Insect Collections

Third graders are always excited to do their first school project. This year, we began with an insect collection. (Early in the year, one of the boys was almost in tears when I said I didn’t know if we would be doing one this year.)

The students did a fabulous job. Here are some of their projects.

 

The kids had lots of fun hunting for bugs.

They came to school full of stories of how they had found their insects.

 

Even the girls enjoyed putting together their projects.

Along the way, we learned a lot about different types of insects and their classifications.

 

 

The students showed lots of creativity!

What an exciting way to learn about insects. As we have been studying them this chapter in science class, the students were quite eager to discover more about the insects they collected.

Newsletter 9-16-11

Charlie the Capital Catching Seal

I’d like to introduce you to Charlie the seal. He arrived on the scene earlier this week as third grade began to learn all about capital letters.You see, he catches capitals, just like all studious third-graders should. So far, he has helped to teach them all about capitalizing the 1st word in every sentence, the word I, days of the week, and months of the year.

Last night, he somehow managed to get a hold of the third grade language papers. ;-) He painted beautiful green circles all over the correct capital letters. Unfortunately, he also found a couple of incorrect capital letters and blotted those out with black circles.

The third graders were quite excited to see that Charlie checked their capitals!

We ♥ Our Country

As Sunday, September 11th was Patriot's Day, we spent some time Wednesday afternoon discussing the importance of loving our country. We talked about the blessings we have in America, and then the students used the things we had talked about, along with some construction paper and glue, to create their own patriotic display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a Note

Due to flooding and school closings, there will be no science test tomorrow, Friday, September 9th.

The test will be postponed until Tuesday the 12th.

There will be a spelling test.

There will be no reading assignments.

Reading Corner

One of the new additions to our classroom this year are our reading mats. Thanks to the generosity of one of Mrs. Morford’s brothers, in the back of the room are carpet squares for the students to use as they are reading when their work is done. The students love this area, and it really has seemed to encourage reading!

Rainy Days are Here Again!

I learned very early in teaching that rainy days can cause students to become more and more wound up, the longer the rain continues. So last year, I determined that I would do something on rainy days to encourage better behavior. I use a lot of different methods throughout the year, but my returning 4th graders all know that a rainy day means something exciting is bound to happen in our classroom.

So, when I checked the forecast for this week and found that we are to be expecting rain every day, I decided that my positive reinforcement would need to be something that lasted throughout the week.

 

So, here are the simple charts each student found on their desk this morning. All day, I watched for great behaviors such as:

* following directions quickly

* quiet hallway behavior

* attentiveness

* diligence

* neatness

The good behaviors were rewarded with stickers, at the end of the week, the students will be able to redeem the stickers for candy and prizes.

As I tell my students, “The days that seem the gloomiest outside, are the days we need to be the happiest inside!”

Check Out Our Room!

Our room is full of jungle animals at the beginning of this year!

Our hall bulletin board. 

Our classroom sign.

 

Our classroom rules.

A board ready to fill with fantastic work.

 

The most important part of learning. . . to be approved unto God.

 

Our science board, talking about the partnerships in various ecosystems.

 

And these are our row names.

Special thanks to my mom who gave me this lovely saying. . .

. . . and also to Mr. Morford for the flowers. They have been a bright pop of color on my desk.

View from the back of the room.

View from the front of the room.

Newsletter 9-2-11

 

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