Welcome Home!

After an exhausting week traveling the world, third grade has finally returned back to the classroom. We had a great time traveling together, but are happy to be home.

The students will all have two projects for their final assessment - one in Social Studies and one in Language Arts.

The Social Studies assessment will be a map of the world. Each student will have to construct a map of the world using unique and interesting materials. Students will be bringing home an assignment sheet, as well as a rubric that Miss S. will use in grading.

The Language Arts assessment will be a scrapbook of our trip. Each student will be required to write a journal entry for each country that we traveled to. With peers, students will edit their journal entries and then put them in a scrapbook. Once the entries are in the scrapbook, students will illustrate each one. This assignment will be done in class and Miss M. will be using a rubric to grade it.

Hope you enjoyed hearing about our trip as much as we enjoyed taking it!

Miss S. and Miss M.

Brazilian Culture

Mmm.. Mmm.. Good!

Today we pretended we were creating our own Brazilian Restaurants in Language Arts! We researched delicious Brazilian dishes and created, in groups, menu's for our restaurants. They look so great!



We also took some time to learn about Brazilian Dining Etiquette and took a short quiz, using Clickers, at the end of the lesson.



Our menu's will be uploaded onto the blog soon. Keep checking!

Ms. M

Oh, The Places They Go!

We have just taken an amazing journey through beautiful Australia! We had a great time and learned a lot about the many different animals that live on this beautiful country. We used Flickr to look at pictures of the land, the internet to research animals, and the SmartBoard to label a map of Australia placing the animals in their homes!

We learned a lot during this lesson and really had a great time using the SmartBoard. It was so much fun!!

Check back to see our labeled map in a few days!

Ms. M

Investigating Brazil!

Hi Parents,

Today we began the end of our world countries unit and traveled to Brazil! The students all filled in maps of the country, marking special landmarks, such as the Amazon Rainforest and the Amazon River!

Remember: Next Tuesday students will be quizzed on this map, so please help them study!

After filling in the map, the students researched some very important information about the country of Brazil, including the population, the currency, and the languages.

Soon the students will bring home the information cards they made. The cards all have beautiful copies of the Brazilian flag on the front and lots of information on the back! It is not the easiest flag to draw either, but they all did very well!

Miss S.

Exploring Egyptian Pyramids!

Hi Parents!

To begin our lesson on Egypt, the students learned a little bit about the Pyramids. They even got to explore the Pyramids by looking at photographs online and Satellite images on Google Earth. They all really enjoyed seeing all the images. I apologize in advance if any of them ask you to visit Egypt!

After learning about the purpose of the Pyramids, the students constructed their own, using construction paper, tape, crayons, and the photos you sent in from home.

The autobiographies the students wrote in language arts will also be put into the Pyramids to truly personalize them.

The students and I decided to call them our autobiographical pyramids. Please be on the lookout for pictures of these pyramids that will soon be posted by your students onto their personal blogs.

Can't wait to visit our last country...Brazil!

Miss S.

All About Animals!

Hi Parents,

As I'm sure your student has told you, today we learned all about Australia! Most importantly, we learned all about animals in Australia! Your student spent the language arts period becoming an expert on one (or two) of about twenty different Australian animals.

After researching the animal, students created a class Wiki (similar to Wikipedia) where they wrote two paragraphs about their specific animal.
The Wiki can be viewed at the following site:
https://australiananimals-grade3.wikispaces.com/
After writing and editing, the students drew a picture of their animal. The drawings were displayed as each student gave a very brief presentation about their animal. Photographs of these drawings will be posted to the blog soon!

For homework tonight the students are to read the Wiki posts of their fellow classmates. After reading the posts, they must determine which animal is their favorite and why. Students are expected to then post a blog entry (on their personal blog) explaining what their favorite Australian animal is and the reasons why it is their favorite. Those explanations must include at least three facts about the specified animal!

That is all for tonight!
Miss S.

My Autobiography

Hello All!

Today we had the chance to act like Pharaohs in Ancient Egyptian times! Pyramids were used in Ancient Egypt as tombs for Pharaohs as well as a place to keep their personal belongings. In class we created our own autobiography's, did some peer editing, and created our our pyramids to keep our autobiography's safe in. We thought of this activity as something similar to a time capsule and we plan to open our pyramids back up at the end of the year to see what we wrote!

We had such a great day exploring!

Miss M.

To learn more about Ancient Egyptian pyramids, visit http://www.nationalgeographic.com/pyramids/pyramids.html

A Dramatic Day in Third Grade!

Hi Parents!

Today in third grade, the students learned about Ancient Greek Mythology. They first learned that myths were used by the Ancient Greeks to explain natural events that otherwise couldn't be explained!

