Today we did a little more work with the computer science standards. We used Makey Makeys to help us get ready for Scratch coding. We used Spheros to help reinforce our understanding of block coding. The Nevada Computer Science standards are relatively new as is having all students take at least a 1/2 credit of…
Enchanted Lands
We completed our Enchanted Lands project this week and the final pieces are terrific. We first explored the idea of background, midground, and foreground through classic pieces of art. Then we played a game in which students drew images matched to magical elements, they identified. Their understanding was then leveraged to create art that included…
Data Analysis with Halloween Candy
Students shared five pieces of candy, from their Halloween trick-or-treating, and created scaled bar graphs with it. In this case students identified categories for their x-axis and an interval of 2 to 5 for their y-axis. Lots of learning and lots of fun.
Halloween 2019
We had a great Halloween Celebration! Thank you parents and the planning committee for putting together such an engaging afternoon. Admittedly, we squeezed in a full five hours of instruction, into just four hours; but it allowed us to be fully ready for a pumpkin relay race, pumpkin decorating, craft creating, and a couple of…
Pro Se Court: Gum
We completed our first Pro Se Court of the school year. Our judges had to adjudicate whether gum should or should not be allowed in schools. My favorite part is the terrific writing student produce, having rehearsed with the evidence.
Field Trip to Find Arthropods
The weather was much better than expected and this helped create a really nice field trip experience for the students. Our focus was on finding arthropods and learning more about these invertebrates. Students shook trees, lifted rocks, dug holes and enlisted parent chaperones in their search. Consequently, they found insects, arachnids, myriapods, and crustaceans. Thanks…
Working with Art Outcomes
It took several lessons but students finished their comic book covers. To get us there we studied several classic pieces of art through an instructional approach titled “careful observation.” We learned about silhouettes, types of shapes and lines, and the importance of have a backstory before drawing. Students also learned different strategies for using water…
Our Field Trip to Oxbow
An important part of 3rd grade is understanding what a habitat is and what organisms need to survive well. To help with this, we visited the Oxbow Nature Study Area and, with the help of Sierra Nevada Journeys, moved through the park to work towards these outcomes. (Thanks parents for sharing pictures that I could…
1st Week of 3rd Grade
It was a great first week of the 2019-2020 school year. We managed to get a lot done including establishing a number of important routines and navigating a lot of challenging content. We started our work with multiplication and division, described part of the scientific process, learned how to participate in a Readers Workshop and…
Donations for the Classroom Economy
I cannot believe how many donations to the classroom economy we have already received. Students will have opportunities to “buy” the items during our classroom auctions, which occur throughout the year. Thank you Vanish Point, Richardson Electronics, Rewalk Robotics, Security National, Alexo Water, ASE Group, Central Services, Applied Optoelectronics, Rick Broida, and Starbucks for your…
