Phew! It has been a busy start to school and we are finally ready to write our weekly classroom blog. Each week a small group of students will have the opportunity to plan and write about third grade to share with our friends and families. Since this is the first blog, everyone in our class had the chance to contribute.

Whiteboard Messages: Every morning Mrs. Tripp writes a message on the whiteboard and we write a note on a sticky or on the whiteboard. A few messages we have had are: "What is your favorite book or series," "Musical Monday: What is your favorite song or band" and "Fantastic Friday."

Morning Meeting: We sit on the rug. The Calendar person does the date and the Weather Person checks the weather. The leader says the schedule for that day. After that we do share and then we do a movement break using Go Noodle.

Field Trips: We have had the opportunity to go on two field trips this year. First we went hiking on Beehive Mountain. It was fun. We were split into groups of about six. When we got to the top we ate snack and we were tired. The second field trip we went on was to Sand Beach for Junior Ranger Day. We had a lot of fun learning about what Rangers do in the park. It was a beautiful and warm fall day.

iPads: We use our iPads to do learning games (Lexia Core 5, IXL, and Addition Blocks). Addition Blocks is an adding game where you try to get the right number. Lexia is a game with levels that you can learn spelling and other reading things. We really love to use our iPads to help us learn.

Thank you for checking in on our first blog. Check back frequently for classroom updates!

~Mrs. Tripp's 3rd Grade~

Third graders have been working hard since returning to school after winter break--especially on their Information Books. Third grade writers chose a topic they are experts on and wrote all about it. They went through the writing process and finished with wonderful published pieces. We celebrated all their hard work with an Author Celebration where writers shared their books followed by a juice toast and small snack.

Writers are now learning how to use a program called LoiLoNote on their iPads. Students are working with a partner to write a chapter that will be included in a whole class book all about Third Grade. They are really loving typing on the iPads!

This week we each got a mentor text in writing. A mentor text is a book that helps and teaches you how to be a good writer.  

In Mrs. Tripp's math class, we started using a "Math Menu." Each week we have to complete daily work every day and then we have to at least complete 2 out of 4 math problems by Friday. Then the teacher signs off on our work and we get a sticker. We want our families to know that we are learning about place value up to the thousands.

In Ms. Plaskvo's math class, we've started to choose Sunshine Math, IXL, Math Forum, and multi-step word problems.

We also want our families to know that next week we are making Thanksgiving Baskets. Third graders will be collecting pie filling or canned fruit. 

Some of us submitted entries into a Literary Magazine and they were accepted. The magazine will be published soon!

We now have Art on Wednesdays. This week we made stained glass windows using tissue paper and laminate plastic. 

**This weeks blog was written by: Mrs. Tripp's 3rd Graders**

Author Celebration:

On Friday, our class had an Author Celebration. Third graders have been working on writing true narrative stories for several weeks. They have learned many new strategies to make their writing stronger and they learned how to revise and edit their stories to make them better. Each student chose their favorite story to publish and on Friday they read their stories to their classmates. After sharing, we had a small snack and juice toast to celebrate all their hard work.

*Thank you to everyone that brought in a snack or juice to share with the class!*

FYI:

On Friday, October 30, we will be walking in the annual Conners Emerson Halloween Parade. Students will start walking at the Village Green, up Main Street, left onto Cottage Street, then back to school. The parade will start at 2:00. Students should bring in a costume to wear that is quick and easy to get on. We ask that students do not wear masks covering their faces due to safety reasons. Also, there are no weapons of any kind allowed even if they go with a costume- please leave them at home. Students should dress warmly and wear comfortable shoes for walking. We look forward to seeing you on the sidewalks!

This week we went on two field trips. We hiked up Beehive and we became Junior Rangers. We went on a Scavenger Hunt. It was awesome!

We learned about lichen on trees. One type of lichen is called Old Man's Beard. Lichen is a fungus.

We want our families to know that tonight (Friday) is the Talent Show at 6:00 in the gym.

We are looking forward to our Author Celebration next Friday.

**This weeks blog was written by: Chase, James, and Makenna**

This week we got a sensory corner for when we are stressed out and need to calm down. We have to do ten ball tosses, ten desk jumps, and a gentle smell of peppermint. It's actually really fun and it helps us a lot. Each week the sensory choices will change.

We learned how to do Reading Responses and we got a little booklet to write our responses in. In math, we learned the count back strategy and the count on strategy to find differences between two numbers. In writing, we learn new stuff every day like how to edit our true stories. In Daily 5 reading, we did a vocabulary list packet. At the end of the week we did a Weekly Reflection.

On Friday, we had a special visitor and her name was Sarah L. Thomson. She is an author. She has written many books. She wrote Dragon's Egg. Dragon's Egg is cool. She has great ideas for writing stories. We wrote about mystical creatures with her.

We want our families to know that we are going on two field trips next week. On Tuesday, October 13th, we are hiking Beehive via the Bowl Trail. On Friday, October 16th, we are going to Thompson Island to become Junior Rangers.

We are looking forward to having our Author Celebration on Friday, October 23rd. We are excited to do more IXL and Lexia Core 5 on the iPads. We are looking forward to our 3rd grade hike.

**This weeks blog was written by: Daley, Adam, Chase, James, Makenna, Mariana, Calie, Fiona, Kaylee, Chiara, Raymond, and Zoey**

This week we switched classes during Science and Social Studies. If we were in Science, now we are in Social Studies. During French, we went to the computer lab. We have share at school. We can bring in something from home and it can be almost anything. Our jobs this week were: Table Washer (Raymond), Messenger (Fiona), Calendar (James), Weather (Zoey), Door Holder (Calie), Monitor (Makenna), Chairs (Chiara), Boards (Fisher), Magnets (Daley), Floors (Chase), iPad Inspector (Kaylee), Substitute (Adam), and Books (Mariana). On Friday, we had pajama day.

Something interesting we learned this week was how to use the iPads. We downloaded IXL (for math) and Lexia Core 5 (for word work).

We want our families to know that our book orders came today.

We are looking forward to our hike on Tuesday, October 13th.

**This weeks blog was written by: Calie, Chiara, and Raymond**