Shelburne Farms Field Trip

 

We had a wonderful time at Shelburne Farms.  Thank you to the chaperones who were able to help us make this field trip successful!

Memories of 3rd Grade

As the year came to a close, we had an opportunity to reflect on our favorite memories from the school year...



Our last day of school was a celebration from beginning to end.



 

Thank you ALL for a wonderful year of learning and celebrating together.  Be sure to stop by and see us next year!

2015 Field Day

Yesterday, we celebrated the Annual RES Field Day & Walk-a-Thon (raising money for the Snow Motion program at Cochran's next year!)...we were exhausted by the end of the day!!

 

Cedar Knoll Golfing -- Postponed to 6/4

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="291"] Clip Art from: http://images.clipartpanda.com/demo-clipart-7iapykjiA.jpeg[/caption]

Dear 2nd & 3rd Grade Parents/Guardians,

 

Due to the rain and wet grass, the 2nd & 3rd grade golf trip to Cedar Knoll Country Club will be rescheduled for Thursday June 4th.  If you were unable to volunteer for the June 2nd date and wish to help out with the June 4th date, please email Mr. G.  All lunches ordered through the school will be moved to Thursday.  Please make sure your child wears appropriate footwear (no flip flops  or sandals) and apply sunscreen at home.

 

• 2nd Grade will leave RES at 8:30 and return at 11:30


• 3rd Grade will leave RES at 10:30 and return at 1:45

 

Thanks,

 

Brian Godfrey

P.E. teacher

brian.godfrey@cesuvt.org

Sharing Westward Expansion Projects

A Guest Post from RES Enrichment Teacher Darcie Rankin.  This post originally appeared on the Enrichment at RES

blog.

Westward Expansion Projects

This year I have had the great opportunity to collaborate with the third grade teachers on many of their science and social studies units.  Last month, we worked together to elaborate on student learning about westward expansion by utilizing our enrichment time, and some library time to create student interest projects.  Students spent time learning about some westward expansion topics--everything from clothing, to dangers on the trail, to the Gold Rush was explored using books and online resources!  Next students selected an individual topic that they wanted to learn more about. Students took notes and found images to support their learning.  In their classrooms students wrote a research report on their topic.  During enrichment time students created a project.  The guidelines for this project were broad, and students were encouraged to be creative as they thought about what type of project would best share information about their topic with others. It was really great giving students a chance to explore something they wanted to learn more about, and it provided depth to their in class curriculum learning about westward expansion.

The projects that students designed were as varied as their topics and included: clay models, cooking, wooden models, Google presentations, green screen movies, songs, posters, cartoons, drawings and more!

One important aspect of any project is knowing that your work has an audience.  On Friday, third graders were thrilled to share their great work (reports and projects) with the second grade classes.  Third graders set up their projects and then answered questions as second graders visited each of the classrooms. I was really impressed with the conversations that I witnessed that showed that second graders were truly interested in learning about a new subject and that proved that third graders had become topic experts! This was a great connection for second graders who are starting to think about becoming third graders next year and our third graders were really proud to share their learning.

The below video shows the westward expansion project share so that you too can celebrate this great learning. Enjoy!

Sample Green Screen projects:

More Book Trailers! #tcrwp

Never Girls #6: The Woods Beyond by Kiki Thorpe



Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume



Stink and the Midnight Zombie Walk by Megan McDonald

Still More Book Trailers! #tcrwp

The Magic Bunny by Sue Bentley



Mr. and Mrs. Hay the Horse by Allan Ahlberg



I Survived: The Nazi Invasion of 1944 by Lauren Tarshis



Smile by Raina Telgemeier

More Book Trailers #tcrwp

Fudge-A-Mania by Judy Blume



 

Fudge-A-Mania by Judy Blume

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wan-L0ng Shang



Harry Potters Series by JK Rowling

An Electric Show!

On Wednesday evening, we performed our team play "It's Electrifying" in front of a sold-out crowd of 130+ of our dearest friends and relatives.  It was fantastic show and the actors did a fantastic job!

