It's Been A While

Friday, November 30, 2019

We hope everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving and is finding fabulous Black Friday sales. Before we head out to the stores, we wanted to catch you up on what's been happening in our world.

Let us start by saying, life happened...a wedding, an out-of-town visit from family, report cards, parent-teacher conferences, and the holidays. That is why it has "been a while" since we've been here, but we have been having so much fun with our Force and Motion unit, we really wanted to share our science and literacy highlights.

Our last post hinted at a Halloween STEM activity that would kick off our Force and Motion science unit. Take a glimpse of our fun! We recommend you check out any and all resources by Carly and Adam.  We have used many.  We also think the Hyperdoc we found is a valuable resource to teach the concepts of force and motion to third-graders.

Highly recommend visiting their TpT store!

The team designs a catapult.

Building the catapult from their design.

It's complete!

Testing!

Action shot!

After completing this STEM activity, we asked the kids to read about Newton's three laws of motion in this Hyperdoc, as well as watch the accompanying videos.  They had to discuss where they noticed those three laws in action during the catapult activity.  This proved to be challenging, but great discoveries were made.

Best Hyperdoc for Force and Motion

Based on their newly gained knowledge about the laws of motion, our students made revisions to their original catapults, with the goal of increasing the distance their pumpkins traveled through the air.  Anne and I were impressed with how well the students used their understanding of physics to make changes to their catapults.  They were  highly motivated to persevere through the activity which made their new results impressive, as well.

Revised design.

Revised results.

Reflection

And another one

Combining a hands-on activity about forces with literacy activities about forces,  helped our students gain a deeper understanding of the concepts.  We anticipated the students would apply what they learned in the catapult activity to our second STEM activity titled The Flying Cup.  In this activity the force of gravity was the focus.  However, applying their new knowledge is still to be determined because we have not yet analyzed our results.  Below is where we left off.  We still need to illustrate the procedure and write a conclusion about the results.  Reading the section about gravity, in the Hyperdoc, will hopefully assist the kids in understanding what happened.  This activity has a Part Two, and we will share it the next time we blog.

The scientific method

Group data

Class data...very interesting!

We also cannot wait to share our scarecrow and spider literacy activities with you.  We know these topics traditionally go with the fall season, but we have found a way to connect them with the winter months.

Have a wonderful finish to your holiday break!  Until next time...
Kim and Anne

Last Minute Decision Part 2

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Good Morning,
We know Halloween activities were promised for this post, but as usual, Anne and I changed course mid-stream.  If you read last week's post, you know that we decided to have one of our literacy groups teach the other literacy group how to write haiku poems. That went extremely well, so we are going to share some of their published poems with you. 

We did a close read of this article over several days and annotated it to make sure all of the students understood the content.
It was rigorous for all of our students!  Just what we like. :)

We are so proud of how well the students were able to demonstrate their learning by thinking about the rainforest facts in a new way.

They turned the facts into poetry! 

We believe this lesson allowed our students to use their divergent thinking skills, which is one of our main goals this year.

Writing poetry is a challenging way to look at information from a different angle.

We got further side-tracked, because we did not realize the Scholastic News article we left for our subs on Monday contained an article about the Amazon Rainforest.  My sub left me a note saying how excited my students were when reading the article. So, Anne and I decided to discuss the article further with the kids and have them practice making connections to the Time For Kids magazine article. The discussions were rich and filled with energy.  To deepen their comprehension, we had the kids write responses to the articles. I will link the sheet I used incase any of you use those same articles.  I also linked my written example to show my students.

I'm just adding the title because this is a paid subscription and I am not sure if I can share the article.

Anne and I absolutely love when we can make connections!  It takes the kids' learning and their interest to a whole new level.  All of these activities are serendipitous because they are leading us into our next read aloud.  It is the best book I have ever read!  I wrote about it on my Facebook page in July. We will reveal the title next week.  We are predicting this book will have an incredible impact on our students because of the background they have gained from reading about the Amazon rainforest.

