A Sweet Read

As students munch on fruit snack, I read aloud a portion of a book to them.  By doing this I can model fluent and expressive reading for students and quickly assess their comprehension.  We just finished the book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  What a hit!  We have practiced sequencing events in the story with this cute display.  Mr. Wonka (seen above) is holding the book with each student's summary on the back and the cover illustration on the front.  I am so proud of their hard work!

...Amen!

Wilbur's Boast

During our reading, students loved the story Wilbur's Boast.  As an excerpt from Charlotte's Webb, this story grasped their attention right away!  We used this foldable to make judgments about the characters and their actions.  I found these amazing talking bubble sticky notes that students used to record actions and judgments.     

Matthew 28:20

Beautiful truth!

A Green Thumb

To organize our prefixes, students created prefix trees.  The prefix is written on the trunk of the tree, and the leaves contain the base word with the prefix.  This eye-catching visual is great to help students reference and remember our prefixes!  

Hot 'n Fresh!

Students, or I should say Chefs, were cooking up a storm with pizza fractions!  Students were so excited to make their OWN pizza and layer it with toppings!  What a success!  

Deliciously Describing Adjectives!

Adjectives tell what kind or how many.  Together, we brainstormed adjectives that describe chips such as Doritos, Cheetos, and Lays.  Then students wrote their own adjective on a cutout "chip" and placed it on the chart paper.  Afterwards, we were able to compare and contrast the adjectives that described each chip.  Students were thoroughly engaged with this activity!      

A Castle on Viola Street

Students interacted with their group partners and a realistic fiction text through this foldable.  We've studied the "essential message" during shared reading, and especially with the story A Castle on Viola Street.  On the inside of the foldable, students wrote down the character's actions that gave a clues to the story's theme.  Using these clues and their own inferences, students worked with their partner(s) to write the essential message of the story.   

My Daily Journal

Students are proud to show off their published copy of "My Daily Journal" during Student-Led Conferences.  Every morning students do a quick write in their daily journal of something that they did the day before.  After students write, they are able to share their writing with the class.  This morning activity truly enriches us as a classroom family!

The Life of Daniel

Although these lions don't look ferocious, we've learned that we can trust God no matter what!  As we study the life of Daniel, we've learned that trusting God means waiting on His timing and leading through prayer and the Word.  What a great visual reminder that God is with us and for us as we abide in Him!  

Earth Day

Students pledged to help keep the earth a clean and healthy place for us with this plate activity.  The plates represent the earth and students placed a green handprint in the middle as their pledge.  At GCCS we keep the earth clean by recycling paper, plastic, and aluminum.  Way to go students!  

Making Meaning

Students were able to practice finding perimeter and area through this name plate activity.  Students used units to spell out their first name.  Then students measured the perimeter and area of each letter in their name.  This really allowed students to take ownership of their work while reinforcing meaningful learning!

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 14:6

Remember...

A bright reminder for students as they enter the classroom, daily - Shine for Jesus!  

"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ."

2 Corinthians 4:6

"A Carousel of Dreams"

In our reading this week students have worked marvelously to find facts and opinions in fiction and non-fiction stories.  Students also practiced summarizing the story, "A Carousel of Dreams."  Students organized their thoughts on the left side of the foldable first - identifying the 5 W's.  Then, students wrote their summary on the right side of the foldable.  Superb summaries!  

Florida - Southeast Region

In Heritage Studies, we are learning about the six regions in the United States.  We've identified states in order to find the region boundaries.  Outlining the boundaries, we color-coded them and added the regions to a map key.  Students then cut apart the six regions and placed them on the paper as shown above.  Next up: more states and state capitals! 

Geometry

Students have been learning about geometric figures in math this week.  We've identified polygons, triangles and quadrilaterals.  Students made a foldable to organize and classify triangles based upon their sides and angles.  

Spelling: Words with endings "y" to "i"

Students have done a fabulous job working with inflected endings this week.  They've learned to drop the "y" when it is followed by a consonant.  Then, students replaced the "y" with an "i" when adding an ending of -es or -ed.  Keep up the great work students! 

A Sneak Peek....

We're working on our class auction project!  You don't want to miss out on what 3rd grade has to offer for bidders during Gulf Coast's annual auction!

Christ is Risen!

Before Spring Break, students celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ with this edible activity!  We made the rich man's tomb out of a donut and the rolled away stone is shown with an Oreo.  Students loved to listen to the Easter story and participate in creating this visual, which of course they enjoyed eating as well!

