Invention Convention Success!

Our young third grade inventors dazzled us with their imaginations and applied knowledge of simple machines at our “Invention Convention” this past Thursday. This event is the culminating project in the Simple Machines unit for the Room 29 and 21 science classes. Each student invented a compound machine which performs a task and is built using at least three simple machines. The inventions have catchy names that reflect the task such as “Water Wheel Wonder”, “Balloon Poppin’ Machine” and the “Dog Treat Retriever 5000”. The children also completed a report about how their machine worked which included a discussion of changes the student had to make when things did not work out as originally planned. Some of the best inventions such as the Popsicle and Post-It notes are the result of a “mistake” . With this in mind, the children also discussed changes they had to make as they built their creations such as making a lever shorter to avoid launching a stuffed animal past its target. These projects are a wonderful display of the power of imaginations and simple machines. Congratulations boys and girls on a job well done!

Check out the slide show "gadget" to the right for a slide show of all of our students with their creations.

Playing Four Corners with SWOOPS!

Yesterday our class played "Four Corners" with our school mascot, Swoops, the Elmwood eagle. Playing a game with our feathered friend was the award the children voted to receive after winning a class pompom award. The pompom award is earned after the class receives 25 unsolicited complements (ask your child what this means! ) from school staff for things such as working hard, listening well, supporting each other or extra good behavior. For every compliment, a pompom is moved into the award container. Once all of the pompoms were earned, we held a class vote for the special award the children wanted to receive. This two stage voting process is a lesson in democracy !

Playing Four Corners with Swoops won by a landslide victory with a 4 to 1 margin (math is everywhere!). Four Corners is a favorite indoor recess game and it is also the game that our class plays to celebrate student birthdays. A special thank you to Swoops and his handler, Ms. Wiggin, for making this award come to life. Watch the video for a look at our celebration!

Our First Recorder Performance

One of the highlights of being a third grader at Elmwood School is playing your recorder at the Meeting of the Eagles. Here is a video of our class in their first public performance playing the all time favorite "Pepperoni Pizza" at the November Meeting of the Eagles last Wednesday. Take a bow boys and girls!

Mystery Reader Double Header

Caroline C. and her Dad

The day before Thanksgiving, the class had the fun surprise of not one, but two mystery readers! Caroline C.'s dad and Allison's father read us favorite family picture books before our holiday break.

Allison and her Dad

Thank You Mr. Kilduff !

Today was Community Reading Day at Elmwood School! This special event is a fall tradition at our school when Mrs. Silver invites community leaders to join each classroom to share a specially chosen picture book. This year our class was delighted to welcome Mr. Tim Kilduff, President of the Hopkinton Athletic Association, who read along with the boys and girls. This year's selection was Mary Higgins Clark's first children's book entitled Ghost Ship. What happens when the main character, Thomas, finds an old silver belt buckle on his grandmother's beach on Cape Cod? Ask your child about how Thomas saved the Ghost Ship ... and when we will see Mr. Kilduff again. Here's a hint -- it will be another special day at Elmwood School this spring!

Native American Legends

This week in Reading, we have been learning about legends and the author, Tomie dePaola. Legends were historically stories developed by native cultures to explain why certain things occurred in nature. In the dePaola books The Legend of Blue Bonnet and the Legend of Indian Paintbrush, dePaola weaves heartwarming stories about how these two wildflowers came to be named.

When Native Americans reached young adulthood and realized their talents, they received their true name which highlighted their best characteristic or talent. In the Legend of Blue Bonnet, a little girl receives the name "She-Who-Dearly-Loved-Her-People" when she sacrificed her beloved doll to bring rain to end the famine. In their writing journals, the children thoughtfully created a name and symbol which they felt best described their finest traits. Here are some of the "new" names in our class:

She-Who-Is-Creative

She-Who-Loves-To-Read

He-Who-Is-Helpful

He-Who-Is-Loyal

She-Who-Is-Responsible

He-Who-Is-Determined

and ...

She-Who-Is-Energetic !

