Happy Spring Vacation!

It was great to see so many of you at the Music Informance on Wednesday.  The children did a great job singing, dancing, playing instruments!  Thanks for joining us!

This week we finished our Weather unit during theme with another exciting hurricane house test.  Each team was given a chance to make changes to their first house to help it withstand stronger winds during  this final test.  We were amazed at how strong the houses were!  None blew over!  How did your child design his or her house?  What part of the design made it so strong?

In writer's workshop, we are in the drafting and publishing steps of the writing process.  As children finish drafting and have their work edited, they are then typing their fairy tales on Google Docs.  We will have publishing party to celebrate their hard work after vacation! Their work will also be found on their own Google Sites.  Jeff Badillo has been visiting the classrooms to teach the children how to build their own websites to share their written work and projects!  Ask your child to show you his or her web site!

In math, we continued to work on fractions and investigate fractions as parts of a whole and parts of a set.  We used two models to model, compare, and generate equivalent fractions: a 12-inch ruler and tiles in an egg carton subdivided with one or more pieces of yarn.  These models allowed the children to work with halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, and twelfths as they conducted a variety of fraction investigations.  They even learned a new game called Dozens of Eggs.  We will continue with fractions after the vacation and then begin our last math unit!

Lastly, we finished our character study reading unit during Reader's Workshop by watching the movie Because of Winn-Dixie. Which did your child like better...the book or the movie?

We hope that you all have a good week and hopefully, the weather will look and feel more spring-like when we return to school on April 30th.  Speaking of April 30th, we will be going to Shelburne Farms from 9:15-1:45pm.  Please make sure your child is dressed for the weather and for exploring the forest and the pond.  Please also send your child with a snack and a lunch.  This is just the first of many events in the month of May so please be sure to check the "Upcoming Events" list on our blog!

Enjoy the vacation!  Hard to believe we only have 34 days left in third grade!