. I didn't take as many pictures as I had planned. I was looking for pictures that I could use on my TPT products.  I happened to get a good one with my phone. Not too shabby for a phone.

The animals are a little bit like the weather because you never know what you'll get.  We saw the tigers sleep, the lions sleep, the bears sleep, the elephants sleep and I'm sure a few more sleeping animals.  Ironically, the bats were not sleeping.

Today I started a new project. While we were working on animal reports last week, I had an idea. I'm glad I had the weekend to work on this idea because it's something I want my students to use while we are working on reports.  I'm hoping to upload it next week.

Gifts for Mother's Day

Students planted flowers and wrote character traits about their moms. They did a great job decorating their "flower pots". We used to use mugs, but this is much more personal and unbreakable.

I borrowed this idea from our first grade teachers.  They have students write poems. This is my gift from my son. So sweet!

TPT 2-Day Sale May 6-7

I'm offering 20% on all items except already discounted bundles.

Graph It! Bundle

I just put one of my top sellers, Graph It!, into a bundle with the Graph It! Scavenger Hunt. My students thoroughly enjoy these activities.

To end testing week, they worked on the scavenger hunt, which I set up a bit differently than usually.  The reason for this was my school bag had a little pop explosion and I had a difficult time cleaning off the laminated graphs. So, instead of trying to tape them up since it was so humid last week, I used it like a scoot activity. That will be the last time!

My students work best moving around the room at their own pace with the cards in order around the room. There's less confusion about where to go and it doesn't get too crowded in one place because they know they can move ahead and then move back. The earlier finishers don't have to wait around to move on. I can also pair up students that may need the help of a partner and it isn't as obvious to others.

Testing is Over

It is always nice to get that behind us. It's hard to believe that we only have 4 weeks left. This has been one of my favorite classes in 21 years.  It'll be sad to see them go.

We always finish off testing week with a nice treat. Our school has that wonderful Sonic type ice and it's perfect for slushies.

 We read Press Here and made our own pages.

 Our soil observations were saved for Friday. It sounded like a great idea at the time, but it was a bit exhausting on my part.  They loved it though. 

My students worked on my Graph It! Scavenger Hunt. You can read about it here. 

Perfect Square

Today my students took the reading OAA.  In the afternoon we read Perfect Square to have some fun. but still review some important concepts that they'd need later this week. We tied it into measuring because they needed to have perfect squares for the project and we take the math OAA in a few days.

This project was a little tougher than I thought it would be. Most of my students like to be very precise and draw pictures exactly as they are rather than chopping up paper and making something out of it.

Before reading the story, I had them select a piece of colored construction paper.  I wanted some variety and they had no idea what they'd be using the paper for, so variety is what we had.

 

After reading the story, they had to measure the paper and make a perfect square.  I gave them a little unintentionally twist. I told them that they'd be using 8 1/2 x 11 paper.  Oops! 

It turned out to be a great problem solving activity.  My higher students figured it out before I noticed the problem and they made their perfect 9x9 squares.

Everyone else had to decide how to make it a 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 perfect square which was a great review for some students. A few may have ended up with 7 x 7 squares. 

Here's one work in progress. 

As they were working, I stumped them with my blue torn pieces. Then I added some green coloring around them and one student slowly started to figure out my picture. It was fun to hear them guess.

Once she figured out that it was a field of flowers, I wanted to know what type of flowers. I tossed out a clue: I was born in the state.  They were convinced I was born in Colorado, which is funny because I always thought I'd move there and teach. 

One student guessed Texas and asked if it was the state flower. She was right, but she wasn't sure of the name. 

Everyone had to include:  On _________, the square was ________. So it made itself into _______.

Horses

Today we worked on my Horses Activity Packet for the Gail Gibbons' book Horses. My students really enjoyed it and they stayed engaged for 1 hour. I used this activity for the whole group. At times they worked with a partner and small group, too.

Students completed the KWL chart first. 

Then I introduced the words by having students volunteer to read them. If was exciting to see them recognize words they made have had already. We just finished reading a book about Harriet Tubman and the word steady was in there.  They loved the word awkward. It was a popular word this year.

After introducing the words, they predicted what the words might be related to in the story. (see photo #1, bottom picture) This really made them think. It was tough for some of the students. 

I paired students with a partner and gave them a card with either a True or False statement about horses. They had to read the card and decide whether it was true or false.  They placed the cards on the red chart.

While they listened to the story, I pulled the cards that were in the incorrect columns. Once they finished the story, I read the cards to them and they decided as a class which place it should go. 

Since I only had 3 books at school, I divided them into 3 groups and chose one person to be the helper and hold the book. They did a great job. If you have listened to a Gail Gibbons' book, they are rather long so that was a lot of holding!

Tomorrow we will finish our vocabulary chart and identify if they put the words into categories that made sense.  Does "majestic" describe a family or the body?