Valentine's Day Party

The children decorated bags and couldn't wait to deliver their valentines.

Party in a Bag

I love learning new things so I decided to share the pictures from the party in a different way. I used Pic Collage and Animoto. Everyday is an opportunity to learn something new!

                                           

Curriculum Update

Even though we've had a lot of snow days we've still been busy learning! This is what we've been up to... Reading- We read the books Henry's Freedom Box and Unspoken: A Story of the Underground Railroad. The class discussed the terms compare and contrast. Then, the students compared and contrasted the two stories in their Reading Notebooks.  Last week, we started our study of nonfiction and have been learning about text features. 

Writing- The students have been learning to write opinion pieces. I have emphasized the importance of supporting an opinion with reasons and details.  I read aloud the story  Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. Then, children wrote their opinion stating whether the pigeon should or shouldn't drive the bus.
Math- We finished our Division unit and the children learned to use related multiplication facts to solve division problems. They also practiced dividing with and without remainders. Next, we will be learning about metric length, mass and volume.
Science- Our class learned that matter is anything that takes up space and has mass. The children have practiced sorting items by properties and identifying solids, liquids and gases.

Another Snow Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying another snow day! I truly can't believe how much snow we've gotten in the past few weeks. I heard this morning that we broke the record for the most amount of snow in a 30 day period, and we did it in 17 days! I'm really hoping that the snow storms end soon!

Here's a few suggestions of things to do on a snowy day... 1. Practice Multiplication facts 2. Read a book on Raz- Kids 3. Read a book you have at home so you can take a Reading Counts quiz when we return to school 4. Write about your snow day-What's the best way to spend a snow day? 5. Write a post on Kidblog 5. Use your imagination and make up a story that takes place on a snowy day. Remember to have a beginning, middle and end. 6. Learn more about matter http://www.e-learningforkids.org/science/ (After you click on the link, scroll down the page and click on states of matter)

Stay warm!

Division

We are finishing up our division unit!  The students have been using related multiplication facts and patterns to divide. 

The students worked with partners to practice division with and without remainders. One person was the "builder" and solved the division problem with tiles. The other was the "recorder." The recorder drew a picture and wrote a number sentence to solve the division problem.

Everyone also practiced dividing a 1-digit or 2-digit number by a 1-digit number with and without regrouping.

 
3.OA.2. Interpret whole-number quotients of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 56 ÷ 8 as the number of objects in each share when 56 objects are partitioned equally into 8 shares, or as a number of shares when 56 objects are partitioned into equal shares of 8 objects each. For example, describe a context in which a number of shares or a number of groups can be expressed as 56 ÷ 8.
3.OA. 6. Understand division as an unknown-factor problem. For example, find 32 ÷ 8 by finding the number that makes 32 when multiplied by 8.

Multiplication

The children have been working hard to learn their multiplication tables. We have been playing math games, hopping on a number line, drawing arrays,  practicing with flash cards and demonstrating understanding by building facts with tiles. All of our hard work is paying off! I've notice everyone is getting quicker with their facts! I encourage the children to practice a few minutes every day. 

Here are some great websites for practicing multiplication facts-

http://jmathpage.com/JIMSMultiplicationpage.html

http://www.multiplication.com/games/all-games

Everyone took a turn hopping  on the number line. For example 3 x 2,  was shown by  3 hops of 2.

The students played Multiplication Roll'em  during WIN time.

Standards addressed

3.OA.c.7.    Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.