Dictionaries!

The Rotary Club came and donated dictionaries to all the third grade classes.  They have done this for many years and it is always appreciated.  They are able to take these dictionaries with them and use them for the rest of their lives.  Many thanks to the Rotary Club!  We really appreciate it!

Gingerbread STEM challenge

In the original gingerbread man story, the gingerbread faces a problem in which he needs to get across the river without getting wet.  We decided to test what would happen if our gingerbread men (teddy graham) got wet,  It was not pretty.  The students were then tasked with building a bridge out of marshmallows and toothpicks.  They had to construct the bridge, place it over water, and get their gingerbread man to stay on the bridge without falling into the water.  I was so impressed with how well they worked together and how creative they were with their bridges!

Growing Plants

As another part of our plant and animal traits lessons, we discussed what it is that plants need to survive.  We then decided to test what would happen if we changed something about that plants environment.  Students were able to choose two ways to change the outcome of their plant.  They could have taken away water, light, or even replaced soil with sand or gravel.  We have had some interesting results so far.

Apples, Apples, Apples!

We have been working on traits that plants and animals have.  One lesson we had was about apples and how the apple varieties we have today came into being.  We then taste tested four different apples to test for sweetness.  Ask your kids how crab apples became the apples we love and enjoy today!

Gingerbread Men!

The last couple weeks, we have been reading various versions of The Gingerbread Man.  Some of them included The Gingerbread Girl, Gingerbread Boy, Ninjabread Man, Cowboy Gingerbread Man, The Musubi Man, and several others.  Ask your kids about them!  We have been working on comparing and contrasting and story elements to go with each story.  Mrs. Hawker was kind enough to make our class gingerbread men to try.  They were delicious and adorable!

The Marriage of Figaro

A couple weeks ago, our music teacher arranged for us to go see an opera called The Marriage of Figaro. It was sung completely in Italian. This was a fun and unique experience for everyone!

Election Day!

On election day this year, we talked about elections and how they work (in kid friendly terms). We then held a couple of elections to see how our class would vote. First we read a story about a duck who wanted to take over the farmers job on the farm. They had to decide who would be a better president of the farm, the farmer or the duck. You can see the results below. We also voted on our favorite way to eat corn. That was a close race!