 

A collection of photos from our evening performance:



And a video of our dress rehearsal performance on Wednesday for the school:

 

A big THANK YOU to the following folks who helped make this show a success:

• Mr. Godfrey for the use of his gym for rehearsals,


• Mr. Arthur for the use of his music room for rehearsals & the audio equipment,


• Brian for his assistance with additional audio equipment and sound assistance


• Bad Wolf Press for the show & the music


• Mr. Berry for photographing & videoing our performances

Sneak Peek: It's Electrifying!

Here's a sneak peek from our rehearsal yesterday...actors wore pieces of their costumes and practiced curtain calls! Can't wait for our performance Wednesday, February 18 at 5:00pm.

Snow Motion Postponed

 

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Image From: www.clipartclipart.com[/caption]

 

Due to the expected chilliness on Friday, February 13th, the 3rd graders Snow Motion visit to Cochran's Ski Area has been postponed.  We will be at RES all day on Friday.  If there is still snow at Cochran's, we'll be visiting on March 20th.

Thank you for your understanding!

 

#StudentLife

Our classes participated in the #StudentLife Challenge today, connecting with other classrooms around the world.  #StudentLife, the brainchild of Wisconsin teacher Pernille Ripp, is a worldwide opportunity for students to show what a school day looks like from a student's perspective.

Here is our #StudentLife:

The day begins by hanging up snow pants...ready for recess in a few hours!

Fact fluency practice (on our Chromebooks) gets our minds revved up for learning!

We officially start the day with a greeting at Morning Meeting.  All are welcome here...

#RESreads lots of books...glad today is library day!

A gathering of 3rd graders for team play practice.  It's our first day "off script"!

(Come watch our performance of "It's Electrifying" on February 18, 2015 at 5:00pm.)

In Library for our first special.  We're learning about book trailers for our opinion writing unit final pieces.

Espanol is our second special.  We're fortunate to have Spanish starting in Kindergarten.

We're using array cards to learn multiplication facts with friends.

We're working on strategies and keeping track of the facts "we know" and the ones we're "working on".

Bundling up for outdoor recess.  It's 11* and sunny...a heat wave!

Reading with our minds on fire, jotting out thoughts on sticky notes.

Practicing cursive letters--an exciting "write" of 3rd grade!

Froggy is our class beta fish.  He entertains us with his swimmy ways!

Learning the language of electric circuits and drawing circuit diagrams in Science class.

We wait patiently to put our Chromebooks away--this is one way we Respect Others at RES.

At the end of the day, papers go into Home-School folders so they don't get lost (at the bottom of backpacks)!

We hope you enjoyed a small taste of our #studentlife.  To see more, search the hashtag #studentlife on Twitter.

Electricity Up Close

Earlier this month, we were lucky to have folks from the Vermont Electric Cooperative join us to help kick off our new Electricity unit in Science.  They shared with us the different ways that electricity is created for us to use, how we use it, and how the lineworkers stay safe while working on the lines in the aftermath of big storms.  In fact, several of us saw these lineworks firsthand last month in the days after the big snowstorm!



 

How does electricity get to us?

Learning about renewable and nonrenewable sources of energy.

 

Trying out the safety harnesses that lineworkers wear to work on the lines...it is HEAVY!

Thank you to the VEC for taking time from your busy schedules to share your work with us!

Snow Motion, Week 1

On Friday, third graders had the opportunity to ski and/or ride at Cochrans Ski Area for the first time.  After getting the basics from the lodge, skiers headed out to the Mighty Mite to show off their skills before being grouped with other skiers/riders and a volunteer to head out to the big hill via the T-bar.



Other students wrestled with their ski boots for the first time (those bindings are TRICKY!) and then made their way out to Mr. G to try their hand at skating with one and then both skis before making their way to a mini-hill to try out these skills downhill.  Eventually, most students made their way to the Mighty Mite where they were able to continue practicing skills on the rope tow.  We'll keep building these skills when we return to Cochran's later this winter.



 

One of the most important skill our new skier and riders learned (and we'll keep reinforcing in the weeks to come!) is not only how to fall safely, but also how to get back up on your skis!!



 

By the end of the day, even though we were tired, we were exhilarated to learn a new skills and smiles were abundant!



 

THANK YOU, Mr. G & Cochrans Ski Area for allowing us this opportunity and to all the parent volunteers who helped to make this program possible.  We'll see you on the mountain...

