Snowglobe Writing and Polar Express Fun!

We have had a busy and exciting week wrapping up our units and getting ready for the Holidays!

This week, our writing focused on our snow globe writing. The class was given the prompt, "If I were trapped in a snow globe..."

I asked them to use their creativity and imaginations to figure out what they could be doing in their snow globe and how they could get out. I must say, I have some pretty PHENOMENAL creative thinkers in this class. Or maybe it was our awesome fireplace with instrumental holiday music that helped spark our creativity. Either way, they came up with some awesome stories! Next time you are at Dickinson, head towards the 3rd grade hallway and you can read your child's writing and see their poses in their very own snow globe!

Today, we began our day with some festive doughnuts while working on creating our gingerbread glyphs! We got to hear The Polar Express read by Mr. Smith, the man who did the Polar Express for years at the National Railroad Museum. Our movie watching was the best part of the day. We snuggled up with our PJS, mugs, and cookies and enjoyed each other's company.

From our class to your family, we WISH you a VERY wonderful Holiday season and a relaxing break!

See you in 2017!

Holiday Concert

For those of you unable to be at the concert today, take a look at the attached video to get yourself in the holiday spirit! They did a fabulous job!!!

CLICK HERE TO SEE A SNAPSHOT OF OUR HOLIDAY CONCERT

Hour of Code!

We took part in the WORLDWIDE Hour of Code event today! The class had so much fun! It was awesome to see them step out of their comfort zone and persist when things became more challenging. If you would like to check out the hour of code activities at home simply go to the Dickinson homepage and scroll down to the links on the right hand side. Click the link that says Dickinson Hour of Code.

Happy Coding!

St. Norbert Students Came to Visit

Today we had some St. Norbert future educators come to teach a lesson on the water cycle. They incorporated art, drama, and song to help the class remember the important vocabulary and steps in the water cycle process.

Informational Writers

The class has been working hard following the writing process. They began this unit by coming up with a topic that they felt they already knew a lot about and could teach it to someone else. The next step was to list 5 big ideas about their topic (this later became our table of contents). For each of those sections, they wrote long everything they knew. Once their sections were complete and we edited together, their job was to look over their writing with their informational writing checklist and make sure they could say 'YES' to each of the items. In google classroom, they have begun the process of publishing their text. They are copying in all of their information, and will then add in different text features to make their book appealing.

Text Features to Add:
pictures
captions
tables
diagrams
labels
timelines
bolded words for the glossary

Here they are in action this morning!

Fallen Timbers Presentation on Forests

Today we had an exciting afternoon with Mr. Tony (Ainsley's dad) from Fallen Timbers. He shared with us all of his knowledge on coniferous and deciduous trees. Have your child share with you tonight one difference between these 2 types of trees!

Deciduous trees are ones that shed their leaves every fall. These trees have broad leaves and hard wood or tree bark. To prepare itself for winter, these trees get rid of their leaves and go dormant.

Coniferous trees or conifers are trees that are evergreen or hold their needles are year long. These trees are shaped more like a triangle to help shed snow in the winter. Their needles hold in water to keep the tree going throughout the winter months. These trees are soft woods.

We were able to see so many different versions of each kind of tree in the forest right outside our front doors of Dickinson! Explore your neighborhoods by going on a walk this week! What do you notice about the leaves on the ground or still in the trees?