Scappoose Bay Canoe Trip Part II

Thanks to Casey for these fabulous photos. 

Scappoose Bay Canoe Trip

Here are a few shots from our fabulous field trip last Friday, more coming soon! 

Pre power paddling pose!

Cutting up some invasive blackberry bushes.

Poetry Slam!

Yesterday our 3rd graders shared the stage with Ms. Feris's 6th graders in the 4th annual SIA Poetry Slam. I am so proud of our students for putting themselves out there and being such a supportive audience to each other! A special thanks to everyone who was able to attend. Snap on! 

Author Visit and Poetry Party

We have quite a busy week in 3rd grade! On Monday Ms. Ferris and her 6th graders paid us a visit to show us the false apology poems they had written. We also were able to share the limericks students wrote for spring break homework as well. This visit was very inspiring and helped get us pumped and prepared for our poetry slam next Tuesday (April 14th) at 1pm in the gym. Hope you can make it!

On Tuesday, we had a visit from local author William Burt, who wrote the King of the Trees series. He read the first chapter or so of his book, introduced us to his pet griffin, Windsong, and answered student questions about his writing process and books. Third graders did an excellent job listening to his story and words of wisdom and asked insightful questions such as "What do you when you get stuck with your writing?" and "Where is your favorite place to write?". Many students were able to purchase his books from the book fair. 

And on Friday afternoon we took a poetry walk and admired and appreciated the poetry that the first graders had written and hung up for everyone to enjoy in the forest.

Upcoming Field Trip Dates

Hello Dear Parents of 3rd Graders. Below are our field trip dates for the remainder of the school year. Please let me know if you are interested/available to chaperone any of them:

Thursday, April 9th, Wapato Field Study, 8:45am-10:30am

Friday, May 1st, Scappoose Bay Canoe Trip, 8:45am-2:30pm

Thursday, May 14th (final) Wapato Monthly Field Study, 8:45-11:15am

Wednesday, May 20th, Walking Tour of Portland Bridges, 8:45am-2:30pm

Also, our class will be hosting a Poetry Slam with Ms. Ferris' 6th grade students at 1pm on Tuesday, April 14th. Hope you can make it.

:)

Dear Beloveds Poem Project

In January our students had a visit from a dear friend of mine, Francizska Voetlz. She is a writer and educator and led a poetry workshop with our third graders. One of the prompts she gave them was inspired by a poem she wrote called "Dear Beloveds", which is written to all of the people in the world.

Please check out our students' writing (and learn more about the project) here:

https://dearbelovedsproject.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/portland-oregon-3rd-grade/

Happy Spring Break!

Shannon

Third Grade Marches On.

Reading: We finished up our last chapter book, Tales from the Odyssey: Parts I & II, by Mary Pope Osborne a couple weeks ago. Last Monday we read Lon Po Po: A Little Red Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young. After reading the book together we analyzed the actions and motives of the characters in the story, and compared the moral of the story with another shorter text. This week we read The Right Word: Roget and his Thesaurus by Jen Bryant. After reading this book we took pictures around the school and playground, came up with describing words for these photos and practiced using an online thesaurus to find synonyms for those words. Later on students practiced finding words they use frequently in their own writing and creating word webs they can use as well.

Writing: We are currently about halfway through our unit on information writing. Students are drafting information books on their topic of choice. We are using these books to become familiar with the qualities of good information writing including; using a combination of ideas and facts, connecting words, and mentor texts for features of what good information writing looks like. We have also continued to explore the wonderful world of poetry. In February we learned about haikus and then went on a haiku hike at Wapato Park. Ms. Feris and I are in the process of planning a Poetry Slam with the sixth graders sometime in April. 

Math: We wrapped up our unit on multiplication and division last week. I am happy to report that all students showed a tremendous amount of growth between the pre-assessment and post-assessment of this unit. Although we will continue to use our developing multiplication and division skills throughout the rest of the school year (and beyond!), this week we are moving on to developing computation strategies for addition and subtraction with larger numbers (3- and 4-digits). Students will be fine-tuning their estimation strategies  as well as a variety of other strategies in tackling story problems and equations with larger numbers.  

Science: After our visit to the Rice Museum of Rocks and Minerals last month we have been observing and taking notes about different rocks and minerals in the classroom, paying special attention to their shape, smell, texture, and luster. We have used streak tests, magnets, and pen lights to gather as much information as possible. Later on this month students will use their notes and observations to help them identify a "mystery mineral". We will also be using the skills we have been sharpening as information writers in writers workshop to write paragraphs about minerals as well.

Save the Date:

Monthly Field Study at Wapato Park:  Thursday, March 12th  8:45-10:30am

:)