Building a Powerful Reading Life

Today we launched our reader's workshop and third graders were so excited!  They shared where their favorite places to read were and why they love to read.  Our third grade readers eagerly jumped into some books, either rereading old favorites or discovering new ones.  We are so excited by the enthusiasm for reading displayed by all!

It's a New Year!

We have successfully completed our first day of the 2015-2016 school year...and it went by sooooo quickly!

  
While getting to know new friends and teachers, we also reminded ourselves of our school-wide expectations and routines.  Our favorite, of course, is recess!!

   
  

We look forward to a fantastic year together.  Welcome to 3rd Grade!!

Mrs. Ankerson's Class: 

   
Mrs. Ayer's class:

  

 

Miss Darby's class:

  

   

  

Sneak a Peek to the New School Year

We're soooo excited to start the 2015-2016 school year and we're going to give you the chance to see a sneak peak on Friday, August 21st, from 2:30-3:30 pm.   We're opening the doors to our classrooms (before they're ready!!) in the hopes that you'll come in and say hello!

Hope to see you!

 

Looking forward to a new year...

On move-up day in June, we asked our future third graders to share with us things they were looking forward to in the coming school year and they provided many.  We're looking forward to all of this (and more!) as we begin gearing up for the start of the new school year.

In the coming weeks, you'll receive a summer letter (we'll post it here, too!) with information and a shopping list for the beginning of the school year.  And we'll begin organizing and preparing our classrooms for the first day of school, August 26th.  See you then!

Created with Tagul.com

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!

Fairy Tale Read Aloud! #tcrwp

This afternoon, 3rd graders gathered on the lawn of RES to share the fairy tales that they've been writing and illustrating over the last few weeks.  A few of our families and a class of kindergartners stopped by to hear the stories...

We're really proud of our 3rd Grade Authors!

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:

A Special Thank You for Our Parents

In an effort to find a way to thank you for all your support, here is a little something for you to watch:



Again, thank you!!

Live Webcast of Hatching

Spring has finally arrived!  Our chickens are due to hatch anywhere from Sunday to Wednesday.  You can click on the link to take a peek at any new arrivals.  It is an exciting time in the third grade classrooms.

Mrs. Ayer's Class

Fraction Math Conjectures

In math this week, third graders have been reading conjectures about fractions.  Conjectures in math are when a claim is made about a math concept or skill, but it hasn't been proved yet.  Working with partners or in small groups students had to decide if the conjecture was true or false.  Using the area model and/or distance model (number line) they then had to support their answer with evidence and present it to the class.

Ask your child about one of the conjectures below.  They should be able to tell you if it is true or false and why!

• Eating 1/4 of a small pizza is the same as eating 1/4 of a large pizza because they used the same fraction.  True/False


• When comparing two fractions with the same denominator and different numerators, the fraction with the greater numerator is larger.  True/False


• When comparing two fractions with the same numerator and different denominators, the fraction with the greater denominator is larger.  True/False

More Book Trailers

Baby Mouse

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

Book Trailers

 

Judy Moody Book Trailer

Balto Book Trailer

Book Trailers #tcrwp

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner



 

 

Danger at the Zoo by Kathleen Ernst


Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney

Book Trailer: Bigfoot Boy

Ivy and Bean

More Book Trailers

Book Trailers

Book Trailers

Book Trailers: We are So Proud! #resvt #cesuvt #TCRWP

This is a guest post by RES teacher librarian, Beth Redford

We are SO PROUD of our third grade scholars for their hard work and perseverance on their book trailers! A book trailer is like a movie trailer: it's a short video advertisement that tells an audience a little about a book. In order to create these trailers, the scholars did the following:

• wrote voiceovers as persuasive texts during Writing Workshop


• learned to use Google Advanced Image Search to find reusable (not copyrighted) images


• found and saved images for their their trailers


• learned to use either WeVideo or Screencastify Google Apps to create their trailers


• added images and recorded voiceovers. Some scholars even added music!

Along the way they encountered some technical problems with the Google Apps they were using, but they showed great determination to finish their trailers and make them excellent. We think they succeeded!

We hope you enjoy these first few trailers. We will be sharing more soon.

Book trailer made with WeVideo

 

 

Book trailer made with Google Slides and Screencastify

Opinion Writing and Book Trailers #resvt #cesuvt #TCRWP

This is a guest post by our teacher librarian, Beth Redford.

