Summer 2021

So... what did Mrs. Watson do this summer?  A lot!  

I started out the summer doing a lot of cleaning and organizing at my house! I love being organized!  I spent a lot of time on Cape Cod with my family. My daughter, Caroline, is working down there this summer. Mr. Watson and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a trip to St. John!  It was our first time there and we loved it. 

I organized all my kitchen cabinets! 

I helped Mr. Watson build a rock wall in our back yard!

Mr. Watson and I in St. John! 

I saw sea turtles in the water! 

These are my kids.. Timothy and Caroline! 

I spent a week down at the Cape watching 2 of my nieces. They call it Camp E since my first name is Erin. We had a terrific week with all sorts of fun activities like miniature golf, beach days, drive-in movie, coloring, reading, and going to Water Wizz! 

These are my nieces Nyla and Olivia... we took a drive to Chatham to see the whales! 

A fun trip to Water Wizz! 

I am excited about coming back to school now that summer is coming to end. I am working on plans and setting up my classroom so it is ready for our first day! 

We tye dyed sneakers!

I can't wait to find out what you did this summer!  

Mr. and Mrs. Watson on Cape Cod! 

This is my dog, Finnegan! 

Wrapping Up November ... & Happy Thanksgiving!

 So much to share....  Take a picture walk through our activities!

ALL 3rd graders read
Charlie Bumpers Versus the Perfect Little Turkey.  They read on Epic and completed assignments on a virtual Reader's Notebook. 
Here are 2 sample pages of the work students were asked to do. 
Work each day involved:
reading/listening to the story
answering questions
writing questions about the story
thinking about characters
writing about characters' actions/feelings
summarizing events in the story
thinking about quotes/character's dialogue
writing a book review

Students also had to navigate between Epic and Google Classroom. They had to go back to their work and correct any errors and find their teacher's notes. It was a big project! 

Brooke writes an ending to her narrative story! 

We reviewed story elements as we read realistic fiction! 

We enjoyed reading outdoors on one of our last warm FALL days! 

Time to SCOOT! Go!  

We did an ARRAY SCOOT all around the room to solve problems. 

Brains are working, legs are moving, and facts are being reviewed! 

Sitting and solving at its best! 

Alex and Jordan are making their way around the room

 

Journal responses about our reading book and how it relates to our own family. 

Grandmas are great at spoiling grandchildren!
 

Check out our ARRAYS!  (Cereal, coins, stickers, goldfish!, and more!) 

Calling the Distributive Doctor! STAT! 

Will broke up 5 X 10 into smaller known facts! 

Students learned how to BREAK APART their factors and use known facts to solve larger multiplication facts. Don't know 13 X 8? That's okay! 
Look a the facts you do know... 2, 3, 5, 10. 
13 = 10 + 3
13 X 8 = (10 x 8) = (3 x 8)

Writers worked on going back to their story
to CAREFULLY edit their work! 

Life in colonial times wasn't easy! Look at what Sarah Morton's day looked like. 

We completed a Venn diagram to compare and contrast our lives. 

Pilgrims Crafts... 

On Monday and Tuesday this week we worked on pilgrim crafts similar to what we might have done if we had gone to Rocky Woods. Students braided belts, wove placemats, and made a corn pendant necklace. But we didn't just craft because it was fun! We wrote about each craft and what it symbolized in Colonial America and for the Native peoples who lived here in the 1600's.

We braided belts since braiding was important to the Native people's culture. They braided their hair for religious reasons and also to prepare for war. They used braids to keep their traps tightly bound together. They also braided mats used to line the walls of their wetus. 

... just a little math break! 

We wove placemats because many of the pilgrims were weavers during their time in Holland. They worked hard and made little money.  This was a job they could do without a language barrier as the people in Holland spoke Dutch. 

Look at this Keeping Room diorama that Molly completed!
Looks great! 

Hey Fiona... Will knows how to braid! 

Yup! I can do this! 

Sarah had nimble fingers! 

Go Harrison! 

Me? Yes, I know how to braid!

SJ got the hang of it! 

Audrey was a WEAVER EXTRAORDINAIRE! 

Weavers need room to work! 

Patterns! 

Now, where was I? Over or under? 

On our 11/25 Zoom we did a lot of TURKEY WORK. How would you disguise yourself if you were a turkey and didn't want to be eaten on Thanksgiving? 

See what these clever artists came up with! 

Lt. Gobble is on the look out for the robbers!
Don't eat him. He's NOT a turkey! 

October is flying by....

NEWS: 

Our first book order arrived!  Many new books that arrived and were sent home last week and this week. 

 

We finished our 4 weeks of MUSIC instruction with Mrs. Stover and have made the switch to ART with Ms. Babin. Students were excited to get started with art! 

Students in Grade 3 were asked to join STUDENT COUNCIL if they were interested. They were asked to write speeches and then share them with the grade on Wednesday at 1:00 on a Zoom with Mrs. Caulfield. Our three candidates for our classroom are: SJ Nejm, Lyra Nute, and Sarah Tea!  Congratulations to all the students who ran this year. I am proud of you! 

WRITING:

In writing workshop, we are looking at finding the topic sentence and adding interesting details. We are experimenting with different LEADS for our stories. Some of the choices we discussed trying were: ACTION, DIALOGUE, ONOMATOPOEIA, SETTING, QUESTION, and FACT. 

Here are two different LEADS to the same story. 

(QUESTION) Have you ever tried to dive in a pool?  I have, and boy was it scary the first time. 

(SETTING) The pool was a clear, sparkly blue as I stood on the side. I stepped on to the diving board. 

MATH: 

In math we have been making and labeling arrays.  In addition to that we are practicing skip counting by 2, 5, and 10. 

Jordan writes addition and multiplication sentences
to match her sea creatures! 

Harrison skip counts by 2 and finds a pattern! 

We discussed the word MULTIPLES and discussed the multiples of 2. Students noticed that all the multiples of 2 are EVEN. 

We also logged on to Freckle Math to get started on some fact practice and to do an initial assessment of skills. 

Will is working on Freckle Math. 

READING: 

In reading we have been working on different mini lessons. These are just a few we have covered in the past two weeks. 

Good readers stop and ask themselves questions as they read. 

Readers "Click" when their reading makes sense and "Clunk"
when things are confusing. 
If things CLICK, we keep on reading. 
If we CLUNK, we stop and REREAD! 

     Readers are looked at solving for UNKNOWN or TRICKY Words.  We read an article             about SNEEZING and figured out the meaning of words like....

• bacteria  
  
• optic
• 
  nasal
• Gesundheit

       Students used different strategies for decoding or solving         these words. 

Teagan is writing in cursive like a professional! 

Check out these AMAZING candidates in Room 102!  

    This week our ZOOM on Wednesday 10/28 will be HALLOWEEN themed!