Fairy Tales, Water Cycle, Winn Dixie and more!

This week we continued drafting our fairy tale adaptations.  We are working hard to include lifelike details and create scenes that are like small moment stories. Prior to writing, we began by drawing and acting out the scenes which helped add detail to our writing and create organization in our writing.  Our goal is to bring both our characters and the place in our fairy tales to life.


In Reader's Workshop we will be analyzing author's craft.  We will also begin comparing and contrasting characters to find similarities and differences.  We will do this by reflecting on the books we have read both together and in our book groups.  This will convey to students that they now have a deeper understanding of synthesis - of how a story unfolds, with its parts connecting in particular ways, and the knowledge to think and talk analytically about story structure and author's craft. We finished reading Because of Winn Dixie this week and had a chance to talk about the lessons learned from the book.  It was impressive to hear 3rd Graders really pull out some the bigger themes and ideas of the story!  We made "bumper stickers" with the important lessons and posted those, along with illustrations, on our team bulletin board.  Next Thursday, we will watch the movie Because of Winn Dixie and compare it to the book.

We spent more time solving multiplication and division problems using a variety of strategies.    Next week we will investigate two different interpretations of division - grouping and sharing.  Toward the end of the week we will explore area in greater depth.

This month's Hands On Nature Lesson taught us about the water cycle.  We listened to a puppet show and did some water experiments that investigated the properties of water.  Many thanks to our Hands On Nature parents for providing this awesome learning experience for us!

We have spent some time during the past couple weeks learning about the SBAC test that we will be taking in May.  We have logged on to computers and explored practice test in both Math and Literacy. We will continue to practice periodically until May so all students can become comfortable with the structure of the test.
Have a nice weekend!