Blog Archives

Third Grade Research!

1/26/2016

So it's the Spring Semester. And the Spring Semester means RESEARCH!!! More research than you could possibly imagine all crammed into a few short months. It's exhilarating. (yep. I'm weird. I'ts cool.)

Yesterday and today, the third grade and I broke into research by looking at Encyclopedias and Databases (one in particular). We talked about the difference between print and electronic resources and then they used a Smore (no, not the tasty gooey kind) to learn the basics of using each for gathering information!

Each student had chosen a topic to research. I loved their creativity (they ranged from dogs and sharks to lamborghinis and internal combustion engines) and can't wait to see their finished products!

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Second Grade Author Studies

1/15/2016

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Over the last two weeks, the second graders of Ashley Elementary have been studying two great authors - Jan Brett and Tomie dePaola! We have had a great time learning more about each author and the books they have written.

Last week, we used Google Maps and Google Earth to take a journey to the settings of several of the Jan Brett's books. First, we learned how to use Google Maps by taking a tour of our school and noticing the different views and pieces of information that were provided. They were great at pointing out the symbols that were present on each type of map, but street view was by far our favorite! We could see people on our playground!!

Then we talked about all the places Jan Brett used in each of her books: Denmark, Costa Rica, Canada, and even Ukraine. We learned that Mrs. Brett uses pictures of each of these places to get inspirations for the illustrations in her books. By the time we were done, we had traveled the whole world in just a few minutes! And we had learned about countries we had never seen as well as how some illustrators get ideas for their art!

This week, we have been studying Tomie dePaola! After looking into some of Mr. dePaola's books, I think we were all ready to eat! We read Pancakes for Breakfast, a wordless picture book and focused on the order of the action in the book.

After reading through the book carefully (pretty hard to do with no words right?), we used transition words to retell the plot as a whole group. They were fantastic! I've never seen so many hands in the air (it was almost as if they were waving them and they just didn't care...).

Then we had a chance to practice on our own. Here is where we all got reeeeeaaaaaallllly hungry!! Using some pancake ingredient stand-ins, the kiddos walked their classmates through their idea of a perfect pancake breakfast (using those transition words, of course.). I must say, some of those pancakes look pretty delectable!

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New Week...New Book...

1/12/2016

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So we just got a HUGE shipment of new books and I couldn't be happier! They have been flying off the shelves - I consider myself lucky to be alive and typing this today. I could have been trampled by hordes of enthusiastic readers!

Mesmerized: how Ben Franklin solved a mystery that baffled all of France by Mara Rockliff, was one of those fantastic new books! I was immediately taken in by the cover of this beautiful book and found myself drawn in even more deeply by each image that followed. The book tells the story of one of Ben Franklin's trips to France. During this trip, he saw that all of France was baffled by Dr. Mesmer who seemed to cure people with a wave of his magic wand. Ben was not convinced and decided to get to the bottom of what was going on!

This non-fiction picture book was truly mesmerizing! Come check it out today!

W

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Third Grade Research!

Second Grade Author Studies

New Week...New Book...

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