Because we promised a post about our Halloween activities--here is a sneak peek into one of them.  Tomorrow we will be doing a STEM activity called Pumpkin Catapult. written by Carly and Adam.  I will link their TpT store here.  We are super excited about this activity because it is the kick-off to our Force and Motion science unit!!!  Again, we love when things "magically" come together.  :)

Happy Halloween!

Kim and Anne

Last Minute Decisions Can Be The Best

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Good Morning!

Do you agree?  Can last minute decisions be the best?  Well, Anne and I agree that a last minute decision we made this week was better than we ever expected. 

If you've read our last couple of posts, you know that our students have been writing haiku poems and have been loving the process.  Well, what you may not be aware of is that we only had one of our literacy groups write these poems. The other group was working on understanding words with the suffix -ful.  Because of the enthusiasm and energy haiku writing inspired in the kids, we decided to have my literacy group teach Anne's literacy group how to write them. 

When I told my half of our students that they would be teaching the others how to write this type of Japanese poem, they went wild.  They were so excited to take the lead and teach.  Anne and I were just there to support them, (and take a moment to enjoy the pride we felt for our students). 

The task was not only to teach haiku writing, but the subject of the poem had to focus on the Amazon rain forest fires.  We had just finished reading and annotating an article with both literacy groups about this current event, and haiku writing would be a fun way to reflect on what was learned.  Below is a glimpse of what unfolded with one pair of students.

As you listen, you may be surprised when the "teacher" says, "It doesn't have to be good."  She means that the first draft does not have to be good.  We talk about capturing the idea in the moment, and making it sound more precise in the revision process.  The students are learning that it's important not to lose their creative idea because they are trying to write the perfect line. That will come later.
Notice when Angel finally understands the haiku pattern.  You can hear the awe in his voice.

We cannot wait to get back to writing these poems.  When they are ready for public reading we will definitely post some of them.

Until then, have a wonderful rest of your week and try some haiku writing.  It is so much fun!

Kim and Anne

What An Amazing Student!!!

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

These are the reasons we teach!!!  Grace is one of our third graders.  She loved writing Haiku poetry so much that she wrote a poem over fall break.  It is magnificent, and Anne and I wanted to showcase it here. 

Thank you, Grace for making our day.

Officially In The Halloween Spirit

Sunday, October 13, 2019

October 13th!?!?  This month has flown by faster than a wicked witch on her broomstick!  Anne and I love the month of October and don't want it to end so quickly.  We have a myriad of Halloween and fall activities to keep our students engaged, excited, and challenged.  We are excited to pack in as many as we can in the next few weeks.

Last week, we introduced the students to Haiku poetry by reading aloud the adorable book, Boo! Haiku by Deanna Caswell.  Needless to say, the kids went crazy for this book.

To deepen their understanding of this type of poetry, we showed a PowToons video and a slide show.  Then, we dove right into writing some fall haiku.  We wanted to guide them in writing a few haiku poems and help them feel secure before sending them off on their own.  Once we were confident they understood this genre, we allowed them to find a partner and begin writing Halloween haiku poems.  Their drafts are great and need to be published.  As soon as they are we will upload some examples.

This is the outside of the Haiku.

This is the inside.

 We had an impromptu SEL lesson that focused on Habit #1 Be Proactive due to  a video I saw on a social media site. It is important for Anne and me to help the kids understand that, for the most part, they can choose their moods, attitudes, and actions each day.  We feel that having students understand this will give them a sense of security and control over themselves and their lives.  It was also important that the students realize the can impact others' lives, positively or negatively,  depending on the mood/attitude they choose. 

We read the lovely book I Am Peace: A Book of Mindfulness by Susan Verde.  (I loved the book so much I bought the other two--I Am Human and I Am Love.)  The lesson took two days.  The first day, we had the kids brainstorm a list of positive mood and attitude words.  The following day, we watched the kindness video, linked above, and had an amazing discussion. To follow up, the students wrote what attitude/mood they chose to have that day and added details about their chosen word. Lastly, they drew a picture of what they would look like having that mood.  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the kids' work, but I will upload my sample on Tuesday.