As part of their current unit on persuasive writing, third graders are writing and producing book trailers to convince their classmates to read the books they recommend. A book trailer is like a movie trailer: it's a short video advertisement that tells an audience a little about a book. The scholars have finished writing the words for their scripts, and now they are finding images to put into their videos. As they do this, they are learning and reinforcing important digital citizenship skills such as citing their sources and only using images for which the photographers have given permission for reuse.

The scholars also put together a great list of tips for using images to make their book trailers even more persuasive. They made these suggestions after watching several professional and student made book trailers and deciding what made them less or more effective.

 

Tips for Making a Persuasive Book Trailer

by RES grade 3 scholars

Images

• Your first image should be the cover of your book


• Use the same image for a character throughout the book trailer (don’t use three different cats for one cat character!)


• The images you use for your characters should actually look like the characters


• You can use illustrations from your book if it has them


• Your images should match your book - funny images for a funny book, creepy images for a scary book

Next the third graders will be recording their voiceovers and adding music to their book trailers. Stay tuned for updates on this exciting project!

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.

Beast Quest

Do you like Dragons and sad stories? Then you should read Beast Quest Ferno the Fire Dragon, by Adam Blade and illustrated by Ezra Tucker.  In the beginning the Knight tells his skwire “ I'm going to climb that mountain.’’ So he did. He climbed the mountain and his scwire was frozen with fear . When the the brave knight got to the top his skwire yeled “Come down!!!!’’ Then he realised that the mountain WAS the dragon! The brave knight released that the dragon WAS the mountain to! My opinion of this book is that it starts out sad then everything changed and it began to be awesome and cool.

Theres also a character that is eager and adventures.  He is eager when he really wants to save his village from the DRAGON. Tom’s uncle Henry set up an emergency meeting and he was looking for someone to ask the KING for help.  THEN THE ADVENTURE BEGINS!!!!  When Tom woke up and quickly got up and put something called a chain-mail. I don’t know what a chain-mail is but you can find out if you read this book!

Just read this book to find out [what a chain-mail is and also see] if Tom wins against the DAGON!!

By Benjamin

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!

 

Dinosaurs Before Dark

                                                             

            I am reading Dinosaur Before Dark and If you like Magic Tree House then you will like Dinosaur Before By Mary Pope Osborne.

This is about a boy and a girl and a Dinosaur and they try to see is there more Dinosaur’s in the wood’s but if you want to know you should read this book it is fun to read.

The characters are a boy and girl and there name’s are Annie and Jack.

Jack find’s book’s in the tree house and they were duster and dirty. Jack  found a book and Jack called it ‘About  dinosaur’s’ and Jack said’s in it dinosaur are fuzzy skin, small brain.

Annie like’s Dinosaur’s and Annie find’s one. Jack said don’t kiss, hug the dinosaur I meant it and Annie said ok but I love dinosaur’s please then Jack said ‘dinosaur are mean’ then Annie said ‘ok’ but Annie kiss, hug the dinosaur. when Jack was not looking at Annie.

Annie and Jack thought the dinosaur is ugly but it was not ugly it was just a regular dinosaur.

and Annie is cool,brave.

I like this book because it is a Adventure book and I like Adventures books and if you like Adventure books then you should read this book Dinosaur Before Dark By Mary Pope Osborne.

by kailey

Afternoon on the Amazon

Do you like books that have magic in them? If you do you will love Afternoon on the

Amazon  by Mary pope Osborne. This book is about two kids that go on Adventures.  They go places long before them. Annie is scared of big bugs but she is not afraid of really scarey stuff. Jack is not scared of big bugs. Jack and Annie are eventres.

For example when they go on a wild boat ride. Thats adventurous because it could be any where and they don’t know what is in the river.  

And Jack likes naming big bugs. Thats eventers because it could be any kind of bug like a poisenis bug.  And Annie cares about animals. Thats eventers because it could be any kind of animal.

In the book they go on an adventure on the Amazon with them they brought a mouse. And they run in to a Crocodile. And they run in to piranhas. And a monkey that keeps throwing pears at them.Then finally when they get out of the water Annie finds a jaguar that tries eating there heads of.

Jack loves to read. I know that because every time in a bad places he takes out a book to read what it could be that there ethor  hearing or seeing or where they are.

