New Look For 2016

The students will come back to school from break with their desks in a new arrangement.

Last Day Before Winter Break

Today was a day full of fun for the students.  They watched a movie in the gym with the rest of the students at Cooper School.  Then they opened their gifts given to them by Mrs. Arthur and myself.  After lunch, they spent the rest of the time playing with their new toys.  Happy Holidays!

Ugly Sweater or Shirt Day

Below is a picture of some students and Mrs. Arthur who all wore ugly sweaters/shirts today or something at least decorative.   My top pick was Mateo's shirt.  I agree with his dad that this was the ugliest shirt of them all.

Big Question

Over the past two days the students were reading short nonfiction stories to answer the following question: How were early Native American cultures connected to the land on which they lived?
They worked on answering this question by themselves, in small groups and as a whole class.  The class answer to this question is stated below.

Native Americans used nature to survive.  They used natural materials, creating tools, clothing and shelter.  They relied on nature for food and water.  Native Americans had to be creative with nature in order to survive.

Making Words

This morning some pairs of students created more than 70 words with the letters they were given.  At the end of this activity they learned that all of the letters spelled Frosty the Snowman.  I accidentally gave them two y's instead of two t's, so they were creative in making another t.  In the photo below Jake made a t out of the scraps he was left with after cutting out his letters.

Indoor Recess

Yesterday the students stayed indoors for recess.  Many chose to work on coding during this time.  Some played cards games or even put puzzles together.  They made the most of their time inside.

Dodgeball

At the end of the day on Monday we went to the gym as a class and played scattered dodgeball.  The students that have been completing their homework throughout the school year were rewarded with this extra gym time.  We will be going this again sometime in the future.

Ugly Sweater Day

Next Tuesday, third grade will be having an ugly sweater day.  Of course this is optional for your child to participate in.  Mrs. Mair and I thought it would be something fun to do with the students.   If your child participates great.  If not, no big deal.

Fluency Practice

The students ended the day by sharing their tall tale scripts with their classmates.  Two groups got the opportunity to share their stories.  One group read the story Keelboat Annie and the other group read a story about Davy Crockett.  They are having fun changing their voices to try and match the characters.  It was a good time.

Making Words

The students completed a making words activity today.  They are asked to spell as many words as possible in the time they are given with the letters provided to them.  All the letters spell a large word, a phrase, or even a sentence.  Today the letters spelled, "Ugly sweaters are the best."  Here are the words that Tifa and Tanner created:

1. year
2. tear
3. bear
4. teal
5. hear
6. rear
7. sea
8. see
9. heel
10. he
11. reel
12. wheel
13. real
14. eel
15. seal
16. tea
17. wear
18. star
19. tar
20. snare
21. Lee
22. glee
23. glue
24. snarl
25. snare
26. stare
27. stay
28. way
29. ugly sweaters are the best

Bake Sale and School Store

The bake sale and school store were big successes today.  The students earned enough money to pay off their debt to PTO.  They even earned some extra money to start to put toward paying for their cave field trip in spring.  Thank you to everyone who donated ingredients, baked goods, helped with the sale today, and even came into our classroom to bake cookies with us.  It is greatly appreciated and thank you for helping to create a great learning experience for our class.  

Winter Sing Practice

Today was filled with practice for the Winter Sing.  There was an all school rehearsal in the morning and the students continued to practice right up to the time of their performance.  They even found time to unwind and have some fun.