Creating a World Map

Partner pairs created  maps  of the 7 continents and a compass rose with paper, a glue stick and a map for reference. The children had to compare the relative size of each continent and where each land mass lies in relation to each other and the equator. After noticing that several of the continents look like "puzzle pieces" that would fit together  I told them they were absolutely correct! The children were excited to learn about Pangea and how continental drift created our world.

Word Study- Synonyms

Synonym roll

I placed a dozen "synonym rolls" in various places in our classroom and the children had lists of corresponding  synonyms on their clipboards. Their assignment was to walk around and find and record a synonym for each word on their lists. 

 Apple Synonym  Poem

After collecting adjectives to describe our apples (juicy, crispy, smooth, red, crunch, yummy) I introduced the children to the Thesaurus. They chose their two favorite adjectives and then collected four corresponding synonyms from a Thesaurus to create a poem.

We also made prints with apples to create frames to display our poetry.

Star  Reading and Math Testing

This year the Upper Arlington School District adopted an online program to test students for math and reading. The test we took last week will give a base line scores that will be used to inform instruction and track student growth.  For more information check out the Star Parent document.
http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R0054872491706A8.pdf

Our Read Aloud- Birdbrain Amos

We just finished our first class read aloud Birdbrain Amos by Michael Delaney

Publisher Comments:Poor Amos! He hired a tick bird to eat the bugs off his back so he could be like all the other hippos. Ther‛s just one problem. Kumba, his tick bird, takes it a bit too literally when Amos tells her to make herself at home. Now Amos has to walk around with a bir‛s nest on his head, and he does‛t like it one bit! To make matters worse, all of the other animals are making fun of him. Wha‛s a hippo to do?

We watched some video of real hippopotami and then painted pictures of Amos and his Tickbird friend Amoeba. Next week, I think we will try writing our first book report.

Computer Lab

Because third graders will be expected to take state mandated tests online this spring, we went to the computer lab and began our Type to Learn software program. So far, the children are engaged and are motivated to be efficient keyboarders.