Recess is a perfect break from writing opinion pieces and reading nonfiction. What a beautiful day! Today, students learned to preview, predict and tap into their prior knowledge before they start reading a nonfiction book. Recess is just as important- learning to cooperate, play, using your imagination, moving to strengthen that core, and getting exercise!
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Students have been working on writing a strong introduction to their essays- one that hooks their reader, states their opinion about a big idea, and elaborates on that opinion. On Friday, students met with three different partners. Each partner was responsible for assessing a part of their partner's introduction. They were asked to think of questions like: Is the opinion clearly stated? Did the writer elaborate on their opinion by writing at least two more sentences? And did the writer end with an opinion statement?
Hopefully this gave some important feedback to the writers. Who is super safe, super responsible and super respectful? Super Maverick, of course! Thanks for always being super!
Today's lesson was all about helping people who may be struggling in a lake, river, or pool. The kids learned " Reach, throw, don't go." They brainstormed a list of things they could reach someone with (arm, towel, pool noodle, fishing pole, etc) and a list of things that float that can be thrown to the person (a cooler, life jacket, pool noodle, etc). Kids learned they should never just jump in and go themselves.
After the classroom portion, students practiced reaching and throwing to help a friend who was pretending to struggle. Today during reading we had some laughs as I read aloud a non-fiction article titled "Vomiting Isn't Just Gross." Not only did we learn a lot about why we vomit, but we also used this high interest article to further discuss main idea and details. We talked about how the main idea is just that; an idea- a complete idea. The main idea of the article can't just be "vomiting." That is not a complete idea. After talking with kids at their tables, students decided that "Vomiting is healthy" or "Vomiting protects us" would be better main ideas. We then talked about how the details have to support that main idea. Then, students were broken up into small groups and they read a different article that was at their reading level. Some articles were about Michael Jackson, MP3 players, meat eating plants, tornadoes, and break dancing. Students had to complete a box (main idea) and bullet (supporting details) for the articles. Students also practiced identifying and labeling the text features they could find in their article. Logan is wonderful example of what it means to be a super hero. He is safe, respectful, and responsible. He could be seen wearing his pink or purple cape, reading with his friends, or helping out others. Way to go Logan!
In the midst of our big opinion unit, we are taking some short breaks to practice writing quick and short opinion pieces. During these pieces, we are working on hooking our reader through our introductions, elaborating through our reasons, and writing strong conclusions that restate our opinion.
What a perfect pool school day! The kids did great reading on the bus, listening to the Pool School teacher during the classroom portion, and listening to their instructors in the pool. The girls did awesome in the locker room (I haven't heard how it was in the boys' locker room yet, but they beat the girls out to the pool). They were quiet when changing and showering off (they tend to squeal during the shower) and they were quick. Way to go girls! Many students told me that they can't wait to come back! Some students did fall asleep on the way back to school, and my class had PE today too. Yikes!
The YMCA staff was very organized and the facility was clean and easy to get from one place to another. Thanks to those dads (and Mr. Henderson) who came and helped out with the boys locker room. I will post pictures every week. Due to the humidity inside the pool area, some of my pictures aren't the greatest. I try my best to get to every group and get close ups so that it isn't a picture of a bunch of tiny heads floating on the water. Well done third graders! And remember what you learned in class- Never Swim Alone! We reviewed what adverbs, verbs, nouns and adjectives are. Then we did a funny Valentine Marlins story. I loved hraring the giggles. We had such a feast and the kids loved dating each other to eat some very sour fun dips!
Wow! What a fun Valentin's Day we had. I will make two separate posts for our day together. I took too many pictures! Today we made animals that had to be entirely made up of hearts. We have some creative kids! I saw horses, penguins, dogs, mice, lizards, birds, turtles, snakes, dinosaurs, and ladybugs. Then we excitedly passed out Valentine cards. I love to watch the kids do this. Such joy! |
Mrs. Ellis's Class
Learning & laughing our way through third grade. Archives
June 2020
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