Measurement Mania

Our Toy Story theme included many measurement activities. We worked on the third grade standard of measuring accurately with a ruler to the nearest 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch. We also had many opportunities to discuss the difference between centimeters and inches. Further, we compared and contrasted intervals on a  number line to a ruler.


One of our first activities was "Pin the Parts on Mr. Potato Head."  We had a giant Mr. Potato.  Students had to measure the parts in both centimeters and inches before we could decorate the potato.

We had an "Infinity and Beyond" challenge.  We built a giant number lines.  We measured the intervals so they were all equal.  Then, we placed different locations, like Pizza Planet and Andy's Room, along the number line.  We determined the distance between the different locations.  Last, students went back to their desks.  They had to use their own number line and army men to solve word problems.

In "The Claw" activity, students had to reach in to the machine and grab out an alien.  The aliens were actually green Easter eggs.  Inside the alien, there was an object to measure next to a paper ruler.  Students had to determine if the they were measuring in centimeters or inches.  Then, there was a bit of a challenge. The object was not lined up with the edge of the ruler, so students had to know to count the intervals or subtract the starting point.

We also did an activity called "There's a Snake in My Boot."  We selected measurement word problems out of a pair of boots.  Students used a ruler and playdough to model the problem and discover the solution.  Thank you to Kori Markussen at True Tales of a Teacher, Amy Lemons at Step Into Second Grade, and Hope King at Elementary Shenanigans for your inspiration to make this Toy Story Transformation a success for my students.

You've Got a Friend in Me

Off to a magical start in third grade!  What a great group of students, I am so lucky to be their teacher. We are going to be a great classroom family.

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 the perfect time for meeting new friends.

We spend 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 were in their circles.  This activity went home in your child's Wednesday envelope.  Please take a 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 make a self portrait to go with the writing.  Come check out our giant "Guess Who?" game in our third grade hallway.

Back to School Forms

So many forms come home the first weeks of school.  Thank you in advance for filling out all the permissions and updates.  We appreciate your time.  For the forms I keep in my classroom, I am trying something more eco-friendly this year.  All the forms are digital.  You can access them using the QR codes sent home on the first day letter or you may click on the links below.  If anything is not working, please let me know and I will try and correct the problem.  Again, thank you so much for your time.

1. Sign up for Remind.  Text the message @69g67g to the number 81010.

2. About Your Child

3. Photograph Permission

4. Dismissal Plans

Back to School!

Ready to make a little magic in third grade?!  Welcome to our classroom blog! I use this blog to give you a view into our classroom. I try to post weekly with pictures and videos of classroom happenings. I include learning objectives with helpful links for review and extension activities. My goal is to keep us all connected in the learning!

If you are interested in learning more about me, click on the "Meet the Teacher" tab above.  The link includes information about my family and experience, as well as, links to articles I have written and a short video documentary on my work with educational technology.  Further, I have posted my contact information.  Below is the back to school letter I sent home Thursday or click here for the pdf.  I am looking forward to magical year in third grade!

Class of 2028

What an amazing year!  Thank you for sharing your terrific children with me!  What special memories we have made in third grade.

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Are You Ready for Some Football?

In honor of the upcoming SuperBowl, we football-ed it up in the classroom!  Our main learning focus was putting together our secret measurement playbook.  In our playbook we took notes on measuring length, perimeter, capacity, weight, and time. We also had activities to practice each of these important measuring skills. The students worked very hard but I don't think they realized it...we were having too much fun.

With all this measuring work going on....I promise that I didn't ignore our English language arts objectives.  After assigning referee signals to different punctuation marks, we edited and read sentences with our signals.  We also played a game on our mini football fields where students could earn yards by identifying a sentence as simple, compound, or complex. Touchdown!

 

100 Days Smarter

We celebrated 100 days of working hard in third grade.  In years past, we worked on numbers up to one hundred. However, third graders...we needed a challenge. Guess what else goes in a 10 by 10 grid: a multiplication chart!  We went on a Hershey kiss hunt.  I hid 100 kisses in our classroom.  Each piece of chocolate had a product from the multiplication chart.  The students had a hundred different products to find and place correctly on the chart.  They worked really hard and smiled the whole time.

By the end of third grade, students should have all the one digit by one digit multiplication facts memorized. This is not an easy task and one that requires continual maintenance.  You've heard, "If you don't use it, you'll lose it." This certainly applies to memorizing multiplication facts.

This is an easy standard to practice at home.  There are some wonderful apps to use for practice. Three of the students' favorites are Quick Math, Math Bingo, and Big Math Cards.  If you have a computer at home check out these links.  

Meteor Multiplication

Fruit Splat Multiplication

Bleepy's Gifts Multiplication

Croc Doc Division

Demolition Division