Catching up...

I've been behind the past few weeks! I've been traveling and trying to keep my creativity alive in the classroom, so blogging has taken a back seat unfortunately but here's what we've been doing in third grade:

SCIENCE
I spent a couple classes working on their oral exams which is always a welcome change of pace. I am able to sit with each student one on one and encourage them in their speaking. We moved onto another unit about animals, focusing on reptiles, amphibians and fish. They moved quickly through the material so I was able to come in and help them with review! They are getting stronger everyday at their comprehension and pronunciation and Teacher Fatima does a wonderful job encouraging them!

ART
We spent a couple weeks on Van Gogh's "Sunflowers". The students recreated the famous painting and I told the story behind its' origin. Van Gogh painted it to decorate a bedroom for a friend who was coming to visit...lucky friend eh? After they completed their recreations they then created their own painting for a friend. Last class they started a drawing competition that is being sponsored by the library. They are creating a mailman from space and trying to win some cool prizes. They look amazing so far so I hope to see some finalists from our school!

Weeks of February 25 - March 1 and March 4 - 8

These past two weeks were slightly off schedule as we celebrated Andalucia Day on February 28 and International Women's Day on March 8. We've also had some teacher's out with various things going on so these past two weeks were definitely a lesson in going with the flow which is very important! All that said, they were very good weeks and the students had a lot of fun with the activities that were related to these two very important holidays.

SCIENCE
In third grade they wrapped up their units on farm animals, bird and reproduction so we were ready to review! With a classic game of Jeopardy we covered all of the subject matter. Each table became a group and were given the chance to answer questions from the category of their choice. One class had a bit more fun with this than the other class did, but the questions were exactly the same for each so there was just a bit more studying that one class needed to do. The winning team was given a prize and everyone was encouraged to study for their exam. The following week I began their oral exam portion and we will continue with that in the coming week.

ART
In art we learned how to draw a lion step by step using a YouTube tutorial. I used this time to talk about what type of landscape they would draw for their lion to live in. We sang "In the Jungle" more times than I can count but it was really fun!
The following week Teacher Carmen was out but we continued with the lesson she prepared. The students were given Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" as inspiration and asked to recreate their own version of the classic painting. We have some beautiful pieces in the works and I'm looking forward to seeing the completed works this coming week!