Another Day in 3rd Grade!

We are getting close to the finish line! Yay!

Today was a good day. I love how the students feel so comfortable around me. Every morning the students all run up to me and talk about everything and anything. I love it. I like that they feel comfortable and safe around me. This morning, I got hugs from all the girls and a few boys – I was so surprised. In the morning, my MT had an IEP meeting, so I taught the meth lesson. It was pretty easy, and the students seemed to understand right away. They have been working on this lesson for a few days, so it was good to see that they are grasping the material. As always, I had them work as partners for the problem set.

Next was my literacy lesson. This went really well. The lesson was on comparing and contrasting two texts. The students had read a story about fossils; today, we read another short story. I thought it would be fun to do something with fossils in the AS – and I was right! The story we read today was about accidentally finding fossils, so I hid them around the class and had the students walk around and accidentally stumble upon them. They loved it! I’ll post a picture below of the fossils that I made.

They were all different, so I had them compare and contrast them with a friend. Then we went into the reading, and I asked a few questions. As we were reading, I constantly restated that I wanted to keep the other story in the back of their minds as we read this one. Think of how these texts are similar and how they are different. After we finished the story, we went over comparing and contrasting. I asked a few questions to prepare them for the activity that followed. We did a hands-on Venn Diagram. I had two hula hoops and had them look like a Venn Diagram. I had the students write an interesting fact or something that they learned on a piece of paper. Once they did this, I had them place it correctly, and then we discussed all of them. The students seemed to enjoy this! After the students completed a worksheet on their own!

Later in the afternoon, we made corn husk dolls. The students are learning about the Iroqiou – we went to the Field Museum last week and saw some exhibits related to this. We learned how corn was very important to them, so we made these dolls. I later related this back to them. These children played with these dolls just like you play with your toys. This is what they had access to. They had a good time making these; some had a difficult time with this, so I had to work around the room to assist as many as possible. I’ll attach a photo of the finished product of these dolls!

Today I really learned to go with the flow. The math was sprung on me as well as a few other things. I learned to be flexible, as this is VERY crucial when it comes to being a teacher.

Week 12

Another day in the classroom! Today was an exciting day – a lot was going on. First, I taught my math lesson, and it went well. This lesson was on interpreting measurement data from various points on a plot line. This lesson was #6 within the chapter, so the students had previous knowledge and were knowledgeable about the information. I had no idea how the students would do in this lesson. When I talked with my MT, she worried about my teaching because she was unsure how the students would grasp the information. I think the students did awesomely! They were blasting through the lesson right with me. They knew so much more than I thought they would go into my teaching day. I had tried to ask questions before my lesson to gauge their knowledge to see how much they knew right away. I had a blast with this lesson. Math is usually dull, and it was, but the students seemed to be enjoying my teaching! I think I did a good job with this lesson. I’ll attach some photos of the student’s exit tickets!

In the afternoon, the 3rd-grade class had a visitor. There was a student teacher about 20 years ago who is now an author, so he was invited to come and talk with the students. This was so cute to see. The students were acting like he was a crazy movie star or something!

Week 11

Hi, it’s me! I’m reporting on another week in the books! This week was a good week. I had a lot of fun in the 3rd grade classroom. To start off, I taught my first literacy lesson and it went well! I taught the students about character traits and how to find them within a story. This lesson like I said went awesome. All the students paid attention and were really respectful of themselves and each other. They listened well, did everything I asked and then some! My MT was also really impressed with my lesson. She said that she could not have taught a better lesson, so this made me feel really good! I did a lot of teaching this day as well. After this I led a guided reading lesson. I pulled a group of lower level reading students and we read a leveled reader. During this time I led a group discussion as well. It was really fun and great experience as we had a guided reading center activity due in one of my other classes. After this, I led a phonics lesson again and assisted in the social studies lesson too. I was really in a groove and had a great time leading the classroom today!

I’ll attach some of the student work from my literacy lesson on character traits!