Fun Friday: Dem Bones!

There were no bones to pick with this Fun Friday activity! It was all treats and no tricks! We read the storybook called "Dem Bones" by Bob Barner (I even found a video version of it, which was even more lively than the book!). Then, there was silence in the room (like pin-dropping silence), while everyone got to work planning and creating their own super-adorable dancing skeletons!  

As you can see, the boys and girls put a lot of hard work into their characters! I love this activity because it requires students to do some careful advance planning, and at this grade-level, it's hard to find quick-to-do activities to support this important skill. 

I'm sure you'll agree, these skeletons have some impressive dance moves!  

We are family...(come on, sing it with me!)

On Monday in Math we learned all about fact families or "related facts". We can use fact families in addition/subtraction and multiplication/division. 

We also talked about how fact families have three members, but generate four questions. 

Students created their own fact families and then had to solve a little nugget of a problem similar to this:  Here are two members of a fact family: 8 and 9.  Who could possibly be the third member? That's right! The missing numbers could be either 1 or 17.   

There, their and they're

We've learned all about how to use these three words for about two weeks now as part of Morning Message, and now it's time for the kids to put these skills to work! 

Tonight's Practice Page is all about using there/their/they're correctly. 

To support my students at home, here are the slides from our Morning Message slideshow.  

What'd we do today?

Sometimes my blog posts have cute titles and other days, like today, it's just fun not to sweat that sort of thing and share with you what we did.  Although I do admire bloggers who consistently come up with innovative and punny titles for their posts. 

We are currently working on subtraction with regrouping in Math, so today was all about that phrase, "how many more?". Students learned that even though they see the word more, and yes, it sound like we should add,
'cause it says "more", it's actually subtraction that'll efficiently lead us to the correct solution.  

So through some partner problem solving and a review of how to use the Head family (see the video in the blog post below), students worked with their elbow partner to solve two tricky problems. 

We're also working on memorizing the counting by 4s song, and as you'll see, the class is doing very well! 

Then, in the afternoon we continued our work in our Bike Like Sergio booklets.  Today we had rich discussions about why Ruben didn't just use the $100.00 to buy the bike. We talked about how that would go over with our folks: you find $100.00, you know who it belongs to, but you use it to buy a bike? It was a very lively discussion indeed! 😂 Then, working with our elbow partners, we looked at bike safety and the important road rules we should all keep in mind.  

So while it was a grey day outside, it was, as always, a sunny place to be in room 208 (even with all those creepy Halloween decorations!)!

On Tuesday, the boys and girl will have their second Practice Page to complete for homework. They'll be expected to take care of any corrections they had from the first one and implement my feedback so they continue to improve and develop their skills.  

It's Fall Y'all!

Yee-haw! What an amazing day! "It's Fall Y'all" day was a real hit! 

We made puppets, a treat called "Gratitude Mix", had a campfire, enjoyed a Thanksgiving video, and took more photos than I thought my phone could hold! It was a truly special day, and I'm so thankful to the boys and girls for their enthusiasm and infectious energy! They're all so easy to please and it's a pleasure to be their teacher. 

The Gratitude Mix was my favorite part of the day.  Each ingredient was special because it was a symbolic reminder of things we should be thankful for. 

Here's the "recipe"! 

• the Cinnamon Toast Crunch represented the roof we all have over our heads
• the Hershey's Kisses are for the hugs and kisses we get from our families and loved ones
• the sour Skittles remind us that we can learn important lessons from the "sour" moments in our lives
• the Teddy Grahams remind us to be thankful for the toys and gifts we receive like teddy bears and i-Pads
• the mini-marshmallows represent the squishy things in life that bring joy: babies, puppies, pillows under our head
• The cupcake-flavored Goldfish cookies remind us to appreciate parties and celebrations of all kids
• the animal crackers represent all of the animals, big and small 
• and the mini-Oreos remind us to always be building bridges with others. This particular ingredient is my favorite because that's what I encourage my students to do everyday.  The wafers, well, those represent you and me. The icing? That's the bridge we build between us.

Thank you to Miss Doria for making sure everyone had a generous serving of our Gratitude Mix! 

The puppets by Dancing Crayon Design were a real hit! 

No cowboy hat? No problem! Make your own like Alessio did! 

And like any special day, it's always better when you share it with great friends! 

Time to assess our progress!

The first few weeks of school have absolutely FLOWN by and today was about the right time for us to sit down and have a meeting about what we're doing really well and the areas that need our attention. 

Brag tags are well under way and they're working their usual magic, agendas are being signed, indoor shoes are here and important routines are being followed. Overall, students are really working hard to succeed in grade three.  We made two lists today and it was a great opportunity to look at how far we've come and where we need to go.  

Please review these lists with your child so that you can help them to appreciate that they are part of a unique family in Room 208, and that like any family, it's up to each of us to do our share of the work to keep the house running smoothly and effectively, so we can be sure everyone's needs are met.  

When we're all doing our very best to follow expectations, treat others the way we want to be treated and to exercise leadership, initiative and good judgement, everyone wins.