Holiday Traditions

Winter Holidays 

One of the most exciting things winter are all of the holidays people celebrate with their friends and families. There are many different holidays that fall during the winter season. 

Watch the BrainpopJr. video on Winter Holidays. 

No matter what holiday you celebrate, you and your family have special traditions. 

A tradition is something that family, friends, or another group of people has done for many years and continues to do on a regular basis. 

Learning about other people's traditions is an excellent way to learn  about other cultures, beliefs and more about your friend!

Each student in Third Grade has had the privilege of participating in a 1 to 1 program. This means that each student gets their own Acer to work on in class. Having our own Acers lets us practice many skills including blogging. Since we have access to our own computers we thought it would be fun to invite another classroom to work with us.

We got together with a Mrs. Levy's 2nd grade class who will get this opportunity to work on their own Acers next year.  But that doesn't mean they don't know how to blog! In fact, Mrs. Levy has a wonderful blog where students can leave insightful comments. Here is her link! Mrs. Levy's Class Blog

After completing your interview, leave a comment with your "Blogging Buddy"about the winter holiday traditions you celebrate.

What are some traditions you and your family practice over the winter holidays? Which is your favorite tradition? Why is it special?  

Don't forget, excellent comments include:

- complete sentences

- high vocabulary

- questions that can spark a conversation

 

Turkey vs. Eagle 

Can you imagine Thanksgiving without turkey?  

Well, if Benjamin Franklin had it his way we may not be eating turkey for Thanksgiving at all! According to a letter Benjamin Franklin wrote to his daughter in 1784 he wanted to make the wild turkey, not the bald eagle, the national bird of the United States!

What did Ben Franklin see in the plump wild turkey besides a delectable dinner? According to his letter he clearly did not think the bald eagle was an appropriate candidate to represent the Unites States. He claimed the eagle was a lazy thief, and a coward.

Do you agree with Ben Franklin? 

Use World Book online to research a few facts about eagles or wild turkeys. 

What facts support your opinion? 

Write a 3-5 sentence paragraph stating your opinion. Be sure to explain your facts in your own words. 

 

Many Magnificient Multiplication Strategies

Many Magnificent Multiplication Strategies

Over the last few weeks we have been working on multiplication. We have been learning many different strategies to help us solve multiplication problems. 

We started with repeated addition. If Sophia has 3 packs of popsicle. Each pack has 4 popsicles in it. Sophia could either use addition or multiplication to find how many she has in all.

Another strategy is creating equal groups and counting the total number. So, Sophia could draw 3 packs with  4 popsicles in each. 

We practiced making equal groups with items in our classroom. Can you identify the multiplication sentence for these groups?

We also learned how create helpful arrays. An array is a great visual way to organize numbers into neat rows and columns. 

In honor of Halloween we used slimy pumpkin seeds to make arrays. Check out the addition sentences and multiplication sentences!

  I bet you don't realize how frequently you use multiplication to solve day to day problems.

For example, Angelisse was preparing for her birthday and needed to buy goodies for her party. She invited 26 friends to join in her celebration. When she went to Target she found the most precious notepads she was certain her friends would treasure. They came in packs of 6. How many packs does Angelisse need to purchase to have enough for all of her friends? 

Multiplication is a skill you will be grateful to have perfected!

Can you create some word problems that require multiplication for a friend to solve? 

For an extra challenge, create a two step problem for your friends to solve. 

Your word problem must include at least 3 sentences. Practice your writing and vocabulary skills by writing strong sentences! 

Bar Graphs

There are many different ways to share data with other people. Our favorite way is by graphing it! There are different types of graphs like a picture graph or line plot, but our favorite is the bar graph.

Here are some extremely creative and informative bar graphs we created our selves. 

