Boot Camp

Left, left, left, right, left! Right, left, right, left..... Third Grade Boot Camp, here we go. Come on y'all get in the flow. We had the best three days reviewing skills...boot camp style. Prepare for a long post because we have been busy. We started the day with Enlistment. Students learned the commands for the day and reported for duty. They were put into companies: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, and Foxtrot. Students tried to earn points for their squad by showing the Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and courage.

Basic training, of course, started with basic skills.  First, we began with identifying complete and incomplete sentences in solider sentence drop. Students had to find subjects and predicates then sort the sentences. We practiced this skill as a class, with our platoons, and in individual assignments.  Next, we worked on proper capitalization.  We had a cadence to help us remember what proper nouns to capitalize.  Next more PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

Between every grammar drill, we had some physical drills.  The cadets had stations for army crawls, tire runs, sit ups, push ups, and even trampoline jumping.  The students were exhausted by morning recess, in fact, some didn't want to go out because they were too tired. Ha!

So, it went...grammar, exercise, drill, drill, learn, sweat and smile.  The next grammar skill: proper punctuation.  Then, we reviewed simple, compound, and complex sentences.  Call in the coordinating and subordinating conjunctions! Last, we learned about choosing between there, their, and they're.  These recruits worked so hard.

Math went much of the same way.  Skill drills followed by LOADS of physical activity. Third graders had to really flex their multiplication and division muscles.  We also played some strategy games.  I love games that have the students practice their basic facts while they are problem solving and strategizing to win the game.

One of my favorite activities for math was the plank wars.  Students had to hold a plank and answer a multiplication fact.  The soldier that answered last had to do a push up.  The engagement was top notch!  I'm pretty sure they all went home tired!

Here is a game called "Salute" that you can play at home.  You just need a deck of cards and three players.  It really works on the inverse relationship of multiplication and division.

These students were learning and moving ALL. DAY. LONG.