Homecoming Week 2015

We kicked off our week-long list of events on Monday with the crowning of this year's king and queen, while also showing our support for our own third-grade junior attendants, Cody and Brissa.

Throughout the rest of the week--Monday through Friday, respectively--we also celebrated via various designated dress-up days, including pajama day, wear your favorite team's jersey day, dress like a teacher day, dress as your favorite superhero day, and wear your finest black and orange gear day. There is definatley no question that students and staff both not only showed a lot of "spirit" over the course of our dress-up days but also a lot of creativity as well! In fact, Ms. Schmit and Mrs. Jensen were the first to set the tone, sporting their best rendition of their own favorite superheros--Raphael and Donatello--two of the four super stupendous Ninja Turtle crew!

Our Homecoming celebratory events culminated Friday morning, starting with our annual walk around the lake. And despite the rain and nip in the air, a good time outside was had by all. In addition to sharing that time walking and talking with fellow third-grade friends and classmates, this year we also had the opportunity to spend some quality time with some of the high school students, too, including our 9th-grade friends!

As part of our Homecoming agenda, we would like to send out a special shout out of thanks to Cassidy, Jaidyn, and Macy for their much-appreciated efforts leading us in cheers during our various stops. Many thanks to all three of you!

Once we had completed our walk, we returned to school for a bit of a rest before we enjoyed a tasty tailgate-lunch, featuring beef burgers and hotdogs. Yum, yum! Later that afternoon, we cheered and danced alongside the high schoolers at the pepfest in preparation for the coming game! Before heading home, we then adjourned to the elementary gym for still more fun, partaking in a few indoor games before closing out our week!

Hopefully some, if not all of you, were able to make it to the game later that night and put a stellar display of home-grown Sleepy Eye Pride!

The 411 On Textmapping

If you haven’t already heard about it from your third grader, here’s the full rundown on our most recently employed teaching tool!

Textmapping is a hands-on technique used to examine various text features commonly found within given written works. Embedded features which may include any or all of the following: table of contents, glossary, index, headings, subheadings, captions, figures, graphs, tables, diagrams, maps, and timelines.

 Last week, as part of our nonfictional genre studies, students not only had the opportunity to learn what textmapping actually was, but also how to use it as an ongoing part of their own literary explorations. Once the concept itself had been discussed together as a group, each third grader was provided with a scroll of actual text—in our case, copied pages of a chosen book that had been previously taped together into one long strip of continuous written material from which they could work. Students were then encouraged to individually embark upon a spirited “treasure hunt” with color-coded instructions, locating and accurately identifying the various text features noted above.

Needless to say, with five different highlighters used in the marking process as well as the numerous different symbols designated for the individual identification process involved with each specific type of text feature, the students’ scrolls ultimately turned out to be truly outstanding works of art en route to acquiring an extremely valuable future resource and tool!

Students will continue to practice their textmapping skills over the next couple of weeks, honing and perfecting their individual skills.

2015 Jr. Attendants Have Been Chosen

Believe it or not, Homecoming week is just around the corner. This means 3rd grade Junior Attendants have been chosen! The choice as usual was always difficult as there are so many great candidates to represent our grade. This year's lucky winners were Brissa and Cody! Check out their bios below!

Cody: Cody is the son of Steve and Heather. He has one older brother Jacob, who was also a former attendant. Cody is a great student and athlete. He enjoys playing many sports but especially likes baseball and swimming. His favorite subjects in school are math and reading.

Brissa: Brissa is the daughter of Elvia and Gilbert. She has three sisters (Ashley, Alexis and Arianna) and one brother (Christian). Also in her family is her pet fish. Brissa enjoys playing many sports including softball, basketball, soccer and volleyball. She also enjoys reading books, playing outside and going on bike rides. Brissa would like to see the Indians beat Cedar Mountain next Friday night! GO INDIANS!

Make sure to go support our Jr. Attendants at coronation next Monday night at 7:00 pm.

Labor Day Update

It is hard to believe that two weeks have passed since we started school, but you know what they say—time flies when you are having fun! And fun is exactly what we have been having these past few weeks, making new friends, meeting up with old ones while also acquainting ourselves with our daily third-grade schedule and expectations as well as how to efficiently implement our iPads as an integral, hands-on learning tool and resource!

