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!

New Beginnings!

I am so excited for the new school year to begin! This time of year is filled with both some sadness as we have to say good-bye to summer, but also anticipation as we get to look forward to another school year filled with new ideas, challenges, friendships, and learning! I am hopeful you are looking forward to this journey we will get to take together. As we spend time getting to know one another over the new few weeks, please don't hesitate to contact me at any time with questions, concerns, or any comments you may have about your child's first few days/weeks of school. This is an important time and we are in this together! I am thrilled to be a small part of your child's life! Thank you for this opportunity!

Summer time!

Wow! Can you believe the school year has come to a close? What a fabulous school year of learning! But don't let a little thing called "summer" stand in your way of continuing that journey of education! Take your children to the library for some great books... Go to the children's museum... Explore the farmer's market... Enjoy a day at the Dream Come True Playground together... Just because the school year has ended doesn't mean the educational journey needs to take a break! Keep reading, exploring, discussing and questioning! Summer is the best time for learning! Enjoy some the pictures of our activities from the last days of school, including the Dream Come True playground field trip and the walking field trip to the fire station!

Ready for Spring!

I think spring is finally upon us! Warmer weather is coming and now after our spring break we can finally enjoy some time outside! Yeah! These last nine weeks of school will not only bring warm weather and time outside, but also time to continue learning new things, such as measurement in math, matter and simple machines in science, and research reports in writing. We will also spend time preparing for our upcoming SOL testing, and this preparation will take place within our regular curriculum and school day. We will make sure this first testing experience for our third graders is a positive one where they get an opportunity to "show what they know" in May! Happy Spring!

Measurement is A-Mazing!

Our students are getting some hands-on experience working with capacity! Ms. Dilley, our student teacher from JMU, gave the students some different size containers and tubs of rice. The students estimated how much rice each container would hold. The students completed the sentence frames for their estimations: "less than a liter," "about a liter," or "more than a liter." They were amazed at how the shape of each container could effect the capacity! Math is so much fun!

New Year, New Goals!

I can't believe it is January already! With the start of the new calendar year, it is always interesting to have the students take time to reflect on their own learning goals for the remainder of the school year. As we take the time to do some mid-year benchmark testing in both reading and math, the students will be looking at their own scores and setting goals for themselves in those areas, as well as areas of their own choice. Students are writing about these goals and have great ideas for meeting their goals and are identifying strategies for each goal. Ask your child what some of their goals might be. You just may be surprised!

Multiplication Mania!

The students have been working so hard to learn their basic multiplication facts! I am proud of their efforts! This is a year long effort and it is so important for the students to become automatic in their recall of facts. Please have your children practice their facts at home. You can make this fact practice fun by playing games, such as rolling two dice and finding the product. Another idea is to play multiplication "war" using playing cards. If you have internet access at home, you can have your child play a variety of practice games online, such as the games on my portaportal, which you can find from the Keister webpage. Here are also a link to some of my favorite multiplication games online: http://www.multiplication.com/games/all-games Enjoy your winter break and keep learning!

Fall Fun!

We have been enjoying all of our learning activities heading into this lovely fall season! One of our favorites was our first i-STEM unit, where we built a bird beak using provided materials. We were able to design our own beak and then test the beak using "bird foods!" We used science, mathematics, engineering and technology throughout these lessons and learned a great deal about animal adaptations! Check out some photos of our beaks and the learning process!

Engaging Mathematics!

We have been spending time in mathematics gaining a better understanding of the true meaning of numbers up to one hundred thousand. The students have built models of numbers using base ten blocks, practiced writing forms of numbers in various ways, explored their number sense by doing a variety of cooperative games and activities and even had time to use technology, such as the iPads to show off their learning! Here are some pictures to show our class in action during math! Enjoy!

Awesome August Fun!

The school year is off to an "Awesome August" start! Now we can't wait for some "Super September" fun! We have enjoyed getting to know one another during these first two weeks, and even learned a few things about reading, math, and science along the way! We have read some great stories, learned to read numbers to the hundred thousands place, and created our own whirlybirds in science to explore flight! Enjoy these pictures of our whirlybirds in action!

Getting Ready!

I am getting so excited for the new school year right around the corner! Don't get me wrong... I love summer with the time to enjoy my family, and of course, reading, reading, reading, but nothing is more fun than the anticipation of a brand new school year! That school supply smell in every store?! My favorite! I can't wait to meet you all and get to know each and every one of your children! I thank you all in advance for sharing your most precious treasure with me each day. We will learn something new every day, work as family, and most of all, have a wonderful time! As you anticipate the school year as well, please don't hesitate to contact me before the year begins. I am always just a phone call, text, or email away! We are in this together! Let the adventure begin! Mrs. S

I-Stem Fun!

We had a great time this year using science, technology, engineering and math to research various problems, then design and create our own solutions! Our latest design challenge was to create our own solar cookers and to test which materials would allow for the oven to get hottest and cook fastest. We made many changes to our ovens throughout the process and we ended the lessons with a celebration where we actually got to eat our cooked foods!

March into New Learning!

Can you believe it is March already? With a new month comes new things to learn! In math, we are finishing up our unit about graphing, and will be learning about fractions very soon! In Social Studies the students are learning about explorers, while in Science we are learning about all kinds of natural cycles. During literacy the students are reading stories with the theme of "Animal Habitats." We will also be writing an animal research report. We are "Marching" right along toward new and exciting learning each and every day!

Classroom Fun!

We have been learning about patterns in math and to help the students gain more experience with this concept, we created "pattern masks" last week! The students created an input/output chart with a number "rule" and glued this pattern onto the back of a paper plate. Next, they decorated the front of the plate like a robot mask. Lastly, they walked around the classroom asking other "robots" for numbers to enter into their input/output "robots" and they tried to solve for each others' rules! They had a great time problem solving!