Impact of the Civil War on the Nation

Today we talked about the impact the Civil War had on our nation in terms of physical, political, economic, and social factors. While I was teaching, students were taking notes of important facts. Then, they shared what they learned by using the TodaysMeet website. Using the iPads, students were able to enter text that would appear in real time on everyone else's screen. Here are screenshots of our experience today on TodaysMeet. Wow, the students learned a lot! We will start our lesson tomorrow by reviewing with these facts. 

Please excuse our misspellings. Autocorrect does not appear to be our friend. :)

Earth Day...Hooray!

In honor of Earth Day, the third grade students wrote letters to each class in the school trying to persuade everyone to do something to help the Earth. The students who wrote to our class, Ethan, Eleazar, and Kaitlyn, were VERY persuasive! They were so convincing that we should pick up trash and plant flowers, that Carissa went to the store and bought flowers for us to plant outside our classroom! Brayson and Carissa planted the flowers after school, then thought of a couple of creative ways to show the third graders how much we appreciate their efforts to help save our Earth!

Below are some pictures of the planting process and our version of a "thank you" to the third graders!

 

 

 

Thanks, Mrs. Kim, for the help!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The End of Terabithia

We have finally finished reading Bridge to Terabithia and the ending left us with mixed emotions. In stations today, students answered two constructed response questions in two different formats. First, students responded to a question on butcher paper, as pictured below. The question was: 

"Jess and Leslie seem to grow closer as they learn more about the differences with their families and beliefs. Why is this so." 

Next, students responded to the text in writing, then by recording their responses. This question was:
"At the end, Jess introduces Maybelle to the imaginary world of Terabithia. Why do you think the author chose to end the novel this way?"

Here are some student responses: 

Bridge to Terabithia Constructed Response

In our novel study, Bridge to Terabithia, we just learned that one of the main characters, Leslie, has died by trying to cross a stream during after a storm. This is "breaking news" and very alarming to the other characters in the story. The students were asked to respond to this event in a constructed response. They created a newspaper article to answer the following constructed response:

"It is startling when a major character in a story dies, especially one you feel strong about. Write your reactions to Leslie's death. In your response, answer the following questions: Did you expect this to happen? Give reasons to support your answer. Does Leslie's death make sense to you in the context of the story? Explain why or why not. What were your first reactions when you learned that Leslie was dead?"

Here are their responses:

By: Collin and Bryson

Abolitionists

Today while learning about abolitionists in social studies, the students completed a project on the iPads using the Popplet app. They made graphic organizers to help explain important information about the abolitionists of the Civil War. Below are their final products. The students did a great job!