Hello!

Hi 3rd graders!

I hope you're having a great holiday break!  I'm starting to get ready to go back to school.  Are any of you ready yet?  Enjoy the next few days off and I'll see you next week!

Place Value

Our new math unit is all about place value and decimals.  Here's the link for the video on place value.  Let me know if you have a chance to watch it.

http://www.linkslearning.org/Kids/1_Math/2_Illustrated_Lessons/index.html

Ry Sloth, author, comes to visit

Our class was so excited to listen to Ryan Sloth, former Cyclone football player, talk about becoming a children's book author.  He taught us so many things and even told us some funny jokes!

The math teachers in 3rd grade

Have you met any of the math teachers in our 3rd grade classroom. They are ready to teach you some of their multiplication shortcuts and number stories.

Glogster website

O.k., kids, now that you have your glogster username and password you are ready to create.  Go to this website and login! http://mrsjpearson.edu.glogster.com/

Glogster and Book Flix

Our glogster website is www.mrsjpearson.edu.glogster.com.  If you did not get your username and password today, I will give it to you tomorrow.

Another great site to try is our bookflix site.  You can check out the books at http://auth.grolier.com/login/bookflix/login.php.
Username: mansonnw

Password: bookflix

Donuts for Dads

We had a great morning with our Dads and special guests that came to school.  Our kids reflected on their Donuts for Dads experience at www.kidblog.org/pearsonclassroom.

Lucky Us!

We logged onto the www.zooatlanta.org to see the baby Panda today.  We were so lucky to be able to see the Panda moving around in the pen without the mother around. As we continued to watch the mother came in and picked up the baby.  Our class was very excited!

Multiplication Video!

We are so excited to be learning multiplication.  Tell me what you think about this video.

http://video.kidzui.com/videos/1267976?related[channel]=multiplication

Sharing Time

Our 3rd graders have a new place to share our learning with each other.  We have a twiducate account which allows us to post ideas, suggestions, or questions that we have.  It's a great place for us to learn from each other.  Each of our students has their own password to sign in to our site.  If they remember their password, they can share our conversations with you. Check it out at www.twiducate.com.

Our new favorite baby!

Have you heard about the new baby Panda born at the Atlanta zoo last week?  The mother and baby can be found at the atlanta zoo website.  We have been watching the webcam and reading the zookeeper posts about how the mom and baby are doing.  You can see our new favorite baby at www.zooatlanta.org.  We're excited to watch this panda grow!

Movin' on out!

Our class had to get out of the classroom to learn about area and perimeter.  The 1-foot square tiles on the lunchroom floor made it the perfect place to experiment with area and perimeter.  I hope you enjoy watching our 3rd grade class in action!

Skills Tutor or Synonyms

Hey 3rd graders,.
Remember you can go on to skillstutor at home.  The website is http://ac.corek12.com/assessmentcenter/.  I hope you get a chance to try it!  This website has different synonym games that you can choose to try.   Let me know if you find a favorite.  http://www.gamequarium.org/dir/Readquarium/Vocabulary/Synonyms/

Get ready to meet some new kidbloggers!

3rd graders,
I have connected with another teacher who has her class using kidblog.  I have read their posts and they have shared some awesome stories.  Please read their stories and comment on them.  The address is www.kidblog.org/ourgoodnews!  Have fun!

Just a Boring Square!

The kids wanted to share this video.  Beware!  The song will stick in your head for awhile!

Kidblog and Bundle Up

Check out our kidblog site at www.kidblog.org/pearsonclassroom to view your child's new blog post.  O.k. 3rd graders- bundle up!  Tomorrow we will be taking our virtual field trip to Alaska!  So, bring your costume for the party and your coat for the 'field trip!'

Story Website

Here is the story website that some of you wanted to find:  www.mrsp.com.  I created a jing in case you need help finding the storytelling part of the website.  Click on this link to watch the jing.

2010-10-27_1322

Chatting with each other

Hello 3rd graders, parents, and families,
Today we used backchanneling for the first time in our classroom.  A backchannel is essentially a chat room created just for our class.  The kids did an awesome job of keeping up with the live chat.  Our discussion started with our favorite foods that Mom, Grandmas, or friends make for us.  We also chatted about our favorite books, and what we will wear for Halloween.

It was a great experience. I can't wait to do it again!

This is a transcript of our chat.
http://todaysmeet.com/pearsonclassroom/transcript

Please help with the Alaska research!

Hi 3rd graders and families!
I am wanting to see if you could do a little research on the state of Alaska.  We are going to take a virtual field trip to Alaska later this week.  I'm challenging you to find out 1 fact about Alaska and post it on our blog.  I can't wait to see what you find!  Here is a Google Earth map.  Can you find Alaska?

Hint: A good website to visit would be www.travelalaska.com.


View Alaska in a larger map

Free Dictionaries for 3rd Graders

The 3rd graders received their very own dictionary on Friday afternoon.  The Fort Dodge chapter of the Kiwanis club presented each 3rd grader with a dictionary.  We will use this dictionaries at school and send them home with your child later.  I hope you enjoy the slideshow!

Help our voki 'travel' around the world!

Our 3rd graders from Iowa are trying to meet new people from all over the world.  We decided to make a voki and see if it could 'travel' to new places.  We are excited that you have found us.  Please leave a comment and let us know where you're from.  Our class would love to skype with you.  We hope to be able to learn about new places and 'meet' new people.  Thanks for participating!


Get a Voki now!

