Central to third grade all year long was our daily usage of the iPads, with each of you mastering the art of app smashing--using several apps at the same time in order to achieve a specific end product--long before you even realized it was a required "educational task" instead of a "just-for-fun" activity! However, regardless, you all--without exception--became expert app operators within a short amount of time, with many, many projects testifying to that very fact!
A student favorite was our "Santa in Disguise" narrative writing project, in which we all tired to convince one an other that our Santa figure was something other than just that! Then there was our foray into description writing where we used old Christmas cards as inspiration for our own fictional story, making sure to implement what we had already learned about all of the necessary story elements found in any successful piece of writing, including a problem, setting, characters and their development, and a rise in action en route to a resolution to the original problem.
Special attention was also given to figurative language and its frequent usage, which was probably one of the class favorites when it came to our third-grade language unit--evidenced by your excitement and quick-action recognition of each and every one of the following types of figurative language: simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, allusion, and idiom. And what about all those scrolls of paper streaming across our classroom floor when we took on text mapping! Can you still remember what those elements are? If not, here is a quick review: title, heading, caption, index, glossary, table of contents, subheading, figure, diagram, map, and all those bold words often found in informational texts.
Our Wax Museum event was also a huge hit, too. As part of our biographical/autobiographical unit, we all chose a significant historical figure--living or dead--and researched their life before writing a first-person point of view speech, featuring them and their most-noted contribution(s) to society. Then, after much practice, we dressed as our person of choice and presented our speech to one another before moving the whole process down to the cafeteria so we could share our discoveries with the rest of the school as well as friends and family.
Our science units also entailed some interesting activities, including a trip to Marshall, Minnesota. After looking at our shadows and the phases of the moon in class, we completed our "Sun, Moon, and Stars" unit with an indoor exploration of our constellations and a laser-light show during our road trip to Southwest State University's very own planetarium. Equally fun was the time we spent after lunch at the university's on-site Museum of Natural History, where hands-on interaction with the featured exhibits was encourage and much enjoyed by everyone!
The final big project of the year was our "Alaskan Animals" unit, which was a combination involving both science and writing, and had to do with the many adaptations that these animals must develop in order to not only survive, but also to thrive in the often insanely cold and snowy conditions normally found in the far north. As part of this unit, we each chose a particular Alaskan animal and then researched it--gathering pictures, maps, diagrams, charts, and statistics--while also taking detailed notes on our findings which were then used to construct an informational report, detailing our own animal's habitat, physical characteristics, diet, and physical and/or environmental adaptations. Once we had done that, we then compiled all of our work into our very own individual Alaskan Animal Adaptations books! To check our your own student's book or any of their classmates' books, just click on the following link: Student Created Alaskan Animal Text
Capping off the year was our annual third-grade trip to the Como Zoo, an on-going and integral part of our Alaskan Adaptations science unit. Here, we got up close and personal with a whole array of different Alaskan residents, including arctic foxes, caribou/reindeer, polar bears, puffins, seals, sea lions, and wolves. Afterwards, we topped it off by spending the afternoon spinning around on all of the rides found at Como Town!
What a year! What a spectacular group of students, who are sure to be missed by the both of us! Good luck in fourth grade this coming year! Here is your final farewell!
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