An engaging way to teach the Easter story - the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ - is through making Resurrection Rolls.  When broken open, the marshmallow inside has disappeared.  Students were able to connect to the Easter story with this kinesthetic and visual activity.  He is surly risen! 

Hosanna!

Students made stained-glass crosses out of wax paper and tissue paper for an Easter display this week.  While creating the crosses, we remembered the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.  He died for our sins, so that we may have eternal life.  Not only did He die for us, we know that Jesus was raised to life and lives in us!  Hosanna!  What a mighty God we serve!

1 Peter 2:24

What a humbling yet wonderful reminder every day as students enter the classroom!

What Happened?

During shared, guided and independent reading students practiced cause and effect relationships by asking "What happened?" (effect) and "Why did it happen?" (cause).  Then students recorded their cause and effect relationships on post-it notes in this foldable.  

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

You are more precious than gold!  

"...Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

Matthew 12:34b

Made by Clay

During our review of Unit 4 in reading, students applied their knowledge of idioms to an idiom clay activity.  First, we made our own "An Idiom a Day" flipbook.  After creating and sharing the flipbooks, students chose two of their favorite idioms.  Then, students were able to illustrate their two idioms with clay.  After the clay dried, students added the finishing touches with a dab of paint.  When dried, students were finally able to take them home in a decorated bag like the one above.  I wanted to snag a few pictures of their actual clay creations but my camera wasn't working!  But I'd have to say, those clay idioms were quite the thrill!    

Sequencing

Students practiced sequencing with the story "Boom Town" by Sonia Levitin.  Working with their reading partners, students created their own pie foldable.  On the inside of the foldable, students wrote their summary of the story.  We sure did work up an appetite!  

Pronouns in our Pockets!

Students have been practicing with singular and plural pronouns in context during grammar, and they were able to create their own "pocket" to house their pronouns.  Since pronouns take the place of nouns, the outside flap is a pronoun and the inside flap is a noun.  We had a blast! 

Exodus 15:2

Compound Words

Students applied their knowledge of compound words to create a foldable.  The outside flaps include the two words and a quick illustration.  When you open the flaps, the inside shows the two words joined to make the compound word.  This was an excellent activity for students to practice compound words!  

To all my students - you're a bright spot in my day!

A Little Bird Told Me

Students are doing fantastic with this week's grammar review.  During one project, students applied their knowledge of dialogue to create a talking bubble for an early spring-time bird.  Students really enjoyed creating these "tweets!"  

Idioms 

This week we've been reviewing unit 4 for reading, spelling and grammar.  After reviewing idioms, students were able to illustrate an idiom using clay.  I've got my eye on that piece of cake! 

Hip Hip Hooray, For It's Almost Dr. Seuss' Birthday!

What an inspiring quote from Dr. Seuss!

The BFG

Students enjoyed listening to "The BFG" during fruit snack, as a read aloud.  Now that we've finished the book, I've created a book report decahedron, as shown above.  This is a model for students to see what a book report decahedron looks like.  Students will be able to create their very own based on an independent reading book.  I can't wait to get started and share!  What a blast this will be! 

Who Let the Dogs Out?

To reinforce understanding of contractions, students made "contraction dogs".  The contraction can be seen when the dog is folded in the middle.  Students loved creating their very own contraction dog while practicing where to place the apostrophe.  Well done class! 

Don't Forget!

Students were able to make this graphic organizer to help them remember the four rules when dividing by 0 and 1.

Heritage Studies Chapter 3 - Setting Out

Click the link above to view our Prezi about Exploring America, which we'll discuss in class during Heritage Studies. 

Thought Bubbles

I'm excited to introduce the "thought bubble"!  On each thought there are questions pertaining to PLOT, author's purpose, predictions, and making connections.  I will incorporate this into our reading routine so students can review and apply learned skills like inferring, drawing conclusions, retelling, determining author's purpose, etc...  each week.

Homophones

Students created a pair of pears using spelling word homophones!  Each student picked a homophone such as "beet" and "beat" or "sale" and "sail" and wrote the homophone on the top of a pear.  Then students illustrated their homophone in the middle and wrote a sentence for their homophone on the bottom of the pear.  Afterwards, students shared their pair of pears.  This is a great kinesthetic, visual, and auditory activity for students to practice understanding homophones.