It’s been an awesome week in third grade! Third graders have been busy starting a new Civil Rights project and preparing for our upcoming nonfiction unit of study in Reader’s and Writer’s workshop. This week, third graders embarked on a Civil Rights project focused on the important people and events that fostered change in the United States. To start things off, third graders created a timeline of major events leading up to the Civil Rights Movement. We then discussed the meaning of segregation, and what daily life looked like when it was enforced. Our two mentor texts, Ron’s Big Mission and White Socks Only helped students see for themselves the courage it took to stand up and speak out against segregation and racial bias. The second half of our study focused on four important figures of the Civil Rights Movement: Rosa Parks, Ruby Bridges, Audrey Faye Hendricks, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Third graders were assigned one person to focus on and used articles, books, and videos to learn exactly how these individuals helped to change history. After research, third graders then created a flyer infographic on Adobe Spark that depicts the individual they studied and provides important information on them. Some are pictured below. Students can also access theirs via their myCherryCreek, so feel free to check them out! Our studies brought up many important conversations about the treatment of others in the past (and present). Not only did third graders learn important lessons about history, but empathy was a major theme this week as well.
Third graders also began a new unit in Reader’s Workshop that conveniently ties into our upcoming research project on endangered animals. As a fun introduction, third graders went to the innovation center to help solve the mystery of the missing sea turtle eggs. Third graders were tasked with cracking 4 codes to open their boxes and save the eggs! In the box was also a list of endangered animals available for study. More on that next week! Aaaaaand...We're back! Hopefully everyone had an awesome winter break! Third graders had lots of fun stories to share about their time off. Students also did an amazing job jumping back into classroom routines and working hard. I am so proud of their hard work this week! This week in math, our focus was on reviewing unit fractions, with an emphasis on vocabulary terms like: Numerator, denominator, equivalent, whole, and part. Next week, we will target fraction relationships with a focus on equivalency. Third graders will be working with pattern blocks to solve equivalency puzzles, plotting fractions on a number line, and solving abstract problems. In writing, third graders jumped back into their work on cursive opinion pieces. We talked about how often, author's step away from their pieces in order to come back to them with "fresh eyes." Revisions are often the most important step in the writing process, so reviewing work that we've stepped away from allows for more creative ideas and productive edits. Most third graders are now typing their final drafts, and we will wrap up the project next week! Social Studies this week has been all about the Midwestern region. We learned why the Midwest is often referred to as "America's Heartland" and how the climate and land in the region makes tornadoes a real possibility in the summer/fall. We'll keep up with this next week, learning more about the culture and landmarks of the region. In Reader's workshop, third graders read a non-fiction article, "America's Deadliest Disaster." The article is about a hurricane that hit Galveston, Texas in 1900. Students learned new vocabulary terms like 'storm surge' and had discussions about why the hurricane was so devastating. All of this has prepared us for our upcoming non-fiction unit and study of nonfiction text features! |
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Mrs. Minatta is a third grade teacher at Cottonwood Creek Elementary. See and read all about what third graders are up to throughout the school year! Archives
March 2021
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