What Went Well

Another week in the books!  This week seemed to go by very quickly. It was a great week to be in third grade...
What went well...
1.  I.LOVE.THIS!  As we wrapped up our trimester testing, I found this lovely little quote on one of my whiteboards. A sweetie in my class had left this message for her classmates. I love it because lately I've spent so much time talking to my students about how important effort is in achievement.  Apparently (at least for some of them!) it's sinking in!

2.  Multiplication Wall: A hundred years ago when I taught fourth grade, I always kicked off my multiplication unit with this multiplication wall for students to show me how much they understand about multiplication. Crazy that it's now more applicable for my third graders.  Each spot on the wall is written on a little post it note. The kids draw a post it from my basket and represent that equation on a piece of paper. I can quickly see who really understands the concept of  __# of groups x __ in each group.  Added bonus - the kids wanted to do extra ones during their free time because they liked watching the wall fill up!

3.  Jr. Achievement:  I don't know if your community has this program for third graders but I tell you what - it is fantastic! We had two sessions of Jr Achievement last week with three more sessions coming up this week. My class loved it and learned so much about income/expenses/finances.  What a learning opportunity - let's start learning about that when they're young and maybe it won't be such a challenge when they're young adults!

Here's to another great week!

Traditional Literature Quick Check

We've been hard at work learning about the various types of traditional literature. My class has absolutely loved this unit and it seems like they've really "got it" (if you know what I mean!).  This morning I had an assessment sub and I thought it would be a great time to grab some functional data. I placed a basket containing five books (all forms of traditional literature) on the tables with each group. Students were asked to examine each text and determine if it was a fairy tale, fable, legend, or tall tale. Next, I asked them to record this information on a handout and list two reasons WHY they put the text in that category. This ended up being really interesting and sparked some lively discussion among the students because a few of the texts contained features of more than one type. I loved hearing the students justifying their thinking and using what they know about traditional literature! I'm attaching the handout I quickly created if anyone else would like to use it!

     Traditional Literature Review Handout

February Currently (My First Linky!)