Costume Parade

It was another successful costume parade at Cooper today.  The students wore some very creative costumes.  It was a fun time for them.

What is a Pourquoi Tale?

Yesterday, each group of students shared their ideas on what makes a story a pourquoi tale.  Next, as a whole class, they wrote a definition of what they felt a pourquoi tale was.  Finally, they read one more pourquoi tale and then modified their definition.  Their final definition is displayed below.

A pourquoi tale is a fiction story that was told a long, long time ago and takes place outside.  Some of these stories have talking animals in them.  It explains why something in nature is the way it is.  It teaches a lesson about life or nature or both of them.  These stories come from countries throughout the World.

Multiples of 9

Yesterday, the students looked closely at the multiples of 9.  They noticed many interesting patterns.  The photos show some of the students that came up in front of the classroom to explain the observations they made about these numbers.
For example one students noticed that in the first 10 multiples of nine the two digits that make up each particular number equal 9.  9 (0 + 9), 18 (1 + 8), 27 (2 + 7), 36 (3 + 6), etc.

Crazy Hair Day!

Some of the students in our class had some crazy hair today.  Tomorrow is the costume walk.  It will start at 2:15.  The students will be walking through the gym at least two times.  There will be plenty of seating for anyone able to come and watch.

Twin Day

Today was dress like your friend day.  Sam and Joel dress alike.   Allison and her sister Abby dressed the same too.  Tomorrow is crazy hair day.

Math Problem for the Week

Below is the new story problem for the week.  This problem is based on Peter Rabbit.  They will have to be Mr. McGregor and build a new fence around their garden.  Each group will need to create a garden too.  I look forward to seeing their problem solving skills being used to solve these problems.

Peter Rabbit

Fencing Prices

1. Watch the “Peter Rabbit” video.  Just click on the link above.
2. Mr. McGregor would like to rebuild his fence around his rectangular garden.  His garden is 15 feet by 11 feet.  Using grid paper, draw a model of his garden.  Each centimeter should equal 1 foot on your drawing.  Then figure out the perimeter of Mr. McGregor’s garden.  
3. Go to the fencing prices link above.  Find the type of fencing you would like Mr. McGregor to use for his garden.  Then figure out the total cost for fencing.
4. Now find the area of Mr. McGregor’s garden.  Use your model of his garden to help you figure this out.  Be prepared to share your strategy for solving this problem with me.
5. It’s spring and Mr. McGregor would like to start to plant seeds in his garden.  Go to the image of the packages of seeds below.  Choose five vegetables.  Divide the garden up into five areas for each of these vegetables.  Find the area of each vegetable section.
6. If each package of seeds will allow Mr. McGregor to cover 10 square feet of his garden, how many packages will he need to buy for each section of his garden?  Using estimation, figure out how much money he will spend on seeds for each section of his garden?  Also, figure out the total amount of money that Mr. McGregor will need to spend on seeds.

Morning Word Sort

The past two weeks students have been working on a word sort that deals with singular nouns, plural nouns, possessive singular nouns and possessive plural nouns.  This is hard concept for third graders to learn.  If you notice any of these types of words when your reading a bulletin board, newspaper, etc. please point them out to your child.  Ask them to explain what the particular word means.  Below is the work of Logan and Kylie.  Logan and Kylie are still working on their story.  It's their rough draft.

here= where you are

then=time order word

than=compare word

every= includes everyone

brought=already bring something

tried= try to do something

would= something you would do.

wanted= you used to want

hear= to listen to something

heard= you already listened to it.

‘s (singular possessive)	s’ (plural possessive)	plural nouns	singular nouns
cook’s	cooks’	cooks	cook
girl’s	girls’	girls	girl
sister’s	sisters’	sisters	sister
student’s	students’	students	student
teacher’s	teachers’	teachers	teacher
child’s	children’s	children	child

 

The cook’s bakery has lots of cupcakes.

 

The cooks made a lot of food for the

kids.

The cooks’ bakery is very big.

The cook always bakes cakes.

The girl likes to make cupcakes.

The girls’ favorite playground is small.

The girls have a party.

The girl’s house is very fancy.

The sister’s dog is a black lab.

The sisters have lots of dolls.  

The sisters’ school is closed for the day.

The sister bakes a cake.

The students’ school is closed for the day.

The student is running fast.

The student’s teacher is a girl.

The students are good spellers.

The teachers’ meeting is in the gym.

The teachers are good teachers.

The teacher is 23 years old.

The teacher’s students are 9 and 10 years old.

The children are 6 years old.

The child is very happy he got a new dog.

The child’s mom is 34 years old.

The children’s house is huge.

            The Day of DOOM

        

One day in spring a girl was playing with her sisters. She was playing soccer.  Then one day a storm came and the girls were outside!  The girl’s sisters ran away.  The girl was alone.  She didn’t know her way home.  Her sisters always lead her home.  She was lost in a field of grass.  She was scared.  The water on the field got her shoes wet. She ran.  She went the wrong way. She saw a gas station.  

“Maybe the worker can help me.” The girl thought.  She walked in.  “Hello?” She said. No one was there.  “Hello, anyone in here?”  She said.  

She heard scratching on the walls.  “AHHHHHHH!”  She screamed.  She ran out of the gas station.  She ran far, far away from the gas station.  She was freezing.

“I can call my mom!” She said.  She looked for her phone.

 “Found it!” She said.  She typed in her mom’s phone number.

“Mom?” She said.  It was not her mom it was a mysterious voice.

“HELLO!!!” The voice said.  The girl dropped her phone.  She was really scared. She walked and looked for her house.She saw another gas station.

Her sisters were outside the house.

“Hello sister.”  The girl’s sisters said at the same time.

“AHHHHHHHHH.”  She yelled.  The girl ran. Her sisters were there.

“Happy halloween!”  Her sisters said.

“I’m so telling mom.”  The girl said.

Written by:Logan and Kylie

Backwards Day

Today was backwards day at Cooper School.  Some of the students in our class participated in this spirit day.  Below is a picture of these students.  I challenged the students to wear their shoes backwards, but no one was able to succeed at this.  Maybe next year.

Fiction Stories

The students started to read various fiction stories in groups of two or three.   Their first step was to highlight different story elements they noticed in their story as they read it for the first time.  They will eventually focus on the characters of the story and figure out their inside traits.  They will have other tasks to complete throughout this week.