It's Here... Our Responsibility Rap!

The video that you worked on this morning is now on our blog!  Please leave your thoughts about it after you watch it. 

If you were wondering which website had the most votes.... kidblog was the winner!

Practice Math Facts Online

Hi 3rd graders,
Try to take a minute to work on your math facts on one of the following websites:
http://www.tutpup.com/
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/

I hope you have a great day off tomorrow!

TeacherTube Videos - Partial Sums with Double Digit Numbers

TeacherTube Videos - Partial Sums with Double Digit Numbers

Math Video

Next week we will be discussing the partial sums addition method.  I found this short Everyday Math video that will help you and your child remember the partial sums method from second grade.  It may be different from the addition method that you are familiar with.  I hope this video is helpful.  Please comment to let me know what you think! 

Please click below to view:
2-Digit plus 2-Digit

SECRET MESSAGE

Click on the voki on the right side of the blog page to listen to the message!

Function Machine

Our class reviewed the 'function machine' today during math.  We discussed completing "what's my rule" charts.  This is an online function machine that can really get your child thinking.  I hope you enjoy playing it.  Click on this website to get started! http://teams.lacoe.edu/documentation/classrooms/amy/algebra/3-4/activities/functionmachine/functionmachine3_4.html

Crack the Code!

We worked on Crack the Code during math today.  The class really enjoyed this online game that involves finding number patterns.  I was able to embed the game into our blog so the kids can play from here.  Some of the number patterns get difficult.  I know our class is up for the challenge! Have fun!

A great game to play with your child

This week we learned a new math game called Roll to 100.  Your child will be able to tell you the directions.  It's a great game to sharpen mental math skills and it is very fun to play.

If you play, leave a comment and tell me your thoughts.  I would also love to know who won!!

The 3rd Graders blog!!!

I am so excited to share our kidblog with you.  Our 3rd graders have written and typed their own poems and have published them for you to read.  The website is www.kidblog.org/pearsonclassroom.  You can click on your child's name and read their poem.  Please feel free to comment!  Tell your family and friends, too!


Our MNW 8th graders are going to read and collaborate by adding a line or stanza to the end of the poems!

THE MYSTERY QUESTION

Hello 3rd grade!
I hope you have had a good afternoon.

Here is the mystery question:
which story did you like better?
The Three Little Pigs or The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig


Please type your answer and tell why you picked that story!


PARENTS:
We began working on kidblog.org today.  The class is typing their poems on the blog for you to be able to read.  The poems are not ready to be published because we are still in the editing process.  Your child may ask to work on their poem tonight.  This SHOULD be easy to do (fingers crossed).  The website is http://kidblog.org/PearsonClassroom/.  They should be able to login just as they did at school today.  They will see their saved post and can click to edit it.  Let me know if you have success!

Working with our K partners!

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Our Science Experiment

Enjoy the video on our Science experience about matter and molecules.

Thank you 3rd graders!

Well, 3rd graders, you have really surprised me.  Thank you for working to share your learning on our blog and wallwisher.  I'm so excited that you are doing your 'homework!'  I hope you enjoy this science video (to be posted soon).  Can you do our science experiments at home.  You can be the science teacher as long as there is an adult to to help you.   Let me know if you try it by placing your comments below!

Homework, continued!

Thank you so much to those of you who worked on posting comments about your animal research.  I know that some of you had some trouble getting the comment to post and I apologize for those frustrations!  I am leaving the post up because some of our students wanted to try to get a post up tonight.  Please feel free to do that if you have time.

For science:
Our class is studying states of matter and how matter can change.  I would like our class to add their predictions to this wallwisher: www.wallwisher.com/wall/pearsonscience.  We will look at our predictions tomorrow before we make our observations.  I hope you find the wallwisher easier to use.  You do not have to register or login.    The top of the wallwisher will remind students of the experiments that we started today.

You have homework!

Our class explored the http://www.zooborns.com/ website this morning.  The website has resources to learn about animal babies born in zoos around the world.  Your homework is to take a minute and view the website with your child.  Choose an animal, click on it, and see what you find.  Post your comments, thoughts and learning on our blog!  We will share comments and information on Tuesday.  Have fun!

Caught in the act!

I have just added our newest wallwisher to our blog.  This wallwisher will be a place where we can display the acts of kindness that our kids are doing.  I hope you follow along and let us know when you catch our kids doing something great!

Working with Kindergarten Partners

On Friday our 3rd graders met our Kindergarten learning partners.  We shared the book Miss Nelson is Missing with Mrs. Schipull's class.  Then our 3rd graders worked at helping their K partner make a paper airplane.  Getting to test out the airplane was definitely the most exciting part of the project.  The project was really fun and we can't wait to get together again! 

Recycled Box Project- The Update

Wallwisher

Our class had a chance to post notes on our wallwisher website.  A wallwisher is a place to post notes or ideas.  Our class worked on posting notes of things that we have learned about each other.  Using wallwisher was a learning experience.  It took patience and sometimes it just wouldn't work.  We ended up working in partners and everyone had a chance to post at least one note.  Our wallwisher website is www.wallwisher.com/wall/pearson3rd.

Our Recycled Box Project

Today our class worked with partners on a project that required us to brainstorm ideas on how to recycle a box into something new.  The kids loved coming up with ideas and working on creating their idea.  I have posted a video of 2 of our students at work.  I am hoping to post their finished creations tomorrow.  The kids will tell you what they made.  Stay tuned....