Veggie U

We have really enjoyed our new Veggie U unit in science.  This program teaches us all about vegetables--how they're planted, how they're harvested, and how they keep us healthy.  We made a worm farm for one of our first activities.  Repurposing a used 2 liter bottle, we created a home for our new 'class pets.'  We are learning about how the worms affect the soil.  Our new pets are a little shy, but we have been able to catch them eating a few times, and it has been neat seeing the tunnels they have made throughout the worm farm.  

Making our worm farm

We are also learning about soil.  Last week we studied three different soil samples to see if we could identify which ones were high in sand, silt, and clay.  This week we are using some of those samples and a couple of new ones to see which soil is best for growing plants.  Check with your scientist to see what hypothesis he or she made about the soil type that is best and worst for plants.

Studying soil samples

One of my favorite days in Veggie U so far has been our big Veggie Taste Test.  On Friday we had a whole array of veggies for the students to try.  We had some old favorites and some new veggies to try.  We tasted cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes (red and gold), celery, squash, zucchini, radishes, sugar snap peas, peppers (red, orange, and yellow), fennel, and avocado. Twenty three of our students tried every vegetable, several ate their whole piece of each vegetables, and some went back for seconds of their favorites.  Many students tried a new vegetable that day, with some trying 5 or 6 for the first time.  I was so impressed with the positive attitudes about trying all those veggies.  Maybe if some of the kids gain a better attitude about vegetables (what the program calls veggitude), it will make up for those kids who came home last week wanting to make their own worm farm--sorry about that! :) We are pretty excited about this unit!

Veggie Tasting Day!

Our Veggie U unit continues this week.  We will plant our seed trays tomorrow where we will grow some of our own vegetables right in the classroom under our grow lights. We are looking forward to watching them grow during this last month of school.  Our unit will finish up with a special field trip to Carmel's community gardens where we will replant some of the vegetables.  What a fun way to end a fun unit!

Pioneer Day

Hello!  We are only four weeks away from the much anticipated Pioneer Day, and we are SO EXCITED!  Our wonderful Pioneer Day committee has already been hard at work planning this special day, but we need a lot of volunteers to make this day successful.  Please see the note below from our Pioneer Day committee--and please consider volunteering to help with this day.  Thank you!  

Many of you have heard about the fun-filled Pioneer Day held each year in May for all the third grade students at Carmel Elementary.  It is a day when our children experience pioneer life, as it was in the past, through various hands on activities.  A few of these include making pioneer crafts (yarn dolls, marble bags, and quilt squares), handling antique tools and washing clothes, learning in a pioneer school house, preparing food, square dancing, and listening to a story teller and a fiddler.  This event will be held from 8-2:30 on Friday, May 15th.

To make this day as exciting and memorable as possible for our children, we need many volunteers.  There are many ways to help out.  We need  help the night before with set up, the day of supervising activities, or at home pre-assembly of  the craft kits we use on Pioneer Day.  Please follow the links below to volunteer.

If you are willing to donate items, please sign up here:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4ba4ae29aa8-poineer

If you are willing to volunteer your time on Pioneer Day or the night before with set-up, please sign up here:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4ba4ae29aa8-pioneer3 

If you are willing to complete pre-assembly of the craft kits, please sign up here:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4ba4ae29aa8-pioneer4 

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call or email.  

This day will be a great way to finish off the school year for our third graders!!

Thank you,

Pioneer Day Committee,

Gwen Tucker 507-3617, gtucker1@indy.rr.com

Budding Botanists

The class has done an absolutely fantastic job with our plant unit.  We started off learning about seeds.  We studied dry seeds and soaked seeds, and then we got to dissect the seeds to study the parts inside.  

We studied the inside of a seed. 

We then planted our Wisconsin Fast Plant seeds.  We did this very carefully because we knew that we needed them to grow so that we could study our plants' life cycles over the next 6 weeks.  The students did an amazing job following the multi-step directions to plant each seed perfectly.

Planting our seeds

Then we watered our plants and hoped for the best.  They started sprouting and we started observing.  The third grade scientists did a great job with their observations.  We practiced making an observation that leads to a question and then following that up with a prediction.  Ask your little scientist to share examples of how he or she did this in class.

Watering our plants and hoping they'll grow

So excited they started to sprout!

After our plants started growing, we transplanted some of them into new quads.  This gave the plants remaining in our quads more space and nutrients.  This also gave us a chance to study the roots of our plants.

They're growing!

Studying the roots

As our plants grew, we noticed some new shaped leaves growing.  We learned that these new true leaves were different from the first seed leaves.  We compared and contrasted them and made some predictions about what would happen next.

Comparing seed leaves to true leaves

We continued observing our plants as they made their way through their life cycle.  Check back after break to learn what we did during the next stages of our plants' life cycle.

