We have had an exciting winter so far, full of project based learning! We have explored biomes, cycles, explorers, measurement, multiplication facts, and even managed our own "Mega-Scarf" company, which made a profit of over $1,000 to donate toward the local Dream Come True Playground! Whew! Time flies when you are learning and having fun! Coming this spring will be units exploring ancient civilizations, fractions, geometry, simple machines, and genres of literature. Third grade is exciting! Thank you for being on this journey of exploration with us!

Loving to Learn!

We love to learn in 3rd grade! Here is a quick picture of some of our adventures in science creating our own bird beaks with adaptations to survive in various habitats!

Gearing Up for a New Year!

I had a great summer! I enjoyed several family trips, including one to Washington, DC, where my husband taught his annual robotics camp at the Smithsonian, and another to a family reunion at a lake in Michigan. I directed our church's Vacation Bible School and taught a week of professional development for teachers at James Madison University. I also relaxed with my childhood best friend for a week. Whew! Re-reading this makes me realize just how much a teacher can pack into one summer! But all that being said, I am so ready to get back to school! I love teaching! I can't wait to form new relationships with each and every one of you. Let's work together to make this a great year.

Exploring Measurement

Is anyone else ready for spring? :) With all of the snow this January, I hardly feel like we have had school since winter break! Good thing on the days we have been able to be in school, we make our learning opportunities count! In math, we are exploring measurement. The students used rice and worked in teams to determine the capacity of different containers.

Multiplication Mania!

Our students have been working so hard to master our multiplication facts! We have worked to use many different models to show what we know about multiplication, including array models, set models, number lines, and repeated addition. We recently did several projects to allow students some more creative methods of showing what they know!

Thank you so much to all the parents who were able to come and visit our classroom during our recent parent/teacher conference day! Our conversations are so important to the continued success of the students! I appreciate your time. We have so many exciting things to look forward to in the upcoming months! We will be moving forward with our multiplication unit in math, which is always such a favorite of third graders! They love to learn their facts by heart and come home and teach you all the fun games we play in class! Be prepared for lots of evening game time! The third grade will also be presenting at our November school meeting about being Thankful. I am looking forward to hearing what our students have to say about such an important topic. I'll make sure to post pictures!

Love to Learn!

What a great kick-off to our school year! We have spent the first few weeks getting to know each other, building a fantastic community, becoming "bucket fillers" for our classroom and building, and learning new things in the process! Ask your child about our "bucket fillers" and how they can work on "filling your bucket" at home, too! :) We have already enjoyed a community building field day, but perhaps our favorite activity from these first few weeks was our first I-STEM project of building our very own bird beak! The students had to construct a working bird beak to pick up food items using only their beaks. This was a significant challenge and great fun! They learned all about animal adaptations and how bird beaks are specialized for each bird to be able to live in its surroundings. Check out some of the pictures of this project!