You've Got a Friend in Me

Off to a magical start in the third grade! What a great group of students, I am so lucky to be their teacher. I have 7 students returning (looping) into this class. As Huey Lewis says, I'm so "happy to be stuck with you." That means there are 18 new students and families for me to get to know. I can't wait! We are going to be a great classroom family.

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As a third grade team, we started the year with a Toy Story theme. Just like the toys in Andy's room come alive, we hope to make learning come alive for the students. Another great theme is "You've Got a Friend in Me." Back to school is perfect for meeting new friends.

 

We spent the first week getting reacquainted and learning more about each other. One of our activities was called "Who is in My Circles?" For this getting to know us activity, students filled in a tiny center circle with some favorites; favorite subject, favorite book, favorite food, etc. Then each child left their paper on their desk. We all traveled around to each desk and put our names in the different concentric circles. If you also LOVED the same thing, you signed your name in the first surrounding circle. If you like the same, you sign in the next circle out. Finally, if it is not something you like, you sign in the outer most circle. The students made some great connections with the other children that they learned that were in their circles. This activity went home in your child's Wednesday envelope. Please look at their circles!

Another getting to know us activity was called "Maze of New Friends." In this activity, students had to complete a maze. However, every path had a series of doors to "unlock." In order to unlock a door, the students had to find a friend that met a certain criteria. For example, you might have to find a friend that has a younger sibling or find a friend that swam in the ocean. The students were interviewing each other and learning all sorts of fun facts about their classmates. Of course, we also talked about using good eye contact, answering questions with complete sentences, and thanking each other for the information.

Last, we had some "Getting To Know Us" homework. Each student completed a riddle about themselves at home. In class, we made a self portrait to go with the writing. Come check out our giant "Guess Who?" game in our third grade hallway.