Wonderful Wednesday

Our day began with a regularly scheduled bus evacuation drill.  After that we had our weekly class meeting.

Today we began by sharing how we get smarter.  After that, we discussed what our brain does.  Then I read the following statements and students gave me a thumbs up or thumbs down showing they either agree or disagree:
Everyone can learn new things.
Some kids are born smarter than others.
We can change how smart we are.

After the vote, I shared my beliefs which are that everyone can learn new things and we can change how smart we are.  We discussed these two ideas, as well as, the need to put effort into learning and to demonstrate perseverance.

Finally, students shared compliments with each other and we discussed a challenge (students not completing morning work on time...this was identified by a student, not me!).

In math, the teacher rotation focused on solving addition and subtraction equations with unknowns in all positions. You can view the lesson here.  The technology rotation had students practicing their basic subtraction facts using the web site Subtraction Speed Grid.  Finally, the third rotation had students practicing subtracting across zeroes by solving equations in their math journal.  For HOMEWORK, students need to complete the Edmodo assignment which is to watch today's lesson and solve the problem, 563 + _____ = 811.  Students who are unable to access Edmodo can watch the lesson through this blog of the third grade web site and solve the problem on a sheet of paper from home.

We began our reading/writing block by using text features, such as the heading, and topic sentences to identify the main idea in a section of text read aloud.  Then I modeled using a web site to identify important information for their inquiry research project.  Important information, in this case, are any facts or definitions that answer the questions that the student listed about their topic.

While I meet with reading groups the students will work on individual reading group activities and begin locating information to answer their research questions for their inquiry project.

Sharks:  We met and reviewed/practiced reading and writing high frequency words and words from their new text.  For HOMEWORK they need to write each of the words we practiced, in their RRJ, three times each.  These words include; package, ready, said, want and idea.

Following lunch and outdoor recess the students continued their independent work while I met with more groups.

Dolphins:  We began by reviewing common and proper nouns in group.  Then we practiced reading and writing high frequency words including; said, over, some, would and could.

Then we located tricky words in their new book, Jonathan Buys a Present.  After that, I gave a book talk and we began reading up to page 6.  For HOMEWORK the students need to write their words 3 times each in their RRJ and reread pages 2-6.

Cheetahs:  The students met and discussed what they identified for homework as the central message of The Chalkbox Kid.  Then they wrote about it, independently, in their RRJs.  In group we reviewed common and proper nouns.  Then I distributed a Nation Geographic to each child.  These must be stored in the reading section of their binders.  For HOMEWORK they need to read the article, Into the Rain Forest" on pages 10-15.

Pandas:  The students reread chapter 10 and identified 3 examples of cause and effect in their RRJ.  In group we shared these and discussed how Ben felt at the end of the chapter.  We also reviewed common and proper nouns.   For HOMEWORK the children need to read chapter 11.

At the end of the day, the children brainstormed ideas and planned a way to test how balls travel over the same time period.  We were looking to see if different balls travel the same distance or different distances.