Mystery Reader ... Emily's Mom

Our mystery reader read us ... a mystery! Last Friday, Emily's mom read us a new library book called What Really Happened to Humpty? Did Humpty fall off the wall or was he really pushed?! Was Miss Muffet involved? Or the Big Bad Wolf? Ask your third grader how the plight of Humpty Dumpty is solved in this fractured fairy tale.

Mrs. Oldach heard about this book , Nubs, the True Story of a Mutt, a Marine & a Miracle and bought a copy for our classroom to read this week of Veterans Day. From the publisher:

"Nubs, an Iraqi dog of war, never had a home or a person of his own. He was the leader of a pack of wild dogs living off the land and barely surviving. But Nubs's life changed when he met Marine Major Brian Dennis. The two formed a fast friendship, made stronger by Dennis's willingness to share his meals, offer a warm place to sleep, and give Nubs the kind of care and attention he had never received before. Nubs became part of Dennis's human "pack" until duty required the Marines to relocate a full 70 miles away--without him.

Nubs had no way of knowing that Marines were not allowed to have pets.So began an incredible journey that would take Nubs through a freezing desert, filled with danger tofind his friend and would lead Dennis on a mission that would touch the hearts of people all over the world. Nubs and Dennis will remind readers that friendship has the power to cross deserts, continents, and even species. Brian Dennis is the major in the Marines. He and Nubs now live in San Diego."

First "Lunch Bunch" with Mrs. Silver

Jacob, Patrick and John were our class representatives at Mrs. Silver's first Lunch Bunch this past Tuesday. Every third grader gets to have lunch with our principal, Mrs. Silver, which is a highlight of the students' "senior" year at Elmwood School. We send 2 or 3 students to each Lunch Bunch with Mrs. Silver who has lunch with each and every third grader by the end of our school year.

Mystery Reader - Grace's Mom

Thank you to Grace's mom for being our mystery reader on October 30th. She surprised us in the Library after the Pumpkin Blowout with one of Grace's favorite Amelia Bedelia stories.

Pumpkin Blowout

Last Friday we had our annual Pumpkin Blowout! The Blowout is a math and science exploration that incorporates concepts of measurement (girth, height, weight),estimation and calculation along with scientific prediction, deductive reasoning and observation ...all while using our very own pumpkin! Thank you to the parent volunteers for guiding the student groups through their activities and diving into the goopey insides with us too!

During the "Sink or Float" activity the children predicted whether or not their pumpkin would sink or float prior to going to the tub of water to investigate. Listen to these students discuss their beginning understanding of concepts such as density, buoyancy, displacement and mass while they hypothesize about how and why their pumpkins floated in the tub. Bravo!

The Strongest One

This week in reading we will be exploring fables from different cultures. The story in our anthology reading book is The Strongest One, a traditional tale of the Zuni people. Who says the smallest can not be the mightiest? The Zuni (pronounced Zun-yee) people are still living in New Mexico today. This Zuni Facts Page for Kids answers questions that the Zuni are most often asked by children.

Beverly Cleary and "Muggie Maggie"

Who is Muggie Maggie? What does "Muggie" mean ???

Maggie Schultz is a third grader that is just beginning to learn cursive, just like all the children in Room 29. But Maggie does not think cursive is very important ... or maybe she is a little worried about learning something new? Ask your child how Mrs. Leeper and Mr. Galloway put together a plan to convince Maggie that she can do whatever she sets her mind to. We use this story to define different connections to a story (text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world), analyze character traits vs. physical traits, and to develop story sequencing.

As a final assignment, the children are choosing a Journal Project which can be either a description of a favorite scene, a diary entry of a time when they had to overcome a challenge, or a persuasive letter to convince me to teach (or not to teach!) cursive to my class next year.

Visit the World of Beverly Cleary to take a quiz about Maggie and to meet other beloved Cleary characters

Gear Activities

This week in science class, we studied the wheel and axle and gears. The wheel and axle is believed to be one of the oldest and most important inventions of mankind to make work easier. Even a door knob is a wheel and axle! Gears are a modification of the wheel and axle which have teeth that mesh together. The children did an experiment to discover the "Big Ideas" that 1) gears spin in opposite directions and change the direction of a force and 2) gears can slow things down or speed them up. Afterwards, each class combined their gear sets into these amazing creations. This process was a tribute to class cooperation! See the videos below to be dazzled ....