Classroom News

Flower Sale

This is the last weekend to sell flowers for CE's Annual Flower Sale.  Have you ordered yours yet?  I have been so proud of all the sales the students brought in already.  Thank you for all of your support with this big fundraiser.  Don't forget to tweet any fun posts about the flower sale and check to see what other CE families and teachers have posted about the sale here.

Report Cards

Our standards based report cards were e-mailed out Friday after school.  If you did not receive it, please let me know and I will resend it.  Students also brought home several assessments that they have taken recently.  After looking through the report card and the assessments, please let me know if you have any questions.

Important Dates

Did you know that there is an Upcoming Dates page on our blog?  Click here or go to the 'Upcoming Dates' tab to see what's coming up at CE.  Yearbook order deadline, Mornings with Mom, and more can be found on that page.

Cruising to a High Score

 'Cruising to a High Score'

This class of third graders worked so hard last week on our first round of ISTEP.  I am so proud of the effort they put forth in doing their best.  To add some fun to all of the testing, we used a "Cruising to a High Score" theme. 

During the practice tests the week before, students got their ISTEP passports.  After completing each practice test, students recorded some tips to help them do their best in that section of the passport. Students then got a stamp in their passport as they made their way to ISTEP Island.  

We have our passports for ISTEP Island.

We ended the week of practice with a tropical spirit day and celebration, and students helped turn our classroom into ISTEP Island by creating tropical decorations (as we covered up any academic items on the wall).  After cruising through the practice tests, last week they impressed me as they worked so hard on each section of the real test.  I was so happy to see them arrive each day with such a positive attitude and a willingness to put forth their best effort.

Our Tropical Celebration

Our next bout of standardized tests is the IREAD assessment next Monday.  The practice test for that is on Friday of this week.  The last round of ISTEP will be the last week of April.  I have no doubt that if the students put forth the effort they did last week, they will definitely be cruising to a high score on these assessments.  

We SHINED on our tests!

Flower Power

We had our Flower Sale Kick-off on Friday.  The students were very excited to get fun bracelets this year--Thanks PTO!  We are asking students to wear these colorful reminders during the Flower Sale to remind them to sell flowers for CE.

We love our Flower Sale bracelets!

On Friday the students not only learned about the plethora of cool prizes that they can win, but we also talked about all the many, many wonderful things our PTO is able to do with the money they raise from fundraisers like this one. This is CE's largest fundraiser and a 30+ year tradition! 

From Friday, March 6 through Monday, March 23, we will be collecting preorders and awarding daily prizes.  Students brought home a packet of information on Friday that has everything they need to get started.  Please consider helping your child participate in this fundraiser to not only reap the rewards, but to feel the pride that comes from helping our school and being part of this longstanding tradition.

Look for the packet of info that came home Friday--it has everything you need to start selling!

Also, consider SHARING your success this year via social media! Post your student’s excitement and progress throughout the presale using #CEFlowerSale. Search #CEFlowerSale on Twitter or click here today to view fun posts from other CE families!

Questions? Visit www.flowers4ce.com or email flowers4ce@gmail.com.  

If you need more order forms, you can print them here: Flower Sale Order Form. Please remember to print two copies for each order to take the place of the yellow duplicate copy.  
See Flower Sale Pictures and Care to see pictures of all the beautiful flowers that are for sale.

Thank you for your help with this fundraiser!  I can't wait to see our gym and cafeteria filled with beautiful flowers this May. Happy Selling!!  

Fraction Fun

Our math class has been hard at work mastering some pretty challenging concepts with fractions.  We started the unit off with finding fractions of a set.  Can your child find 3/4 of 8 or 2/3 of 12?  Have them use the pictures of their classmates' work below to explain to you how we solve these tricky fraction problems.  Make sure they explain to you our "Special over Total" sign.

Then we moved on to finding equivalent fractions.  At first we used the picture side of our fraction cards to find equivalent fractions, but we quickly started to see some patterns.  See if your child can name fractions that are equivalent to 1/2.  They should be able to name dozens!

We continued to challenge ourselves by then moving on to fractions greater than one.  See if your little mathematician can use the picture below to tell you about improper fractions and mixed numbers.

We couldn't let Valentine's Day pass without fitting in some fraction fun.  We used conversation hearts to practice finding fractions of a set.  We found what fraction of each color we had and then moved on to more challenging problems.  If we had 15 hearts and ate 1/3 of them, how many hearts did we eat?  It was so much more fun to act out these challenging fraction problems.  

Our fraction unit is coming to an end, and we are preparing to ace our fraction test on Thursday. I have been so impressed with all that this class has accomplished with fractions.  I can't wait to see how we do with double digit multiplication in our next unit!