 Every bar graph must have the following three things: 

1. Title (three labels)

2. Categories

3. Scale

In the bar graph below the title is Favorite Video Games. This tells us that the graph will give us information about the classes favorite video games.  

by Kaden and Tyler

We can use bar graphs to compare data. In this bar graph we can see that 2 more students voted for puppies than for
bunnies.

by Kate and Miss P

We can also use bar graphs to find how many students voted in all by adding all of the data together. How many students voted for their favorite video game in this graph?

By Noah and Alexa

Here are two more bar graphs we created. What information can you learn?  

By Hunter and Ella

By Leo Carillo

Use the sentence frames we made in class to ask the class a question about one of the graphs. 

1. Name the graph and the creators of the graph.

2. Fill out the spaces in our sentence frame with categories and numbers from the graph. Be sure it makes sense! So check your numbers carefully!

3. Ask the class to solve your question. 
4. Answer someone's question. Be sure no one else has already answered it. 

Bones! Bones! Bones!

Bones

In honor of the horrifying holiday of Halloween we have started

 learning all about the incredible skeleton system. Have you ever thought about what our bodies would be like without bones? 
Click here to watch an informative video on BrainpopJr about bones!

This diagram shows some of the most common bones in our bodies and their names. When you comment, please be sure to use the correct name and spelling for the bone you are discussing.

This is a great song to help learn all of the names of the bones in our bodies! 

  Creating skeletons, reading various non fiction books, and making our own diagrams has taught us a lot of important facts about bones. 

What is your favorite fact about our bones so far? In your opinion, which bone do you think is most important and why? Have you ever broken any bones?   

 

When you are done posting a comment practice naming the bones by playing this game. 

Name that Bone!

FABLES 

Over the last few weeks we have been exploring the world of folktales. This week we began reading various fables. Fables are a type of folktale that have the following elements. 

1. The characters in these short stories are usually animals. 

 The Tortoise and The Hare 

2. The animals will often have human characteristics, which is called personification. 

For example, The Fox and The Stork tell a story of a fox and a stork having dinner together and eating out of a plate.

3. Most importantly, fables have morals or lessons to be learned. 

We have been reading many fables that are claimed to have been told many years ago by a man named Aesop. 

Click here to watch a few Aesop's fables videos.

For this week's post, please comment on:

What is your favorite Aesop fable?  

What is the moral you learned? 

What fable gives you the best lesson for your life? 

------------------------------------- OR --------------------------------------

Who is Aesop? 

Use World Book Online Kids to read some interesting facts about Aesop and Ancient Greece. (login information can be found on the home page of my website)

Share what you learned with us! Remember you must write what you learned in your own words!

Cause and Effect

 

This week's comprehension skill is "Cause and Effect".

While reading it's good practice to ask yourself "why did this happen?" or "what is going to happen?"

Identifying the cause and effect can help you better understand the text or story!

Often sentences will have signal words that can help you identify the cause and effect.

Some words include:

so 

as a result

because

therefore

consequently

since 

 

Watch this BrainpopJr. for more on cause and effect!  

 

 

search: Cause and Effect 

username and password are on my website

Can you write a sentence and ask a friend to identify the cause and the effect. Remember our strategy! Break the sentence apart. 

When Hunter sneakily stole her tasty popcorn Mrs. Broussard began to cry . 

Ask yourself "What makes most sense?"

Hunter stole her popcorn BECAUSE Mrs. Broussard began to cry. 

or

Mrs. Broussard began to cry BECAUSE Hunter stole her popcorn.

Whichever part of the sentence follows the "because" can be identified as the cause! 

Whichever part precedes, or comes before the "because" is the effect!

Can you write a cause and effect comment? 

Identify which part of the sentence is the cause and which is the effect. 

Write another sentence and ask a friend to find the cause and effect. 

Challenge yourself by writing a sentence that does not use because as a signal word! 

Sensational Sentences 

In class we have been learning about the four different sentences and the punctuation marks that are used for each type.

 We used strong vocabulary to name our sentences. Today in class we made an educreations together to demonstrate our learning. Check it out.

We also talked about how great comments usually end with an interrogative sentence. This gives other bloggers an opportunity to respond back to you! 