Then the students and I read one specific myth about Persephone and Demeter. Persephone is the reason that we have spring and fall.

After reading the myth the students created their own scripts in order to act the myth out as a dramatic play. The theater is a very important part of Greek history, so what better opportunity than to act out a myth?!

The students then split into small groups to rehearse the script. After all of the groups felt ready to perform, they performed the plays for one another. I even video recorded them so you could see!

I will post the productions soon! It was a dramatic day in third grade, but the end result was a lot of fun and all of the students seemed to learn a lot about Greek mythology and this particular myth!

Miss S.

Getting Creative with China!

The students and I had such a great time today! We put our imagination caps on and put our minds to work. We pretended that we all went to China and were writing a story about our visit there. We used our imagination, in addition to Flickr pictures and the internet, to create our short stories. Here are some pictures we looked at:

Our first step was to look for pictures of China and feed off of what we saw. Then, we headed over to the tourist websites of China and looked for some interesting tourist attractions that we may have gone to if we had actually visited China. Afterwards, we compiled all of our findings into our very own short stories which we then illustrated cover pages for. Finally, we read our favorite parts of our stories to each other in class. I have collected the stories and will be binding them to add to our class library.

We has such a wonderful day filled with a little imagination and a lot of fun!

Miss M

PS - Don't forget to bring in special pictures of you and your family or pictures of your favorite things for next class.

Running through Ancient Olympia!

Hi Parents,

Recently the third graders traveled to Olympia in Greece to learn about the Ancient Olympic Games. Before learning about the games we looked at pictures, like the one below, that have been posted online (to Flickr).



After looking at the pictures, the students learned about the chariot races, horse riding, pankration (a combination of boxing and wrestling), boxing, and the pentathlon (which includes discus, javelin, jump, running, and wrestling). They were all quizzed on the information after spending time discussing it with their peers.

Finally, the students and I had a discussion about the similarities and differences between the Ancient Olympic Games and the Modern Olympic Games. If you are interested in reading what your student found interesting, please visit their individual blogs. They have posted a short post about some of the similarities and differences between then and now.

Hope you enjoy reading about the Ancient Olympic Games! I know the students enjoyed learning about them! I will be in touch soon!

Miss S.

Exploring China

We had such a great time exploring the wonderful content of Asia, focusing closely on China, specifically the cities of Shanghai and Beijing.


Our class had the opportunity to use Google Earth to virtually take a tour of Shanghai and Beijing. We then split into groups of five and focused on the cities more intensely by researching them online. We used http://www.cia.gov/, http://www.stats-sh.gov.cn/english/shgl/index.htm, and http://www.chinahighlights.com/beijing/beijing-facts.htm for our research. After we completed the worksheets the students had a chance to share their findings with the class. Afterwards we looked at some real Chinese artifacts brought back from China.

We had an awesome time learning about the geography of China and can't wait to learn more about World Countries the rest of the week!!

Miss M

Look Out World... Here Comes 3rd Grade!!

Join 3rd Grade as we travel the world!

Throughout the week, we will be taking a journey around the world. Our major stops on our world map include:

• Greece


• China


• Egypt
  
• Australia


• Brazil

During our stay in Greece, we will be focusing on the Ancient Olympic Games, as well as an ancient myth. We will compare and contrast the modern and ancient Olympic Games while learning about all the different events. Then, after we read the myth, we will create a script as a class and videotape a dramatic production of it in small groups, which will be posted on the blog for you to see!

During our stay in China, we will be focusing on three cities: Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong. Students will have a chance to use Google Docs to create profiles for each of these cities including demographics such as population and location. They will have the opportunity to view real artifacts brought back from China by my family including currency and calligraphy.

During our stay in Egypt, we will be focusing on the pyramids. Students will have a chance to learn the history of the pyramids and then create their own pyramid out of everyday materials. After creating a pyramid, students will write autobiographies that they can put in their pyramid. Their pyramids will be buildings dedicated to their lives.

During our stay in Australia, we will be focusing on animals. Students will learn the basics about Australian animals and then continue on to research an Australian animal of their choice. Then they will write about it on a class wiki (similar to Wikipedia). It will be like creating our own encyclopedia on the topic. Students will then be able to draw a picture of the animal that they will save to the classroom blog. After reading all of their classmates wiki posts, each student will be able to write about their favorite animal and why that animal is their favorite on the class blog.

During our stay in Brazil, we will be focusing on the geography of the country as well as the rainforest. Students will have an opportunity to label a class map, as well as their own map. Students will also get a chance to listen to Samba music while making a traditional Brazilian food dish. In addition, we will be studying famous Brazilian literature.

Check back in throughout the week to learn about our travels!

We can't wait for the trip to begin!

Miss S & Miss M