Holiday Card Exchange

This year our class participated in a Holiday Card Exchange. This is one of the many online collaborative projects for schools created and hosted by Jen Wagner.

 
First we each made a Holiday card. The theme this year was lights.

Inside each card we put a paper with information about our classroom. 

Then we addressed envelopes to classrooms all over the United States and Canada and mailed them out!

Then we waited...

At first just a few cards came in the mail.

Then more...

And finally more cards than students in our class!

When there were enough cards so each of had one to open, we went ahead and opened them.



Then we looked to see where all the cards came from. Check out the map below to see.



We looked at the information papers in their cards. It was fun learning about the different schools! Then we each entered the information from our card into a Google form. This way we can use this data later! Here is the information we collected.

The cards look wonderful. Every class was so creative! 

Sending cards to friends during the holiday season is a tradition.

Many people have special traditions during the holiday season such as sending cards. Do you have any holiday traditions that you celebrate with your family? We would love to hear about them. Please share in the comment section below.

Simple Machines Make Work Easier

Our first science unit this year is all about simple machines.

There are six simple machines. They are:

A pulley.

An inclined plane.

A wheel and axle.

A wedge.

A screw.

And a lever.

So what are simple machines and why are they important?

In order to find out, we set out to find the answers to some questions.

How do simple machines affect work?
How can a simple machine trade force for distance?
How can a simple machine change the direction of a force?

We used both print and digital resources to find the answers. Research takes time and a lot of thought, but by reading carefully we were able to find the answers to the questions. 

Then we took what we learned from those resources and put it in our own words using an app called Write About This. Here are some of the final products.

After we researched and wrote about what we learned, it was time to see if we could make some simple machines ourselves. Check out the video below to see what we did.

Simple machines are everywhere! Look around you. Do you see any simple machines? Tell us what simple machines you see in the comment section below.

Using Context Clues

Reading is Thinking!

In third grade, we have been learning about context clues.

What are Context Clues?

Context clues are a way to figure out what an unfamiliar word means. 

We look at the clues in the sentences around the word to give us hints about what the word means.

Here's an example.

Thomas went to the apex of the mountain, and because it was so high, he had to take a tank of oxygen with him. 

What does the word apex mean? Check out Mrs. Essenburg's screencast that shows us how to figure out the word apex using context clues.



It isn't just Mrs. Essenburg who can explain how to use context clues to figure out an unfamiliar word. Here is one student explaining how she used context clues to figure out the meaning of the word splendidly.





And Sara Jean used context clues to figure out the meaning of the word mortified.



And Gavin shows how he used context clues to figure out the meaning of saturated.



Check back for more context clues videos from students!

Want more fun practice using context clues? Try this Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Game!

Context Clues Game


By now you should be an expert at context clues, so here's one more for you to answer in the comment section below. Here is a picture of Mrs. Essenburg's cats, Troy and Lucy. 

After slumbering on the bed all day, Mrs. Essenburg's cats, Lucy and Troy, clambered up the Christmas tree. They knocked it over, and ornaments scattered all over the floor. Naughty cats!

Use context clues. What do you think the words slumbering and clambered up mean? Answer in the comment section below.

Thinking About Numbers

In math right now we are learning about rounding. To help us think about numbers in ways that will help us learn to round, we did some thinking about place value.

Usually when we look at a number such as 427, we just think about the three digits we see. We don't often stop and think about what each number means.

It is helpful to think about a number such as 427 as 4 hundreds and 2 tens and 7 ones.

That's great, but we want to really think about numbers and how we can break them apart. So we played a game called Find Three Ways.

In Find Three Ways, we looked at a three digit number and came up with different ways we can think about that number. We can think about it as it is pictured above, like this:

4 Hundreds
2 Tens
7 Ones

Or we could think of it as 

3 Hundreds
12 Tens
7 Ones

Or we could think of it as 

4 Hundreds
1 ten
17 Ones

There are SO many different ways we can think about one number like 427. 

First we used place value blocks to show different ways to show a number. When we finished some of us had the chance to share our thinking with a screencast. Check them out below!

Here is Claire's screencast.



Here is Jocelyn's screencast.




Here is Tessa's screencast.



Here is Gavin's screencast.



As  you can see, many students did more than three ways!  

Check back as more screencasts will be uploaded soon.

Until then, can you think of another way to show one of the numbers listed above? Tell us in the comment section below!

Main Idea and Details

In Social Studies we have been learning a lot about the United States! We have been fortunate enough to participate in Mystery Skypes (so far) with classrooms in Wisconsin, Utah, Massachusetts, Alabama, Texas, Nebraska, and Michigan. (Yes, Michigan! It took everyone awhile to realize we could have a Mystery Skype with someone in our own state!)

We are also using our study of the United States to practice important informational reading skills. This week we used our reading to work on identifying main idea and supporting details. 

Students needed to read each paragraph carefully and identify the main idea and three details that supported that main idea.They then used an app to write those ideas down.

We used an app new to us called Popplet to show our work.

Here are some examples of what we did.

Everyone did such a good job! Popplet is engaging and a great way to help us organize our thinking. A number of students finished early and worked on learning how to add images to their Popples. We will definitely be using the Popplet app again for other thinking tasks.

Have you ever visited the Western Region of the United States? If you have, what did you like best about your visit there?