What’s been going on in Room 36? A LOT of learning!

In third grade, we do a great deal of learning what it means to be collaborators in all subject areas.  The following pictures show us working on a collaborative activity called a “math task” where I give the whole class a problem and they have to solve it in small groups, write down how they solved it, and then present their strategies to the entire class.  We also spend time reflecting on our abilities to work as teammates and what makes group work easier or more difficult.  This was our second math task of the year and I’ve already seen a marked improvement in collaboration, patience, and adventurous mathematical strategy!

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In social studies, students were asked to work in collaborative groups, following written directions, to create a world map including labels for the continents, the equator, prime meridian, and mountains and rivers (labeled) on each continent we have studied.  Much like the math task, we reflected on how these collaborations went, and we found that groups that went in with a common goal, assigned jobs, and everyone being on task were more successful in completion than other groups.  Everyone did well, but not every group was able to complete the assignment completely!  We learned a lot!

      

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We don’t do all assignments in collaborative groups.  We have also jumped in head first into the world of Google Classroom, and if you haven’t had your child log into their Clever account and then into their classroom to show you around, you are missing out!  We have been working on a Place Value assignment, a labeling continents and oceans assignment, and recently are very, VERY proud of our first Alternative Assignment in Social Studies.  I included two examples of student worked that was turned in!  How amazing that your children have created these completely on the computers.  These Mallards are amazing!

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In reading we’ve been talking about asking and answering questions, so we started with looking at artwork and thinking about what questions the artists made us think about when we looked at their art.  We wrote those questions on sticky notes, and man, your children nailed those questions.  Please zoom in to read some of those winners.  Later in the week, Ryan even made a text to world connection with one of the pieces of art!

        

We’ve been working hard on place value and like to do our own work and then compare our work to others.  Here we are doing work on our white boards and then sharing our strategies with others!

      

We also celebrated Walk to School day on Wednesday.  I walked with some of the other third grade teachers from Mrs. Stearns’ house, and I tell you what, I felt more energized on Wednesday than any other day all week!  Check out some of the great pictures you all sent to me!

      

We also got to visit the garden to thin the mustard greens, weed the garden paths, and try a salad “pizza.”  Yum!

     

A few random pictures below include what our October looks like (including a big rivalry game today!), some posters we’ve made, a sign that now sits near our turn in trays to remind us to write our names on our posters, a close-up of Mr. Snaggletooth himself, and a video of us waiting for the bus on a few days!  (“Yo, they got a backbone!”)

     

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