Winter Break

Dear Families,
I'd like to thank each and every one of you for your continued support, gifts and kind words throughout the year. I appreciate every day that I can spend with your amazing children. Our days in 3rd grade are filled with curiosity, learning, sharing, and caring. We learn from one another and we look forward to each day together. Your support is a big part of our success every day.

Best Wishes for a restful break and a peaceful New Year in 2015!
Sincerely,
Bethany Robinson

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're Publishing Our Non-fiction Books!

The students have worked hard on their non-fiction research projects!  Weeks ago, we began the process of choosing a topic and researching on safe websites.  We learned how to take notes on index cards and organize our information into categories.  After reviewing skills to help us write paragraphs and studying non-fiction text features, we began writing drafts.  We accepted that the first draft would be messy, and changes would need to be made.  We learned strategies for editing, checking for capitalization, punctuation and correct spelling.  We also read our drafts to various classmates in hopes of receiving constructive feedback that would help our writing be the best it can be.  Revisions were made based on the suggestions of others.  More revisions were made as we began to write our "neat copy" or final draft. 

Appropriate text features are chosen, pictures are selected and titles are being created. Now, we're putting it all together!  Here are some pictures of us working on our final drafts this week.

Let's Build Forts and Read!

End of the First Quarter

Believe it or not, the first quarter of our school year is coming to a close.  The past 9 weeks have been full of new friendships, new routines and learning the expectations of 3rd grade. Students have gained the skills needed to work independently and communicate what they need to others for better understanding. We are going to continue to build a community of care, trust and teamwork with our classmates as we begin the Second Quarter. 

I thank you all for your continued support at home and for taking time to meet with me during the first quarter conferences.  If you discover that you have more questions or concerns, please contact me right away.  I am always happy to talk on the phone or email with you all!

Art Appreciation

Chaos vs. Order

Our class will enjoy several art print lessons with a "twist" this year.  We are going to compare and contrast several different pieces of art.  We started today with 2 paintings that give you different feelings.  One student summarized the lesson well by saying that one painting made her feel calm and the other one made her feel uncomfortable.  

We started by looking at The Meet at Blagdon by JW Snow.

 

How do you FEEL when you look at this painting? 

  

What do you notice about the setting of the painting? 

What do you notice about the subjects?

Then we thought about Horse Fair by  Rosa Bonheur.

 

  How is this painting different than The Meet at Blagdon? 

How does this painting make you FEEL?  

Which painting would you rather hang in your bedroom and why did you choose that one?

The students worked together to create scenarios and poses for photos that give the same feelings to the audience.  The teams brainstormed ways to give a feeling of calm and order.  They created these poses....

 Next, the teams created ways to show chaos in a pose for a photograph.  (Remember photographs, like paintings, don't show motion or sound!)  The students came up with these photos...  Believe it or not, these are still poses.  :-)  Enjoy!

I think we're all looking forward to our next lesson to build an appreciation for art!