A New Year Awaits

A new school year lurks just around the corner. The jitters are starting to kick in as we anticipate all of the fun and excitement that awaits us. Another year means another round of fun with friends and fellow classmates, with plenty of time for new explorations, discoveries, and learning opportunities for everyone! With that being said we wish you a successful year full of plenty of fun and excitement. We look forward to all of the memories we will create with each and everyone of you this school year. Here's to a great year!

Love,

Ms. Schmit and Mrs. Jensen

A Final Farewell

You know what long, hot, lazy August summer days are absolutely best for--well aside from hanging out at the pool with your best set of friends or licking at ice-cold, fruity Popsicle treats or freshly poured equally delicious slushies? Thinking back on those third-grade school days, especially with all those brightly displayed school supplies featured front and center at just about every store you walk into these days! With that thought in mind, how about a short, little flashback of this year's highlights, delivered directly to you from Miss Schmit and Mrs. Jensen's classrooms!

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!

Splish, Splash, We're Off To Celebrate Our MCA-Testing Success!

After weeks and weeks of dilgent preparation and practice--as well as some extremely hard work on the part of the students themselves--and then several more weeks of individual testing itself, all of the third graders have finally finished up with the required MCA assessments. And with the final results tallied and recorded, there is absolutely no question that in addtion to continuing to be a close and careful readers, all of those test-taking skills and strategies were certainly put to good use!

Some of those classroom skills and strategies discussed and practiced over that past couple of months included the following tips and/or recommendations:

*This is neither a race nor a competition. Take your time and read the passage closely and carefully as a good reader would.

*After reading the entire passage once, go back and reread it again, just as carefully and closely as you did the first time. If necessary, reread it again, until you are sure you understand what the text is about.

*When it comes to answering posed questions on the test, first eliminate all possible answers that do not apply to the given question.

*Go back and find the specific portion of the text that refers to the posed question and find the actual answer to that question as it appears in the text itself.

In recognition for a job well done, students are spending a few well-earned hours away from the classroom tomorrow, April 28th, to have some fun with friends and fellow classmates during a trip to New Ulm's Vogel Arena Pool.  Following that, we're off to enjoy a school-packed bag lunch at Herman Heights Park.

 

Congratulations to all! Way to show your Sleepy Eye Pride Third Graders!

Flashback Friday

So much to do, so very little time! Come this time of year--at least in third grade anyway--such always seems to be the case, starting in February and continuing on into the middle of May, when students and teachers alike spring forward toward the conslusion of yet another successful year of school. As with anything, when busy and engaged, something else tends to take a backseat for a bit; hence, the need for our accumulative update!

*Jump Rope For Heart
February, the month most commonly devoted to romance and matters of the heart, is also the time when K-6th graders turn their attention to our annual heart-health campaign. An initiaive and national fund-raising event sponsored by the American Heart Association and the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHRERD) whose purpose is to educate elementary and middle-school kids about their own hearts and heart health through heart-healthy endeavors, including a wide range of physical activities. Here at Sleepy Eye Elementary, one of those discussed physical activities spotlighted is jumping rope. An all-inclusive gathering that not only helps to improve students' own heart-healthy habits but also assists in helping to raise monies to benefit children who suffer from heart-health related issues.

*Literacy Night
Keeping with the month's theme, February also marks our "I Love To Read" celebration, during which time we focus on the importance of reading and the fun and impact it can and does have on not only avid readers, but also anyone who has ever picked up a book. This month-long acknowledgement is always capped off with our own Literacy Night, which is open to all students and their families.

In addition to providing an opportunity for students, parents, and siblings to share some quality time with one another while enjoying our menu selection of walking tacos, students and their siblings were also encouraged to browse through the grade-appropriate book choices offered and then chose a title that appealed to them and take it home to enjoy with family and friends. Families were also able to partake in the many other activities provided that evening as well, including a bookmark- making station, a game room, a read-a-loud session, as well as the photo-taking booth--the latter of which proved to be THE hit of the night!

