Third Grade Tweets

My third graders were excited when I posted my Third Grade Tweets door for them to write on.  Each child has their own tweet board that I wrote their name on, and there is a card that tells them the "tweet topic of the day'.  I will probably change the topic once a week for the kids.  I have posted the different papers as a freebie on my TpT store, and also included a header for fourth and fifth grades.

Me On A Map

We have been doing a mini unit to review maps and map skills.  The students created their own poster to show where they are on a map, including themselves, their street, town, state, country, continent and planet.  They also created a world map labeling the continents.  We took each child's picture with them pretending to hold up the world and added that to their posters.  The final products turned out nicely, and were something the kids said they wanted their parents to look at during Back to School Night.  I put the templates up as a freebie on TpT.

Mad Libs

We are reviewing sentences and parts of speech this week, and what better way to do that than with some Mad Libs!  I always love seeing the silly outcomes, but it is so hard to be creative when the story is right there in front of you.  So, I created my own set of four, school-themed Mad Libs (Lunch Time, In the Library, Time for Recess, and Substitute Teacher) and made separate recording sheets for the kids to fill in before they write the answers into their stories.  I can check their understanding of the parts of speech that way, too.  I'm looking forward to their silly stories!  You can find all four stories with the recording sheets on my TpT store.

Dodecahedrons

It has been a busy first week of school.  After just 6 days, it already feels like we are well into the swing of things.  We spent some time doing 'get to know you' activities, including creating group dodecahedrons.  The kids had fun trying to figure out THAT word, especially when I wrote it in cursive for them!

Students worked together in groups of 4 to complete one dodecahedron.  First, each group worked together to complete the 4 sides with questions.  Then, each child in the group completed two sides independently (one with their name/picture, and one about what makes them unique).  Each group ended up with a total of 12 sides.

Once all of the sides were completed, students worked together to cut out the circles, and fold on the lines with the tabs being folded up.  Some students found that they were better cutters, and others were better at folding, so they had little production lines set up.  Once they had all of the sides folded, I went around and stapled the tabs together to create the 3 dimensional shape.

The day after I hung them up, two of my students were doing read to someone and reading a fact book about insects.  It was an interesting conversation to listen to as one of them realized that the compound eyes of the dragonfly looked similar to our dodecahedrons.

If you would like a copy of the dodecahedron, you can find it on my TpT store.

Writing Process

Monday we are introducing the writing process, so I created a poster outlining the steps of the writing process.  I also made a b&w version for the students to keep in their writing binder, and a tracking sheet where they can document what they are accomplishing each day.  I also created an I Pick poster since we are introducing that during Daily 5.  Both of these resources are available on my TpT store.

Classroom Tour

Whew.  The room is finally done!  Well, I suppose you're never really done, but it's close enough that I'm not going back in to school until our professional day on Tuesday.  I still have a few things to label for the students and I'm sure I missed a few things that I won't realize until the students arrive, but I'm feeling pretty comfortable with the room for now.  So here are a few photos of the room setup:

 

View of the classroom as you walk in the door by my desk.  The doors to the other 3rd grade classroom (with the F and E on them) are open.

 Starting to the right of the top photo and working counter clockwise around the room... the view of my desk and the CAFE board.

Computer table and a bulletin board which will be used to display student writing.  Right behind this center is an island of student cubbies which also serves as a divider between the computers and the classroom library area.

 Classroom library... I had a hard time deciding how to organize books.  It was much easier working by theme in Kindergarten!  The small baskets are all series books, large tubs are picture books (fiction and non-fiction) and reference books.  The middle shelf on the left favorite authors, and the middle shelf on the right is random chapter books alphabetically by author.  You can just see to the right of the shelves the two balance disks which children can use on the floor or at their seats, and there is also one of those sitting pillows.

 Still moving counter clockwise, there is a student table on the back wall, and then my kidney table area.  There are two student swivel chairs, and two balance balls which the kids can pull over.  I have them sitting on upside down frisbees so they don't roll away!  I put felt on the frisbees so they wouldn't scratch up the floors.

 This wall is all of the student supplies.  Mostly math supplies in the two rolling carts, my word work bin, bins of math games in folders to go with the Everyday Math program etc.  I love having everything labeled so that the kids know where it goes!  The two bulletin boards here will be for "Wonderous Words" and something else that we are working on in science or social studies.

 And, the Boggle Board!  I stapled magnets to the bulletin board and then put magnets on all of the letters.  I used the business card magnets since they are flat.  Those rolls of magnets drive me crazy when they curl up!  The little tub on the bottom is a thin plastic container I found at Target last spring.  It is flimsy enough that I could staple it to the board, but sturdy enough to hold all of the letters.  Perfect!

 Just to the left of the Boggle Board is my common core "I Can" posters.  I will put the standards we are working on to the front.

 This is a shot from the kidney table looking towards the front of the room.  There is a second classroom door next to the I Can posters.

 

Next is the classroom jobs and attendance chart.  Students put their daily folders and agendas in the basket each morning.

 

 The front wall and rug area.  My crates sort of blend in since they are so dark in the picture, but I really like the way they turned out!

 And a close up of my little owls.  I love them!  I can clip in new table names on the bottoms to match something we are doing in class.  If we are studying synonyms, I might choose 4 synonyms for the word great to name the tables (awesome table, super table etc.)  When we study explorers or countries, I might change them to reflect those topics.

 I love this storage "cube".  Each side is a different material... whiteboard, chalkboard, felt board and cork board.  The magnetic side faces the door and has magnets for the kids to sign out if they are leaving the room.  This side is my "Ambitious Aces" information (based on the Mastery Club that is making the rounds online).

And, that's the end.  I hope you enjoyed the tour!

CAFE Board

I put together a set of CAFE headers, with all of the strategies for my new classroom, which I have available on TpT. I've included the CAFE letters, the headers with their descriptions, and all of the strategies, some of which can be seen in the image below. Also included in the file, but not shown in the picture, are blank sheets where students can put their sticky notes to show which strategy they're working on. I was planning to use them, but I am doing daily five with the other third-grade teacher, and we are having all the students put their sticky notes on the board in her room. The signs that you can see on the bulletin board are available in my daily five download.