Leprechauns, Oh My!

This Thursday Third Graders came into school to find that the leprechauns had visited our classroom and created some mischief! Students found all kinds of green items scattered about the room and a message on the board from a leprechaun named “Sean”! Later in the day we all gathered for a whole school St. Patrick’s Day read aloud and then met with partners to go on a “hunt” to search for a gift that was left for them from the “leprechauns”! This year, each student received a green shamrock ring and a limerick to enjoy.

Hate That Cat

This week Third Graders were thrilled to read Sharon Creech’s novel, Hate That Cat, the sequel to Love That Dog. In this novel our main character continues to study poetry and use writing as an avenue to express his feelings about pets and family. Third Grade readers spent the week examining various aspects of character relationships while providing evidence from the text in class discussions and in written responses. Students continued to study poetry greats through the poems studied by the main character. Our writing workshop lessons were closely tied with the poets studied by the main character. Brave young poets examined shapes of poems and stanzas to find purposeful ways to reorganize poems they had written. Young poets even chose a mentor poem to inspire their own poetry writing. Ask your Third Grader about this week’s reading and writing workshops!

Evaporation & Condensation Discoveries

Third Grade scientists investigated the process of evaporation this week by wetting two paper towels and setting up two different situations for them to evaporate. One towel was left in a cup and another was set up to evaporate with a lid on top. Scholars made predictions about which one would dry first and were excited to find they were right when the cup with no lid dried first! Third Graders also made discoveries about condensation through observing ice-cold water and room temperature water. They determined that condensation occurs when water vapor touches a cool surface and changes to liquid. They were able to think of real-life situations when we observe the condensation process!

Important Dates:

• Friday March 25th- April 1st                        Spring Break
• Thursday, April 14th, 21st, & 28th              JICP Climbing Wall
• Thursday, April 14th                                      TCS Silent Auction
• Friday, May 6th                                               Grandparent’s Day
• Friday, May 6th                                               Pass-It-On