Welcome

Classroom News

Welcome to the Sonoran Desert!!

Last week we read a great book called Desert Giant , by Barbara Bash.  This book is about the great Saguaro Cactus, which lives in the Sonoran Desert and provides food and shelter for many desert animals.  We concluded our study of this beautiful cactus and animals of the desert with a "Who Am I?" play.  Each third grader researched and wrote about their desert animal.  At the end of the week we performed our guessing game style play for the second and first grade.  The third graders did a great job and their play was a wonderful success!

Social Studies News!

This week we had a visitor visit us from 1627 Plimoth Plantation.  His name was Master Goodman and he told us about his journey on the Mayflower in 1620 and his first years in his new land.  He shared with us stories about the clothing, food, and lifestyle of the Colonists who lived during this time.  He ended his presentation by dressing some of our third grade students in his "childrens' " clothing!

Madison and Jason getting dressed!

Zachary in baby's clothing!

Colonial Times

We finished off the week by diving head first into a study of Colonial Times.  For a read aloud the kids are listening to Meet Felicity, an American Girl book that takes place in Colonial Williamsburg.  The students were also divided into expert groups.  Each group studied a different aspect of colonial life and presented their information to the class.  Once the third graders had heard all the presentations, they chose the topic that interested them most and wrote a paragraph.  Everyone did a great job!

Zach, Rebecca and Madison teach about                                       Joshua, Robert and Caitlin teach us that

medicine during Colonial Times. There were very                          colonial families had to grow or hunt for their

few doctors and people made medicine from herbs.                        food.                 

Brianna, Hannah and James explain that most colonists              Devin and Emily tell us about the small, drafty houses

made their clothes out of sheep's wool.                                          most colonists lived in.

Jason, Madison and Annabella explain that school during                   Sabrina, Heather, Devyn and Brandon teach us about all the

colonial times was very different than today!                                         chores colonial kids had to do!

Charlotte and Maya reassure us that though kids had a lot of chores,

they still found time to play!

Science

We are studying the water and the water cycle in science!  Last week the students broke into expert groups to teach their classmates about different aspects of water: the three states of water, how water changes states, and the water cycle!  The presentations were very informative and creatively delivered!  Good Work Third Graders!!

Below are some pictures of expert groups preparing their presentations!

We also made Water Cycle in a Bag experiments!!  You can see the water cycle in action!

Field Trip

We recently took a fantastic field trip to some different National Seashore sites in Eastham.  We took a walk along the beach, a salt marsh, and through upper woodland forest, all habitats surrounding the Coast Guard Station!  After lunch we took walks on the Button Bush Trail and the Nauset Marsh Trail, which are both located at the Salt Pond Visitor's Center!  What a great day we had!

Back to Water and Weather!

Our study of water led to a mini-unit on weather and who better to teach us about weather than our resident expert Ms. O'Leary!!  Ms. O'Leary taught us a great lesson on clouds and we wrapped it up by drawing cloud pictures!