Can you write a comment about your favorite type of sentence?  

Tell me why it's your favorite type of sentence. Provide an example. Be sure to use strong vocabulary when naming your sentence. Also use the correct punctuation marks!!! Try ending your comment with an interrogative sentence so someone can respond to you!

Delightful Dictionaries

What is the purpose of a dictionary? 

 

Both writers and readers use dictionaries as a wonderful resource. 

When readers come across a word they don't understand they can use a dictionary to: 

*find the definition or meaning of a word

*find examples of how to use the word

Writers can use the dictionary to help them:

*spell a word correctly

*use the correct part of speech or word form

*Find useful examples that can help them use the word in their own sentences! 

Dictionaries also have plenty of other interesting information! Look at the picture below. Some dictionaries include an interesting fact about each letter on the first page of its entries. 

Dictionaries also include diagrams, or labeled illustrations !

Illustrations are always labeled and sometimes even give history on where the word came from! 

For example, did you know that the word "aardvark" 

comes from Africa and means "earth - pig"? 

Aren't dictionaries intriguing! 

(ooh that's a high vocab word! Look it up in a dictionary to find out what it means!)

Now that we all agree on how fabulous dictionaries are, we need to learn how to use them! 

There are many parts to finding a word in the dictionary. Use ABC order and the guide words. 

Guide words tell you what the first and last word on the page is. So you need to use your brain to figure out if your word falls in between the guide words. 

 The guide words here are foghorn and food chain. Is the word fork on this page? 

Here are some Educreations made by some students on our didactic dictionaries. 

 

What are some new and intriguing words you can find in the dictionary? In your comment, tell us what word is, its most common part of speech (noun, verb, adjective) and its definition!

What do responsible students do?

This week we talked a lot about the responsibilities of being a third grader in Room 9. In order to create a class pledge and determine our classroom rules we answered 4 important questions.

First, we shared why we thought school was important. Most of us said that school is important because it helps us learn.

I wanted to know why learning was so important. As a class we decided that learning helps us prepare for college or jobs, so we can have a good future. It teaches us how to make good friends, and discover our own talents. Most importantly it makes our lives and the world better!

Next, I asked Room 9 to tell me what they hope to learn this year. After categorizing our answers we found 5 major themes. 

1. Math - multiplication and division

2. Technology including blogging

3. How to become better writer's including writing in cursive

4. Science and history

5. How to improve our reading skills. 

Since we all agreed that school is important and listed all of the things we are eager to learn, we needed to come up with some specific behaviors that will help us reach our goals. 

We sorted our answers into categories and found that listening and being respectful were the most important. We also talked about our attitude toward our learning and our responsibilities as students. Once we put all of our ideas together we created our classroom pledge!

A few ways to show you are a responsible student is by the way you act on the carpet. Brutus and Tank helped me demonstrate some key behaviors. 

 Always raise your hand before speaking!

Stay in one place and don't distract other learners!

Keep your focus on your learning!

In your opinion, what is the most important thing you can do to be a responsible student? 

 

What are your personal strengths as a student and what do you think you need to work on?  

 

 

Wildlife Experience Visit

 

Wildlife Experience Visit

Its body is covered in short yet sharp quills and is often mistaken for a larger rodent that has larger quills. This animal can be found in the dry savannahs of Africa. Can you guess what animal came to our classroom today? 

A hedgehog! 

It may be difficult to identify this little hedgehog, since he is almost completely curled up into a ball.  

This hedgehog, Tucker, uses his quills to protect himself in his habitat. However, the way in which he uses his quills are part of some of his behavioral adaptation. 
Isn't he adorably adorable?

But that's not all. We also had the opportunity to meet a local bird. This bird is even part of Calabasas' city symbol. 

You have most certainly seen the red tail hawk soaring above you. The Wildlife Experience rescued this bird from Northern California and has had her for about 15 years!

We learned many interesting facts about both animals as well as many other birds. 

