Animals, Animals, and More Animals

Today has been a day that the third graders have looked forward to for several weeks now. One of our biggest projects of the year was due today. We have been studying animals, most specifically vertebrates and invertebrates. We have learned that a vertebrate is an animal with a backbone and is comprised of mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians and fish. An invertebrate is an animal without a backbone and is made up largely of insects and soft shelled animals. The students walked in proudly carrying their colorful and creative projects. The excitement level was quite high as each student shared their work of art with the other students in the class and told some of the interesting things they had learned about different animals. We were all amazed at the variety of animals created by the master designer. The students all worked hard on their projects and it showed. Congratulations, third grade, on a job well well done!

On a Roll With Basic Facts

Math madness is happening in the third grade. As we are gettting into more complicated math problems, we are learning the importance of knowing the basic addition and subtraction facts as well as the multiplication and division facts. God is a God of order and preciseness. Just as everything in the universe has an order and design, we are discovering this is true in our world of math. When we are working on our long division and equation problems, we are developing an appreciation for God as the master designer of a logically organized and precise world. We are gaining proficiency in problem solving as well.

Red Ribbon Week

Red ribbons on all the doors on the elementary hall are a reminder that this is Red Ribbon Week. We are using this as our theme to teach drug awareness to the students. Each class created a poster with whole class participation to teach a lesson about drugs. The third grade won first place for having the most original poster. The title of the third grade poster was "Some "Bunny" Loves You And Wants You To Be Healthy And Drug Free."

Stone Soup Day

If you ever need a good recipe for stone soup, the third grade has an excellent one to share. Students brought beef, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, lima beans, corn, and black eyed peas to name just a few of the basic ingredients used to make a delicious pot of soup. Anticipatation and excitement could hardly be contained as students waited all day for the soup to simmer after it was assembled early in the morning. The aroma filled the room and hallway. Along with with the soup. we had wonderful French bread and apple cider. We learned that the we can accomplish great things by sharing, and working together. We even had real stones but we are not telling as to whether we actually put them in the soup or not.

Discovering New Worlds through Books

Just as Columbus discovered new worlds through his travels, the third graders are discovering new adventures through reading and writing. They reccenty did a creative writing assignment in connection with Columbus Day. They had to decide what they would do if they were the captain of one of Columbus' ships and the crew got scared. They then colored a picture of Columbus and cut out a reading ship. On the reading ship they used books they had read to write the title, author, illustrator, and what the book what was about. We then put all this together for an attractive bullentin board.

Friday Fun Day

The third grade always looks forward to Friday. Although, it is usually a day filled with routine tests, it is also art day. Students get to draw in their Friday art pads and we generally have an art project. This week we made scarecrows to officially kick off the fall season. The students enjoy decorating the room with their creativity and are challenged and motivated by the atmoshere that they are able to create in our classroom. They especially like the the vibrant colors of fall. We always start each day with creative writing. Our creative writing for today was to write about an important thing that you have learned. The students then get to sit in the author's chair and read their writing. We found today out that sometimes the lessons we learn are not just academic skills but life skills as well that will help us to continue to make good, wise, and godly decisions. Frquently, we publish our writing and display these in the room along with our art work. The culminating activity to Friday fall days is a home game pep rally. The students look foward to making signs and various projects in order to participate in the pep rally with great third grade spirit.

Kk's Cruise

Kk had the opportunity of a life time recently when she went on a seven day Western Exotic Carribbbian cruise with her family to Cozumel, Meixico, Grand Caymen Island, Belize and Hondurus. The ship Carnival Legend set sail from Tampa, Florida, Port. Kk said that when she first saw the ship it was amazing and looked nothing like the pictures in the cruise book. Kk shared pictures of her family as they enjoyed the sights, food, and acitivities of the different countries. We thought Kk's pictures and presentation were amazing too and can only imagine what it would be like if our whole class could go on such a fantastic trip.