Reading: In addition, all students have also completed their individual third-grade reading assessments, allowing each third grader to then be placed in a level-appropriate guided reading group. Individual guided-reading groups will begin meeting this week as we explore informational texts, the first of our ten reading genres. As part of this unit, students will also begin looking at other reading-related elements such as context clues and main idea while becoming better acquainted with the overall governing process of guided reading as a teaching technique.

Spelling: Students also began working with “Words Their Way”--a leveled-spelling list which is assigned weekly to individual users, serving to better assist in honing in on specific spelling needs.

Math: This year third graders will also be working on daily math activities, much the same as they do with our “Daily Five” reading and writing program. Additionally, as with guided reading, this year’s students will be grouped into guided-math groups as well, allowing teacher and students more time working in smaller groups in order to better assess and address specific and/or individual needs.

Students have also been introduced to several additional iPad apps over these last couple of weeks, including Aurasma and iMovie--both of which have been used by students in the creation of their own personal video that will then be linked with their own “Hulk” locker tags.

Here's to a great first two weeks and many more to come!

Daily 5 in Action

Students participating in Read to Self.

Students have begun developing independent reading and writing skills through a literacy framework known as Daily 5. The Daily 5 is a series of literacy tasks (read to self, read to someone, listen to reading, work on writing and word work) that students complete each day while the teacher engages in small group instruction. This framework helps students develop the daily habits of reading, writing and working with peers. The goal is to foster these good habits and develop lifelong skills of independent literacy.

Working on writing in our writer's notebooks

To see more pictures of our student engaging in Daily 5 activities check out the class pictures link on the main page of our blog!

First Day Fun!

After days and weeks of waiting the day is finally here and past! Our first day is now complete and not without lots of fun and excitement to ring in the new year. The day began as students arrived at  school greeted by super heroes. Balloons lined the sidewalk and black and orange streamers decorated the hallways as students entered the building. Smiles awaited them as they finally entered the classroom for the first time this year, ready to learn and embrace the fun their teachers had waiting for them. Weeks of planning culminated in an assembly where students participated in games, cheers and chants, and our annual whistle dance. While back in the classroom students completed getting to know you activities while doing a Kahoot. During this activity students became acclimated to the iPads. Before we knew it the day was already over and it was time to go home. To my surprise student groaned stating that they would rather stay at school than go home. They were reassured that they would be able to do it all over again tomorrow and for the next 9 months to come.

Thanks for a great first day!

Calling All Third Graders...

Hey all, it’s that time of year again! Another year, another round of fun with friends and fellow classmates, with plenty of time for new explorations, discoveries, and learning opportunities for everyone!

In addition to our annual Homecoming walk and weeklong list of school-spirit festivities, students will also take part in our yearly third-grade Sleepy Eye walking history tour where we’ll not only visit local sights of interest but also learn about city government. Then, as part of our biography/autobiography genre studies, students will spend some time delving into our Wax Museum project which has students first choosing a person of historical significance and then conducting research on that individual using multiple media sources. Once all the research has been compiled and completed, students will then dress up as that character and present a first-person speech to the class, sharing what they’ve learned about that person. Later on in the year, students will also explore the benefits of animal adaptations, via our Alaskan Animal science unit.

Additionally, as an integral part of our regular third-grade classroom studies, students will do a lot of first-hand learning and experimenting with a whole range of ipad apps, too, including “Nearpod”, “Yak It”, “Aurasma”, “Showbie”, “Explain Everything”, “Comic Life”,  “Imovie”, and “Kahoot”. The latter of which is an especially true favorite of former third-grade students! By the end of the year, students will not only become adept with using each of these individual apps in a single application, but they will also become familiar with a complementary technique known as app smashing, which incorporates using more than one app at a time in order to achieve a particular outcome. Look forward to the results, as they are always a source of celebration and sure to impress!

So get ready to wear your Sleepy Eye Pride as we kick off another fantastic year for third-grade students and parents alike!