First Day Feelings After listening to the book First Day Jitters, we created a pictograph of how we were feeling on our first day. I was thrilled to find out that most of the kiddos were excited to be at school! This was also a great way to start our first math unit on graphing. Exploring Math Tools Mathematicians use tools to help them solve problems and think about math, so we spent some time exploring some of the tools we will use throughout the year. This is a great way to get the kiddos thinking about how the tools could be used for math, which is exactly what each group discussed and recorded as they used the tools. They came up with lots of ways to use the tools in math and they created some unique designs/buildings as they explored. I took pictures with my phone and haven't uploaded all of them yet. (I keep a camera at school to use for photos. It's just easier to load them right on my laptop at school instead of having to deal with uploading pics from my iphone). Saving Fred Team Building Challenge Our first team building activity was to save Fred. This is one of my favorite group challenges. Students worked together to save Fred, (a gummy worm), after his boat capsized, (a cup). The challenge was to turn the boat over, retrieve the life vest, (a gummy lifesaver), put the life vest around Fred, and place Fred back in the boat. The hard part..they could only use paper clips to save Fred, (no hands). Everyone had tons of fun and every group successfully saved Fred! I was so impressed with how all the teams worked together. Find a Friend Bingo We played a game where students went around the room searching for friends who had eaten ice cream recently, traveled on a plane over the summer, went on vacation, etc. The goal was to find someone different for each box. We had lots of fun and met some new friends! Marshmallow and Toothpick Tower Team Building Challenge We worked with Mrs. Lipe's class for our second team building challenge which was to build the tallest structure with only toothpicks and marshmallows. The structure had to be free standing, (much more difficult than it seems). Partners and trios discussed ideas, created models, improved their ideas, and worked hard to try to build the tallest structure. Akhil and Woojin had the tallest tower at 17 inches! Game of Squares Students played the Game of Squares, (click here for the link). In this game you have to figure out how to move different squares, but there are NO directions-no words at all. At each level there are new challenges that to figure out, (and some things that applied in previous levels change). As students played, I recorded comments they made. Early on, most of the comments were more negative such as, "This is too hard. I can't do level ___." I used this experience as an entry point to math. We discussed how mathematicians have to solve challenging problems by exploring possibilities and using prior knowledge. The best part is...the game is sooooo much fun! Me Museums Our Me Museum displays were awesome! Everyone wrote a few sentences explaining their personal items and photos so that we could learn more about each other. Once our displays were ready, we went on a gallery walk to view all of the displays. I really enjoyed looking at all the photos and finding out about hobbies, interests, and favorite books. Many of the kiddos found classmates that liked some of the same things and were excited to share their interests. What a fun, interesting event to wrap up our week! Decorating Writing Notebooks One of the kiddos said she LOVED her writing notebook now that it is decorated and she thanked me for letting them personalize the notebooks. That made my week! They really do like their notebooks decorated and covered with tape. The photos and personal stickers/decorations will hopefully inspire them as writers throughout the year. If you didn't sent in a photo for your child, it's not too late to add it to the notebook. Cup Stacking Challenge
For this challenge, we partnered with Mrs. Raney's class. This was another way to build community within the grade level and our class. Students worked with a partner to stack the cups and then try to pull out the cardstock so that the cup on top slide right on top of the cup underneath. It's definitely a challenge! We also did a ping pong ball catching challenge.Both challenges were lots of fun. There were cheers, high fives, laughter, and smiles! Perfect end of the day activity on the Friday of our first week! Be sure to ask your child all about our first week challenges!
0 Comments
We had a wonderful first day! everything went smoothly as we learned procedures and routines for 3rd grade. We spent some time getting to know, learning about the school PAWS expectations, listening to stories, and making a class pictograph to show our how we were feeling about the first day. Our favorite activity was exploring math tools in small groups. Everyone enjoyed time using pattern blocks, colored tiles, wooden cubes, bases ten blocks, and snap cubes. As students explored, they talked with their group about how the tools could be used for math. I was impressed with some of their ideas.
Tomorrow and the rest of the week, we will continue getting to know each other as we ease into our learning. We'll begin setting up our reading and writing workshop, learn about growth mindset, and dive in to some math activities. Also, students will participate in some team building activities. Thank you for sending in all the supplies for your child, tissues, extra supplies, and ziploc bags. I am so grateful for all of your contributions. We are off to a great start and I am ready for day two! Please let me know if you have any questions! It was great to meet everyone during Supply Drop Off Thursday or Family Night Friday evening. I am so excited that your child is in my class and I can't to start our year together. If you didn't have a chance to drop off all of your child's supplies, just have them bring it on the first day.
Also, if you haven't had a chance to complete the Student/Family information form, click here. Thank you! I'm looking forward to greeting the kiddos on Tuesday morning! Please email me if you have any questions. |
Archives
November 2019
Mrs. Swyers3rd Grade Teacher |