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.

Scratch Art and more

I didn't get any pictures of the finished artwork, but we made homemade scratch art paper and created scratch art pictures. The students first colored a piece of white paper with thick crayon shapes, stripes, and designs. Then the paper was painted with black tempera paint (with a drop or two of dishwashing liquid stirred in). After the paint dries, designs can be scratched onto the paper and the crayon will show through. The designs today were great! I can't believe I didn't take pictures of the finished products.

Last week the students wrote acrostic poems using their names. The poems are now hanging above their desks. Stop in and see them!

Wednesday will be International Walk to School Day. I hope the weather is nice for the morning walk. :)

Spelling words for "Allie's Basketball Dream"

1. tight

2. while

3. show

4. stone

5. bright

6. whole

7. window

8. time

9. follow

10. close

11. flight

12. tide

13. grow

14. broke

15. below