I think you should read this book because it makes you feel like you are  in the Amazon.

It tells you what things are in the Amazon. And makes you feel like you’re seeing the animals that are in the book.

By Owen N.

Angels Don't Do Karate

Do you believe in angels? I believe in angels too and that they come and check on you once in awhile. The book is Angels Don’t Do Karate by ___________. Angela Michaels is a crossing guard, a karate teacher, and saved Eddie. She’s the main character of the book.People think she’s an angel and people think her jacket is hiding her wings.

Angela Michaels protects people. She saves Eddie.She caught him at the bottom of the tree. Ben called him a scaredy cat so he climbed a tree. It collapsed and Edie fell. She is a crossing guard and makes sure people don’t get hurt by cars. She teaches karate and she teaches people to protect themselves from bullies.

You should read this book once in awhile. You should believe in angels, same as the kids in this book, Angels Don’t Do Karate.

by Hanna

The Red Pyramid

Do you like books with adventurous characters? Well if you do then read The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan.                                                                                     

This story starts with two kids whose names are Carter and Sadie Kane. One d figure out that they are magicians of the house of life (Magicians are people who fight against Apophis and don't like the gods). Carter and Sadie are also hosted by gods. Horus hosts Carter and Isis hosts Sadie (which means that the house of life doesnt like them). But the house of life still decides to train them to defeat Apophis. The house of life gives them a teacher named Zia Rashid who is hosted by the river goddess.Then Sadies cat muffin play with knives(because muffin is really the cat goddess Bast) who takes them to Brooklin house which is a warehouse to mortals and a mansion to none mortals (like magicians). And they met their uncle Amos Kane!

I think Carter is brave because he fights the sun god Set in hand to hand combat at the red pyramid and he won! but he almost passed out because he used too much magic

Another reason I think Carter is brave is when he fought the 5th powerful magician and the 6th powerful magician who both summoned suffixes from Egypt. And Carter won another battle again.

Saide is chance giving for example when she gives Set a chance to help the other gods defeat Apophis or to help Apophis defeat the other gods and rule the world.

Another reason Saide is chance giving is when she gives a demon a chance to help them defeat Set because he thinks that Set is evil even to his minions (demons) because he makes them build the red pyramid.

As you see Carter and Sadie are adventurous, brave and chance giving characters. You will probably like this book if you like characters that are adventurous, brave and chance giving like Carter and Sadie Kane.

by Cyrus

Frog and Toad Are Friends

The I book Read  was Frog and Toad are friends  by Arnold lobel.

 

Frog is very clever because he tricked toad into  thinking that it was May.

Frog got sick and went into toads bed and frog asked can you

tell  me  a storey toad thought and thought and told Frog

that he could not think of a story so they went on a hike. and  and went back home and Toad fell  a sleep.  I enjoyed this book because it was funny.

              In another chapter Toad lost his button frog was clever and he told Toad we can retrace are steps they asked everyone  so Toad went back home and the button was on the porch with all the buttons they found he  made   a coat for Frog.

  In this  book it teaches you how to be clever and it is a very hilarious  book. it is hilarious because toad had a funny  bathingsuit and everyone laughed  at him.

by  Alex E.       

The Panda Puzzle

January 27, 2015

Do you like books that have kids that solve mysteries?

Well the book I am going to tell you about is called The Panda Puzzle by Ron Roy. And it has three kids that solve mysteries!The three kids names are Dink, Ruth Rose and Josh. In the book they go to panda park together. In panda park the day before they went a new baby panda arrived. The next day when they did go to panda park the mother panda ran out of the cave and banged on the fence BANG! And the kids did not know why she banged on the fence.Then when everybody left the kids found a fishing knife and an alarm clock.And they found the fishing knife lying in the bamboo in the panda cage. Then they knew somebody stole the baby panda!Because the baby panda was gone! And they wanted to find out the mystery of the stolen baby panda.And who stole it.    

I think Ruth Rose is good at finding clues Like when they found a fishing knife lying in the bamboo.And she does not give up because in the book she really wanted to find out who stole it. And I think Josh tells little jokes.And he does not like to watch his little brothers. And Dink keeps track of things they find. Like when they ask Flip some questions and Dink wrote it down in his notebook. Flip is a character who they think stole the baby panda. And he makes health shakes.   