Please write a comment about either animal that is a least 3 sentences long. Choose a behavioral or physical adaptation you thought was most interesting and tell your classmates how this adaptation helps it survive! 

You must have at least 2 compound sentences. 

I wonder what animals we will see tomorrow! 

Meet Dash!

Meet Dash

We had the wonderful opportunity to code a robot! Yes, an actual robot! His name is Dash. 

 

Each group of students worked collaboratively to design a plan of what they wanted Dash to do. Some groups wanted Dash to dance, complete an obstacle course, or draw a picture. Robots do not possess the same brain power we do, so they must receive detailed instructions to complete the simplest task.

After deciding on a plan each team worked together to write lines of code to program Dash. He had a very busy day. 

Watch a video of one of our groups who coded a familiar dance. 

Did you have and extraordinary time coding a robot? What do you think makes coding an educational experience? Please write 3 to 5 sentences describing what you and your team had Dash do and what important lesson or skill you may have learned or practiced. Make sure you write at least 2 compound sentences! If you don't remember how to write a compound sentence check out this blog post. 

Telling Time

Telling Time Terrifically

Time is an important real life skill we all need to learn! Even though we may have digital watches, finding start time, elapsed time or end time is something we use everyday! 

 

We often need to decide what time we need to leave for school or soccer practice. Sometimes we need to tell our mom or dad what time to pick us up after a play date. Mrs. Broussard might even ask us how much time we spent on our homework or practicing our multiplication facts. 

When we are asked to find the "start time" we usually have to count back. Finding the end time means we count forward. Elapsed time means the amount of time in between the beginning and end of something. 

In class we wrote riddles to each other via a google doc. We listed some information and had our friends find either start time, elapsed time, or end time. 

Some strategies we used to help solve problems are time lines, clocks or mental math. 

Write a short story problem asking a friend to find either start time, elapsed time, or end time. Be sure to write your clues and question clearly! When responding to a friend tell us what strategy you used!

Spring Break

How's Your Spring Break?

I hope you are all having an entertaining vacation. I have been savoring every second of it. Some of the things I did included celebrating a holiday called Passover with my family. We ate scrumptious food and spent hours conversing about many different topics.

I have also been pretty busy watching these guys...

Four Boxers is very time consuming. Since they enjoy chewing my shoes, I have had to be very careful to not leave them unattended!

 

 What have you been doing over your vacation? Did you celebrate any holidays? Have you had a chance to see any of your friends over the break?

Write 3 to 5 sentences telling us about your vacation. How many high vocabulary words can you use?

Perfect Polygons

Perfect Polygons

Geometry is a fascinating area in math. Many people wonder how learning about shapes and lines help us be better mathematicians. 

Maybe after today's lesson you may have an answer. 

Today we talked about polygons. 

We compared and contrasted the features of polygons and non polygons and created educreation videos to help us classify shapes around the room. Watch some below. 

 

 

We also created videos to help us understand what shapes are NOT polygons.  

 

 

 

Write three to four sentences answering the following:

How do you think learning about shapes helps you be better at math? Why do you think learning about geometry is important? How do you use it in your life? 

Dependent Clause

The Laws of a Clause 

Since we are such excellent writers, we have been practicing creating compound sentences. Usually compound sentences have two parts, an independent and dependent clause. 

Independent clause : has a subject and verb and can be a complete sentence. It can stand alone, or is independent.

Dependent clause : Is not a complete thought and depends on the independent clause to "earn" or be part of a complete sentence. 

 You will have to follow certain laws when you use these clauses. Click on the link below the BrainpopJr. picture to watch Moby explain one of the important laws. 

 
Brainpopjr. Clauses

When writing a compound sentence, you will most likely use a conjunction. Here is a list of some great conjunctions.   

 

Please write a comment using a compound sentence. Ask a friend to identify the independent clause, dependent clause and the conjunction. As a challenge try starting your sentence with a dependent clause.