Riding the PLOT Coaster!

This week our focus has been studying the structure of a story- including the rising action, climax and falling action. We have also been exploring different types of conflict within a text. As a roller coaster has a "rising" point, where the coaster is traveling up, a story also has one! This was such a great connection for the students to learn a story's plot. It also provided for a wonderful and FuN visual! Thanks to all of the learning blogs online for such a great idea!

After reading the wonderful and heartwarming story The Honest to Goodness Truth, the students were asked to illustrate and chart the story's plot on their own "Plot Coaster". Take a look at some of their work that they are so proud of!

Don't take it literally! Fun with IDIOMS this week...

One of our 3rd grade standards is learning different types of figurative language, which include idioms. Each week, we have a new "Idiom of the Week", and the kids love them! They find them interesting, and can't wait to learn a new one. Since this past week of school was such a short one (With MLK holiday and planning day), I decided it was high time the kids had a little fun with these idioms! We read It's Raining Cats and Dogs; A Collection of Irresistible Idioms by Will Moss.

The students were then able to pick 2 idioms to illustrate the literal meaning, as well as write what the idiom is really trying to say. Some of the illustrations were hilarious! Such a fun activity! I'm including a few of them below for your enjoyment! Way to go guys! I think we're definitely "on the ball" with idioms! :)

FCAT is fast approaching!

Now that we are back to school from winter break, it is GAME ON for FCAT preparation and review. Over the next few months, we will be hitting the 3rd grade Benchmarks hard to make sure we have mastered each one before the FCAT test after Spring Break in March.

Be looking for information coming home regarding an FCAT night sometime in February. On that night, the 3rd grade team will go in depth discussing the FCAT and the things that will be tested, as well as answering any questions. The students will have a chance to go into the computer lab this night and browse the FCAT Explorer website with their individual usernames and passwords.

Most of my students have had a chance to peruse FCAT Explorer during reader's workshop within our classroom. I sent home usernames and passwords with the students in the fall, however many of you have requested them again. To sign on to the site, you will need the following username and password:

Username: Last name + First initial
Password: 16 + First 4 letters of last name + numerical birth month and day (mmdd)

For a student names John Smith whose birthday is January 5-
Username: Smithj
Password: 16smit0105

Please let me know if you are still experiencing problems!

Happy 2012!

I wanted to take a moment and wish everyone a VERY Happy 2012!! I can't believe we are almost halfway through the school year! Looking forward to a wonderful second semester of 3rd grade. Some of my resolutions this year are to spend more time with my small groups everyday, start a new behavior points system in our classroom, cater more to each child's specific needs, and to learn how to cook without burning everything! :) What are your resolutions?

Message in a Bottle project

I have mentioned in previous posts that we have several children whose fathers are serving our country and currently deployed with our military. I had an awesome email from one of these mothers the other day, asking if she could come in and do a "project" with my class.

A Jacksonville man had a wonderful idea to create a blog with 5 words that represent how we feel about our military. The process is very simple- collect a water bottle, write 5 words on a slip of paper that come to mind when you think of our military, and then put the slip of paper in the water bottle and seal it. Each water bottle that is collected is added to a "wall" of water bottles being formed in downtown Jacksonville. The words are tabulated as well, and the most common words are listed on a blog of thanks to our military, so that they may see from wherever they may be.

It was such a cool experience for our students to be involved in something that let their voices be heard! If you would like more information on the Message in a Bottle project, you can find it at the following link: http://messageinabottlejax.com/

Our kids have BIG hearts!! :)

This year, our class participated in a school wide project to collect toys and personal products to fill stockings for the Salvation Army to distribute to less fortunate children. Boy, did my students make me PROUD!! We discussed the purpose of the stockings and why we should give to others. Each child in my class was very touched and many asked if they could donate their own toys. We collected enough toys and products to not only fill the 2 stockings- 1 for a boy and 1 for a girl- but 4 stockings!! My heart was SO filled with joy as they asked questions and brought in things daily! I know that the students were so proud of what they gave by the huge smiles on their faces. I am so touched and extremely proud of our kids!! Thank you to everyone who helped with this project! What a success and a great learning experience for our students!

HELLO Persuasion!

We are beginning one of my FAVORITE units of writing this week! Persuasive writing is so much fun for the students, as they research and become aware of all of the persuasion that is around them everyday! They use the persuasive tool all of the time and many don't even realize it! Some of them are masters of persuasion, so it is always fun for them to write pieces trying to convince someone to think their way. :)

We began our unit by discovering just how many things around us are used to try and persuade us! This is something I didn't even think much about until I began teaching persuasive writing a few years ago! Persuasion is ALL around us! There are so many tools used to persuade us, from the obvious, like commercials on TV and ads in magazines...to the not so obvious- that really cool "free" toy in our cereal boxes! The students job was to find a persuasive example, write a response deciding if this was a good persuasion piece or not, and bring it into class. The students found some great examples! :)

I am looking forward to exploring this genre more with my students, and hearing their own "arguments"!