Spelling and Vocabulary Words

We have some special words this week! We're reading quite a few seasonal books that contain these words.

Spelling Words for the week of December 14-18

snowball, winter
freezing, blizzard
cause, effect
giving, snowman
snowdrifts, mittens
Challenge Words: festive, blustery


Vocabulary Words
cause -- someone or something that makes something happen
effect -- something that happens; a result of something
tapestry -- a rich, heavy cloth with designs and scenes woven into it
antique -- something, such as a piece of furniture, that was made in the past
astonishment -- sudden, great surprise

Write a sentence in the comments section using one of our spelling or vocabulary words. Be sure to make it a creative third grade sentence!

Math Strategies

We've been learning quite a few strategies to solve our subtraction problems. In fact The A.M.M (The Amazing Math Marvel) left problems for us to solve last week! You all did a great job solving those problems. I hope the A.M.M. will visit us again sometime.
Now I have a problem!

I filled my car with 33 gallons of gas on Friday. I did quite a bit of driving over the weekend and now I have 17 gallons of gas left. How many gallons of gas did I use?

How would you solve this problem? What operation would you use (addition, subtraction, multiplication or division)? Leave a comment below that tells your thinking and your answer. If you used one of the strategies we've been talking about, be sure to explain your thinking! I can't wait to see what you think!

Happy Snow Days!

We've had quite a snowstorm, haven't we?! The wind yesterday was really strong and we have huge snowdrifts all around our house. It's hard to believe that just last Monday the temperature was in the 60s.
Since we really can't go anywhere, I've had some time to work on our blog. I decided to change the layout to one that's a little more friendly. I hope you like it!
What have you done in the last couple days? My sons and I went sledding on Tuesday afternoon and yesterday we started shoveling the driveway and then we made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Yummy. Today I think we may bundle up and go for a quick walk to see all the snow. I hope you all are enjoying your days and I'll see you tomorrow at school!

Spelling and Vocabulary Words

This week we are reading the story The Mysterious Giant of Barletta by Tomie DePaola. The story is about the town of Barletta which faces destruction until Zia Concetta asks the town's giant for help. There is a clever idea, help from the townspeople and an onion involved in outwitting the army. What is the cause of the army to be outsmarted?

Spelling Words for the week of Dec. 7-11
girl , smart, clear , word
her, hurt, turn, serve
dark , north, work, third

Challenge Words: tornado, scurried


Vocabulary Words this week:

giant -- a huge, strong, imaginary creature that looks like a human being
mysterious -- very hard to explain or understand
pedestal -- a base or support for a column or statue
square -- a rectangle having four equal sides; an open area where two or more streets come together, often in the center of a town
statue -- an image, often of a person or an animal, usually made of stone, metal or wood
weakling -- a person lacking strength or character

Appalachian String Band Visit

Our class just started thinking about the question, "How do we affect our environment?" We've been talking about water pollution and recycling and some causes of pollution. We know that recycling and reusing are very helpful to our environment.
On Friday The Flying Pig Fiddle and Banjo Appalachian String Band visited the third grade! They showed us how just about ANYTHING can be made into an instrument. They performed for us and helped us create instruments with the recycled items that we had. It was great!

Welcome!

Hi and welcome to our classroom blog! This is where we'll be posting what's happening in our classroom along with information such as spelling and vocabulary words. We'll also be sharing a lot of the amazing thinking from our third graders. Thanks for visiting!