Meeting the Crayfish!

This week, Third Grade Scientists eagerly welcomed crayfish friends into our classroom. Students quickly got to work observing the unique appearance and behaviors of these gilled-friends! Science groups observed the structures of the crayfish and discussed how these special features help the crayfish survive in its environment. Through close observation, students are analyzing the details of crayfish life while further developing sensitivity to the needs of living things. It has been so exciting to

Folktales are Fun!

Third Grade readers launched an exciting new unit in Reading Workshop this week! Students have been reading and analyzing a variety of folktales. We learned that folktales are stories that teach a lesson and have been passed down from generation to generation, usually by oral retelling. In more recent years these tales have been passed down through written form. Third Graders spent time reading many different folktales and looking for the common characteristics in these stories. Students discovered that folktales often have characters that are animals with human-like characteristics. The characters are usually very simple and are divided into the good and the bad. We found out that most folktale settings take place a long time ago in places all over the world! Third Graders learned strategies to help them frame their thinking when reading folklore. They know that it is important to pay attention to each character and ask themselves, “What lesson does this character teach us?” We will start to focus solely on Asian folktales next week!

Family Math Night

The Cooper School hosted their 2nd annual Family Math Night this Thursday and it was awesome! Families came together to explore the different math content strands in the Every Day Math curriculum. Each classroom had a designated strand and offered games at various levels that reinforced content learned through that strand. Families rotated through each class challenging each other to favorite math game typically played in class. These games help reinforce skills being taught at each grade level. After playing the game or activity, parents were able to take a handout with the directions on how to play at home. When families were not in individual classrooms, they were coming together in the library to make estimates, and writing different names for numbers. Friends and families had a terrific time at Family Math Night!