Bright Future Campaign - Week 16 Rewind - #NoOfficeDay 3rd Grade
My
day started with our specials teachers after winding up our All Pro Dad's Day.
I walked into music as the students had already started their lesson and it was
pretty cool to see the connection Mrs. Caldwell has with her students. The
level of comfort they have with her is so noticeable and the learning that
takes place due to the level of comfort is impressive. For example, how many of
you know what "Syncopation" means? Students enjoyed listening to
"Chairs to Mend" as Mrs. Caldwell read this story aloud, of course
incorporating her musicality along the way.
After
music, I entered the art studio and caught just the end of a brain pop video
introducing our artists to digital photography and some tips on using a digital
camera. After the video students where given their digital cameras and
instructions on taking pictures of their partner and then working in their
self-portraits. I wonder what will happen to the picture one young man took of
me?
I
made it into the gym, just as time was ending and students had just wrapped up
some free throw practice as they prepare of their Free Throw Contest. The only
thing you need to know at this point is, I need more practice at shooting my
free throws. It's been way to long!
Returning
to 3rd grade brought me to Ms. Das's classroom where she was ready for me to
serve at a station focusing on cause and effect. She prepared a great activity
where students worked together identify he effect of a given cause. As partners
worked together taking turns identify correct effects, they continued until all
their pairs were matched. After finding all the pairs, Ms. Das has prepared an
extension in which students then had to come up with their own cause and then
their partner came up with an appropriate effect. Students were very successful
and some were even able to work the activity backwards starting with he effect
and coming up with what a potential cause may have been.
Next
up were the students in Mrs. Tolle's room. As I entered the students were
working through a problem solving question that incorporated specific literacy
elements such as characters and setting, which clearly helped the students
comprehend the necessary information they needed to solve the problem. Students
displayed several different strategies to solve the problem which was the
target of the lesson. Students were not focused on the answer in this lesson.
Today the process was the focus and students showcased their knowledge of the
process. Following math, students transitioned to LA in which I was able to
work with students on another well done differentiated activity. This activity
focused on sequencing events from a passage students had read. Only in this
activity the highlighted aspects of the story were reworded so it was not
directly what the students had read in the story. To scaffold the activity for
some students, Mrs. Tolle, then provided some details from the story so
students could use the given details as a guide in determining what happened
next. The students were very successful and in some cases, they even surprised
themselves!
It
was an honor to supervise the students during lunch and recess without 3rd
grade teachers. I know they enjoyed the free hour and I hope others did as
well!
The
afternoon started in Mr. Mateos room where the differentiated activities
continued to meet students needs. We started playing a little game, Mr. Mateos
called "A la Cola"? (If I am typing that wrong, please correct me Mr.
Mateos) Students started in a line and were given a time they needed to display
on their Judy Clock. Students has just a few seconds to display time on their
clocks and then the bell rang and answers were checked. If they got it wrong,
they had to go to the end of the line. We even had a couple of questions
involving elapsed time. The students did very well! After our game, students
rotated through stations. Mr. Mateos prepared a place value station for
me to work on with students where we enjoyed rolling the dice to create large
numbers and then showcase our understanding of reading and writing numbers in
standard, expanded and word form. However, I was more impressed with the
activity Cesar was doing with students at his table. The students had
previously been discussing the cost of buying a house one day after college and
had greatly underestimated the real estate market. Cesar took advantage of this
and created an activity that showed students an accurate cost of a variety of
homes, which students cut out and glued onto paper. Once they had four homes
and prices of the homes, they had to use their place value skills to determine
which house had the highest dollar amount associated with it and the lowest and
then ranked the numbers in order, lowest to highest and vice versa. Cool
activity for students to practice a skill but develop a deeper understanding of
a real life skill. I'm certain that covered a process standard!
I
made it into Mrs. Romeo's room for my final stop of the day. Students were
being introduced to an IC lesson where magnetism was being introduced. The hook
involved a "trick" of sorts where a paper clip magically hung in a
cup that was turned upside down. Students quickly discovered a magnet was
involved and their minds were completely engaged. Following the introduction,
students rotated through three stations that allowed them to explore different
types of magnets and different types of materials that were and were not
magnetic. Students were able to demonstrate an understanding of why magnets
worked, including the opposite poles, and connected that to a Brain Pop video
they watched at the beginning of the lesson about magnetism. Needless to say,
students loved the rotations, Mrs. Romeo add some wrinkles to the stations to
keep the students interested throughout their time at each rotation and
students walked away with an understanding of how magnets worked, what types of
materials are magnetic and why.
It
was a great day in 3rd grade and I enjoyed the time I was able to spend with
the students. I know our teachers in 3rd grade work hard, but spending
the entire day in their rooms and seeing lessons from beginning to end and the
various scaffolding and extending taking place, it was evident as to why the
students were being as successful as they were.
Thanks
3rd grade students and teachers!