"Gear of Wonder" by Room 29

"Gear City" by Room 21

Mystery Reader This Week -- Emma's Mom!

Emma's mom surprised us during Library today as the Mystery Reader. She read us two Dr. Seuss favorites. One of the books And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street was Seuss's first children's book in 1937. Mulberry Street" is the name of a street in Springfield, Massachusetts, not far from Dr. Seuss' boyhood home on Fairfield Street. Our class connection to this story is that "29 Mulberry Street" is our classroom Wee Deliver address here in the "East Whoville" part of Elmwood School!

Techsploration Videos

Check out these two videos from our Techsploration presentation today. Simple machines make work easier by trading DISTANCE for EFFORT!

Pulley Tug of War

Launch those Goldfish!

Grace has a new Baby Sister!

Welcome to the world Megan Elizabeth! Your big sister Grace was so proud to show your picture to our class today in school.

Our First Mystery Reader

Mrs.Costa, our new Assistant Principal, was the first Mystery Reader for our class this past week. Mrs. Costa read the picture book Duck for President which won the Elmwood School favorite book election last year. Ask your child how Duck's adventure into the political world ends ... so maybe life on the farm was not so bad after all!

Gear It Up!

What is a simple machine? A simple machine is a machine with few or no moving parts such as a gear, lever, pulley, screw, inclined plane, wedge, or a wheel and axle. One of the favorite jobs on our class job board is the “Flag Raiser” because our classroom flag is on a pulley which is raised and lowered each school day!

Thank you also to the HPTA funded program "Techsploration" : a fantastic, upfront, zany exhibition of how simple machines trade distance for effort to make work easier. Perfect for third graders!

Math and Money

In Math, we are completing Unit 1 which was a review of concepts such as time, money, and place value. Thank you for sending in the coins with your child to reinforce making change and different coin combinations. We all enjoyed the humorous story of "Pigs will be Pigs" by Amy Axlerod and the funny poem "Smart" by Shel Silverstein as the class figured out the "money problems" of the characters. Ask your child why the boy in "Smart" was not so smart after all!Check out this video below as school children act out the poem ...

We will soon be moving onto Unit 2: Adding and Subtracting with Whole Numbers, which focuses on concepts leading up to the partial sums algorithm and trade first subtraction. The children have been doing a nice job on their timed tests! Please remember to practice those math facts at home -- this extra practice really does make a difference with their performance on these weekly tests.

"Smart" by Shel Silverstein

"Fall" into Reading

In Reading, we are just completing Unit 1: “Our World” in the new Macmillan Treasures Balanced Literacy program. The comprehension strategies that we have been learning including story elements, main idea and details, and problem and solution analysis. The children are enjoying the weekly themes such as Antarctica and pets! During the reading of "Penguin Chick" by Betty Tatham, we focused on the comprehension strategy of main idea and details while learning about how penguin parents take care of their young. Ask your son or daughter about what other interesting facts they learned about blue whales, Weddell seals or the albatross in their small reading groups too.

To complement the whole class and small group stories, each child always has an independent reading book that is "Just Right" for them. "Just Right" is a term we use for a book that is not too easy, not too hard, and is enjoyable to read. We emphasize that everyone has their own "Just Right" reading book which is part of our supportive learning community. As the students finish an independent reading book, they are creating a persuasive poster to “advertise” the book. Everyone is very excited about earning a trip to the prize bag after reading a selection from each of the five genres in our classroom library!

We had a wonderful first three days of school! The boys and girls got to know each other while talking about our summer souvenirs and answering "beach ball" questions during Morning Meeting. Here are some pictures of the amazing class of Room 29!

Rock On!

This summer I took a class on Geology for our third grade science unit about Rocks and Minerals. Check out this picture that shows the type of activity we will be doing for weathering and erosion this year!