Welcome back! {Open House & Ice Cream Social]

It was great to meet our new third grade families at the Open House and Ice Cream Social!  Excitement was in the air as students found their new lockers and desks and unpacked their supplies.

Welcome to a new year!

It's hard to believe that we are beginning a new school year already!  We look forward to a great school year of learning together!

There's a lot that goes on in third grade and we'll do our best to keep you informed - and one of the best places to find information will be this blog.  If you'd like to be notified automatically whenever we post/update the blog, please subscribe to e-mail notifications (see box in the righthand sidebar).  We generally post on Fridays to give you a summary of the week's happenings.  

We often take pictures of the events taking place in our classrooms and try to post them on the blog to give you a "look" at life in third grade.  If you prefer that your child's picture not be posted, please contact his/her homeroom teacher.

Here's to an exciting new year -
Mrs. Bender & Mrs. Hartsock

Thanks for a great year!

This will be our last blog for the year.  Looking forward to seeing all of you at our End of the Year Picnic on Tuesday.  Food should be at the school by 11:00.  The third grade class doesn't eat until 11:45, but you are welcome to come and play some math games and have a recess with your student while you are waiting.

Reading

We shared our book reports about The Legend of Jimmy Spoon, and almost finished reading the sequel.  If you want to know, Jimmy does find Nahanee, but there are a lot of adventures to be found in the book. See if your library has Jimmy Spoon and the Pony Express and check them out!

Science

This week we were able to dissect our pods and were able to locate the seeds inside.  If the kids brought their seeds home, remember they need to be kept under constant light and watered daily.  We also finished up our power point presentations which the kids will be able to share with you when you come to our last day picnic.  The final project was to present their plays explaining the Wisconsin Fast Plant Life Cycle.

Remember...

*Picnic forms were due on Friday.  Please email your teacher or return your form by MONDAY!  (We need to know how many are attending our pot luck and if your student is leaving with you that day.)

*Swimming on Tuesday.  We will be walking to the pool in the afternoon.  Remember to sent items marked with your student's name.  If the kids want to come to school in their swimsuit with clothes on top that is fine.  Just remember to send clothes for them to change into after swimming.  (We don't leave until after lunch and they will have time to change at the school before we leave.)  When we return from the pool the kids will have popcorn for a snack.

*Last Day Potluck.  Food should be at school by 11:00 but the third grade does not eat until 11:30.  You are welcome to join your student in a recess while you wait.

*Last Day - Remember you need to check out your student with your classroom teacher on the last day of school.  Report cards will only be given to the parents!

Stations

This week we worked on getting work and projects completed.  The kids worked on getting caught up on their math workbooks, completing their life cycle project for science using the keynote program on the computers and trying to finish their stitching from Mother's Day.

Math

We continued working on our measurement unit by exploring volume and weight.  The kids had four different objects they had to measure using a balance scale.  They then used that data to explore changes in volume when placed in a jar with water.
Continue to keep practicing those multiplication facts.  We will have homework for only three more days!

Reading

We finished up the novel, The Legend of Jimmy Spoon this week.  The kids worked on writing predictions for each of the chracter, and summarizing important events in a special character's life.  There is a sequel, Jimmy Spoon and the Pony Express, which we are trying to get read before the end of the school year.
Next week we will be back in the anthology to wrap up the rest of the reading skills in the third grade series.

Dragon Boat Races

This week the kids worked with Mr. O'Brien learning to work together to run their dragon boats.  They tried it without their decorations, then with their decorated boats.  It was quite a trick to get all the feet, boards and strings all going at the same time!