The above SEL lesson will be a perfect flow into our writing lesson.  We are going to read aloud the book Crankenstein  by Samantha Berger.  It's about a boy (Crankenstein)  who wakes up in a cranky mood.  Throughout the book, the author details the character's negative, grouchy behaviors.  By the end of the story, Crankenstein is motivated to change his mood and attitude.  We anticipate an amazing conversation before, during and after our reading making connections back to Habit #1.  Our students will then write a focused personal narrative about a time they remember being "Crankenstein."  We will focus on adjectives, elaboration of details, first-person point of view, and narrative elements.

This is just an old sample of mine.  We will share the students' writing soon.  This project was inspired by Amy Lemons.

Lastly, these little gems will be displayed in our classrooms for the next week.  Hopefully, igniting curiosity and wonder in our students.  We will let you know the fun, but rigorous reading and fluency activity we will be doing that connects to them.  We also have a super cute project to go with the reading rigor.

We are so excited about these little critters.

Have a fabulous week and enjoy the beautiful month of October.  It is quickly slipping away.

Kim and Anne

Shortest Blog Ever...I Think

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Good Morning!  Anne and I decided this blog would be super short so we can continue to focus on some amazing activities and lessons we have in the works.  Those will be shared soon, and they may or may not have to do with all things Halloween.  :))))

Last week we wanted students to demonstrate their level of understanding multiplication and division.  At the knowledge level our students can compute easy multiplication and division equations.  They can also employ a variety of strategies to solve those equations.  We wanted to know if they were able to write about the meanings of the factors and products in those equation and explain how they matched an array.

Click here to grab this page and the other one we did previously.

This proved to be a challenge for the students; however, as Anne and I assessed the situation, we realized our students are beginning to develop a deeper understanding of what multiplication means.  This week we will model how to add more depth to their explanations, as well as, provide them more opportunities to discuss the connections between pictures and equations.  This will help the kids gain more precise vocabulary and guidance to use as they talk and eventually write about these math concepts.

This week we are going to have the students engage in a See, Think, Wonder activity about multiplication and division.  It is our intention that these discussions will, once again, guide them to a deeper level of understanding.  We want this activity to lead into a writing activity called Connect Two.  As with last week's math activity, we want our students to use precise math language and details as they explain how these Tier Three vocabulary words (multiplication and division) go together.  We will share the students' work in our next blog.

I will link this page too.

Until then, have a wonderful rest of your Sunday.  May you have all things October on your mind.  :)

Kim and Anne

Activating Creative Thinking--Our Year-Long Goal

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Good Morning Everyone!

We cannot believe it is the end of September!  We have had so much fun engaging our students, and ourselves, in creative and divergent thinking activities.  As our students are becoming more comfortable and excited about getting "stuck" while working on reading, writing, and content-area tasks, they are leading us in new teaching directions.  The kids' enthusiasm and positivity spark new wonders that they want answers to, and Anne and I are ready to facilitate that learning!

As promised, we completed Part 3 of our Water Cube Experiment.  The final question was, "What will happen if we stack pieces of colored water cubes in a test tube and leave them overnight?"  We encouraged the students to use what they had concluded in parts one and two as they thought about their new hypotheses.  Many students were ready to dig deep and think critically about what might happen.

This is what happened after 24 hours.  I forgot to take a picture of the tubes when we first made them. :(
The original cube colors were red, blue, and yellow.

Once the results were in, our students were spot on in drawing conclusions to explain why the colors mixed.

One group noticed that the cubes in one of their test tubes had darker, muted colors compared to all the other test tubes.  They concluded that it was because they mixed the cubes rather than layered them.  They believed there were too many colors mixing so they turned gray and a muted brownish purple.

