Experimenting with Sound / Spelling Words

We had three guest speakers this afternoon during science. Scott, Patrick, and Wesley are engineering students at ICC. They talked to the kids about what engineers do and how they work together to solve problems and create new things.

Our science topic this week is sound. We've been learning about how sound is made and how it moves. We've also talked about pitch and volume. Our guests started out the afternoon with a fun game of "Telephone" as a way to show how sound moves (in this case, from person to person).

The students then created a tambourine made out of paper plates and bells.

The final activity was making plastic cup telephones. There was a variety of strings to choose from. The students got to test out which strings worked better. It was fun to see the students' eyes light up the first time they heard their partner's voice over their phone line. I can only imagine that Alexander Graham Bell felt the same excitement. The students also experimented with criss-crossing two or three sets of phones to see if they could still hear each other.

Spelling Words - Journey, week 1

1. journey

2. meadow

3. camera

4. travel

5. lilacs

6. album

7. photograph

8. garden

9. glasses

10. mother

11. grandmother

12. father

13. grandfather

14. sister

15. brother

November 29, 2011

This week we are reading the story, Rosie, a Visiting Dog's Story. It is about a service dog who visits people who are sick or need cheering up. The students are enjoying this story and have told many tales about their own experiences with dogs.

Mrs. Ulseth is out of town this week, so I am enjoying getting to know the third graders even better. I am excited for January to come when I will be back everyday.

Mrs. Richter


Spelling List for
Rosie, a Visiting Dog's Story

1. crown
2. proud
3. however
4. count
5. crowded
6. around
7. south
8. loud
9. house
10. shouted
11. howl
12. growl
13. bounce
14. fountain
15. sound

Fruit and Veggie Derby update and Spelling Words

The students did a great job creating their Fruit and Vegetable Derby vehicles. Each team raced their vehicle and then made any adjustments they needed before racing their vehicles again. It was a pretty competitive event! The team names are under the photos.

"The Berries"

"The 'Tato-mobile"

"The Banana Racer"

Spelling Words for "Little Grunt and the Big Egg"

1. joyful

2. choice

3. voice

4. joint

5. moist

6. spoil

7. royal

8. annoy

9. noise

10. employ

11. soil

12. loyal

13. boiled

14. destroy

15. pointy

Snow ... or Kryptonite?

Superman could be brought down by Kryptonite. Third graders can be brought down by freshly fallen snow! We were have a very hard-working afternoon until the rain turned to sleet, which turned to little flakes, which turned to huge flakes. It really was pretty, even though it stopped our science review dead in it's tracks!

Spelling Words for "Wild Shots"

1. space

2. stage

3. huge

4. fence

5. price

6. police

7. office

8. engine

9. badge

10. pencil

11. excite

12. force

13. range

14. ginger

15. giraffe

Giving Thanks to our Veterans

This afternoon we had the opportunity to hear from Harley Kiger, a veteran from WW2. He showed a movie of his trip to see the WW2 Memorial in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Northland Honor Flight organization. He also answered questions about his time in the military. Our school is currently participating in a Penny Drive to raise funds to send another Northland Vet on a future Honor Flight trip. Please help by sending in any pennies (or nickels, dimes, quarters, ...) you can spare this week. The fundraiser will go through Monday, Nov. 14th. Remember to thank a Veteran on Veteran's Day (11-11-11).

Spelling words for "Balto"

1. shot
2. chance
3. match
4. watch
5. showed
6. shock
7. pushed
8. such
9. crash
10. chew
11. batch
12. hitched
13. sharp
14. mush
15. speech

Spelling Words - week of Oct. 31-Nov. 4

Spelling Words for "Turtle Bay"

1. known

2. written

3. laugh

4. sphere

5. wreck

6. writer

7. wrong

8. wrap

9. wrench

10. knocked

11. knot

12. wring

13. enough

14. rough

15. wrinkle

Doodle Drawings and Spelling Words

What do you do with a doodle? That was the challenge the students faced last week. They were given 4 different doodles (see picture below). They had to turn that doodle into something.

Here are a few of the finished products. A lot of other finished doodles were sent home in today's Tuesday folders. They did a great job seeing beyond what was there and turning it into something creative and unique.

Spelling Words for week of Oct. 24-28:

1. teacher

2. friend

3. dollars

4. homework

5. blackboard

6. proud

7. tickle

8. phone

9. tongue

10. office

11. address

12. classroom

13. lucky

14. unlucky

15. money

Spelling Words for week of Oct. 17-19

1. fence
2. sneeze
3. bowl
4. walrus
5. liver
6. plate
7. bonus
8. family
9. leash
10. paw
11. vet
12. house
13. kennel
14. Marvin
15. Waldo

Bike Safety and Fire Safety

Last week, a person from the Regional Development Commission came to our classroom to discuss bicycle safety with our students. She went over the rules of riding safely, making sure your bike is the correct size, and the importance of wearing a helmet. She brought eggs to show how fragile heads are by having a student drop an unprotected egg onto the floor. Then she had another student drop an egg into a box of styrofoam pellets. The students were quick to understand that their new helmets have a very important job to do! She fitted each student with a new helmet, which many of them wore the rest of the day.

Testing out the helmets by butting heads. Goofy girls!

Also last week, had a visit from some firefighters. They brought the Fire Safety House and went over fire safety guidelines. They practiced evacuating the fire house through a window. One of the things that comes out every year is that sometimes third graders don't know their phone number and home address (not a PO Box). They need to be able to recite this information if they ever have to call 9-1-1. Ask your child to recite that information and see if a refresher course is needed.

And, just because it was kind of cool, here's a picture of two of our boys who wore the same shirt on the same day. :)

Spelling Words for week of Oct. 10-14

1. least

2. fast

3. just

4. burst

5. strip

6. stick

7. strike

8. artist

9. almost

10. student

11. strong

12. start

13. blast

14. step

15. street

Walk to School Day, Mondrian prints, and Investigating Bean Plants

On Oct. 5th, our students participated in International Walk to School Day. Some of our students walked and some of our students cheered them on as they came into view. It was a beautiful day for walking.

We studied the artwork of Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) last week. Mondrian was a Dutch painter. Many of his paintings feature a white background with black grid lines and squares/rectangles of red, blue, yellow, and black. The students created artwork inspired by Mondrian using paper, markers, colored pencils, and crayons.

Two weeks ago, we planted bean seeds in ziploc bags. The bags allowed us to see the roots, stem, and leaves as the plants grew. The students did a great job recording their measurements and observations on their recording sheets.