Just as successful were the library-based padlet book recommendations prepared by our students, offering advice and suggestions to their fellow classmates regarding potential future book choices, based upon their own previous reading experiences. Students also enjoyed walking the "Author Hall of Fame", located in the hallway between the office and the cafeteria. Here students and their families were provided with ipads and headphones, and with the help of some very competent high school volunteers, were invited to learn a plethora of information and facts about a dozen different popular children's authors via the "Yak It" and "Aurasma" apps.

A special note of thanks to all of our volunteers as well as the third-grade students who prepared the vocal recordings for all of our featured authors. Great way to show your Sleepy Eye Pride!

Third-Grade Photocard Project: Narrative Writing at Its Very Best!

It's one thing to read fictional stories. It's quite another to actually write your own fictional work as third graders soon found out during their recent reading unit, featuring narrative writing. However, as you will soon see, success was achieved, following a month's worth of hard work and the necessary literary instruction!

As part of this unit, students continued to pay due diligence to the importance of plot and its five primary elements, including the required rise in action en route to solving any story's central problem. At the same time, they also engaged in studying the different parts of speech and how those specific components then translated into actual word choices, especially with respect to description writing. The exact same sort of writing needed for this unit's own narrative writing Photocard Project.

In addition, students also learned the difference between "showing" verses "telling" when writing, and that it's almost always far better to "show" than it is to simply "tell". The importance of dialogue as a means of "showing" was examined, too, with demonstrations on the proper use and placement of quotes within their own work. Instruction was also provided with respect to the correct usage of quotation marks as well.

However, as is almost always the case, it was the study of figurative language that really grabbed and held the third-graders attention. Their fascination with any, and really all, of the seven forms of figurative language--simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, hyperbole, idiom, and onomatopoeia--is clearly evident in terms of recognition when read but also, as you will soon see, within their own personal writing.

After scrolling through what once was a collection of old Christmas cards that have since been transported onto the iPad, each student was asked to choose a card that somehow inspired them in some way, shape, or form. They were then asked to write a narrative story centered around the picture on their given card of choice, making sure to use all of the points of study mentioned above. Not only were students able to gain a better understanding of the writing process itself, they were also able to acquire valuable first-hand working knowledge regarding the importance of the editing and rewriting processes as well. Once completed, each third-grader's work was then published using the Photocard app.

"Plotting" Right Along...

Whew, January just seemed to fly right by, as did our month-long reading unit, featuring the study of story plots. And who better to help students with that than world-renown British children's author Roald Dahl, whose lifetime wealth of work includes the following title selections: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox, George's Marvelous Medicine, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, The BFG, The Twits, and The Witches. All read and enjoyed by our third-grade students throughout the month in conjunction with their examination of the five elements of plot itself--exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and solution.

Once familiar with these core principles and how they actually pertained to the works of a master storyteller such as Dahl--who lays claim to over 200 million copies in print--students were then asked to apply their own knowldege of plot in another way. Using "Google Search", each student was asked to find images that represented all five of the aforementioned components of plot. After locating all of the needed visualizations, students then chose between one of two apps--Animoto or Adobe--to create individual plot videos.

History Comes Alive at Sleepy Eye Elementary!

 The third-graders stood scattered across the cafeteria like silent soldiers, dressed and ready to recite the carefully prepared speeches they had researched and written about their own historically significant person of choice. Each student proudly sporting a homemade rendition of clothing meant to exemplify that of which their iconic figure might have been found wearing, just waiting to share what they had learned with anyone willing to push the simple "button" facsimile--a red sticker-- hastily affixed to their chests.

Such was the scene on January 8th at Sleepy Eye Elementary's annual Third-Grade Wax Museum--a one-day event culminating the end of the students' biography/autobiography genre reading unit. A core curriculum exercise that required each third-grader to use a wide variety of media sources in order conduct research on their chosen topic person. Once the actual investigative portion of the process was completed, students then assembled their notes, turning them into a well-crafted speech written from the first-person point of view.

According to all who attended--including school staff, fellow students (K-12) as well as family and friends--an excellant job was done by all.  Way to show your Sleepy Eye Pride third-graders!