Anne and I were ready to wrap up the lesson, but the students started shouting out new questions they had about the cubes!  One being, did the cubes melt together to form a solid tube rather than stay pieces?  They hypothesized that the cubes would come out in the shape of the tube.  We went with it.  Here is what we learned...

They were "chomping at the bit" to dump the cubes out of the test tubes.  Some kids were convinced a solid tube would come out.

Now, they all want to take cubes home to try their own experiments.  We would say this lesson was a success in inspiring creative and divergent thinking among our students.  We hope they are learning that they do not need all of the answers.  The fun and deep learning come when we discover the answers over time.

In writing, our students have been using mentor sentences to learn how writers use adjectives.  We used a sentence from one of our read alouds Lily's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes.  The routine we followed is one created by Ideas by Jivey.  She has amazing ideas and lessons.  We recommend checking her out.

The students added this to their writing binders.  On the first day we just listed everything we noticed about this sentence..  We will revise this sentence next week.  Revising the original sentence is day three of Jivey's plan.

We identified some parts of speech on day two; focusing on the adjective.  Then, the students brainstormed more adjectives about this picture and wrote their own sentences with adjectives.

We then wanted the students to apply adjectives to a poetry project we planned. After studying examples of acrostic poems and discovering some of their characteristics, our students were then given the task to write their own acrostic name poems.  They were challenged with using amazing adjectives as they wrote phrases for each letter of their name.  Some students even took on the challenge of writing phrases that flowed from one line in their acrostic poem to the next!  The poems and revisions that happened this week were beyond what Anne and I imagined.  They students seemed comfortable taking risks and making revisions. They are learning that our best writing does not happen in the first draft.  It happens in the many revisions after that.  One snag was creating an icon to go with their poems.  We had to model this several times before the students understood what the vision was for this project.  Again, the outcome was amazing

We were impressed with his use of simile!  He also has a deep message in his poem.  Not sure if he realizes that, but we do.

Notice the alliteration and amazing adjectives?  At the bottom of her page is her research of amazing adjectives she found to describe herself.

As we dive into the concepts of multiplication and division, Anne and I want the students to move beyond knowing how to multiply and divide to a level of understanding what is actually happening with the numbers.  So, we once again put our favorite thinking routine, "See, Think,Wonder," into practice.  The students are getting more adept at noticing things beyond the obvious.  They are also beginning to notice what these sights lead them think about and wonder about.  Below is what the students in Anne's math group brainstormed.

Lastly, and probably the most challenging activity of the week, was teaching the students about tableaus.  After watching two videos, the students were excited to create their own tableaus that showed the different aspects of Habit #4 Think Win-Win.  Anne took incredible pictures that will be attached to the Habit #4 posters we made our third-grade hallway. The posters are part of a school-wide activity where each grade level focuses on a different habit from 7 Habits of Happy Kids.

This tableau is meant to show balancing what I want with consideration for what others want.
Before...

After...

This activity really pushed our students into creative thinking.  They had to understand the concepts and try to portray that with their bodies and minimal props.  The concepts included:

Balance what I want with consideration for what others want.

Make deposits in each others' emotional bank accounts.

When conflicts arise, look for third alternatives.

Believe there is plenty for everyone.

Once our poster is completed, I will upload a picture here.  Here is a sample of some of the tableaus they students created.

We are so excited about what we have planned for this upcoming week.  We will teach the reading strategy: Making Connections thanks to our student, Julissa, for her natural connection from our Scholastic News article to the world event of the Amazon rainforest burning.  We will read some fall poems and perform one of them.  We are excited to see how our students interpret the poems for their performance.  We plan on using the connection strategy when we read another fall poem along with a nonfiction text about leaves changing colors.  We want the students to notice how connecting to information in the text leads them to a deeper understanding of the poet is trying to communicate in the poem. To complete that activity, we will do our favorite chalk smudge leaf art.  Stay tuned for pictures!  They will be gorgeous!

Have a great week!

Kim and Anne