We had a blast at the Astro Camp today!  

                           We totally recommend it as a field trip to any 3rd grade class!   Not only was it fun, but very educational and “THE MORE YOU KNOW… THE MORE YOU GROW!”   right?

Here are some amazing new facts that we just added to our schema today!

Here is an example of the “Same Value” Exchange Math Strategy that we have been working on this week.   It is a way to add or subtract  3 and 4 digit numbers.   I will record the steps tomorrow for a better example, but for today here is an image for you to look at. Step 1: Say the top NUMBER Step 2: Write it out in Expanded Form Step 3: Say the bottom NUMBER Step 4: Write it out in Expanded Form Step 5:   You can start adding with any collumn, the hundreds, tens or ones…(make sure to break them apart) Step 6:   Circle the numbers that are alike (we say live in same house and family) tens, ones, ect. Step 7: Add up and write the correct number in STANDARD FORM This seems like a lot of steps, but if the kids can actually do this, they will RESPECT THE DECIMAL and have a better understanding of numbers which will help them in the upper grades! YOU will thank me later!   I learned the good ol’ Carrying and Borrowing way myself, it is a hard transition, but it totally makes sense and the children will get the RIGHT answer and know why they did when using this STRATEGY! We will post more examples soon!!!

  I had the kids COLOR CODE the steps!   I think it really helped them.   Here are a couple of examples that we did in class!   I was SO excited for them!  

Hello Kidos, Your bonus assignment for this weekend is this fun MATH problem. ***Please leave your answer in a comment underneath this post! I am excited to see how DEEP your answers will be! I have been very proud of you in class, you are becoming NUMBER EXPERTS!  

SHOW ME ALL THE WAYS THAT YOU CAN MAKE THE NUMBER:          

 475

We have really enjoyed reading informational texts about the Planet, Our Solar System, Asteroids, Constellations and so on this week!   As we were reading we focused on our new READING STRATEGY… “Making AHA’s!”   I was so proud of the kids, as they were reading a selected text from the library about our topic, they were recording their “Aha’s!”   I LOVED seeing that light in their eyes as they were reading!   There was so much excitement and learning in our classroom!   Below are some fun Space Videos, along with the Can Do Kids’ sharing some of their AHA’s!   Enjoy!

We are in the process of learning a few strategies with addition and subtraction up to 4 digits.   Of course we have learned the good ol’ regrouping and slash  and dash method.   But, that is not the only way to solve math problems.   Today, the kids learned a fun “short cut” to help them when they have to subtract across zeros.   Here is an example!   They were so excited today!   Next week, we will be learning some fun STRATEGIES that I learned from Ms. Math!   I can’t wait to teach the kids!   There is always more than one way to solve a math problem!   Click on the link to watch an example!

Quick example of the REPLACEMENT method

Today we were all (3rd graders) given  a free dictionary donated to us from the Rotary CLub!   You should have saw the excitement in the kids’ they were thrilled to get them!   My students told me they were going to read their new dictionary, during their 20 minutes of reading tonight!   They always put a smile on my face!

With a little Witches Brew!

This is soooo funny!   I love it!