Exploring Squishy Circuits!

As we dive into our Electricity unit in our classrooms, Mrs. Rankin is helping us to explore in new and creative ways during Enrichment class.  Last week, we built on our knowledge of circuits by exploring with Squishy Circuits!  Using conductive and insulating dough, we explored various ways to create circuits to light LEDs, run fans or even small motors!  Exciting times...and a great start to our new unit of learning!

 

Thank you to all of our dough-making volunteers!  We're still looking for volunteers to make more dough to add to our classroom makerspaces, please let your child's teacher know if you willing to make an easy batch.  We'll provide you with an easy-to-follow recipe!

Dough Needed for Squishy Circuits!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Image from www.sciencebuddies.org[/caption]

 

Starting this week, third graders are beginning an exploration of electricity as one of our science units during Theme time.  Earlier this year, we received a grant from UVM's Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering to bolster this unit with a makerspace and corresponding activities.  One such activity is "Squishy Circuits."  In order for this to happen, we need YOUR help to make conductive and insulating dough from an easy-to-follow recipe.  Please sign up on the Sign-Up Genius link or leave us a comment and we'll be sure to get the recipe to you quickly.

 

Big Bad Bob...Another Storytelling Adventure! #tcrwp

Just prior to our holiday vacation, 3rd graders were treated to yet another story by our very talented Superintendent John Alberghini!  This time, he shared with us the much anticipated story of a bull frog he once met and named "Big Bad Bob."  

And a huge THANK YOU to our Principal Michael Berry for capturing this story on video for us to watch again and again!

Learning from an Author! #tcrwp

Yesterday, Juli Brenning visited RES and spoke to us about her process as a writer.

We learned that when she writes stories, it starts with an idea and then, using her imagination she transforms the story into one that will be a wonderful children's book.   In 3rd grade, we talked about how we can start writing a true story by taking a small moment and zoom in to tell all the little details of a story.  Juli's story, Maggie and Milo, is a small moment from a time Juli visited family in Richmond!

Also, Julie shared that it takes a million rewrites to get the story nearly perfect.   In writing workshop, we're always working to revise our writing, adding little bits here and there to improve our writing.  How reassuring to know that we're learning the process that published authors use!

Juli, thank you for sharing your story with us and talking to us about your writing process.  Mrs. Redford, thank you for making this possible for students at RES!

Studying Geology at RES #STEM

As part of our study of Geology this fall, scholars were tasked with researching the impact of water on the land around RES.  To begin this task, we first approached Mr. Berry to find out his expertise...he shared the following video with us:

Then, small groups from each classroom explored these areas, took photographs, and thought about how to share this information with others.  Using our Chromebooks, we tried out a new app (Movenote), but ran into some "technical difficulties" while working on it.  Scholars exhibited lots of flexibility as we worked through these problems together.  And, as is often the case with newer technology, sometimes it doesn't go as planned.

Here are some of the videos students created.  We would LOVE to hear your feedback about our research...please leave us a comment with your thoughts or questions.  Thanks!

Erosion Around the Edge of RES

Erosion Behind the RES Sign

Erosion at the RES/CHMS Hockey Rink

Erosion at the RES Playground

Erosion Behind the 3/4 Wing

Introducing...Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBACs)

This Spring, 3rd graders will be taking a new assessment aligned with the Common Core State Standards.  This assessment will be an online test that students will take using their Chromebooks.  As we progress through this school year, we are giving students an opportunity to become familiar with their Chromebooks, learn touch-typing skills, and practice tasks similar to those expected with the SBAC.

In the RES Podcast this week, Mr. Berry highlighted some of the important aspects of these tests in his conversation with Michael Hock, Director of Assessment from the Vermont Agency of Education.  (It's the second half of the audio, about 4 minutes.)  As the year continues, RES staff will be attending conferences and discussing how to best prepare our students for these assessments.  We'll be sure to share this information with you, too.



In the meantime, you can check out some of the released practice items for this assessment.  Sample SBAC Questions:  Preview questions (not necessarily Grade 3) in a format similar to those that will be asked on the SBAC assessment.

As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!