End of School!

I am in awe of this year! It is amazing to think back to the first day, week and month of school and compare to the students who are leaving me. They have grown so much in more ways than I could possibly count.

We had such a fun time this year as we grew and explored together. I wanted to end the year on a high note with a little breakfast buffet before our End of Year assembly. It was so nice to sit back and enjoy each other before saying goodbye! 

This groups of our classmates all advanced to the highest belt of their recorders!!

3rd graders, Legos and programming

We spent part of our day exploring with the Dancing Birds Lego build yesterday!  I am so impressed with the collaboration I saw in the pairs. The growth in our students in unbelievable from September until now! I know some of the students were uncomfortable with Legos, but were totally supported by their friends. They have improved so much in their support of each other. I heard Breanna ask a question and before I could take two steps to help her Caden was already there!  

We also had the opportunity to program our birds to dance! Students plugged in their build with a USB cable and, using their fabulous problem solving skills, gave digital instructions. They learned how to get their birds to spin faster and slower, add sound effects and change the direction of the spin. 

Coming to a close!

We have had such a busy couple of weeks! Many activities last week, coming to a wonderful close today. 

We had Mr. Smith come in a talk with us about weather and climate regions as we get deeper into our Weather and Climate topic. He made a great connection that weather tells us what the future will be and climate tells us the past patterns! 

Then today we had a great adventure to the Old Town Museum! We got to see a piece of what life was like; how clothes were cleaned and made, how hair was cut and teeth cleaned. Thank you Ms. Kennedy for organizing and allowing us to have this opportunity! 

Field trip report!

 I am overjoyed at the respect, kindness and sportsmanship I have seen over the last few days. We've had two fabulous, though long, days of fresh air. We've had to days of outdoor learning and collaborative work! Personally, I have loved seeing each of the students work in a different setting and have so much fun together! THANK YOU for sending them prepared for each of these days. It was well worth it as the days remaining wind down. 

Last 3rd Grade Book Order

I can't believe I'm saying it and I couldn't tell you where the time went. the due date for our LAST BOOK ORDER is fast approaching. We've been logging our reading minutes on Scholastic like crazy! Check out the Virtual Summer School blog to see just how many minutes our third graders have read so far. Use this book order to get some new reads for your student over the summer to keep logging some great minutes on the rainy days! 

Due date: Friday, May 20, 2016

We've been featured!

It feels like forever since Mr. B was here. Even still, our class was featured on the Junior Achievement website! Check out the link below! 

Junior Achievement

Book orders!

Remember this months book order is due Friday, April 15th. 

Each student who orders will get a free GROOVY sticker sheet! 

Upcoming book order

Happy April 1st! 

The birds are chirping outside the classroom window, laptops are charging and the fossil posters are just wait to be finished.

 A book order will be coming home at the beginning of next week and there are many bonuss we could receive from ordering in the month of April. In addition to bonus points for FREE classroom books, each student who orders will get a GROOVY sticker page. 

Many of the students have been experimenting with new books so I've updated my recommendations based on what many of us have been reading here in the classroom so be sure to check that out. We also have a full wish list after realizing we could use some great non fiction books to help our research! 

Follow the link below :) 

Miss Farrell's Scholastic Club

What a beautiful day!

We ended a fabulous day on a great note. Two science groups finished their fossil posters while many others got their informational writing onto the speech bubbles about their respective layers. Everyone was so successful in math today practicing with Multiplying with Multiples of 10! We got so much work accomplished and I continued hearing great supportive talk between peers. 

Today ended on a high note with a walk in the beautiful afternoon sunshine! 

FOSSILS

Yesterday we got our thinking moving with three different images of fossils. Students jotted their ideas about where the fossils originated from, what the animal could have looked like when it was alive and any other observations they have. Their science notebooks are for their thinking, so I'm starting to step back just a bit to let them get their ideas out in their own way. 

Today we got to excavated our fossils. Making jots about the differences in preservation in a sandy layer or rock layer.

We also will be laying fossils as they would be found in the layers of the Earth. That will include students describing the regions where the fossils would have been found. Students have been working in groups to compare and contrast the fossil cards. Tomorrow the images will be mounted on posters! 

Swimming at the YMCA

Swimming was such a great time! For Mrs. R and the wonderful people at the YMCA to organize this event is amazing. The students had such a great time and were amazing listeners. We started our day and were out the door in less than 5 min! Thank you to you all at home for getting everything ready for us to make that speedy transition!! 

Don't forget!

Thursday we'll be dressing as our favorite book character!
Who will you be? I know I got my outfit this weekend...

Friday is our day of Swimming at the YMCA! Turn in your permission slips if you haven't already. Please come with your suit under your clothes to make our transition a little easier! 

Don't forget clothes to change back into for the rest of the day. 

Happy Monday :)

It's that time of year!!

Last year was the first year I've tapped trees and my class had such a great time doing it! I've been looking forward to sharing it with my new class since September!!

On Thursday, Mrs. St Peter and her 5th grade helper shared the basics with our class. She talked about all the materials we'll needs, the process of collecting and boiling sap, and, finally, the difference between syrup like Mrs. Butterworth and real Maple Syrup. 

Friday, despite the cold wind, we tapped trees right outside of OTES! Mr. Avery brought all the tools we'd needs to tap the trees and started by asking students questions about the size of the tree we would needs in order to tap. In order to keep the tree healthy, we had to find last years tap hole to stay away from it.

Many of the students had a chance to take part of the tapping process. We had to drill the hole and find a small stick to clean out the new hole. Being especially careful not to put our fingers or breathe in the hole. Much like keeping cuts clean, we want to keep outside germs and bacteria out of the fresh "wound".

We're using traditional metal buckets and lids to collect our sap. There is a hook on the backside of the tap that forced Will to make a few attempts at hanging one of our buckets. Then a metal lid is connected to the top to keep bugs and other tree fallings out of our fresh sap!

Keep following to stay up to date on our process and collections! Keep an eye out in the next couple weeks for a permission slip as we will be venturing to the University Forest to check out a large scale tapping and boiling process at the Sugar Shack!