I also think you should read the book to find out who stole the baby panda.And I think you will like this book because you might like books that have mysterious characters.  

I like mystery books because they have surprises.And they are mysterious. Find out who stole the baby panda in the book the Panda Puzzle by Ron Roy. HAPPY READING! By     Ava!

Esio Trot

January 27, 2015

If you like turtles then I think you should read the book Esio Trot , by Roald Dahl. In this book there are three main characters: Mr. Hoppy, Mrs. Silver, and Alfie the turtle.  Mr. Hoppy lives      on the balcony above Mrs. Silver and her best friend Alfie.  But Mrs. Silver wishes that Alfie would get just a little bit bigger, and says she will do anything to get Alfie bigger, and all of the sudden  Mr. Hoppy get’s a great idea. I think Mr. Hoppy is nice and also a trickster.

I like Mr. Hoppy because he is nice for an example when he says to Alfie: “Alfie is looking well this morning” that is nice because it is nice comment . And another example of Mr. Hoppy being nice is when he writes her the letters of what to say to get the turtle bigger. And another example is when he says “Absolutely gorgeous”, that is nice because it would feel good for somebody  to give you that comment. And He is a trickster for an example when he goes to every pet store in town and bys turtles that look like Alfie but weigh a little bit more, and look the same to get turtles to switch them with Alfie, so Mrs. Silver thinks he is growing.

And another example is when he gives Mrs. Silver the magic words, and says that they will make Alfie get bigger, but, when he is switches the turtles .

In conclusion if you like books with tricksters and nice characters in them then read this book.

By Anna

The Ghost Witch

Jenny saw the ghost which and got scared !The Ghost witch by Betty Ren Wright is about a girl who has to move into a house that has a ghost witch in it she was scared at first but in the end she was not scared. I think this book is scary with the ghost witch in it

Jenny is scared and brave for example Jenny is scared when she goes in miss nagles haws .The door opened and Jenny had not touched it at all. Jenny is brave when she decides to go in miss nagles haws again.Jenny is brave when she goes to the last  door of  the haws. she is scared when she opens the last door of the haunted haws. Jenny is scared when she sees the dragon in the mirror! Jenny is scared when she sees the  Ghost Witch imagine how scary that is. What is scarier than a Ghost?............ a Ghost of a Witch!                                                                                                                                            

As you can see Jenny is brave and scared if you like books with characters that are scared and brave you might like the Ghost witch.

by Grace W.  

Ramona's World

Jan.27 2015

Aaahhh…..Went the noise of Ramona’s baby sister Roberta’s screaming.

She was stuck in a Kitty Condo (Which is a furry box that cats like to hang out in.)

because like her sister Ramona she was silly and she did silly things a lot. Ramona was cat sitting for her best friend Daisy.

Ramona used to have a cat when she was little named Picky-Picky, but he died, and she missed having a cat around.

Ramona’s 9 and in 4th grade.

This book is called Ramona’s World written by: Beverly Cleary.

                                  

Ramona is very silly like I said before, for example: She thinks that her teacher is mean because she made Ramona do spelling when she’s bad at it.

Ramona is also silly she thinks that people don’t like her and she thinks that because she made a sheet to tell her teacher (because Ramona doesn’t know anything about her teacher and her teacher doesn’t know anything about Ramona.) about herself and she got some words wrong, and her teacher Mrs. Meacham was putting her words that she got wrong on the whiteboard and her teacher was saying that she wouldn’t want people to think she was writing things other people wouldn’t understand what she was saying, for example: Mrs.Meacham said you wouldn’t want someone to think that you were on a coach instead of a couch which she wrote, and everybody was laughing at her and Ramona thought that Mrs. Meacham did that on purpose so everyone would laugh at her because she didn’t like her.

And this is only 2 examples about how Ramona is silly even though most of the book is about all kinds of funny things that everyone does!

So if you like funny books with silly people in them read Ramona’s World or any of the books with Ramona in them like…..

Ramona the Pest, or Ramona the Brave, or maybe Ramona Forever, or Ramona Quimby age 8, there are much more books that Beverly Cleary writes with Ramona in them, so these are only a few of them.           

So in conclusion, I think that if you like books with funny characters you should read Ramona’s World. And these are my reasons on how Ramona Quimby is silly, so if you like  books with people that are silly you should read Ramona’s World.

Written By:

Zoe R.