Halloween Party

After school today I attended a Tech Talk at Steward School. This is a workshop where teachers get to learn about technology. Mrs. Costa taught me how to make a Pow Toon slide show. I think it's really cool! So I decided to make the invitation to our Halloween Party using Pow Toon. Check it out below. I'd love to hear what you think. click here for information about our Halloween Party Thanks for taking the time to look at our class blog, P.S. If you didn't have a pen and paper ready the party is October 31st at 10:30. Below is the information from the Steward School Newsletter about Halloween.    As you know next week may mean costumes, trick-or-treating and candy.  In following our health/wellness guidelines, we are asking that candy not be sent to school, but rather saved for home.  If you do send candy to school, we of course ask that it not contain nuts and that it not come in large quantities.  This is a family choice but we need to keep our students safe as well.  
      We are looking forward to our Halloween celebrations that will take place in classrooms, as determined by individual teachers and room parents.  We ask that no weapons such as swords, knives or other props that may be viewed as violent are sent to school.  Masks are permissible, so long as they are not frightening or gruesome.  In addition, face make-up should be saved for trick-or-treating as well.  This is the BUSIEST holiday of the year as many events occur simultaneously.  Whenever possible, please carpool!  You may refer to teacher newsletters or notices for information regarding holiday classroom or grade level celebrations.  

Character Traits

During reading we learned that character traits are adjectives that describe what a character is like. First, we listened to the story, Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco on Storyline.com.

Click here to listen to Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco Then, we were character detectives and discussed the character traits of Patricia and Mr. Falker To determine what a character is like we thought about: * What does a character say? * What does a character do? * What are they thinking? * What do other characters say about them? The students were challenged to choose a character and explain in writing, using evidence from the book, why they chose the character traits. Here are just a few examples of our detective work.

What's your favorite book?

This year we will be writing book recommendations. In class today, we discussed that good readers recommend books to others. I also shared that I have discovered some of my favorite books because of a friend’s recommendation.

For homework Monday night, students should leave a comment below about a favorite book. The comment should include the title of the book and the reason that they are recommending it. The students should post their comment by October 20th. 

I also challenged the students to ask friends and family to leave a comment about a favorite book they enjoyed when they were in third grade. We are hoping to discover some new books and spread the love of reading!

We Built a Tipi!

On September 26th , the third grade participated in the program Native American Perspectives. First, the children learned about Native American cultures across the United States. We learned about some of the different houses and tools used by tribes that inhabited various regions.

The children had an opportunity to look at artifacts from various tribes.  They also learned about the everyday life and customs of many tribes, including those that lived in the surrounding area.

Later that afternoon, the children had an opportunity to build a tipi.

The class demonstrated good listening skills.

They had to cooperate and listen to one another.

The students listened to Dan's directions and did this without any other adult assistance.

A few children got to run around the tipi with a rope. The rope tied the poles together at the top.

The Native Americans used to use a buffalo skin to cover their tipi. The cover we used today was made of canvas.

The students really worked well as a team and I was so proud of them!

The students loved this activity. As we were going back into the building, one of the student said, "I wish we could build a tipi everyday!"