Last Day of School!

Happy last day of school!

Please be sure to check out your child's report card. I asked the kids not to open it until they were with an adult member of their family. In the report card envelope you will also find their summer assignment from the fourth grade teachers. Please note that they have a math and reading assignment.

In addition, you will find a large, manila envelope labeled "Portfolio of Progress," and all of their notebooks and folders. It should be fun to look through all of this work and notice the changes from September through June.

Finally, you will find a large, manila envelope labeled "Summer Stimulation" this includes summer reading lists, and math practice/challenges for each child. Although children are required to read this summer, the math included in the Stimulation folder does not need to be returned. I explained to the children today that I do not expect them to be doing academics all day, every day. I hope they rest and have a lot of fun! However, they might choose to keep their academic brain in gear by spending some time with math once or twice a week.

Happy summer!

Publishing Party

Room 221 is filled with amazing writers! Thank you to all who were able to attend our Publishing Party today. The authors were very proud to show off all their hard work.

We are sorry if you were unable to be here, but we totally understand. Be sure to check your third grader's backpack for their anthologies. Look for the folder titled: "The Complete Published Works of Third Grader ____________." Make sure you ask the author to read it to you. You'll LOVE what you hear!

Click here to see photographs of this exciting event.

Take Down the Walls

Thanks so much to the moms who have so generously offered to join us on Thursday morning. We could use some more hands if anyone else is available.

Thanks for considering! :o)

Publishing Party!

We hope to see you tomorrow at 1:30! Room 221 authors are very excited to share their writing with you!

Character Day!

The Room 221 community loves great books! Third graders dressed up as a character from one of their favorite third grade read alouds. In addition, the "characters" chose a few lines of dialogue their character says in the book. Other community members got to guess who they were. What a fun way to remember so many wonderful stories!

Click here to see the costumes.

Field Day

Thank you to Mr. Brenheiser and all parent volunteers for making Field Day so much fun for all of us!

Click here to see some pictures of the festivities.

Museum of Science

Thanks so much to Carl's mom, Brennan's mom, Matt W.'s mom, Stephanie M.'s mom and Steven's mom for accompanying us on our field trip yesterday! We couldn't have done it without them. The kids had a blast and learned so much!

Ask your children about the Lightning Show, the Nano Brothers show, the dinosaur exhibit, or the "scientific" playground.

Word of the Week

Each day a member of the Room 221 community is the "Word Wizard." The Word Wizard collects new words that he/she hears when the class is in a lesson, listening to a story, or having a discussion. At the end of the day, many of the words are shared. They are then put in our word jar.

Every week the class will vote on one word to highlight. This word will be placed in large letters on the wall for all children to see. We will challenge ourselves to use the highlighted words whenever possible. This will make the words part of our standard vocabulary.

I plan to post on the blog each time we choose new words so you can try using the words at home!I will post the third grade definitions that we came up with.


This week's word is:
amperage: The number of electrons that are being pushed through a circuit

(I'm sure the "scientific" definition is much more complex. However, this is the definition Mr. Walle from Techsploration gave us when he came a couple of weeks ago. He compared voltage to amperage. He said the voltage is how hard and fast the electrons are being pushed, as opposed to amperage which is the number of electrons being pushed through at the same time.)

Publishing Party - IMPORTANT!

The publishing party will be on Wednesday, June 15 at 1:30.

Please note that this is a change in time! We hope to see you there!

Fifth Grade Wax Museum

Today, we went to the Fifth Grade Wax Museum in the hallways, here at Eliot School. Each fifth grader chose a famous person to research. They made 2 dimensional life-size models of each person out of cardboard, paper and clothes. In each model’s pocket was an object or picture that represents why they are famous. The fifth graders wrote some facts about the person to share with us. We asked questions like, “Why did you choose to represent this famous person?” We learned a lot from the fifth graders!

by, Room 221 Authors


P.S. I was very impressed with our third grader's effort to make this entry as clear as possible for you, their readers. They were very conscientious of sharing the event as clearly as possible. They considered what the reader would be wondering, word choice and punctuation all very carefully. They have grown a lot as writers this year!
:o)Melanie

Free Books at Borders!

Borders is offering a reading challenge to kids 12 and under. If you read 10 books, fill out the attached form, and bring it to a Borders store, they will give you a free book from the selected titles. Even more motivation to read!

Click here for more information.

Electricity Investigations

Throughout our electricity unit third grade scientists have asked thoughtful questions. Yesterday we sorted our questions into two groups. Some of the questions were "researchable." That means we could find the answers by asking someone, searching on the internet or searching in a book. The questions we were focusing on were "testable." That means third grade scientists could safely find the answers by using scientific equipment.

Tomorrow third grade scientists will work in groups to prepare to answer some of those questions. They will figure out which materials they will need to use. They will describe the set up and write the directions so that any other scientist would be able to repeat the investigation.

Finally, they will give it a try. Third grade scientists can use many different size batteries, different kinds of wire, light bulbs, motors, and switches to answer their questions. I look forward to seeing how they will collaborate.

Ask your third grader about their questions for an electrical investigation. :o)

Poppy

Did you hear? We finished our all time favorite read aloud on Thursday. "Poppy" by Avi was a huge hit in Room 221. The kids were enthralled by the humor of Ereth (the porcupine) and the suspense of Mr. Ocax.

You should know that this book is just one in a series. The books are leveled S, so some third graders can read them independently, but all children will enjoy them as a read aloud. I promise that you will enjoy the books too if you choose to snuggle up to share them with your child. Perhaps you can read them all this summer! The titles are:

"Ragweed"
"Poppy & Rye"
"Ereth's Birthday"
"Poppy's Return"
"Poppy & Ereth"

Avi has written many other fabulous books (apart from the Poppy series). Some are perfect for 9 year olds, some are more suited to older readers. Check them out at your local bookstore or library. You can also check out Avi's website!

Dates to Remember!

You will be receiving notices with more detailed information soon, but I wanted to give you a heads up about all the excitement in store for third graders!


June 2 - Field Day! Please be sure your child is wearing sunscreen and comes to school with a water bottle. If possible, please ask them to wear yellow. That's third grade's color!

June 9 - Last timed math quiz.

June 10 - Museum of Science field trip - Please send child to school with brown bag lunch.

June 13 - Character Day! (Please see the notice sent home yesterday.)

June 14 - Third Grade Book Swap - Children can bring in books from home and swap for new ones! (More information coming soon.)

June 15 - Publishing Party 9:00am - Families will be invited to join us for a celebration of our third grade publications. (More information coming soon.)

June 16 - Take Down the Walls 9:00-11:00 Volunteers needed to help get our classroom ready for summer. (More information coming soon.)