Exploration Success!

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Good Morning!
We are happy to report that the exploration of our classrooms was a complete success.  The students were ecstatic to enter our classrooms and find all of the exploration gear on their desks.  It may have been just wishful thinking, but we believe they were geared up and ready to complete their field notes.  As they buzzed around the room anticipating what third-grade would be all about, they had their first opportunity to make new friends.  Soon after the exploration was over our students got busy writing and illustrating their findings.  Our first bulletin board is adorable.  We felt like this was a much better way to kick off the school year than simply spending the first hour of school organizing our supplies.

At the last minute Anne had the idea to put their pictures with their writing.  Looks so cute!

Glad they believe third grade will be a good time.  That's our goal.

We pulled out an oldie but a goodie to kick off math!  We began by reading aloud The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman.  It's a biography of Paul Erdos, a fascinating boy who began to explore the world of math at the age of 4.  The kids were astonished about his unique abilities in math.  We then posed the questions what do mathematicians do, what do they need, and what are their attitudes toward math?  The students came up with a great list of ideas.  Then they made their own mathematician and wrote about how they view themselves as a third-grade mathematician. Thank you Amy Lemons for the cute craftivity idea!

We have many more exciting and engaging activities to keep our students loving the challenges of third grade.  We are off to a great start and are so excited to go back to school tomorrow.

Kim and Anne

All Set For Exploring

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Guess what?  Our rooms are ready and our students' desks are filled with the tools they will need to explore our classroom and get ready to anticipate what third grade will be all about.

Hats, globes, and binoculars are from Oriental Trading Company.

Once the kids have completed their "field notes" they will be ready to do a quick writing activity explaining what they anticipate will happen or what they will do in third grade.  Our students will also illustrate their writing, and the year's first bulletin board will display their exciting discoveries.

The bulletin board is right there in the background.  Thank you to Hope King for the website where we found our Safari Guy craft.

Anne and I cannot wait to wear our costumes and greet the kids tomorrow morning.  We hope they are super excited to start the school year!  If you want to see our costumes check out our last blog.

Have a great start to your school year.

Kim and Anne

Let's Play Dress Up!

Saturday, August 5, 2017

Hi Everyone,
Sorry I've been MIA for awhile.  Anne and I have spent a few weeks planning for the beginning of our school year.  We have so many new things planned because we were so inspired by what I learned at the Get Your Teach On conference.  In fact I loved that conference so much that we are going to both go the conference in October because they are coming to Lombard!!!! Yeah! We are absolutely so excited, and this time we are going to the 4th-5th grade sessions.

As I might have mentioned in my last post, Anne and I are very passionate about student engagement, especially in these days of Common Core Standards and high stakes testing.  We want students to enjoy the rigorous lessons we plan for them so they can absorb as much learning as possible.  So, we are stepping outside our comfort zone on the advice of Hope King and the GYTO conference speakers.  To get our students excited about coming to school and anticipate what third grade is all about, Anne and I are going to dress up as Safari explorers!  Before we even enter the school, we are going to tell the students we are going to go exploring and we want them to come with us.  On their desks they will find safari hats, binoculars, and a little globe.  They will need to put these on before we begin our adventure.

I had so much fun looking for this costume.  Boots from Walmart, shorts from the Gap, vest from Charlotte Russe, and hat and accessories from Amazon.

Supplies from Oriental Trading Company and Walmart.

After everyone is in the room and dressed, we are going to explore our room to try and discover what third grade is all about.  We will have special pencils and clip boards on their desks with a recording sheet.  They will need to go around the room and explore what's there!

These recording sheets will be clipped to a clipboard waiting for them on their desks.

When we have observed, and explored, and recorded all that we can, we will do a writing activity called What I Anticipate Third Grade To Be All About.

As Hope King has advised, it is important to hook them in, but then get into the rigors of learning.  Following their first writing activity will be a reading activity using the poem Rules by Karla Kuskin and the book Back To School Rules by Laurie Friedman.  We will discuss poetry devices students recognize, as well as compare and contrast the book and the poem.  These two pieces of literature will guide us into a discussion about leaders, what leaders are and how leaders behave.  Then we will brainstorm Leadership Expectations for our classroom.

We have never started out our school year with such fun and such rigor the minute we've stepped into the classroom.  We super excited and think this just might be our best beginning yet.

Kim and Anne