Magic of 3s Bakery

The day before Thanksgiving break was the perfect day for mixing up the learning.  Our classroom was transformed into the Magic of 3s Bakery.  When the chefs arrived, it was time to cook up the days objectives.  What is a thesaurus's favorite breakfast?  Synonym rolls, of course ! We started by putting on chef hats and coats.  Then, we read a recipe for synonym rolls.

First, the students had to sort synonym pairs in baking teams.  Then, each student picked a word on a blank synonym roll.  The students had to use the thesaurus to come up with several words to go on the bun.  They had to navigate their way through the thesaurus using guide words.  The chefs really did some excellent work.  We celebrated their successes with tasty cinnamon rolls.  Thank you to the Grahams for the delicious treat. 

The afternoon brought more bakery learning; however, this time the focus was on author's purpose.  The chefs learned the ingredients that help us determine whether the author wrote a piece to Persuade, Inform, or Entertain....PIE!  We had 24 slices of text.  One student would make a selection. They read the text to the class and had to sort the pieces into Persuade, Inform, or Entertain pie tins.  They worked so hard.  We had great discussions of the author's purpose for each piece of text.  Students had to justify their selections.

And....why were the students so engaged?  Because every six text pieces that the group sorted correctly meant they earned something. At six, the students got a fork. Then for 12, they earned a plate and napkin.  After 18 cards, a piece of pie.  And, at 24 a la mode....ice cream.  Author's purpose has never been so delicious!

Last our bakery got a bunch of orders for a variety of pies.  The orders were put in a graph.  The students analyzed the data and solved several math problems related to the graph.  The students were adding, subtracting, and really practicing their multiplication facts for three.  These chefs are pretty special.  Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.